As I've written in these pages before, I grew up in Massachusetts and spent time in the summers in Rhode Island. Though I've lived in other places now for many years, New England is where I go when I want to feel fully at home. Sometimes I can't go there physically, but if there's a way to visit in my dreams I'll try, and when I heard about a class at the marvelous De Gustibus Cooking School with the marvelous Chef James Hackney of the marvelous Wequassett Resort on Cape Cod, I felt like I needed to go.
Because of so many projects that are in my schedule right now, it's very difficult for me to take a vacation, though a vacation feels very much needed. Just thinking about Cape Cod and the food of my beloved New England and the coastal towns I've visited throughout my life from my earliest memories can bring me a feeling of being by the shore, having days at the beach and evenings outdoors by rivers and oceans, enjoying the gorgeous weather and healthy flavor-filled freshness of of the seafood and locally grown produce of farms and gardens.
I wrote about De Gustibus for the first time a number of years ago when I first attended a class there because of a Chef who I know who was part of a class there, and it's just an enjoyable experience. Sal who is the owner and host is such a wonderful presence and the feeling of gathering together with such congeniality around beautifully prepared menus made by excellent and knowledgable Chefs is delightful. It had been a while since I'd been back to De Gustibus, and the class with Chef Hackney and his marvelous staff was such a beautiful one to mark my return, bringing back so many beautiful memories of wonderful times by the sea as well and giving me new dreams of a new place I want to go to for a visit.
Chef Hackney has a truly stellar biography, having been the Chef de Cuisine at Boston's excellent and renowned award winning L'Espalier, he has brought five star dining to Wequassett, continually creating dining experiences that are written about in dreams and memories, blogs, newspapers, magazines and of course Forbes which continues to award Wequassett, Chef Hackney, his menus and the resort and and restaurant staff with the prestigious and notable five stars that are truly meaningful and not easily attained.
At De Gustibus, each course that arrived was so beautifully layered in flavors and textures, inventiveness and freshness, and the presentation made for lovely photographs and a gorgeous experience in every sense. An amuse bouche of oysters so fresh that the sea seemed to be right in the room with us, an exciting flavor combination of a newly imagined surf and turf, scallops gorgeously seared placed as a crown on a fennel salad, stuffed morels carefully prepared accompanying the freshest of Cod filets, and a dessert of fresh bee pollen honey ice cream with oat crumble created by the gorgeous Executive Pastry Chef Ashley Corrao brought the outdoors inside and gave us all an evening's vacation to the beautiful ocean country of the Cape. Each course was beautifully paired with wines from the Artisanal Collection by Freixenet Mionetto USA, adding their lovely dimensions to the delightful culinary adventure. With so much gratitude to all at De Gustibus and to Chef Hackney and his marvelous staff for the seaside dreams you created and made possible!
