My Wild Game Dinner Dining Experience

[ssandy_561]

Tuesday evening I attended a Wild Game chef’s tasting dinner at a local restaurant. Its was a 6 course meal. I attended this with one of my friends since my better half would not eat anything that was served for dinner. Her exact words were “Are you crazy!” when I asked her if she wanted to go to this with me.

We have enjoyed going to this restaurant over the years and have been to many “themed” dinners here but this was the first time I attended the Wild Game dinner.

This is the third years the chef’s done one.


Here’s what greeted us when we entered the restaurant.




And here was the menu



Pictures of each course to follow.

[ssandy_561]

First course was Frog Legs.




I’ve eaten many a frog leg in my life but nothing like this. They were lightly breaded and deep fried. The chef described them as his version of a chicken wing with frog legs. This was the most tender frog leg I’ve ever eaten and the flavors were incredible. I just wish there was a bit more cabbage on the plate because it was incredible.

[Purc]

I think no one would go with me to that dinner as well.

[ssandy_561]

I’ll let you know when the next one will be and I’ll attend with you. 👍🏼

[STEbbq]

Those flavor pairing sound amazing. Bacon and frog legs. Alligator and waffles with sugar and syrup. Duck with goat cheese and beets (sous vide no less). Almond emu egg custard! What creativity!

[ssandy_561]

Next up his version of chicken and waffles was served.




The gator was really tender also and had a nice crispy and seasoned batter on it. There was no chewiness at all. Now I’m not sure what ancient magic he used to make the waffle but as good as the gator was the waffle was better. I can only dream of making waffles this good. The strawberry maple syrup could have used a bit more strawberry flavor but since it’s not strawberry season it’s probably as good as it got.

[texastweeter]

He used tail meat, it is much less chewie.

[captainlee]

Fantastic, I would do that any time.

[hoovarmin]

Your spirit of adventure paid off. No risk no reward. Kudos.

[ssandy_561]

Next served was probably my favorite dish (A salad, WHAT you say?).





The menu didn’t say that the duck breast was smoked but it had touch of smoke to it. Perfectly cooked to medium rare and so tender. The skin was nice and crispy.

The dressing on the greens was so delicious I asked our waitress if I could get a shot of it brought to the table, she laughed at my joke. Too bad I was being serious. 😆

I usually am not a fan of beets but delicious also.

[texastweeter]

Shoot I wish someplace around here would do something like that. Everything on that menue with the exception of dessert I have made to some degree. Good choices on how he prepared it. He got this rednecks two thumbs up!

[ssandy_561]

The pasta dish was served next.


Oops I moved while taking the picture.


Once again it was delicious but… the fresh pasta might have been mixed too much. It was a bit chewy. Good but chewy. The boar was fall apart tender and seasoned beautifully.

And if I had one more criticism of this dish it was that it was one note. It could have used some “brightness” to it.

[texastweeter]

Splash of hotsauce

[ssandy_561]

Main course was served next.




First off I was surprised on how much venison was served. You can’t really tell by the pictures but there were two 1/2 inch chops served.

Great creativity on making the couscous black to resemble buck shot. It was tasty also.

The mushroom demi was to die for and the blueberry wine reduction paired well with the dish.

I think they wiffed on the amount of chive pesto on my plate. Everyone else seemed to have three times as much.

You might be thinking I’m saving the best to talk about last but you’d be wrong. The venison was good but tough. Not that I couldn’t chew it tough but tough enough that they had to bring around steak knives after the plate was served because the knife on the table wasn’t “cutting it”.

Now I’ve never cooked venison like this before but my thoughts were that by him leaving it medium rare made it tough. I know venison is super lean and meat without marbling should not be cooked like this.

[texastweeter]

Still being backstrap it should be tender. May have come from a rutty buck. Even then it's usually quite tender. I dry age mine 10-14 days and you can tear it with your fingers.

[Draznnl]

That looks like a great meal. Few things better than new food prepared skillfully.

EDIT:Started typing this after the gator and waffles. By the time it posted, sorry to see there were issues with the meal.

[ssandy_561]

No issues. Everything was delicious but just a few minor snafus.

[STEbbq]

I interpreted this as he loved everything and it was amazing but there was some small things he’d change. The venison sounds like it was more a 7/10 versus the 9.5/10 that everything else was.

[ssandy_561]

Last up dessert. It was served with a piece of the Emu shell. The chef gave a PSA announcement to not eat the shell. 😂




I decided to get an old fashioned to drink to go with dessert. It paired quite well. I know I’ve used this word a time or two describing the food but it was delicious. Perfect creaminess to the custard, the cherries were not too sweet, the almonds added the perfect crunch along with the tart shell and there was just the right amount of sugar on the custard.

Now unless it was told to us it was Emu egg and the chef actually posted a video on Facebook on Monday cracking open one of the Emu eggs I would have had no idea it was made with Emu eggs.

[ssandy_561]

Overall a great dining experience. I can’t wait until he does another one. Total cost of the meal was $120 plus tax. 20% tip was included in the cost of the meal. We tipped an additional $20 to our waitress since she was great and tipped the bar tender $20 for the night for our 4 drinks each.

I thought it was a great deal and had no problem with the price. Besides the food, it was such a great experience. Me and my friend were sat at a table for 12 and met some new people. It looked like all parties of two were sat at two communal tables. There was one couple at our table that seemed to not care for it but they must not have paid attention to the message given to everyone when reservations were being made. It was specifically told to us that all parties of two would be sat with other people. No problem for us. More the merrier I say.

[STEbbq]

That is a very reasonable price!

[scottranda]

This. Is. Amazing.