16 Dec A Secret Supper Club! Experience INTRO Art Gallery & Chef’s Table
A brick facade along Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood is what you are looking for. From the outside, it is a non-descript building. But step inside and this former dance studio has been converted into an art gallery and secret supper club. You have entered INTRO.
INTRO Art Gallery & Chef’s Table is a place where friends, artists and others come together to celebrate food and art and music. INTRO Art Gallery & Chef’s Table is created by Grammy Award winning sound engineer Manny Marroquin, General Manager Rob “Rob C” Ciancimino and Executive Chef Paul Shoemaker. Manny Marroquin owns Larrabee Studios just next door. And just on the other side of the dance studio, he is building a restaurant with a state of the art music system connected to the studio. They took over the dance studio and converted it to an office.
But while waiting to open the restaurant, Chef Paul was getting antsy. Chef Paul has worked at Alan Ducasse, French Laundry, Providence and Water Grill, as well as Savory, Firefly, and Joe Pytka’s Bastide, where he earned himself a Michelin star. He was eager to start cooking again. While awaiting the new restaurant, one day Rob C found Chef Paul outside cooking on a homemade grill and when asked what he was doing, Chef Paul responded, “You have to eat; I have to cook.” So Rob C and Manny took their office space, with its linoleum floors and dance bars, and gutted and painted the space. They repurposed wood found under the linoleum tiles and built a large long wooden table. They built a kitchen for the chef. They put art on the walls and INTRO Art Gallery & Chef’s Table was born.
Enter the space and you will be greeted by Rob C. Dressed from head to toe in a suit reminiscent of the 1920s and with a handlebar mustache turned upwards, he smiles as he hands you a glass of sparkling wine. The space is dimly lit and the long table extends down the center of the room. On the walls are painted canvases by featured artist Jens Schmidt.
Rob C will invite you to take a seat and the 12-course tasting menu will commence.
The MENU
COCKTAIL: Oyster, Champagne, Beet Juice Caviar, Passion Fruit Fizz, Bourbon Cider Liquid Rav and Cold Fever, Gin Tonic
AMUSE: Salmon Skin Chicharrone, Smoked Salmon Roe, Crème Fraiche and a Salmon Cone
AMUSE: Foie Gras, Truffle Mac-Daddy and Foie Gras Dime Bag
With truffles in season, they are a lovely addition to the foie gras macaron with caramelized apple butter. The foie gras dime bag is made with Japanese rice paper that dissolves in the mouth. Inside the bag is dry foie gras, cocoa nibs and puffed rice.
Black Olive Focaccia with Brown Butter
Bone Marrow Truffle Ravioli with Parmesan Reggiano
A single bite is what we were told to eat this because inside is liquid bone marrow that is pure pleasure.
Scallop with Baked Avocado, Yuzu Ponzu, Caviar, Smoked Sesame
The super fresh scallop is lightly torched and served with house-made ponzu that takes four days for Chef to make. Underneath is an avocado mousse and smoked sesame is sprinkled on top. Luckily this dish is served with chopsticks and a spoon so that you can slurp up the remaining broth of this incredible dish.
Butter Poached Maine Lobster with Coral Nage, Basil Soil
Perfectly under-cooked lobster that is buttery and melts in the mouth, it is served with coral roe and an basil soil.
Variation of Red Beets: Goat Cheese Crumbles, Mello, Candy Walnuts, Whipped Goat, Beet Macaron, Passion Fruit
Loved the beet marshmallow and the beet macaron. The passion fruit sauce adds a tart sweetness and there are pomegranate seeds that add a tart touch.
Pate A Choux Gnocchi: Smoked Maple Gel Pork Belly, Honey Packed Cranberries, Pine Nut Soil, Pig Skin
Pasta with Truffles: Truffle Fondue, Espuma and Fresh Truffle
The pasta is made on guitar strings and served simply with truffle and cream for a lightly decadent dish.
Monkfish with Persimmons, Bottarga, Reduction of Cocoa and Ginger
I liked the combination of cocoa and ginger with persimmons and with the meatiness of the monkfish. Rice puffs add a little texture.
Prime Hanger with Époisses, Potateo Fondue, Potato Chip Pistu, Sauce Bordelaise
Gold Mine: Passion Fruit, Macadamia, Strawberry Saffron Fluid Gel
A little gold nugget that is like laffy-taffy with intense tart sweetness from the passion fruit. It may look little but the flavor lasts on and on.
Dead Tree: Gianduja Ganacje, Brown Butter, Chocolate Trees
Based on a charred forest, this desert was created by Chef Ray Morales who was previously pastry chef at The Raymond in Pasadena.
Wine is included in the meal, from sparkling wine when you arrive to a white wine and a red wine to enjoy throughout the meal. At our dinner we enjoyed a Prosecco, followed by Yohan Lardy Beaujolais Villages Blanc Les Bruyeres 2015 and David Givaudan La Bete Cotes du Rhone.
Each month INTRO will feature a different artist and different wines.
INTRO Art Gallery & Chef’s Table serves dinner every Friday and Saturday evening at 7:30pm for a maximum of 20 people. Reservations are required. Twelve courses, as well as wine, are included for $125 all inclusive!
For more information and to make reservations at INTRO Art Gallery & Chef’s Table, please visit www.ExperienceIntro.com. Once a reservation is made, you will receive an email with instructions for the events.