Counter- was a “full sensory experience featuring themed tasting menus” created by Chef/Owner Sam Hart.  He used music, flavor and presentation to tell a story about the theme, which was ‘Time’ the night we were there.  The Time theme worked to present an experience of the stages of aging.  The tasting menu also offers wine and non-alcoholic pairings, as well as a list of bottles for purchase and they had a truffle upgrade available.  The theme changes every 3 months and no dishes or themes are repeated for the 18 guests at the U-shaped counter.  Chef Hart, who was a semifinalist for the 2023 James Beard Best Chef: Southwest award, says that Counter will only run for 12 years with six planned evolutions.  Opening in 2020, it is currently on its second iteration.  At present the meal starts with a few bites served in the lobby of the building then moves to the counter dining room.  After the main courses you have a walk through the kitchen and then final bites are at large communal tables at the other end of the original room.  At the end of the meal, we were given a copy of the menu and a roll to take with us.  My one criticism would be the noise level, mostly the music.  I know chef wanted to immerse us in the mood but I’m more in the “time” when I like to be able to speak with other diners without yelling.  For the food portion, I’ve started the description with the course’s name.  The entire experience takes about 3 hours and one you should put on your list to try.

Set-Up

 

Front of Entry Room

Rebirth included garlic scape, muscadine, strawberry and banana peppers.  They were bites on a bowl of shaved ice.  The strawberry was slightly salty and the grape very sweet.  The garlic scapes had been pickled and popped with flavor.  The banana peppers were not to my taste.

Embryo was made with hamachi, 3 berries and creme fraiche presented in a tart shell.  The thin shell was crisp and nice, filled with a blackberry, blueberry and raspberry.  The hamachi overshadowed the berries but it was a good bite.

Born included kohlrabi, green strawberry and beautyberry.  The kohlrabi was poached in vegetable stock and combined with pear, berries and something like capers.  A frozen kohlrabi was the bottom portion and mild in flavor.

 

Kitchen Counter

First Day included white anchovy, white grape, shallot, green almond, lemon and walnut and was presented to the music of 2001: A Space Odyssey.  The staff formed a processional bringing out this first round of plates.  The ingredients blended nicely.

A mini baguette was served.  The sourdough bread was fairly dry.

Adolescence was poached lobster, mussel, squash, fennel, tomato, choron.   It was crowned with a fish skeleton cracker and hollandaise.  The lobster was good but I didn’t find these flavors to meld well.

Maturing was bresaola, coppa, n’ duja in a sort of chacuterie tray.  The pork coppa was on the right, duck in the middle and some bison tenderloin was on the left.  Each meat was on a puffed pastry that was filled with a jam to enhance its flavor.  Each of these bites was really good.

Adult included duck confit, jalapeño, cheddar, balsamic in a pasta.  This was to represent the moment you become a grown-up.  The jalapeño slices were lightly fermented and the duck stuffed pastas were very good.

A slice of brown bread was served.

Loss was pork belly, masa, radish, jicama, cilantro, onion, and watermelon. Here the pork belly was sauced with watermelon molasses and white and blue corn masas were used to make the tortilla underneath.  Some green apple sticks were mixed with the jicama.  You ate it like a taco and it was very good.

Dreams included ribeye cap, celeriac, fig, horseradish, golden beet, blueberry, spinach, green bean.  These were to represent the greatest moments of your life according to the menu but we had some venison strip loin, blueberry , celeriac, horseradish purée and fig mustard.  The meat was tasty and the crispy vegetables had good flavor and texture.  It all went together well.

Time was a bowl of dashi that had been cooked for 6 weeks and seasoned with dried radish  sprouts.  It was the final savory and very pleasant.

Death was made with peach and apple.  It was a pseudo cobbler with apple and ice cream.  It was really good.

Memories included lime, pink peppercorn, kumquat and spruce.  This was desserts of the past with a meringue disk covering shiso ice cream on ligonberries and black spruce.  The fermentation of some of the ingredients represented the future of things that are now.  This was filled with interesting tastes and textures.

 

Cooking kitchen

In Between was made with pineapple, maguey sap and pork.  The pineapple was in soy sauce and molasses and mixed with chilled agave then topped with creamy snow.  Fun.

 

Rear of Entry Room

Circle of Life was brioche, foie gras, white truffle, and dark chocolate.  A take on a Boston Cream donut filled with vanilla pastry cream and topped with dark ganache and sea salt.  It was a great ending.

Our parting gift was an apple cider caramel cinnamon roll.  It did not save well for the next morning.  Too much time passed on that one I guess.  They also passed out a menu.