The Lodge at Castle Hills

On Saturday, John and I went to The Lodge at Castle Hills. The Lodge is Jason Dady's first restaurant. It's in an old mansion, just like the name implies. The Lodge is more about tasting menus and New American food.

We started with a bottle of wine, of course. We got there a little early and drank some wine. Right after we sat down, we saw our old DUK friend, Josh, who had been our waiter for DUK. We said hello and asked him a bit about Insignia, the next Jason Dady restaurant in The Fairmount. I've never been to The Fairmount, but I follow them on Twitter (twitter.com/TheFairmount) just to see photos of their resident dog, Luke. Once Insignia opens, I can go eat and see Luke! That may not seem like a good time to you, but I love both food and dogs, together (though not together on a plate).

Anyway. Where was I?

Oh yes. The Lodge. Hey, don't you like our new haircuts? We both got our hairs cut on Saturday. We felt especially good-looking on Saturday. Hopefully that comes through in the photo.

Crap, I have to stop with the tangents. OK, The Lodge. We got a bottle of Shiraz because we love bold red wines. The evening started with a palate cleanser cocktail, strawberry and basil with fennel seeds on the rim. Nice and refreshing. Then there was salmon and pumpernickel, which tasted like lox and cream cheese. In a good way.

(I forgot to take photos of the first half of this meal, so please just envision the food in your head.)

Bread!

Then came a scallop on brioche. I love buttery brioche and scallops. John and I discussed how it is the scallop's fate to always be on the menu, because they are one of the few seafoods that are both delicious and headless. Poor, poor scallop.

Next was a turnip and yukon gold bisque with a dollop of marscapone in it. Creamy and velvety, this bisque was delicious and had a nice tartness from the turnips.

Then, duck confit with oriechette and parmesan. Oriechette is John's favorite pasta. I like it too, even though it reminds me of tiny diaphragms. Or tiny sailor hats. We;ll go with sailor hats. This pasta was surprisingly light, given the duck. I love confits of any kind.


OK, here's where I finally started to take some photos. Doesn't this look good? Foie gras with strawberries and basil, dots of balsamic vinegar and more brioche for spreading. So creamy and delicious! I could eat this every day, diets be damned.

Dark shot of rabbit wrapped in bacon, surrounded by mushrooms and carrots. The waitress explained that the carrots and mushrooms are there because that's what rabbits eat. How clever is that? I tried not to think too much about the idea of an animal being surrounded by everything it eats. I only hope that rabbit was satisfied with being united with carrots and mushrooms in my stomach. This dish tasted like autumn to me, because of the meaty, warm flavors.

Quail with salsa on a bed of "farrotto," which is farro cooked like risotto. See, this is why I like Jason Dady's food. He's always experimenting with foods, offering different menus, trying out different flavors, challenging his customer's palates. Would you have thought to cook farro like risotto? I wouldn't.

The farrotto was cooked with bleu cheese. I love all cheese and bleu cheese in particular. Some people don't like the way bleu cheese punches you in the face with the flavor and pungency, but I love it. So I was surprised at how subtle the bleu cheese flavor was. Delightfully subtle.

Dessert of nutella and dark chocolate cake with peanut butter mousse. John and I were quite full at this point, but could you pass this up?

Oh, and then a macademia nut chocolate truffle. Because we needed more food. Obviously.

All in all, it was a delightful meal and a delightful way to spend a Saturday night. The Lodge has been named one of the most romantic restaurants in San Antonio, and it's easy to see why with the small dining rooms, cozy accents, and lots of wine.

After all this food, I had to go lay on my couch and moan.

Thanks to our waiter Todd for keeping us wined and dined, Josh for saying hello, all of the other staff for doing what they do, all of the kitchen staff for the delicious food, and Chef Jason Dady for letting us explore our palates!

Underground Kitchen

WARNING: DELICIOUSNESS AHEAD
Side effects include intense hunger, envy, jealousy, and eating.

Friends, I will never be the same. I fear my life has reached its pinnacle already. I have peaked. Colors will never be as bright, birds not as joyful, food not as delicious, laughter not as loud.

Let me explain: Jason Dady cooked in my kitchen last night.

It all started weeks ago on Twitter. Jason Dady (@chefjasondady) said he was starting DUK, Dady Underground Kitchen, where he would come cook, in your kitchen, for you and 4 other couples. 10 people total. The menu would be a secret. We would provide the wine, a wine for each of the 5 courses.

So we assembled the DUK crowd - our usual dinner group (John and me, Kate and Sam, Casey and Jarret) and we asked our friend Beth and Jason, and Nicolette who brought her friend Vickie.

We cleaned the house. We bought fresh flowers. We gave everyone our address. And then we waited.

And then Jason Dady was here!


Here are some facts about Jason Dady: he has Tre Trattoria, The Lodge, Bin 555, and Two Brothers BBQ. He is really tall. He will give you a hard time. He makes magical meals.

Let's see him cooking again, shall we?


Jason Dady came with a helper, Josh. Josh didn't talk much, but he kept our glasses full.

Jason Dady announced that the first course would be out of things he found in our fridge. I was struck with fear, because we hadn't gone shopping the previous weekend because we were in Cleveland. I was afraid he would be forced to make something out of frozen bacon and pudding.

But he came up with a bruschetta with cheese, leeks, and peaches.

He also made some popcorn with butter and smoked paprika for a snack.

Then came more appetizers. This is chorizo with Nutella and olive oil. Gotta admit, we were dubious, but it was fucking delicious. From now on, that's how I eat chorizo.

Who doesn't love meatballs? If you count, you'll see that there are 12 meatballs for 10 people. I ate one of the extras, and Sam ate the other one.


Jason Dady gave us the menu for the night. I look insane here because I saw that it said "ohmypuddin" at the top. OMG, that's meeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

That's Josh there in the background, looking for some wine to pour.


FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGS!

With goat cheese, honey, balsamic vinegar, and proscuitto. Oh man, it was good.

Crusted scallop in a bed of forbidden rice corn and peas, and the most delicious tomato beurre blanc in the world. Seriously. I would leave John for that sauce. I love you, sauce!

I think this is when I started getting really drunk. 10 bottles of wine for 10 people. Cmon. I'm only 5'2".
Rabbit head-to-toe. Or, as Jason Dady calls is, head-to-fluffy-tail. Rabbits are adorable, and delicious. There's also some celery bulb puree and japanese eggplant.


Kate dreams about the crostada she had at Tre Trattoria. Dreams. Every day. Sam (not so subtly) hinted to Jason Dady that he wanted a crostada, so he got one. This is a nectarine crostada. Remember my onion goggles? Jason Dady wore them for me! ZOMG!

Also for your amusement:


No, I did not actually eat this butter. I only pretended to.


I am such a dork, I made everyone sign my menu. Jason Dady wrote, "Explore your palate!"

I would like to thank my fellow DUK-ers, John, Beth, Jason ("Pumpkin"), Kate, Sam, Casey, Jarret, Nicolette, and Vickie, for being awesome and enjoying this experience. Thanks to Casey and Jarret for watching Buster so he wouldn't go berserk, and for loaning us the table and chairs. Thanks to John for all of the cleaning we did. Muchos gracias to the internets and Twitter for facilitating this. Thanks to Josh, for being patient and helping Jason Dady.

And the biggest thanks of all to Jason Dady, for cooking us dinner, being cool, wearing onion goggles, telling us stories, not mocking the food in our fridge, and drinking wine with us. Will you come cook for me all the time? Pretty please?

More photos on facebook and flickr. And don't forget to read Kate's account of the night on her blog, Sincerely Yours, Kate.