Update #14

We had the great luck to be invited to a 'friends & family' pre-grand opening dinner at a restaurant called Afterglo. It is the second restaurant opened by the owner of Tantra. Knowing the quality & ambiance of Tantra, we couldn't wait to see the new place.

We arrived at 7:30 and spoke to the owner for quite a while. He explained that this restaurant was focusing on natural foods that are organically grown and avoided many of the chemicals used in food preparation. He tasked us with putting the bartender through his paces and testing out as many drinks as we could. The same thing went for the entrees. I was in heaven!!!!

We started with more than a couple of drinks.
Drinks

• Get Up and Glo - Shot of organic expresso, Kahlua liqueur, dark rum, agave syrup and shaken with fresh cream


• Spice of Life - "Raw" blend of fresh pineapple, organic fresh pear, fresh ginger and Italian lemon liqueur


• Glo-Hito - Organic mint leaves muddled with organic limes, agave syrup, shaken with Mont Gay rum, topped with soda water


• "Hot" Chocolate Martini - Van Gogh chocolate vodka shaken with Godiva chocolate liqueur, agave syrup, and a pinch of chili powder


• Sweet and Sour Apple-tini - Belvedere vodka shaken with fresh orange juice, sour apple liqueur, and a touch of Cointreau liqueur

My favorite drink had to be the Hot Chocolate martini. It was sweet & spicy and had a nice kick to it!

Appetizers

• the beauty pill - freshly ground and wild caught sockeye salmon mixed with fresh tumeric, hu zhang, fennel, apple, walnuts, garlic, dill, parsley, green onion & curry powder pan seared and served with tosaka seaweed salad


• wild sockeye salmon tartare - avocado, mango, minced shallot, raw quail egg, basil citrus-sesame vinaigrette & Peruvian purple potato chips


• grass fed Vietnamese style bison ceviche - bibb lettuce, home grown sprout mix, red onion, bell pepper, lime, wild jungle peanuts & crispy shallots

The best appetizer was the bison ceviche. Think of the title! How intriguing!
1) Vietnamese style: presumably from Vietnam
2) bison: an American animal
3) ceviche: Spanish dish
The taste was very good but also very different. Seems that those particular flavors have never been combined in quite the same way in my mouth. Ate it all in a flash!

Now we get to the
Entrees

• grilled ribeye of American grass fed bison - apricot leather beggar's purse filled with spiced hazelnut & yogurt cheese, pickled red onions & arugula pesto

The bison was AMAZING! The beef is very lean and not tough at all. The little bag at the top left of the pic is the beggar's purse with filled with cheese & nuts. The actual purse is made from apricots and when you cut it open and put some on the bison it is simply an amazing flavor. The stuff was EXTREMELY good! I actually wanted to order another order of it but I wanted to taste as much as I could of the menu.

• pan roasted breast of wild pheasant - marinated wild mushrooms, arugula, pistachio "bread", raw chocolate mole sauce & chipotle oil

That's the pheasant. Tastes like chicken. The mole is that brown paste towards the right of the plate. That stuff was GREAT. Nice thick & spicy. Mixing it with the pheasant was another adventure in taste testing. Very very very good.

• homemade saffron-almond penne pasta - pesto, slivered artichoke, marinated portobello, sundried tomato, toasted almonds & shaved aged raw goat cheese (boobs not included)

I didn't get a chance to have much of this dish since I was focusing exclusively on the bison

• grilled & sliced sirloin of wild nigali antelope - vegetable & pignoli "ricotta" tartlette made with hose dried onion & tomato, marinated zucchini & kalamata olives & sage pesto sauce

Nice understated presentation. You know I ordered this because I have never seen antelope served at a restaurant (or bison for that matter, but I had buffalo in Denver). I tasted the meat and I INSTANTLY knew that the lions in Africa are much more intelligent than we give them credit for! They get to eat antelope each & every day! It's good to be the King!!

That was some incredible stuff. The pesto was a bit strong but once you moved it of the meat, you could taste the beef much better. Man, who would've though antelope was so damn good?!?!?!?

Now I had the particular problem of deciding which I preferred, the antelope or the buffalo. I seriously couldn't make up my mind. Today though, I think the antelope wins by a tiny bit.

Dessert
So now I'm thinking, 'With all these different types of foods, how will the desserts be?" Guess, what? They were also very different & tasty!

• honey pot - a walnut tartlette filled with banana cinnamon creme, topped with sliced bananas & orange segments with an organic raw chocolate sauce drizzled with honey & sprinkled with hemp seeds
  a completely raw dessert with no sugar
• chocolate, salt & olive oil - milk chocolate cremoso sprinkled with Celtic sea salt & drizzled with organic extra virgin olive oil served with sourdough toast & a coffee parfait
• yin/yang - a savory cream cheese tart served with a blackberry compote & goat cheese-black pepper ice cream
• chocolate 8 textures - chocolate brownie,chocolate mousse, chocolate dust, chocolate ice cream, chocolate cremoso, Mexican chocolate syrup, chocolate tuille & chocolate candy
• let it glo - this raw dessert pairs a filling of apricot & coconut cream inside an almond vanilla tart topped with daikon sprouts & a mango black pepper drizzle

Don't they just sound extraordinary??? I ate most of the honey pot. I don't care if they say it has no sugar, I ate it anyways. And I liked it!

Then I tried the chocolate, salt & olive oil. Sounds very nasty right? Yeah, I though so also but I was game (no pun intended...see antelope reference).



Like I said before, that particular combination of flavors have never simultaneously entered my mouth while I have been conscious. The flavors mix suprisingly well! Remember that chocolate already has oil in it so mixing it with drizzled olive oil actually matches the chocolate's texture. The sea salt gave it another taste & texture. This plate I will definitely have again when we return. Yeah, we're going back.

The chocolate 8 textures was not my favorite since I'm not a chocoholic. I did taste one chocolate on the plate that was spicy & sweet. Reminds me of Switzerland! Awesome.

If anyone gets a chance to go to Afterglo, definitely make it a point to go!

By the way, the lighting at the restaurant is very interesting. It makes everyone look like they have a tan. Unfortunately, the lighting doesn't really make for good pictures. That's why they all have that yellow tinge.

Culinary Goals

I think that my new cluinary goal is to continue to eat strange hoofed animals. I am filling my need as a carnivore and although I cannot hunt them, I can make up for this lack of ability by expanding the breadth of the food I can consume.

Ultimately, I would like to try a nice hunk of Bigfoot. I know, that's going to be expensive and I'll really have to find a restaurant that has an extraordinary chef, but I will continue to strive for that goal.

I'm thinking it won't really taste that well. I mean, it's not really cannibalism right? Bigfoot is a close genetic cousin, not really family. Despite that, just thinking about my cousins...they MUST taste nasty.

I will probably pass on eating monkey anything. As far as I know, research has shown that AIDS was contracted by humans by eating monkey brains. Now monkey brains may taste great, but that lends a whole new meaning to the phrase, "I'll give you some head to die for!"

I think I'll have a side of Yeti milk to go with my Bigfoot. Assuming Yeti's breastfeed that is...

From left:
Jeanne, Michael (Executive Chef), Tim (owner of Tantra & Afterglo)


Looook...loooook into my boobs.....you are getting....sleeeeeeeepy