Relish Epicurea Supper Club

“Green” course at May’s Relish Epicurea Supper Club

First things first: I must apologize for being an absentee blogger recently. May was an insanely busy month for me both professionally and personally, and I really just had NO time to write.

The good news is — even though there was no time for writing, there was still a whole lot of eating going on. Sooooo I’ve got lots of great meals to share with you over the next couple of weeks!

Today’s story begins with my Mother’s Day Brunch. There is no way that any of you had a meal as great as I did on Mother’s Day unless you were sitting in the same dining room I was sitting in on May 12th. I’m serious. For less than $30, I ate this plate of food at Chef Carlos Davis’ brunch:

 Mother’s Day brunch at Casa Azafran (taken with my iphone)

PLUS a second plate that looked fairly similar. Filled with blue cheese biscuits and sorghum butter, cinnamon and coconut dusted fried plantains, shrimp & grits, sourdough french toast, buttermilk chicken with tarragon-cider hollandaise, vegetable hash, mac & cheese, and chorizo sausage, this was definitely a massive quantity, but it was quality through and through! I’m still dreaming of those blue cheese biscuits and sorghum butter.

Oh, and did I mention that the chef sent us home with caramelized banana bread pudding? Yep. Happy Mother’s Day to me.

This experience provides a little background for my next amazing May dining experience: My Birthday.

Dining al fresco in the courtyard of Casa Azafran for Relish Epicurea Supper Club

By early May, my husband had already asked me several times what I wanted to do for my birthday – because:

(a) I like to celebrate my birthday. A lot. And he knows it.

(b) I’m a planner, so I like to have input on my own birthday celebration.

(c) I don’t like surprises.

But for once I really truly had no idea what I wanted to do! Luckily, on Mother’s Day it all came together. After partaking in that incredible brunch, Carlos dropped by our table to say hello and while chatting, mentioned that he was hosting his second supper club dinner on my actual birthday of May 24th.

The food was a no-brainer. I knew it would be amazing. The drinks? BYOB. Who doesn’t love that?

Then there was the setting. That’s what sealed the deal. 99% of the time, the weather is fabulous for my birthday. I’ve been fortunate enough to have many outdoor celebrations, and I was hoping to continue that tradition. However, May weather can also be unpredictable and this year, rain was in the forecast (yes, I was already looking at the forecast 3 weeks prior).

The beauty of the space that Carlos uses for his supper clubs, Casa Azafran, is that it has both indoor and outdoor dining areas, and we wouldn’t have to choose beforehand. We could see what Mother Nature was giving us on that day and then roll with it. Perfect!

 “Yellow” course at Relish Epicurea Supper Club in May

And you know what else was perfect? The food!

Carlos had a unique concept for May’s supper club, which was to create monochromatic dishes. He went with the color palate of green, yellow, orange, purple and black. Not only did it make for some visually stunning plates, but it was definitely some delicious eating too!

The first plate pictured at the top of the post was possibly my favorite, the Green course: pickled cucumber, grilled nopales, fennel slaw, peas, and pistachio pesto.

Then there was the Yellow course – Shelton Farms stone mill grits, corn and heirloom tomato salsa, and toasted brioche with saffron paint. Did I say the first course was may favorite? Hmmm, maybe I’m leaning toward this one instead…so hard to decide!

Chef Carlos chatting with the diners at Relish Epicurea Supper Club

While I did get a photo of the next course – the Orange: Sous Vide Caribe Capon with sweet potato hay, carrot soufflé, and blood orange gastrique – my pics of the last two courses were too dark to use, even with a little photoshop wizardry.

By the time those plates were served, it was dark out, the items on the plate were dark (purple and black, remember?) and I may have been several glasses of wine deep. Of course, I’m placing all of the blame on the darkness factor.

The Purple course consisted of Huachinango, fingerling potato salad, crispy radicchio rolls and beet syrup. The Black was braised oxtail, a black wild rice waffle with blackberry mole, figs, Hawaiian charcoal salt and cacao. What a birthday meal!

The “Orange” course at May’s Relish Epicurea Supper Club

The Supper Club is monthly, so go ahead and check your calendars now to see if you can make it to any of the upcoming dates listed on the Now Playing Nashville site. That’s where you’ll find ticketing information too.

If you’d like to get a taste of Carlos’ food even sooner, you’re in luck, as he’s doing a special Father’s Day meal this Sunday, June 16th. If it’s even half as good as that Mother’s Day brunch we had, you’re getting a steal on this meal!! Click here for all the details and to buy tickets.

 Celebrating my birthday with good food, good wine and good friends at Relish Epicurea Supper Club in the Casa Azafran courtyard!