Leg of Beast dinner at Incanto

You know how when you watch a reality show, you really want someone to win, and you get super happy when the person you've been cheering for since the first episode actually wins? That was what happened to me! On the last season of Top Chef Masters, Chris Cosentino (the executive chef of Incanto) won. He's best known for cooking offal (the "unwanted" parts of animals, such as the organs) and his lack of waste--as in, using every part of an ingredient in a dish. Incanto offers special dinners called the Leg of Beast, which you can reserve for six to eight people. Basically, you get a couple of appetizers, a braised beef shank, various side dishes, and a dessert. It's $55 per person, which is pricy, but a good deal considering the quality of food you're getting as well as the dining experience.

Our appetizers were a salad and charcuterie (various cured meats). The salad was really simple and refreshing and something you'll want to load up on in anticipation of all the heavy food to come. The best item among the charcuterie was the pate; however, it's not for everybody, because it does have a very strong taste of liver. But if you like something stronger and the taste of organ meats (it sounds very strange, but they are very good) you'll like this a lot.

The side dishes included roasted carrots and cannelini beans with tendon. The roasted carrots were quite nice, and it's mixed with carrot tops and comes with a carrot top pesto underneath. I love that the chef uses every part of the carrot, but my complaint about this dish is that it's very hard to eat properly. The carrots and carrot tops together form a little jungle, and so it's very difficult to get the pesto underneath that tangle without making something drop onto the table--I know, five second rule, but it's still a little icky. I also didn't see anyone eat the carrot tops, so it would've been nice to get more pesto than the actual stems. The cannelini beans, on the other hand, were nothing special. I appreciate that the chef really used every part of the cow's leg, and incorporated the tendon in this dish, but, come on, it was cannelini beans. It also tasted so heavily of rosemary and sage that it completely masked any flavor from the tendon.

The actual leg of beast looks really impressive; once you're all done taking pictures, your server lifts the bone and the meat just falls off--that's how tender it is. Then, you just pour some reduced braising liquid on top. I don't feel like it's the most unique braised beef dish ever, but it is really well done, and it just feels extra special, given the context under which you're eating it (straight off the leg of a cow).

You also get one bone marrow each, which you can scrape onto a piece of bread or eat it on its own. This is where an appreciation for fat is required, since bone marrow is pure fat. Again, this dish is not for everyone. My boyfriend is extremely sensitive to something called xing wei (there's no English word for it; Google Translate tells me it's "smell," so that's not helpful)--it's a very particular off-taste that some people are sensitive to, usually in things like shellfish and lamb. I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but it's like a sharp, raw note that's very unpleasant--you're very likely to have experienced this if you're a supertaster or very sensitive to smells. Anyway, my boyfriend says that the bone has that flavor, and the marrow just leaches it out.

I am a dessert lover and critic, and I was quite disappointed with the dessert options for Leg of Beast. There was a panna cotta and a blueberry semolina cake. The panna cotta was nice and creamy, but it was just super basic. The blueberry semolina cake, however, was just an upside down blueberry muffin. While I was eating it, I found it very odd that the bottom was a little rounded. I turned it over, and what do you know, it was a muffin. The cake itself tasted good, and I don't think I would've minded so much if they didn't seem so deceptive. However, I really was expecting some more ambitious desserts.

Throughout the meal, we could see the chef, and I was peeking at him like a fangirl and checking for food in my teeth just in case he came to our table. Finally, two of our friends went to tell him that I wanted to meet him. He's really nice and funny, and introduced himself as Bobby Flay. Anyways, I got a picture with him and we're best friends now.

Chris Cosentino is so handsome, but this was really a bad picture day for me.

And, if you have more than eight people and a beef shank isn't enough... Incanto also offers "Whole Pig" dining. I get full just thinking about it, but it's a great option if you have a larger group.

Incanto

1550 Church Street

http://incanto.biz/