The other day, Rosemary, Matt and I went to Fork & Barrel for a Yellowstone dinner featuring Stephen Fante. Fork & Barrel is an unusual restaurant because they only open for special events and during the day they call themselves “Morning Fork” and serve breakfast and lunch. The restaurant is owned by Chef Geoffrey Heyde and his wife, Emily. They had another location which was called Fork & Barrel, but when their lease ran out, they decided to close it down and concentrate on their business at Morning Fork. They have two small children and wanted to spend more time with them. I can understand the reason, but I do miss the food at Fork & Barrel.
The dinner started with a pork belly with peach gastrique and sweet corn puree, paired with Yellowstone Recollection, 110 proof Bourbon. The dark fruit and butterscotch in the Bourbon complemented the peach and sweet corn perfectly. This was a fabulous course and pairing.
The second course was the salad of mixed greens, Luxardo cherries, strawberries, watermelon, whipped ricotta and honey-citrus mint dressing, paired with Yellowstone small batch, 107 proof. The fruit and honey in the Bourbon went well with the fruit in the salad.
The third course was the main course of smoked and roasted chicken breast, compound butter, Weisenberger roasted garlic and white cheddar cheese grits and bacon braised kale, paired with Yellowstone Toasted Barrel Bourbon. I thought the garlic in the grits did not play well with the sweetness of the Bourbon. Toasted barrel whiskeys, in my opinion, are sweeter with caramel and vanilla and would pair better with an after dinner drink or dessert. I would have preferred a standard Yellowstone with this course.
That brings us to dessert. It was blackberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream and a tawny port sauce, paired with Yellowstone limited edition, 2026, Bourbon finished in ruby and tawny port wine casks. It paired well enough, but I think maybe the port sauce was a little too much port wine and I had difficulty tasting the Bourbon in the whiskey.
As a whole, it was an excellent dinner and tasting of Yellowstone whiskeys. Stephen Fante is an excellent speaker and his presentations are always entertaining and informative. He gave away a couple of prizes during his presentation and clearly everyone enjoyed the meal. After dinner, Stephen invited me to join him on the porch outside of the restaurant for a cigar (a Rocky Patel 30th Anniversary cigar) and we enjoyed an hour of conversation. It was a very good night and I look forward to doing another delicious dinner at Fork & Barrel.
Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller