Sneak Peek: Gabe Gordon’s Mad Scientist Molecular Gastronomy Dinner

You may have been to Beachwood BBQ for their awesome food and beer, but did you know behind the BBQ there is a brilliant chef with experience in fine dining? Chef and owner Gabe Gordon (pictured above, middle) will be presenting a Molecular Gastronomy Dinner paired with beers from The Bruery at Beachwood for LA Beer Week. You won’t believe some of the stuff the mastermind has dreamed up this time.

Molecular Gas What?

Molecular Gastronomy is often referred to as “Sci-Fi” cooking. Gabe explained, “essentially you’re taking normal ingredients or things that people are familiar with and deconstructing them, putting them back together in interesting textures that you would not normally think of as a texture that is synonymous with whatever that ingredient is. What it does is challenge people’s preconceived notions of what food should taste like, be textured like. There’s quite a bit of chemistry involved in this kind of cooking.

“Because this kind of cooking is so extremely precise, this dinner is not the kind that allows substitutions or tweaks.” Gabe is strict with good reason though: “If you’re gelling asparagus and somebody’s like, ‘I don’t know if I’d like gelled asparagas,’ well that texture might be crucial for the dish because it’s playing against something crunchy, for example. If you don’t have those textural contrasts, then the dish falls short. Everything is very important and very purposeful — all cooking should be very purposeful in my opinion, but especiually in this type of cooking.

He continued to explain that, “The food is terribly complicated to make. Every item is made specifically for the beer that it’s going with … If somebody doesnt like a certain ingredient, it’s not like we can just leave that out. There’s no extra ingredients in any of the courses, everything is put there for a reason.”

The Dinner that Sold Out in 20 Minutes

This is the second annual LA Beer Week, which means its time for Gabe to present his most extravagant dinner of the year. The 11-day long celebration of beer includes events all over Los Angeles as well as Orange County. As Gabe put it, “It’s a good excuse for new OC businesses and breweries to come together and team up so they aren’t forgotten for LA Beer Week. People are coming as much for this dinner as they are for the beer. I think it’s a nice happy marriage between the two.”

What a Gabe Wants, What a Gabe Needs

“I hope that people experience something new and interesting and they get an understanding that ingredients don’t always have to taste the way that they’ve eaten them before. Ultimately, I really do these dinners because this is the stuff I used to do, before doing BBQ, and so it gives me a really great creative outlet.

“Beachwood BBQ is the only casual dining restaurant I’ve ever worked in. So everything before that was higher-end dining, which I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoy. For me [molecular gastronomy] is challenging because it requires a ton of discipline to get things right. You cant just fudge it and go, ‘Oh well, it’s close enough.’ A lot of these chemicals can’t be subbed out. The ratios have to be correct or the item doesn’t turn out, textures aren’t right. So for me I really enjoy that aspect of it and it allows me to kind of go back into the fine dining roots I’m from.

Where the Fork Meets the … Kangaroo?

Part of the excitement surrounding the dinner (besides Gabe’s mad skills being set free) is the element of surprise. Though the menu is a secret, Gabe did tell us, “I think the kangaroo dish that we’re doing is probably going to be the most challenging since I’m working with a couple techniques I haven’t previously tried out before.”

He then shared the first course will be a soup and salad, but it’s not your usual liquid and leaves. “The soup course is going to be a deconstructed Chawanmushi which is a type of Japanese custard soup. The salad is going to be done entirely via Dippin’ Dots, so that will be an interesting play on salad. The soup should be pretty neat too,” he modestly added.

There Will be Beer

The Bruery boys have some very special beers lined up for Gabe’s dinner.

“This is our second year doing a molecular gastronomy dinner at Beachwood during LA Beer Week, and we certainly don’t plan on having this be the last! We love to work with Gabe and the rest of the Beachwood crew because they’re awesome people and they’re as passionate about beer, and beer & food pairings as we are.  Plus, he, Justin and Kyle all have fantastic palates.

“We love Beachwood’s normal menu — they’ve catered several events we’ve held at The Bruery, but it’s really fun to see Gabe come up with these amazing dishes utilizing crazy ingredients and techniques.  It pairs perfectly with the unusual ingredients & techniques we use in many of our beers.”

And now, for the beer list:

• Saison De Lente
• Trade Winds Tripel
• Autumn Maple
• Loakal Red
• Pinotlambicus
• 100% Bourbon barrel-aged Coton
• Mélange #3
• Black Tuesday

Gabe will finally unwind from his insane dinner by attending the LA Beer Week Beer Festival at Union Station, plus various events at the Blue Palms Brew House. You should too! Check ‘em out on the LA Beer Week calendar.

When?
Monday, October 11

Where?
Beachwood BBQ
131 ½ Main St.
Seal Beach, CA 90740

Cost?
This dinner is limited to 40 people and is sold out. To get updates on Gabe’s next snazzy dinner, sign up for the Beachwood BBQ newsletter

Additional information:
http://www.beachwoodbbq.com/
http://www.twitter.com/BeachwoodBBQ

Related stories

• Best of October on Drink Eat Travel
• Four Ways to Navigate LA Beer Week
• Dionicess VIII Beer Lunch & Dinner Pairing Double-Down at The Foundry with The Bruery
• Firestone’s 14th Anniversary Ale Release Dinner with Homebrew Chef Sean Paxton
• Barrie Lynn, The Cheese Impresario, Will Impress You at LA Beer Week