6 Quotes by Jessica Tom

We just watched the egg. At first, it seemed like it'd be okay. But then a crack wiggled its way from the bottom to the top, and the insides took their cue, oozing out with a definitive blurp."My, my," Pascal said.We watched as the white spread fast and loose, while the bright orange yolk moved with purpose, like a paramecium."Kinda sexy, no?" he remarked, more to the egg than to me, but I blushed four thousand degrees anyway.Oh. My. God.

Next, we moved to dessert with a bite of berry torte, passed out in shallow bowls meant for sauce."There are over fifteen individually prepared components in this," Matthew started."And you must know them all!" Jake added.Matthew cleared his throat. "The important ones are: berry cake, chia seed brittle, mint-honey glaze, preserved orange peel, burnt sugar whipped cream, almond tuiles, almond-Riesling gelato, and rose meringues. Then everything is set ablaze with bay leaf-infused brandy.

The waiter returned with a pre-appetizer amuse-bouche, a soup spoon filled with diced radishes, shortbread crumbs, and a black pepper gastrique. After the waiter left, Michael Saltz said, "They're trying. Hard."The radishes had been pickled, articulating their peppery bite and giving them a sharpened edge. The shortbread grounded the bite with a bready, buttery mouthful and the black pepper-vinegar sauce finished it with an elegant and seductive wisp of sweet, salty, and spicy.

Beef with raw quail egg tasted elegant and savage, perfect with some delicate pickled chives, slicked close like veins. Bluefish came slashed with a streak of hot oil that blistered the flesh in a caramel-colored scar. The herring was paired with a curried goat cheese curd with blueberry jam. The duck breast arrived sliced like sashimi, with a smear of fresh American horseradish.

I had only tasted bite-size Chinese-style short ribs at home, so I was surprised that Matthew's cuts were much bigger and that the meat melted into the kale in the sultry, complete way cheese melts into pasta. The apple cider gave the dish a sweetened edge, somehow making the short ribs and kale more comfortable with their match.

Hey, Tia," he said.He remembered my name. Now I felt like that ostrich egg, rolling around, oozing goo. He whistled slightly as he spoke, a part of his accent that made him seem like he was whispering something to me and only me.