University of Minnesota College of Design
Steven Brown, Tilia (Minneapolis)
Chef Brown recounted one of his most vivid food memories at Fat Duck, outside of London. With the Red Cabbage Gazpacho and Grainy Mustard Ice Cream, Chef Heston Blumenthal played with imagery, color, and the experience of surprise. The theatrical presentation of the soup inspired the way Tilia serves their butternut squash dish.
The waiter pours this absolutely magenta-colored broth around this tiny quail egg, and explains that it’s a red cabbage gazpacho and that the egg is, in fact, grainy mustard ice cream. It really surprised you in a lot of ways because, first, it wasn’t what you thought it was, and second, there was this really unbelievable, otherworldly color that came out of this pouring vessel which you couldn’t see, and then when you ate it it was harmonious and perfect, in every sense of the word. It was a moment for me that is really indelible. To me that was the gold standard of what people’s food experiences can be.
Restaurant: Fat Duck photo: Lennard Yeong
Steven Brown, Tilia (Minneapolis)
When first creating this butternut squash soup, Chef Brown knew he wanted to reimagine the classic dish as a surprising dining experience. He began with a satisfying and traditional flavor combination of bacon, maple syrup, and butternut squash, then manipulated each ingredient into a new and unusual form. The bacon mixture is aerated with nitrous oxide, the maple syrup is spherified using agar-agar and hydrochloride, and butternut squash is finely shredded and deep fried. The bowl is presented, room temperature, to the table before the waiter dramatically pours a pitcher of hot soup over the three elements, and adds sage-infused olive oil from a dropper. As the diner combines the soup, the bacon foam and maple syrup spheres slowly dissolve into the mixture, leaving the crunchy squash as texture. Though the experience is unexpected, the resulting taste is still familiar and timeless.
Diane Yang, La Belle Vie (Minneapolis)
Designed to showcase a world-class chocolate product, this dessert is built from stacked geometric forms that play with temperature, texture, and “pop” culture references. When her assistant walked into work with a cherry soda, Chef Yang was inspired to use cola as a light, sweet, and refreshing accent to a dark chocolate and cherry combination. After successfully reducing dried cherries in cola, she experimented with using the classic American beverage in a sorbet before settling on a slightly creamy sherbet. The chilled mound of sherbet is balanced by warm chocolate soufflés dusted with cocoa nibs and powdered sugar, while the surprisingly soft block of chocolate ganache is accented by crisp wands of cherry meringue. The dessert is topped with chocolate spirals, created by swirling tempered chocolate into ice water.
Stewart Woodman, Heidi's (Minneapolis)
Rather than using the classic technique of rolling and slicing foie gras, Chef Woodman freezes the pâté mixture and gently forms it into a fragile undulating form. Its shape is reminiscent of contemporary architectural façades or a Richard Serra sculpture, and dramatically collapses as the material warms. Flower petals and grass-like greens give the dish the appearance of an object within a colorful landscape, and the foie gras’ delicate earthy flavor is balanced by the sweet tang of dried cherries and date purée.
Diane Yang, La Belle Vie (Minneapolis) This light intermezzo, a refreshing palate-cleansing course between dinner and dessert, is a tribute to apple season in the upper Midwest. Chef Yang has prepared Haralson apple in three ways, piercing a chilled sorbet with dehydrated apple spikes, and setting it on a mound of compressed apple chunks. The seasonal flavor is continued through a muted palette of rose tones, and punctuated by deep red amaranth leaves that are evocative of fall. Like tree branches, tall apple chip pillars extend upward from the tilted glass vessel, which cups the sorbet like an offering or specimens in a terrarium. When working with apple, citrus juice is used to prevent oxidization and browning. Yang extends this association by encircling the apple elements with a foamy lime espuma, which balances the dish with a bright tangy flavor.
Steven Brown, Tilia (Minneapolis)
A hearty entrée served with carrots, marinated kohlrabi, and a Choron sauce, Chef Brown arranges the bison into a plate that is both controlled and haphazard. The visual effect is of a natural formation, with delicantly layered pink masses and orange limbs that create tiny crevices and hidden pools. As the dish is eaten, small nondescript chunks of kohlrabi are exposed, offering a surprising punch of flavor.
Stewart Woodman, Heidi's (Minneapolis)
Accentuated with roasted pork, sesame powder, and rice wine vinaigrette, Heidi’s Tuna Tartare is served in a Japanese custard pot reflective of its inspiration and flavor profile. Originally a deconstructed arrangement of elements on a plate, Chef Woodman and his staff discovered that the user experience of assembling ingredients into bites wasn’t successful. As a result of this observation, they experimented with reconstructing the dish into a single spherical vessel. Not only does this combine ingredients and flavors in a random pattern, but it requires the diner to “dig” into the mixture through a small opening, giving it the satisfying sensation of a treasure hunt.
Steven Brown, Tilia (Minneapolis)
"I believe in recording the process and keeping track of things. We ask all of the cooks to carry around a moleskine and write down ideas. Then, when we have strategy meetings and we’re trying to decide certain things, people can say “remember when we talked about this?” These moments of inspiration, if not brought forth in that moment, at least have the opportunity to get that discussion in a way that is not making our guests be the guinea pigs."
Stewart Woodman, Heidi's (Minneapolis)
In this dish, Chef Woodman places the silverware down on a certain location to the plate to suggest a starting point for the experience. The dish is designed to make the customer/user/consumer feel immersed in a whimsical garden. Roasted fennel has been transformed into “dirt” and edible flowers, carrot tops and baby cilantro are arranged with tweezers around the plate to balance the composition. The customer/user/consumer is encouraged to play with the food by pulling from the compressed, slow cooked, layered carrot monolith and mixing it with the carrot gel, carrot powder, beet powder, and lemon sorbet. This dish is not fully deconstructed, but is deconstructed enough to allow for some variety in each bite. Chef Woodman and his team have designed a novel, immersive edible experience on a plate by taking into account principles of interaction design, graphic design, architecture and product design.