Ramp Lollapalooza: Ramps 30 Ways ~ This Ain’t Your Grandmas Ramp Dinner
Chef Ohlinger, the former chef/owner of Richwood Grill, hosted his second dinner in the 2015 Appalachian Global Dinner Series on Saturday. The goal of the Appalachian Global Dinner Series is to highlight the role of Appalachian cuisine in global culture, and to bring West Virginia recognition as a culinary destination, as per the website. Chef Ohlinger would combine dishes he's learned through his travels with an Appalachian twist during the inventive dinners at Richwood Grill and while he's searching for his next permanent location, he is completing this year's dinner series in a host of guest kitchens in the area.
Ramp Lollapalooza: Ramps 30 Ways ~ This Ain't Your Grandma's Ramp Dinner was hosted at Atomic Grill at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 2. It was $40 and by reservation only. Unlike the previous dinner, everyone was eating at the same time. And most of us were set up along a line table on the side of the restaurant. If you're ever been to a ramp feed, it's often similar - long rows of tables of people eating the pungent oniony-garlicky ramp in various forms.
Ramps are the traditional harbinger of Spring in Appalachia, and the Ramp Dinner is familiar to all. In many other temperate mountain regions around the world, wild spring onions are welcomed in the same way, according to the event Facebook page. The multi-course dinner featured traditional spring onion dishes and some very untraditional dishes from locally foraged ramps. It's funny, almost, to think that these usually very cheap dinners are used as fundraisers, but this dinner took the humble ramp and created global dishes from it - in a very cool way. I think we ended up getting to about 23 different ramp dishes, which is still a ton. I think time + not have your own kitchen + trying brand new dishes sometimes throws a wrench in plans. But, hell, I'm not complaining.
First Course: Ramp ricotta bruschetta + chilled ramp and pea soup
Delicious. It's not a crazy concept, right? A nice velvety soup with a crunchy bread. It combine cheesy, garlicky spread with a chilled soup. Really tasty. I haven't loved most pea soups I've had. This totally changed my mind.
Second Course (left upper corner clockwise): Ramp and roasted corn lemonade + ramp jalea + ramp kimchi + ramp and peach chutney + ramp sabzi khordan + ramp salsa naranja + ramp kachumbali + ramp hummus + ramp spearmint jelly + ramp cullen skink with ramp buerre blanc

Third Course (top clockwise): Ramp grits and ramp kaeng + ramp turkey biriani + ramp, beef and banana ndizi and ramp allioli + ramp ravioli and ramp pumpkinseed pesto + ramp rhubarb ragout
And while we were actually supposed to have menus (printer complications), it was almost more fun to really, really focus on the flavors of the food to try to figure out what you've had before that it's similar to or what flavors are really there. We were constantly guessing what the next dish was. Was that a chickpea flavor? Cumin? Radish? It kept us guessing, and I've learned so many new dishes -- and had ramps more ways than I ever thought was possible.
I apologize to anyone who has to deal with me for the next day or so; I don't WANT to smell like ramps, promise.
Trusting your chef to produce something incredibly tasty or weird or new or just pushing you outside your boundaries is big. It's almost a sense of vulnerability to have no idea what you're getting yourself into, but being excited for an adventure. And MK consistently delivers.
The next dinner is the beer and cheese dinner at Iron Horse Tavern. I already made reservations before even knowing the menu or price. I know MK won't disappoint. And if you see me there, come say hi! :)
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