Smalley’s at Libertine - September 30, 2015
Libertine has been hosting these whole animal dinners for a few months. I missed the first one which featured pig. The second one was lamb and was guest cheffed by the amazingly talented spice and flavor master, Sameh Wadi of Saffron and World Street Kitchen fame, it was really good. When Libertine posted that the next dinner was going to be goat, and that the guest chefs were going to be Shawn Smalley and Tim McKee helping out Steve Hesse. A couple of my food friends had gone to Smalley’s in Stillwater and highly recommended it. After my lamb experience, I couldn’t miss the boat on the goat.
These meals are served family style with the chefs giving a description of each wave of dishes as they’re put on the table, ready to share.
The first wave is most similar to appetizers.
Caribbean Goat Jerky with toasted coconut and chile dipping sauce. This was a good jerky, very flavorful, but I question if jerky is a good meal component if it’s not ground up or shredded and reconstituted. I wouldn’t have minded seeing this as a take home item.
Cucumber & Celery Salad with braised goat and chili oil. This was great, a good variety of textures, flavors, and the first indication there was going to be some heat in this meal.
Goat Cheese Fundito with plantain chips and chorizo. This is the winner of this wave. My dining companions and I couldn’t stop eating this. Great flavors, textures, and comfort.
Second wave, similar to a secondi course in Italian dining.
Jamaican Jerk Sausage with rum chutney. The texture on these were great, the chutney was awesome with a little heat and lots of flavor, a little more spice in the sausage would have been welcome.
Curried Goat Roti. This dish was raved about to me by my friends. I couldn’t wait for it. It lives up to the hype. Be careful though, you’ll be eating around bones.
Jamaican Patties with mannish water broth. Reminds me of empanadas, in a good way. Flavorful filling, good chew on the dough, and the broth was great.
Third wave
Bourbon Beach Jerk Ribs. Great. Lots of deep flavors, good texture, substantial heat. If I’d had a mango lassi to quell some burn, I’d have ate all of them.
Broiled Goat Chops with dried mango and lime. Flavors are on point but the texture wasn’t there for me.
Coconut Rice and Beans. Yeah, so good. You get me a soft egg and some mannish water broth, maybe some caramelized goat and it might compete with WSK’s Yum Yum Bowl.
Roasted Yams with Caramelized Goat. This was great. Good flavors and textures.
Grilled Sweet Corn with Rum-Jalapeño Butter. Not quite elote, but really good nonetheless. I could eat a fair number of these and be happy.
Dessert
Pineapple Rum Upside Down Cake with Goat Crème fraîche. This smelled and looked heavenly. The creme was awesome, creamy and tart with just a touch of sour, I want to put it on lots of things. The cake was another matter; it had awesome flavor, the pineapple was nicely caramelized, but the cake itself was quite dry, it could have gone with a soak (sweetened goat milk or pineapple juice?) to up the moisture, similar to what Christina Tosi does at Milk Bar for their cakes.
Overall a very enjoyable meal that definitely has me curious enough to check out Smalley’s in Stillwater.