The Presentation Playbook
Six restaurant professionals in Washington, D.C. share how they developed their distinct presentation styles.
Chef D’Angelo Mobley of La Jambe
Confit carrots, spice oil, gooseberry mostarda, dehydrated carrot crunch, Mimolette cheese, fermented butternut squash fluid gel, and chive
“The goal was to take several flavors I had recently been playing with and have them make sense aesthetically. I had orange components and I had yellow. Next was shapes, and I tend to lean towards dots. Lastly, I knew I needed a little contrast bringing out the chive—and voila, my carrot dish!”
Ice Maker Millie Petrović of The Ice Queen
Rose-shaped ice cube
“I wanted to freeze in a rose but it was not really working out. The flower was expensive, delicate, and more importantly… it did not look as good as it did on a cake. As the rose was dying in a melted cube, it created a silhouette that looked amazing! It took us probably seven months to create a press to ease the process—each one of the lines needed to be measured EXACTLY to enable us to make that press. Aside from maintaining the integrity of a cocktail with the quality of ice (odorless, tasteless, void of salt or any bacterial load) it adds to the attractiveness of a cocktail. And we like to keep it special, so it is only available now and then.”
Beverage Director Andra “AJ” Johnson of Serenata
The Coronado: Mamajuana-rested reposado tequila, house-made vermouth, TRÄ•KÁL, prickly pear juice, orange bitters, and Luxardo
“Coronado is meant to be a celebratory cocktail, so I really wanted to make sure that the color was vibrant and recognizable from across the bar in the very same way ordering a bottle of Champagne comes with a level of fanfare. Coronado translates to crown, so cutting a crown was definitely one of the first things that came to my mind for a garnish, and lemon was the best fruit to accompany the rest of the ingredients. Choosing complementary flavors to accompany your drinks are all a part of creating a great cocktail. By using the two-by-two cube, we are able to control that dilution while also being able to create a visual for the guest with our Serenata logo imprinted on the top of the ice."
Chef Ryan Ratino of Jônt
Chocolate cremeux, matcha semifreddo, meringue, and edible flower petals
“I have an affinity for matcha! With Nicole [Cabral], our pastry sous chef, we worked together to accomplish the various textures and representations of matcha and chocolate. It represents a small visual landscape of what you might see in the woods. A tiny meringue mushroom that’s toasted with binchotan, “soil” from chocolate shortbread, various flower garnishes, and underneath all of that are layers of matcha pastry cream and chocolate cremeux.”
Chefs Amy Phan and Zach Ramos of Ama Ami
Autumn Hassun Box: Persimmon and cod milt, Dashi-simmered spinach, Shimeji mushrooms and root vegetables; deep-fried salt-cured fish cake with sōmen noodles; and vinegar-cured sabazushi
“A Hassun course highlights seasonality from land to sea, utilizing local produce and seafood imported from Japan. ‘Goho,’ the five methods of washoku cooking are: ‘Nama,’ cutting; ‘Niru,’ simmering; ‘Yaku,’ grilling; ‘Musu,’ steaming; and ‘Ageru,’ deep-frying. We like to use nature to our advantage for garnishing, such as fallen leaves in the fall and finishing salts like ‘pa’akai’ sent from my family back home.”
Pastry Chef Nikkie Rodriguez of Moon Rabbit
Ginataang Bilo Bilo: Coconut soup, plantain, jackfruit, sticky rice balls, and tapioca ube purée
“The dish was really just a dessert soup with chunks of starchy ingredients and fruits. I had to think about how to turn it into something somewhat ‘fancy’. We collectively thought about textures and flavors to balance the dish. Chef Kevin [Tien] gave the idea of the sweet potato being like “spaghetti” or “pasta,” hence the swirly bits of the sweet potato. Then Chef Marco [Saldierna] gave me an idea of something crispy, so I changed the boiled plantains to fried. A lot of R&D happened to get this result with the help of other chefs.”
