Spring ingredients are finally available locally! Peas, ramps, asparagus, and fiddlehead ferns are just some of the brightly flavored ingredients showing up on the new menu at Gracie’s. This is, perhaps, the most exciting season of the year in regards to local ingredients. Unfortunately for us New Englanders, this is also one of the shortest seasons in regards to availability. Get to Gracie’s before the rhubarb, fava beans, and morel mushrooms are gone. Here is a preview of some of our new menu items.
Starting with dessert first, the Ricotta Pound Cake is inspired by the classic pairing of berries and pound cake. Rhubarb is one of the first fruits to come into season. The tart rhubarb is cooked down into a delicious jam which takes the place of the classic pairing of macerated berries. The cake is made with perfectly fluffy and light whole milk ricotta from our friends at Narragansett Creamery. A beautiful quenelle of juniper lemon ice cream represents the newly budding trees and the bright freshness of Spring flavors.
Foie Gras is a staple on the Gracie’s menu. The foie always stays on the menu but the other components of the dish change seasonally. For spring, we are serving our seared Hudson Valley foie gras with rhubarb frangipane, toasted hazelnuts, toasted oat cookie crumble, and lemon balm. The frangipane is basically a hazelnut cake with rhubarb. Foie gras is intensely rich and savory. It is often paired with some sort of fruit component to add a contrast of sweetness and brightness. The combination of the fatty foie and the bright fruit create one of the most spectacular food pairings in existence. Toasted hazelnuts and oat cookie crumble add textural contrast. There are so many beautiful things happening on this plate!
Peas, asparagus, and radishes are quintessential spring flavors, all of which are featured in our Peekeytoe Crab salad. The crab’s delicate sweetness is enhanced by the bright green flavors of peas and asparagus. Shaved radishes provide extra crunch. The flavors are delicate and beautiful, and the textures of each ingredient play perfectly off one another. Fresh herbs like dill, chervil, and parsley add just the right amount of intense freshness. This salad is clean, crisp, crunchy, and refreshing. Experience the flavors of spring in a most luxurious way.
We are proud to feature Pat’s Pastured chicken on the menu. Pat’s is located right in East Greenwich, RI. These chickens spend their lives running around being happy chickens, eating a natural diet of fresh grasses and grains. These chickens live a happy healthy life and that comes through in the final product. Our culinary team breaks down the chickens in-house. The thigh meat is ground up into a sausage, flavored with ramp tops, brandy, garlic, and herbs. The breast meat is pounded to tenderize, then brined. After the breasts have brined, the skin of the chicken is rolled around the breast meat and the whole thing gets deep fried! The chicken is accompanied by artichokes, broccoli rabe, and new potatoes, then finished with a puree of black garlic and a savory chicken jus.
This will knock your socks off! These items will not stay around for long so be sure to stop in soon. Spring is in the air, on the palate, and in the belly!
