Ripple – Local. Seasonal. Sustainable.

Nora here, guest posting for mom. Friday night we kicked off the Memorial Day holiday weekend with a pre-show dinner at Ripple. My husband, Michael, had a show at 7:30 pm, so he couldn’t join us, and that also meant we had just under two hours to do the restaurant justice.

I’m a sucker for locally grown food and sustainability, so right off the bat, Ripple had my favor. Our family is also huge believers in trusting that the restaurant staff knows a thing or two about what items on the menu are true standouts. With our limited timeframe, we decided to ask our server for his recommendations.

      

Thanks to the seasonal influence, the menu changes daily, and Friday’s menu was absolute perfection.

We started our meal off with cheese and charcuterie. Three of each and all handpicked by our server. The sampling included chevre, cheddar, winnimere, prosciutto, pate and sulumi.

Then, for our second course we each had a salad or soup:
– composed seasonal vegetable salad, goat yogurt, black cardamom
– red russian kale, anchovy dressing, smoked char, pickled potato, cous cous
– sorrel vichyssoise, smoked ricotta, apple, speck, lemon

For our main course, mom and dad went for small game, and I opted for fish:
– nettle-stuffed quail, corned tongue, fennel purée, ramps, panisse, radishes
– local rabbit with asparagus mousse and morels (Mom couldn't resist ordering 'rabbit')
– roasted halibut, prosciutto, pickled farro, fingerling potatoes, onion emulsion

Finally, for dessert we grabbed ice cream sandwiches from Ripple’s storefront market, Sugar Magnolia. Mom and I shared the more traditional Ripple Chocolate Chip Cookie with Vanilla Malt Ice Cream. And the always adventurous Dad had the Waffle Cookie with Maple Bacon Ice Cream; a unique experience but probably not something he would order again.

Named for the Grateful Dead song, Ripple was a perfect dinner to kick off a weekend of celebrating our country and the sacrifices that have been made along the way.

“Reach out your hand if your cup be empty,
If your cup is full may it be again,
Let it be known there is a fountain,
That was not made by the hands of men.”