VOLT Restaurant

Speaking of Innovative…

Speaking of innovative. As a gift awhile back, I was given a VOLT restaurant card. VOLT Restaurant is an exceptional restaurant owned by Bryan Voltaggio. That might sum it up, but it doesn’t do it justice. This isn’t Italian food in case you are wondering. I don’t think you’ll find Spaghetti on the menu any time soon.

We had been planning to go there randomly, but you need a reservation. For us, due to life getting in the way of our eating, we ended up having to set a date nearly 2 months in advance and at 9pm. Not good for the Mom-To-Be getting any sleep before midnight. We were seated in the “Main Dining Room” which is a-la-carte menu, but there are 3 seating options with differing menus and features. For instance, the “Chef’s Dining Room” has a different menu called a Tasting Menu. The “Main Dining Room” has an a-la-carte menu which we order from. More on that later. And then there is the seating area referred to as “Table 21″ which is in the kitchen, up to 8 guests can be seated there since earlier this year. It has a 21 course tasting menu and is currently $121 per person. I see what they did there…

When you first walk in, you have a bar on the right side, and the main dining room on the left. The place has stairs leading up as well, but I didn’t care so much about the building as I did about the cuisine. I’m a food snob of sorts. VOLT has been written about in various places and was part of a food

So, the Main Dining Room has tables on two walls, a row down the middle, and a couple by the windows. I’d show you pictures, but I didn’t bring my camera. There is also what looks like a 6-8 person table behind a small wall in the corner, far from the window. Nearly hidden from view.

When you are seated [and we arrived nearly 30 minutes early due to our clocks being set slightly ahead and no traffic at all], you are surrounded by white. White walls, white table linens, white plates. The only color is the ceiling which is the Volt gold/brown/orange combination you’ll see when you visit their website. The card was nearly the same color, but had gold flakes in it. Very nice. Once seated, you are left alone for a short bit so you can settle in. I like that. Since we’re going to have a baby, I’m supporting my wife by not drinking. She says I’m being dumb. I occasionally have a beer, maybe once every two weeks. Anyway, we had water. I nearly regretted that after having the amuse-bouche.

Our Introduction to VOLT cuisine:

I’ve been told that I’m adventurous about my dining experiences. I like to let the person serving me decide what to put in front of me as a representation of the culture and cuisine of the restaurant. Here too, I asked to be given something the sets VOLT out of the crowd. I asked if people ever do that at VOLT and was told that he couldn’t remember being asked to make that kind of decision before. Great! A challenge. It is hard work to create a meal that is both good tasting, as well as matched between courses. I said “We’ll see, you are now representing VOLT.”  Another challenge is that my wife is a vegetarian. That means, the menu has to change a bit to exclude fish, meat and poultry of any kind. I know, we’re a tough crowd.

The Amuse-bouche:

I was served a spoonful of crab that was diced into tiny squares and gussied up a bit with an ever so slightly sweet vanilla flavored concoction that perfectly paired with the salty expectation I had with the crab (that never came). The flavor in lesser restaurants is muted and expected, but you get what you pay for. Although this little introduction is compliments of the chef to match the oncoming first course, I would have easily paid $8 for this shot of culinary delight. The flavors were wonderful together, but your palate could easily separate them. Since I can’t speak for my wife, I’ll throw in what I remember. I wasn’t intending on writing a post about this though. At any rate, we were both pleasantly surprised by the intensity of the flavors.

The First Course:

Since I didn’t know what was coming, I pondered what I had read on the menu. Could I go the Yellofin Tuna tartare route? Maybe that was too obvious. The Tuscarora Farm organic beets? The combination of beet, Cherry Glen Farm goat cheese, and meringue would set a standard too high perhaps. It sounded very complex. What I got was a chilled corn and lobster bisque (I’m not sure what they called it, I don’t think it was the potato-leek chowder they had on their menu). It wasn’t a thick, creamy soup either. It was a nearly transparent soup with a spoonful of lobster that served as an island. It was flavorful, not rich, and on this night of nearly 100 degree temperatures, it was exceptionally refreshing. It moved the surf direction slightly back to turf, but I had no idea what was coming next. My wife had the shiitake veloute with pinenuts, chili oil, and opal basil. That basil was very nice. I don’t sample other peoples food, but she was curious about my take on it. I don’t sample because it might mess up my review later since I don’t take notes while eating. If I do that, people might know I’m writing a review.

Somewhere between seating and that first course, a cylinder of bread sticks appeared. Slightly salted [if at all for some] and a bit of rosemary/thyme embedded; they were good, but only occasionally did I get something as shocking as the first two bits of this experience.

