The Foundry on Melrose
7465 Melrose Ave., Hollywood

We visited The Foundry on Wednesday night @ 7:30pm
Dish we will try to cook – Cauliflower Soup

Restaurant Visit
This was a special week for our blog because it was the first time we’ve had the opportunity to meet with the chef and discuss his dish. Chef Eric Greenspan absolutely loved the idea of our blog and was even open to leaving a comment about our post on The Foundry. As for the advice he gave us, “You’ll never get it.” Maybe not, but it will be fun to try!

The Foundry is a hidden gem tucked away in a part of Hollywood that you probably would not think to travel to for dinner. But if you’re up for a trip to a truly eclectic part of town, the effort will be well worth it. Walking in, you are met with the bar area of the restaurant where there is live music nightly. Further back, you see the main outdoor seating area, which is covered for the cooler weather and warmed with heat lamps. The design is both modern and classic with candles illuminating each table. The dark chairs and deep wood accents give the place a feel of old-world warmth.

Visiting on a Wednesday night, we were greeted with a smaller crowd of young, hip food lovers, which meant even more personal care and attention from the staff. We sat in the back patio area where it was a little cold, but not too bad. Our waitress was very friendly and informed us that the menu was brand new that night– they switch out the entire menu about every 3 months. You can order a la carte or they also have a tasting and a market menu. We ordered the market menu with the Cauliflower Soup (rapini/cheddar/gougéres) for the first course, Crispy Skin Salmon (romaine/fingerling potatoes/garlic cream) for the second course and a Blood Orange Bar (balsamic reduction/goat cheese ice cream) for dessert, $39/per person. Additionally, we ordered the Risotto of Asparagus and Lemon (asparagus in textures/black pepper zest/parmesan) and the Grilled Cheese (taleggio/raisin bread/aprico-caper puree with short ribs) off the Appetizer & Mid Course menu. As an added bonus, instead of the typical basket of bread for the table, we were presented with 3 different samples: tomato brioche, homemade focaccia with sauce, biscuits with garlic, honey butter.

There is not a single thing we ate that we wouldn’t recommend for everyone to order. All the dishes were a combination of sweet and salty, traditional with a bit of flair, and a mixture of textures in each bite. The soup and risotto were delivered first and while the soup itself was a silky, smooth cauliflower puree, it was the cheese éclairs that were surprising and fun. While you would expect grated cheese to garnish a soup, these were small éclairs that had been filled with a cheese mixture. The dish was placed on the table with the éclairs in the middle of the bowl and then cauliflower soup was poured in around them tableside. The risotto was equally delightful. Again, the dish was layered with textures and flavors, most noticeably the wedges of lemon that were sprinkled on top and a puree of asparagus we discovered at the bottom.

We enjoyed the crispy skin salmon and the grilled cheese as our main courses. The salmon was cooked to perfection and the skin was super crispy. Combining the salmon with the garlic cream and potatoes, Chef Eric Greenspan created a balanced and filling seafood dish. One bite of the grilled cheese and you’ll know why it won the 2008 Grilled Cheese Invitational. The salty taleggio balances well with the sweet apricot-caper puree and earthy raisin bread. The larger pieces of apricot were a nice surprise for the taste buds as well.

As if we couldn’t have been happier with our experience at The Foundry, the Blood Orange Bar sent us to foodie heaven. Even if you are not a fan of goat cheese, you will devour this dessert. The bar at the bottom was a warm, creamy bake similar to a lemon bar but without the lemon flavor. And it was the balsamic reduction that added the odd bit of surprise. You would not think these flavors would combine to create a satisfying dessert, but you will be proven wrong. And you may even order a second one just so you don’t have the share.

We will definitely find ourselves visiting The Foundry again, and it easily makes it onto our list of top restaurants. If you have not picked up on it yet, we absolutely loved our dinner. Chef Eric topped off the evening by greeted patrons at each table and asking how they were enjoying the food. He sat down and chatted with us for a few minutes about the restaurant itself and also some of his favorites around town. We hope to run in to him again at the Grilled Cheese Invitational in April.

Shopping
(prices reflect the cost of the package, not the portion we used.) The rest of the ingredients we already had in the kitchen.

Whole Foods-
Tillamook Cheddar, Medium $3.69
Brown Free Range Eggs, Carton $2.79
All Purpose Flour $2.99
White Ground Pepper $5.39
Broccoli Rabe, 1.37 lb. $4.10
Cauliflower, 2.75 lb. $6.85

Recipe
Below is our take on a cauliflower soup recipe.

