Uberdine: artistry on a plate
There were 10 courses – tasting-sized offerings – served last Friday night at Uberdine, the one-night-only pop-up restaurant experiment by local chef Joe Shirley and his wife, Carolina. Each course was delicate, dainty and, on those big serving plates, almost starkly beautiful.
No one seemed to mind the petite portions. Chef Shirley’s vivid sense of invention was on full display in the Roasterie’s Bean Hangar event space. He also incorporated many of the Roasterie products into his dishes, including its coffee barbecue rub and sauce in an elegant variation on sauteed trout. And for all of his creations’ studied artfulness, taken as a whole, the meal was completely satisfying.
The Roasterie dinner – the evening took on a salonlike quality rather than feeling like an anonymous banquet – was the second event hosted by Joe and Carolina Shirley under the Uberdine name. The dinner sold out within a few days of the chef’s sending out a notice to a relatively small mailing list. (To get on that mailing list, e-mail chefjoeshirley@gmail.com; the next dinner is tentatively set for December in a yet undermined space.)
The $75 meal at the Roasterie lasted more than three hours and included cocktail pairings – a few made with Soda Vie beverages, including a fizzy watermelon-basil soda that was intoxicating even without the tequila.
