VOLT: Table 21

My last visit to VOLT restaurant was a pleasant experience that I wanted to go back again. Also, not-so-good experience at The Dining Room by the other Voltaggio, I started wonder if I've missed anything from my last visit to VOLT. I was planning a special birthday dinner so I thought to make a visit. I've tried regular tasting menu last time so I wanted to try Table 21. Table 21 started last December to celebrate Chef Bryan's Birthday. It is 21 course menu with in-the-kitchen dining experience where Chef Bryan personally prepares dishes. When I called, the wait for the table is exactly one year from now. There used to be only four seats but they expanded to eight seats this spring. I was very fortunate to know couple people so I didn't have to wait for a year to try Table 21.

While we were waiting for the table, we waited at the bar and enjoyed creative drinks.

We got seated shortly after. Here is table setting:


Our first dish.

"nitro" mint lemonade
crown royal, strawberry foam
more like a cocktail, served in a martini glass with a whipped foam made from liquid nitrogen. It tastes strawberries with bitter undertone of crown royal. It was tasty, light, and refreshing.

Prosciutto
chips & dip
This is a signature of the Table21 menu. Freeze-dried prosciutto was very crispy like potato chips and a creamy dip tastes like sour cream and mashed potatoes. Salty flavor and light creamy potato tastes were harmonious. I wish I can have these for football season!

little glance of Chef while we wait for the next dish.

ruby beet
macaroon foie gras
It had light and subtle character with the foie gras burst forth as macaroon melts in the mouth. Best singular bite. Excellent.

yellowfin tuna tartare
cilantro, jasmine rice, soy, yuzu, avocado
This was another excellent dish. Tuna tartare is almost cliched today and it get's very boring these days at good restaurants. But this dish very very creative. The yellowfin is wrapping in jasmine rice gelee with wasabi roe and soy air all together with the avocado mousse. I think I can eat this everyday!

Another picture of Chef preparing our dish.

yellow corn chowder
crab, cucumber, coconut
I forgot to take a picture before but server pours cool corn soup before you. It was interesting to try cool corn soup with sweetness from crab meat. Little hints of coconut and hibiscus balance out rest of the ingredients.

Some bread. Don't forget to ask for the bread. They bake bread every 30 minutes and breads are so warm and fresh.

tomato tasting
mozzarella, frozen olive oil
Unlike typical tomato and mozzarella dish, this dish was very creative. Mozzarella was so soft that it almost didn't have that cheese texture. Frozen olive oil infused with cheese taste had very unique texture.

"chicken parmesan"
parmesan noodles, opal basil
Think of classic parmigiana, but without tomato sauce and parmesan "noodles" substituted for mozzarella. The chicken was so tender, savory and succulent. It was also crispy in a way like chicken nugget but very fancy version. Everything worked very well.

cherry glen farm ravioli
mitake mushroom, goat cheese
The goat cheese wasn't overwhelming as it was very savory and the flavors from the sage air balanced the heaviness of goat cheese. The mushrooms also added an earthy flavor to the dish.

lobster
butter, garlic, sunchoke, fennel
I really liked this dish. It might have to do with my love for crab/lobster but I thought this dish was very classic where Chef used sweet and briny Maine lobster with butter on the side. The sunchoke broth and fennel compensated the lobster very well.

black bass
english pea, yellow corn
The fish was firm and flaky fresh. The sweetness from yellow corn balanced out the salty fish while peas gave earthiness.

artic char
red onion, potato, cucumber, chive
This dish could have been better if fish was cooked little longer. Char is very similar to salmon where flesh is soft, salty, and succulent. So, it should've been cooked in a way to enjoy a delectably crisp, saporous skin.

skate
cauliflower, ver jus
Another favorite dish of mine. Skate was seared nicely to light brown with soft and moist inside. Mashed cauliflower was little to boring to me but good skate made everything better.

sweetbread
fennel, kalamata olive, caper, lemon
Sweetbread was just ok for me. It was interesting to see the use of kalamata olives which it gives meatlike taste with smooth texture. This blended well with smooth texture of sweetbread with giving earthy taste of olives.

tuscarora farm beets
upland cress, balamic
The organic beets are served sliced and the tangy goat cheese with the spicy flavor of the cress were well balanced.

whitmore farm 63 degree hen egg
crisp oyster root, summer truffle "ravigote"
An organic egg from local Maryland farm cooked in 63 degrees. No salt is needed as oyster root gave saltiness and truffle gave a distinct flavor to the dish. A fancy version of poached egg.

border spring farm lamb tasting
ratatouille
Lamb loin, roasted and braised, with spinach, kalamata olive, squash, and a ratatouille of fennel, red pepper, and eggplant gelees. Lamb loin was tender but it was little hard to cut into due lack of proper cutting knife. The braised preparation was so tender that it barely requiring any chewing.

pineland farm strip loin
chantrelle mushrooms
beef was delectably salty with dark flavors of the chantrelle mushrooms aiding the dish. small portion of mashed potatoes moderated the interaction of other flavors.

point reyes blue cheese
almond, apple, balsamic
It was good to see that Chef is constantly experimenting with different ingredients. The cheese was shaved in angles to present its pungent disposition. I thought of Jordan Kahn's creations when I saw this. Blue cheese is my least favorite cheese due to its strong flavor but green apple sponge gave a subtle tartness along with marcona almond butter in the middle. The balsamic added tangy counterpoint. This would be a perfect cheese course if you are a blue cheese lover.

goat cheese cake
blueberry, macona almond
I loved this! A goat cheesecake, paired with almond crumble, stewed sour blueberries, and blueberry sorbet. The cheesecake was very savory with the sour-sweetness of the blueberries, and a little touch of nuttiness by almond.

apricot bavarian
blackberry sorbet, lemon balm
Similar dish as previous one. The sweet apricot flavor is followed by sour-sweet blackberry sorbet.

Kona Coffee
VOLT serves different types of coffee and I ordered Kona for next dish.

texture of chocolate
caramel, chocolate ice cream
Here is Voltaggios's signature chocolate ganache, which he showed off during Top Chef. It was sweet but not overly sweet and the bits of raw cacao adds little bitterness to the dessert. Also it was pleasure to find a creamy texture in the mouth. The chocolate ice cream also worked well with the ganache.

chocolates, candies, and macaroons
a quartet of mignardises: milk chocolate with powder cacao, almond macaroon, madeleine, and raspberry pate de fruits.

We were also provided with poppy seed pound cake to take home.

From start to finish, Table 21 proved to be an amazing gastronomic experience. It was very nice to see how Votlaggio transformed contemporary classic American cooking to sophisticated dishes. He experimented with different methods and flavor combination, yet his cooking showed traditional and fundamental technique. I really hope I don't have to wait a year to try Table21 again.
I had a chance to talk to Voltaggio during the meal and after. It was nice to know that he remembered me from my last visit in January. I told him about my experience at The Dining Room in California where his brother(Top Chef winner), Michael is the head chef. I informed Bryan that I didn't really enjoy my dining experience there and he wanted to take a picture with me and send it to his bother to say, "hey, you remember this guy?". Haha.. what a funny guy! =) He gave me his personal business card to contact him for any questions. I can't wait to go back.