Eat flowers — and dirt — at the new Affare
I have eaten more than my share of unappetizing dishes in my day – mostly crow. And dirt? Well, considering my notorious clumsiness, I’ve dropped God only knows how many doughnuts, hot dogs and deep-fried Twinkies on the ground over the years and still eaten them. And to paraphase Stephen Sondheim: I’m still here.
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen dirt listed as a menu ingredient before I dined at chef-owner Martin Heuser’s German bistro, Affare, last night. The small-plate menu includes a salad with an array of fresh greens, asparagus stalks, paper-thin radish slices, flower petals and edible soil. Did I read that correctly?
Yes, according to our server, Josh (formerly of the Brookside Avenues Bistro, like about half of the servers here), who explained that edible soil is not a dirty little secret but a concoction of portobello mushrooms, cocoa, almond oil and chopped almonds. It looks like high-grade mulch and tastes kind of chewy, a little nutty. I wouldn’t want to make, you know, a meal of it.
