To Boca with Kristina and Wesley

Wednesday 29 April

Kristina and Wesley kindly offered to take us out to dinner to celebrate her defense of the PhD.  We really thought SHE deserved to be taken out, but we'll invite them over for dinner in the future.  In the meantime, they hosted us to dinner at Boca, a perfect place for a special occasion.

They greeted us with a round of their favorite Blue oven bread, which Boca serves with Vermont Creamery butter; and we chose a Marie-Pierre Manciat Mâcon Les Morizottes to drink with it.

Then we went on to some small plates, starting with white tuna crudo with a creamy slice of avocado, some supremes of pink grapefruit, and a sauce of ponzu and shishito peppers.

The other was a subtle little plate of sweet pea-stuffed cappellacci "di Gianno" with lobster nuggets in a cream sauce with pea shoots.

We continued on to warm branzino on a bed of chopped asparagus, haricots verts, and hazelnut, served with a smear of avocado purée and truffle vinaigrette.

And then an interesting new idea: a plate of goat confit with crisp thin lavosh crackers on soft parmesan-dusted barley risotto, with verjus raisin and little dabs of spicy harissa aioli.

We all had a wonderful time, so thanks, Kristina and Wes!