Turntable x Em
I had a great dinner at Turntable at Lord Stanley, which is currently hosting chef Lucho Martinez of Em in Mexico City. I’d been to Em (named after Chef Martinez’s daughter) once during a first trip to CDMX back in December of last year, and it was one of the highlights of my trip there.
There were two options for dinner, a four course menu ($85) and a full tasting menu ($140) which is what I had. I also added the beverage pairing. There is also a 20% gratuity added to the bill.
The tasting menu had about 8 courses:
Kanpachi, soy, shiso
Borachio ‘Pash Rash’ Sparkling Pinot Noir Rosé, Adelaide Hills, Australia 2022
The first dish was a piece of kanpachi sashimi, on top of a paste made of sesame, soy, and squid ink. There was a slice of chiltepin pepper on top of the fish for a little heat. Delicious. The paste underneath had a lot of umami flavor, and there was also a little citrus for acidity. Everything worked well together.
Dungeness crab, carrot, guajilli, trout roe
Fond Cypres ‘Le Blanc des Garennes’ Grenache + Viognier, Corbières, France 2020
An example of chef’s Mexican and Japanese influences, this was a “taco” made of crispy rice cracker, filled with a guajillo chili spiced cold Dungeness crab salad. Topped with a generous amount of smoked trout roe and chives. Delicious!
White asparagus, miso, uni, bottarga
Den ‘Red Label #3’ Junmai Ginjo Sake, Oakland, California
My waiter said this was his favorite dish on the menu. A white asparagus all the way from the Loire valley in France, compression(?) cooked (maybe sous-vide?), with a “sabayon” made of miso, uni, sake, and topped with shaved bottarga. Also delicious. The delicate asparagus still had some crunch to it, and the sauce was creamy with acidity from the sake. Could definitely taste the uni in there as well. This was paired with a sake made locally in Oakland using rice from Sacramento.
Camerones zarandeado, noisette butter caesar
Scythians Lopez Vineyard Palomino, Cucamonga Valley, California 2021
Next, some prawns. Fantastic! Perfectly cooked head on prawns split down the middle, seasoned in a style typical of zarendeado fish, which is a dish of butterflied grilled fish seasoned with a spicy chili citrus marinade. Only with prawns here. I could have eaten a whole plate of these. The prawns were amped up by the umami rich “Caesar” noisette butter that apparently contained olive and anchovy. This was paired with a sherry like wine that went great with the prawns.
Halibut, smoked dashi, peas
Emme ‘Pink Lemonade’ Red+ White Field Blend, Redwood Valley, CA 2022
Another great dish! The halibut was replaced with red snapper, maybe they ran out of halibut. The fish was wrapped in savoy cabbage. Underneath was a super rich umami dashi that had some smokiness and also quite a bit of a kick from habanero. The English peas were a good complement to the rich dashi - fresh, a little crunchy, and sweet. The fish was nicely cooked. I kind of regret not adding caviar for an extra $25 but that would have been gilding the lily 
Strip loin, king trumpet, black garlic, frijoles puercos
Stagiaire ‘Consitency in Chaos’ Syrah, Sonoma, California 2021
The final savory course was a meaty steak dish. Great! The “frijoles puercos” were puréed beans with chorizo, very rich and meaty and a little smoky. There were meaty trumpet mushrooms along with morels. The strip loin steak was cooked medium rare and was quite beefy and a little chewy, with a little sauce or gravy that I think had the black garlic in it. On the side were some grilled broccolini (one of my favorite vegetables) topped with a creamy salsa verde.
Stone fruit & tamarind
A nice refreshing stone fruit sorbet, topped with a tamarind sauce and a dusting of chili powder. The flavors were reminiscent I think of a Mexican fruit cup, with sweet and sour from the tamarind and savory from the chili.
Rosita de cacao, chocolate, moritas
Rare Wine Co. Savannah Verdelho Special Reserve, Madeira, Portugal NV
Rosita de cacao is a spice (not related to the cocoa plant) that is used in flavoring the Oaxacan corn and coca drink tejate (thanks Google). There was a dark chocolate mousse base, then a light mousse on top of that, and then a chocolate cookie-like layer on top of that. Very nice.
Mignardises
A pineapple pâte de fruit and a coconut truffle.
Great meal! Standouts were the prawns, the crab “taco”, the asparagus, the cabbage wrapped fish in dashi, and really everything was delicious. Turntable x Em ends this Saturday, June 17, but it will be followed by a collaboration with chef Tristan Newman of another of Chef Martinez’s restaurants - Martinez.
