Brasstacks

Brasstacks held their last summer harvest dinner at Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, where all items were local and mostly recently foraged by the chefs themselves. I headed over, giddy, grinning, and nervous… I had no idea how many people would be there, how many courses there would be, what should I wear? So many questions, so much excitement.
T & I headed over to Formaggio Kitchen… it was dark, almost abandoned looking on the outside. We knocked… there was a pause… and then we were greeted and brought into a transformed space exuding warmth, acceptance, excitement, and friendliness (and immediately handed 2 glasses of sparkling wine mmmmm). There were 3 tables with about 10 seats each. Tightly squeezed in to promote conversation & perfectly positioned to see plating and preparing of each dish. We headed up to pick from the charcuterie and stared at everything in amazement, while our pre-​meal treats waiting patiently for us.
The Formaggio Kitchen charcuterie consisted of linguica, chicken liver mousse, duck pâté, served with Brasstacks pickles. Next we were introduced to our treats (from back left-​right-​front in the top picture): grilled cousa squash with sprouted grains, fennel & almond (my favorite); baked hyslop crabapple with chicken liver, cider vinegar & poppy seed; roasted new potato with cultured cream, shad roe & salt pork; and in front, the tomatoes with pickled chilis, elderflower vinegar & mint (T’s favorite). Also shown are the tasty snack of the husk cherries roasted in salt pork. All were presented on natural plates of slabs of birch branches and stones.
Next, we moved onto the first course (all of which were paired with a respective wine): soused bluefish with cucumbers, horseradish & pretty nasturtium.
Next was my favorite dish of the night, I could really eat a large portion of this every day and never get sick of it: sweet corn samp with Maine crab, bayberry leaf, sea urchin and samphire. Pretty much perfection in a bowl.
Woven between the courses were explanations and derivations of the plates, all drawing inspiration from old New England fare and techniques. Also woven in were the seemingly endless glasses of wine. Next was the matelote of Spanish mackerel with eggplant, barley & tomato relish.
The final savory course of the evening was my almost-​tied-​for-​first (and T’s favorite) course of silver Cornish chicken roasted in wild juniper with chicken mushroom, fermented broccoli & a bread sauce. Also, it was obviously one of the prettiest dishes.
The local cheese course was provided by Formaggio Kitchen, and was delicious, because really… who doesn’t love cheese? Brebis Blanche, Tarentaise, and Brother’s Walk.
The final course was the Maine chocolate potato cake with sheep milk, wild grapes & black walnut. While being plated, it resembled Saturn and I had no problem finishing this dish whatsoever.
After a long & memorable night, we were stuffed full of wine, tasty food, and new information. We were introduced to many new foraged foods and interesting people. For professional pictures taken of the event check their facebook page… and remember, if you want to be entered into the lottery for a chance to go to one of these amazing dinners, friend Brasstacks Boston on Facebook, you will thank me 2,723 times if you win.
Pictures and more on – —-

My boyfriend and I were ecstatic when we got tickets to Brasstacks pop-​up restaurant at Formaggio Kitchen. We had been wanting to try out Brasstacks for awhile, but scoring tickets is nearly impossible. (The tickets to their dinner at Formaggio Kitchen sold out in under 45-​minutes!)
For those of you who don’t know what Brasstacks is, Brasstacks is a «secret» dining society. It is a joint effort between Menton meat chef Marc Sheehan (an alumn of Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York), The Hawthorne general manager Matthew Schrange, and Drew Davis a veteran of Menton who works in management with David Chang at Ma Peche in New York. As the tale is told, the three met at Menton and came up with the idea when they would chit chat after work. Soon after, the trio began organizing elaborate, Facebook invite-​only dinners.
The dinner at Formaggio Kitchen we attended was all about dairy — from the pasture to the plate. Working with some of Formaggio’s favorite local farms, the Brasstacks team delivered an intimate tasting menu paired with beverages for $ 125 per person — possibly one of the best bargains in Boston. Everything was executed perfectly and was delicious. It was seriously one of the best meals I have had in a very long time.
Besides taste, what I found most interesting about our food was that each dish was a reinvented dish from what New Englanders used to eat way back when. From what Chef Sheehan explained, they are a tad obsessed with history and use local cookbooks and even the Boston Public Library database to mine old classics that they can reinterpret. One example of this was the fantastic and very yummy dessert we had. The dessert was a reinterpretation of what farmers used to have for dessert where they would take a half drunken bottle of apple cider and fill the remaining half with fresh milk, shake it, and drink it. Granted, our dessert was not at all like this, but it was definitely a dessert that I wish I could order again and again and again.
The dinner took about four hours so if you plan to go to Brasstacks’ next dining experience, be sure not to make plans afterwards. They are also extremely generous with their wines so keep that in mind if you are driving home from dinner.
The trio plan to open a restaurant in eight to 10 months, which I am ridiculously excited about. And later, I’ve heard that they want to open a fondue-​serving dive bar. However, in the meantime, you need to become friends with «Brasstacks Boston» on Facebook
and go to their next dinner. I promise you won’t regret it.