Makes 4 servings.

Cauliflower Soup-

Medium pot of water
1 head of cauliflower florets
4 TBSP unsalted butter, approx. (3/4 TBSP at a time for blender)
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
Salt and white pepper

Boil salted water in medium-sized pot. Add cauliflower and boil until cooked through, about 4-5 minutes. Reserve water by removing the cauliflower from the pot with a slotted spoon.

Using a blender (or preferably a food processor), fill about half way with some of the florets. Pour in about a cup of the reserved water. Add 3/4 TBSP of butter, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/8 tsp of white pepper. Blend until smooth. Repeat process until all the remaining cauliflower has been pureed.

Gougéres-

1/2 cup water
4 TBSP unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
2 large eggs
3/4 cup grated medium cheddar cheese
1/8” thick medium cheddar cheese slices for garnish

For the filling-
1 cup milk
2 TBSP unsalted butter
2 TBSP all purpose flour
1 cup grated sharp white cheddar cheese
Salt and white pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, wax paper, or a silicone slipmat.
In a heavy saucepan, combine the water, butter, salt, and white pepper. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring until the butter is melted. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Add the flour and stir vigorously with a spoon until all the ingredients come together and pull away from the sides of the pan into a ball. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Do not stir while cooling.
Add eggs, one at a time, stirring quickly to incorporate into the mixture. Stir until the mixture is smooth and sticking to the sides of the pan. Add the grated cheese and stir until well mixed.
Scoop one-inch balls of the dough onto the lined baking sheet, leaving one-inch between each ball.

Bake for 15 minutes. (dough will not be cooked all the way through)

Meanwhile, make the filling by simmering milk on low heat in a small saucepan. Stir often to avoid scorching the milk.

In a separate medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour once the butter is completely melted. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring to avoid browning. Turn the heat to low, slowly ladle in the milk and simmer for 5 minutes. Sprinkle in the cheese a little at a time. Stir until all the cheese is melted, then repeat with more cheese. Season with salt and white pepper.

Once the cheese is completely melted, transfer to a pastry bag with standard pastry tip. Stick the tip into each partially cooked gougéres and inject with some filling.

Bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Garnish each gougére with 1/8” thick cheddar cheese slice.

Rapini (Broccoli Rabe)-

1 bunch of Rapini
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

Rinse the rapini thoroughly. Cut bottom half of the rapini stems off, leaving only the heads, leaves and top part of stems. Steam rapini for 5 to 6 minutes. When done, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

Plating
Place 2 gougéres in the bottom of an individual bowl, then garnish with rapini. Pour cauliflower soup around the bowl, tableside.

Rating – We give our dish 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Our thoughts- Looking back, making the components of this dish didn’t seem too hard. We made a simple soup that definitely tasted good, enough gougéres to happily snack on for the next few days, and simple steamed rapini that anyone at home over the age of 5 would be able to make. The extremely hard part was trying to capture the refinement that Eric Greenspan and The Foundry were able to do to win us and other patrons over. The soup they made seemed just as simple as ours (if not more simple), but the silkiness and fine texture of the soup is something that sets a fine dining experience apart from a cauliflower soup at home.

When we talked to Chef Eric, one thing he said that stuck out to us was that there was no way we’d be able to figure out their gougéres. Of course, this only made us want to prove him wrong. But after cooking what we thought was going to be a success, we soon learned why he said those words in such confidence. Like the soup, we made gougéres that we’d easily make again and we think taste good. But did it come close to theirs? Not a chance. It might have possibly been the wrong flour, or the fact that we incorporated the cheddar into our dough, but there was something light, fluffy, and pastry-like about The Foundry’s gougéres that we weren’t able to accomplish.

All in all, we had fun with this challenge. We can proudly say that we now know how to make a really delicious and simple cauliflower soup with cheese puffs and we can only hope that Chef Eric can someday teach us how he does his version =)

How would you rate our recipe? We look forward to hearing feedback from you guys on whether you think we got close or if we missed the mark, what would you add to make the dish better. Anyone have a great recipe for cheese puffs? Feel free to email us if you have any questions on the cooking instructions and don’t forget to vote for next week’s restaurant!

Tags: Cauliflower, Soup, The Foundry, Vegetarian

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 13th, 2010 at 7:13 pm and is filed under Soup, Vegetarian. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.