Skip to content

A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

A lifestyle blog with a focus on my food adventures

Grand Ten Dinner 1On Thursday, July 31st, GrandTen Distilleries paired up with SoonSpoon and Journeyman for “A Better Cocktail Party”. Tickets were $90 to attend the event and it was worth every penny. GrandTen Distilling is owned and operated by Matthew Nuernberger and Spencer McMinn. All of their products are produced in very small batches and distilled in copper. Every step, from choosing the raw ingredients to bottling and labeling, is done by hand.

Grand Ten Dinner 2Guests were greeted with a small welcome drink while they got to know the other guests.

Grand Ten Dinner 3The first pairing was Angelica mixed with Sake and Berentzen.

Grand Ten Dinner 4The Angelica paired with uni har gow with white onion and pickled ginger.

Grand Ten Dinner 5The space is small but it’s charming. There is great light and the service is top notch. The chefs took turns coming out and speaking with the guests, describing the dishes in more detail while Lonnie from GTD talked about the drink pairings. Pictured above Chef Diana (co-owner of Journeyman).

Grand Ten Dinner 6Now THAT’S what I call shaking up a cocktail! Sam Treadway, the bar manager and co-owner of Backbar.

Grand Ten Dinner 7Wireworks Gin was the next pairing – served two ways, the first in a cucumber cup. Above Catherine Owens (GM at Journeyman).

Grand Ten Dinner 8The gin was mixed with Aveze and cucumber bohemian.

Grand Ten Dinner 10This was paired with salmon roe, avocado, dill, grapefruit and olive oil snow playfully presented as a push pop.

Grand Ten Dinner 11The drink was also served sans cucumber cup.

Grand Ten Dinner 12Prepping for the next course, the corn soup.

Grand Ten Dinner 13I have never seen a quieter kitchen, and they consider this the loudest kitchen they have been in. Watching the chefs is amazing, not only are the extremely focused, the intensity and precision that goes into ever dish is impressive. Above, Chef Kelvin.

Grand Ten Dinner 14A closer look at the blow torched hen.

Grand Ten Dinner 15The corn soup with calaminth and black garlic – really quite delicious.

Grand Ten Dinner 16More prep on the hen.

Grand Ten Dinner 17The corn soup was paired with the Medford Rum.

Grand Ten Dinner 18A complex drink for this pairing, it was a saffron foamed Dirt and Diesel. So tasty, I could get used to coming home to a drink like this, too bad it was so labor intensive! The bartender was crushing the ice by hand!

Grand Ten Dinner 19Prepping for the next pairing with Craneberry, a cranberry liquer.

Grand Ten Dinner 20Guinea Hen and Coxcomb crepinette with cranberry mole and corn.

Grand Ten Dinner 21A closer look at the hen.

Grand Ten Dinner 22The craneberry and mile champagne cocktail – I do love me a champagne cocktail!

Grand Ten Dinner 23So pretty!

Grand Ten Dinner 24Lonnie (right) has been with GrandTen Distilling for 2 years. Spencer (right) was making a rare evening appearance, congrats Spencer on the birth of your son!

Grand Ten Dinner 25The South Boston Irish Whiskey was mixed up as old fashioned in small mason jars!

Grand Ten Dinner 26The Old Fashioned paired with porcelet, brioche, spice sphere, ginger and citrus gel.

Grand Ten Dinner 27A closer look at the dish.

Grand Ten Dinner 28Prep for the final course.

Grand Ten Dinner 29Prepping for the rabbit course.

Grand Ten Dinner 30Chef preparing the final course.

Grand Ten Dinner 31The sixth pairing was Fire Puncher Black (vodka) made into a Southern Point.

Grand Ten Dinner 32Rabbit offal, mincemeat, brown butter shortbread.

Grand Ten Dinner 33For the final pairing an Amandine sorbet float.

Grand Ten Dinner 34The finished product.

Grand Ten Dinner 35The final pairing was a blueberry noodle with black and white sesame and caramelized banana. So beautiful. It was almost like a blueberry fruit roll up with blueberries and sesame mochi.

On regular evenings, Journeyman offers a chefs tasting menu for $85. Menu items change daily depending on what is available. Try and grab a seat at the bar area, where you can get an up close show of your food being prepared.

Journeyman

9 Sanborn Court, Somerville, MA

http://www.journeymanrestaurant.com/

Journeyman on Urbanspoon

Make a reservation with SoonSpoon at www.soonspoon.com

Grand Ten Distilling http://www.grandten.com/

Tags: , , , , ,