Jean Galton Kate Baldwin Christy Nordstrom

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GLOSSARY OF COOKING TERMS Brunoise: any food cut into a very tiny dice. How to do it: Cut vegetable into 1/8-inch-wide strips (use a mandoline for uniform slices). Stack three to four slices and cut lengthwise into 1/8-inch-wide sticks. Stack sticks (as many as you can easily hold) and cut crosswise into tiny dice. Chiffonade: finely cut thin strips of vegetables, most often referred to for cutting basil. How to do it: Stack greens and tightly roll. Holding the roll together, slice crosswise to form very thin ribbons. ________________ GADGETS TO HELP CREATE BEAUTIFUL PLATES Mandoline: a hand-operated slicing tool, used to cut firm vegetables and fruits into uniform slices, julienne and waffle cuts, in a variety of thickness. Silicone baking mat: a re-usable baking mat, made of heat-resistant silicone, that lines a cookie-sheet—prevents cookies and other baked goods from sticking. Squeeze bottles: plastic bottles with fine tips used for garnishing plates with assorted squiggles and drops. Often, when a dot of sauce is placed on the plate, a toothpick is drawn through to lengthen or alter the dot. Stencils: used to make precisely shaped baked goods. Batter is spread into the stencil, baked and the stencil is removed. Toothpicks: used to trail and draw in sauce droplets. Used in conjunction with a plastic squeeze bottle. Tagine pots: shallow pots with conical tops, originally from North Africa. All-Clad makes individually sized tagines.

“You eat with your eyes first,” says Tyler Hefford-Anderson, chef of Opal Restaurant. Whether that’s true or not, presenting food is a complicated subject, one that professional cooks spend a lot of time pondering. Ask a chef how to make food look interesting and appealing, and he or she will have plenty of ideas. Those range from a carefully constructed plate to food presented au naturel. And while many of their techniques require advanced culinary skills, they shared with us a few simple tips on making food look great.

Starting at the avant-garde end of the spectrum is Opal’s Hefford-Anderson, who favors trendy, component-built presentations. “We do contemporary Northwest food,” he explains. “We look for fun, height and interest in everything.” Opal’s oversize white plates are highly designed, each holding a selection of foods for diners to taste, consider and admire. Crispy, tall and sculptural garnishes include long parsnip peelings and dried wands of vanilla pods. Perfectly trailed droplets (made with sauces “painted” out of squeeze bottles) add color, and miniature rounds of caramelized pineapple or black-pepper crackers (painstakingly cut with tiny cookie cutters) add substance and flavor.

You could attempt this at home, given the time and tools, but an easier project, which takes far fewer hours, is making some of Hefford-Anderson’s beautiful little tuile cookies using just a silicone baking mat and a fun stencil. The chef cuts out a long, narrow rectangle to spread the batter in, bakes it and then drapes the cookie strip (still hot) over the base of a bottle. The cookie forms a beautiful circular wisp that holds its shape when cooled. Use it to garnish a bowl of chocolate ice cream, and you’ll knock the socks off your dinner guests.

Enter The Harvest Vine in Madison Valley, and you’ll find a completely different take on presentation. “I believe in the simplicity of the plate,” says chef Joseba Jiménez de Jiménez. “With good knife skills, a squeeze bottle and a toothpick, you can do wonders.” Jiménez looks at the color, size and proportion of the food and then plates it accordingly. “We have a lot of different-shaped plates—four to five different-shaped plates always, always white or mostly white to reinforce the color of the food.”

Jean Galton provides the tricks to beautiful clams with saffron confetti broth. The Harvest Vine shares their recipe for Marinated Mussels.

In Jiménez’ marinated mussels recipe, the mussels are cooked, shelled and marinated, then make their appearance nestled on cushions of lettuce cut into a fine chiffonade. He decorates each plate with drizzles from squeeze bottles filled with the mussel marinating liquid. Note: Learning to do a beautiful chiffonade takes practice.

At Lark on Capitol Hill, chef John Sundstrom’s small plates have a more rustic and natural effect. “We’re precise in our slicing, [and all of] our vegetables, meat and fish are portioned. But we use a lot of cast iron and individual pots to help make a more dramatic presentation. For instance, take osso buco [a classic Italian veal shank braise]. It’s dull looking on its own, but presented in its own rustic container, it’s much more special. And when you take the lid off, people are very entertained.”

If you want to try Sundstrom’s approach at home, invest in small individual serving pieces. Try his lamb tagine and serve the dish in small tagine pots. When your fellow diners take off the lids on their very own little dishes, the aroma of the stew will be the first thing to tantalize. When they peek inside the tagines, the lamb will take over.

In the end, you can’t forget that the charms of Lark, The Harvest Vine and Opal rest in the entire restaurant, including the way the food looks and tastes. No one can ignore beautiful décor, sensual lighting, a fabulous wine list and a properly trained wait staff. But you can replicate some of this at home, especially when you have a few of their fabulous recipes and a selection of their culinary tricks. And don’t forget the great bottle of wine.

The Harvest Vine, 2701 E. Madison St., (206) 320-9771
Lark, 926 12th Ave., (206) 323-5275
Opal Restaurant, 2 Boston St., (206) 282-0142

More restaurants known for their presentation:
0/8 Seafood Grill, 900 Bellevue Way N.E., Ste. 100, Bellevue, (425) 637-0808
Rover’s Restaurant, 2808 E. Madison St., (206) 325-7442

TRICKS OF THE TRADE As avid home cooks, we would love for the food we serve at dinner parties to rival that of five-star restaurants. But with current trends in food presentation—vertical, gravity-defiant appetizers, for example—competing with restaurant chefs seems an unfair match. For tips on how to make food look appealing, even if you don’t have a diploma from Le Cordon Bleu, we asked Seattle Homes & Lifestyles’ food stylist Christy Nordstrom to share some of her tricks for making food look great. She says she’s found the key to amazing presentation is making sure food is perfect from the beginning. When cooking at home, Nordstrom does most of the work at the grocery store. “I go to where the ingredients are, and then I compose,” she says. This means looking for the freshest ingredients and paying attention to flavors, colors and textures. Colors shouldn’t clash, and dishes should represent both crisp and soft textures. Use the right equipment, and the payoff will be in the end result, Nordstrom advises. The stylist for photo shoots, restaurant displays and other food services says she can’t live without a lettuce spinner (crucial for fresh, leafy vegetables); good, sharp knives; a roomy cutting area with several boards for different purposes; a timer; a garlic press; and a microplane shredder. Nordstrom also suggests taking a cue from the French, who are known for their art, and using the concept of mise en place (everything in place) to avoid reaching for ingredients in the midst of cooking. “Enhancing your food also means enhancing your life,” Nordstrom says. “Get away from boxed, stored food and start eating seasonally and buying locally.” —Lauren Palmer