CHOW NOW: Vernick Food and Drink

A good restaurant will have a dish or two that stands out from the pack, but a great restaurant can leave you speechless with a single bite.

My meal at Vernick Food and Drink didn’t give me just one memorable bite—it delivered plate after plate of them.

We started off with an amuse bouche from the kitchen—a thick celery root soup topped with a dribble of chili oil with a petite gougère served alongside. The pastry was so savory I was glad it was the size of my fingernail, or I think the umami blast may have killed me.

Vernick offers a variety of creatively topped toasts served on fresh sourdough bread from Metropolitan Bakery. The rich and creamy chicken liver spread was the perfect counterpoint for the sticky sweet dots of red onion jam splashed on top of ours.

Next came the uni—sea urchin shipped fresh from Santa Barbara. A warm dollop of salty sea urchin came nestled in a pillow of airy foamed yogurt, all placed on top of a rich, smooth bed of scrambled eggs flavored with briny shrimp butter. It was rich, salty, savory, and light all at the same time.

But the braised lamb shank is the dish I’ll never forget. The meat was rich, tender, and not fatty in the slightest. It came served with creamy white polenta—just grainy enough to give it a satisfying toothiness—and was sprinkled with salty and crunchy pistachio bits. The exterior of the lamb was charred and sticky sweet—dripping with beads of savory meat juice.

As we left, our waitress delivered us two American-style coconut macarons each about the size of a dime. The fact that I don’t have a picture of them should tell you all you need to know about how good they were.

So CHOW NOW at Vernick Food and Drink!

-Chase Matecun