Meadowood’s 12 Days of Christmas, Day Four: Tim Cushman of O Ya
The Restaurant at Meadowood’s annual 12 Days of Christmas guest chef series is well underway. Here at Inside Scoop, we’re reviving our own tradition of individually tracking each night’s charity dinner — and the exploration of cuisine from the chefs from around the world, through their words and their food. You can check out past years here: 2012, 2011 and 2010.
***
“We wanted to show the variety of everything that we do at the restaurant,” Tim Cushman says of his approach to the fourth day of Meadowood’s 12 Days of Christmas.
Cushman is the award-winning chef-owner of Boston’s O Ya, which Frank Bruni named the best new restaurant in America in 2008: “Running the kitchen, [Cushman] takes charge of dazzling, and does so with intricate, stunningly creative dishes grounded in, but not restrained by, Japanese tradition.”
Cushman, in his late 50s, describes his approach as a modern Japanese restaurant that focuses on food in one bite: “It’s all about the one bite, so we have to accomplish the full flavor in that one bite.”
He continues, explaining how his food is still tethered to Japanese traditions: “It is free-form, but it’s controlled free-form. I’m very careful. We work on dishes as a team, and the first thing I say is we have to keep the reigns on it, and pull it back to Japanese, incorporate it back to the reference point of Japanese flavors.”
Cushman speaks passionately and enthusiastically about the wealth of details that go into his food, and Japanese-inspired food as a whole: from his meticulous rice-making (he prefers his warm, mixing it daily with vinegar) and making sure that any of the dressing for the nigiri (whether it be banana peppers on the hamachi, or a Georgian-inspired sauce atop tuna) support and highlight the flavor of the fish.
“We don’t go crazy creatively for the sake of going crazy creatively,” he says. “I always try to imagine whether someone in Japan would enjoy eating this. I keep that resonating in my head.”
The menu for last night’s dinner, with wines from Checkerboard Vineyards:
***
Day Four of the Twelve Days of Christmas
December 11, 2013
Kumomoto oyster, ponzu marinated watermelon, cucumber, mignonette
Tim Cushman
Shima aji, uni
Tim Cushman
Hamachi, Viet mignonette
Tim Cushman
Vegetable “ramen”
The Restaurant
Grilled lobster, shiso tempura, torched tomatoes, smoked salt, ponzu
Tim Cushman
Acorn, miso, dried bacon
The Restaurant
Grilled sashimi of chanterelle and shiitake, garlic, rosemary oil, sesame brittle
Tim Cushman
Grilled quail, fall pickles
The Restaurant
Wagyu beef, bone marrow, chawanmushi, garlic, sake, soy sauce
Tim Cushman
Koji sorbet, manzanita blossoms
The Restaurant
Duck liver sushi, chocolate balsamic sauce, raisin cocoa pulp, aged sake
Tim Cushman
***
Checkerboard Vineyards
Sauvignon Blanc 2012
Impetuous 2010
Kings Row 2009
Checkerboard 2006
Checkerboard 2009
Previously
· Day One: Andy Ricker, Pok Pok (Portland)
· Day Two: Rodolfo Guzman, Boragó (Santiago)
· Day Three: Carlo Mirarchi, Roberta’s (Brooklyn)