The Second Course:

I’ve never had this. As a practical person, my experience with Pork as a teenager was Pork Chops and I was force fed them. As I grew up, I didn’t eat pork unless it was embedded in some Chinese sweet and sour sauce. You hardly ever taste actual pork at that point. The true experience of pork is bacon. There are some artists in the realm of bacon, I can assure you. But comparing Red Wattle pork belly to bacon does VOLT a disservice, it is hard to imagine it comes from the same source. The second course was rich. The pork belly was cooked for some 18 hours, and it melts away. The concentrations that surround it set it off. It had calypso beans, and although the menu stated it had mostarda; I can’t remember it. Probably the only thing I can’t remember from the experience. My wife had Cherry Glen Farm Goat Cheese Ravioli. Maitake mushrooms and sage butter. She enjoyed them.

The Main Course:

If you think this was an involved experience reading this, and it has taken you awhile to get to this point. You’ll understand how long dinner took. We got there at around 8:30, we were seated immediately. By this point, we’re talking it was around 10pm or so. So, we’ve gone from surf, to slightly on turf, to fully IN turf with the pork belly. The third course continued the turf experience with a Border Springs Farm lamb loin. This was surrounded by an eggplant caponata and madrass curry, and set upon a cooked spinach bed. I love spinach. This was good tasting, but the concentrations that surrounded the loins were so flavorful that everything else paled in comparison. The loin was nearly non-existant to the concentrations. One thing that was also a part of this course… a spicy sausage that was shredded and put in a taquito-like shell. It is commonly referred to as merguez. VOLT, in other interviews that I’ve read, says that his food is American; this is an exception. The flavor comes from some far away land. The complexity of these little once inch cylinders of spice, crunchy and juiciness cant be explained. You have to try it. A meal of that alone would change a vegetarian to carnivore instantly. The loins were cooked medium, tender, full flavored, but for me, were just a shadow to everything that surrounded it. My wife, being the vegetarian, got the dinner that would have been referred to as “sturgeon” on the menu, but they substituted that ingredient with white truffles shavings. Combined with the cauliflower, beluga lentils, verjus and onion crisps (thin onion rings cooked to a crispy texture while still maintaining flavor and flexibility), this was a great dish for her. I know a couple things about truffles, so I told her to eat one without having anything else first so she could appreciate the truffle. Having never had one, she enjoyed it. It is hard to explain what a really good truffle tastes like. It is a mushroom of sorts, but grows underground entirely. They are flavorful, and if prepared correctly have a slightly earthy, woodsy taste without the perception of being “dirty” while still being grounded. If you get the chance, try a couple shavings, they can be expensive though, so try a little, enjoy it a lot. One other thing about the Lamb Loin… there is a minced Kalamata olive that, like most Kalamata’s, tastes so good and rich that it will catch you off guard. I should put a spoiler alert at the top of this post.

The Dessert:

When I first looked at the menu, I was going to go for the “Textures of Chocolate” but decided to let the server decide. I really didn’t know what to expect, the menu for desserts is all over the place. “Dulce de leche” is a white chocolate goat cheese cake with a granny smith apple sorbet. My wife got that. She enjoyed it, but again, we didn’t discuss the meal except for the usual “is it good?” We just talked about plans for the baby, the fact that two birthdays took place in a room with only 12 tables being occupied, and that we love the building. It has private parking and is self-contained with no other attached buildings. We want that building to live in downtown. It won’t happen. When the desserts came, they arrived together, and I got my chocolate. I’m a huge fan of mousse. A ganache, which is what the textures of chocolate is, falls further to the dense side of the textures of chocolate. It was about 10 inches of chocolate ganache ribbon with what tasted like a coffee/chocolate crisp that was broken into three and set in place to bisect the line. There is raw organic cocoa, chocolate caramel, and pistachio around the ganache. The pistachio is a range of textures itself, but aside from the large crumbs, the rest of it melts away and it tastes great. I enjoyed my dessert completely. If not for the image it would create, I would have licked the plate. If you do have the Textures of Chocolate for dessert, I suggest you get a single espresso. The sharp bitterness of the coffee will set a line for what VOLT describes as a bitter chocolate ganache. I didn’t find it very bitter and the espresso will change your perception to create a ganache that is sweeter. Don’t expect to sleep until 9pm the next day.

Overall, VOLT was a wonderful experience. The prices for an economy that we exist in today will be perceived high until you realize you really are in an extremely high quality restaurant. I wish I could eat like this at home, but you just can’t have these ingredients laying around and still be fresh. That is part of the quality of VOLT. Stop by VOLT at 228 North Market Street in Frederick, Maryland. You should call at make a reservation though; 301.696.VOLT

Raise a glass.