My New Chimerical Kit

I’ve been dying to go to Volt in Frederick, Maryland for quite awhile now. You can imagine my delight when I got an email from OpenTable telling me that Volt was participating in DC’s Restaurant Week!

Well, we made our reservations for August 28, and prepared ourselves for a foodie adventure.

First, I’ve gotta say that where Volt is located is just about as cool as what they serve. Tucked away in Frederick, Maryland, you’d hardly expect to be standing in the caliber of architectural genius as the Houck Mansion. Volt’s website explains that the mansion was built in the 1890s by six sisters who all pooled their money to build the grandest mansion that Frederick had ever seen. When the last of the sisters died, the mansion was sold at public auction and the new owners made their own changes and renovations to it (or, if you’re like me, you would say that they destroyed the spirit of the building). Volt’s site says that they have restored the “original spirit of conviviality and culture… [creating] by memorable gatherings.” It remains to be said if the owners of Volt restored the architectural features that the 2nd owners removed or not. Despite wondering if that is true, Volt’s interior is beautiful; full of twelve foot ceilings, windows so huge that you’d think they house was looking at you with wide-eyes, gorgeous crown moulding… I really could go on. One of my favorite features is that the dining room we were escorted to was painted all white except for the ceiling, which was a rich hot chocolate color. I’m already planning my next house and thinking that this might be what the master suite looks like!

We were greeted at the maître d’s station and ushered to our table before I ever knew what hit me. Immediately, our server (who was dressed in the most gorgeous tweedy suit and chocolate brown Chuck All-Stars low top sneakers – the official Volt uniform apparently) brought us cocktail menus and a beautiful silver vase of crunchy breadsticks. Steve and I declined to order cocktails, neither of us are big liquor drinkers, but we enjoyed the crunchy breadsticks immensely. The breadsticks were brushed with sea salt and herbs, but just lightly, not so much to be over the top.

We were also brought the evening’s menu, which was comprised of their special Restaurant Week prix fixe fare and some abbreviated a la carte selections. The waiter asked for us to take our time as the chef preferred that all of the courses be ordered at the same time. This took some doing… I was floored by their menu and truly wanted to order everything on it (well, everything except the beef because we all know that me and cow don’t get along). Eventually I decided on the Restaurant Week menu and selected the following:

1. yellow corn chowder basil, “popcorn”, chorizo, avocado ice cream, pickled cucamelon
2. cherry glen farm goat cheese ravioli lobster mushrooms, soybeans, flowering chives [Note: that evening they had morel mushrooms rather than lobster mushrooms]
3. roasted wellington farm chicken succotash of local beans, lemon thyme, long pepper, watercress
4. textures of chocolate milk chocolate ice cream, raw organic cocoa, white chocolate mousse,
   chocolate caramel

I’ve gotta admit that for the 2nd Course I really went between the cherry glen farm goat cheese ravioli and the marvesta farm cold poached prawns, but the waiter mentioned that since Volt opened the ravioli has been on the menu in some form or another. I figured with that being something of a signature dish, I should try it.

I’ve also gotta admit that I wasn’t going to order dessert at all, because I’m really more of a “down-home” dessert lover. I don’t get why people need to mess with things and jazz it up. A big ol’ slab of chocolate cake with fudge icing makes me happy just about any day. But, I decided to get the wine pairings with my dinner and I simply love a good Gewürztraminer, and the dessert was the only course that actually had a Gewürztraminer. So, I ordered dessert for the wine.

When the ordering was finished, our waiter brought us a pallet opener. Now, I have my own opinions about these little pallet openers which I probably should keep to myself. My friend Christina and I used to have special dinners at The Trellis in Williamsburg when we were going to William & Mary. I would say that The Trellis is a pretty upscale, high caliber restaurant, and they too serve these little pallet openers. However, it has been my experience that the chefs prepare these little suckers with the weirdest, most unappetizing ingredients available to man-kind. Christina and I usually declined to eat these little canapés when offered to us at The Trellis. Anyway, back to Volt… So, Steve and I ordered and our waiter then brought us out this fantastically beautiful plate with two tiny little canapés on it.

“A beet macaroon with fois gras mousse, a pallet opener compliments of the chef.”

Fabulous. Yet another one of those little silly pallet openers that I have literally no desire in the world to eat. First, there’s the beet thing. I have never been able to bring myself to eat one. All I can think of when I hear the word “beet” is one of those nasty red things (they do have a beautiful color) that comes out of a can. I’m sure that it’s possible to prepare them in some other way, but that’s all I can picture. Second, the words “fois gras” were included in the title of the canapé’s name. Now, I had not actually consumed fois gras before but it is liver. And something about liver and me just don’t seem like they should go together. It’s yet another one of those foods that just never made it into my repertoire, and I was perfectly happy to leave it out.

Poor Steve… he didn’t remember what fois gras was, and I refused to tell him and insisted that he eat it. I figured that if he didn’t die then perhaps I could bring myself to eat that tiny little appetizer. (And yes, I’m aware that I just threw my husband under the proverbial culinary bus… but that’s what you do for your life partner, right?) Steve ate it, and did so without making one of his “faces” that usually accompanies something that he hates. Well, after he ate it, I just couldn’t get past the fois gras. I probably could have eaten it if it were just a beet macaroon. A beet is just a veggie on some kind of weird color wheel steroids, right? But fois gras mousse? Anyway, I had resigned that I would just not eat it. I mean… that’s allowed, right?

Wrong.

The waiter came by and saw that one sad little beet macaroon with fois gras mousse sitting untouched on the plate and became immediately apologetic, “Oh dear! Is there something wrong with the canapé?? Can I get you something else instead??” I was utterly mortified that I didn’t eat it and I wasn’t even willing to try it. I looked at Steve and said, “I’m going to have to eat this, aren’t I?” He nodded. And so I mustered up every possible culinary courage that I had and popped the sucker in my mouth…

Where it melted… deliciously. Oh it was wonderful!! I didn’t know that liver could taste so good. It was buttery and smooth, and the beet macaroon was deliciously light and airy. It was one of the most delightful things I’ve ever eaten. I was instantaneously sorry that I made Steve eat his first because I might have been able to con him out of his and I could have it all to myself. Of course, after I ate it, Steve mentioned that he thought it was disgusting and he just said it was good to get me to eat it. True love at its finest.

Well, if the beet macaroon with fois gras mousse canapé was any indication of what the rest of the meal would be like (and it was) I am going to have to amend my Top 10 Best Meals Ever (Restaurant Edition) to include this one.

I’ll go quickly because I’ve already spent an inordinate amount of your time talking about the silly little canapé.

• The corn chowder was wonderful. I was a little worried about the Avocado ice cream, because that sounded weird… but it was really more like slightly frozen guacamole. Since the whole dish was cold that was perfectly acceptable. I’m actually not a fan of cold soups, but I didn’t mind this one in the slightest. It was refreshing.

• The goat cheese ravioli… To… DIE… for, period. Cherry Glen Farm has been raising champion goats for years, and their goat cheese is by far some of the most superior goat cheese I’ve ever had. And I’m not the only one who thinks so, because they recently won a Bronze Medal at the 2009 United States Championship Cheese Contest for their Monocacy Ash cheese. Chef Voltaggio does an excellent job in crafting Cherry Glen’s goat cheese into a fantastically savory dish. It was topped with a froth (my favorite thing in haute cuisine) and had just the perfect flavors in every respect. Bravo.

• The roasted wellington chicken was superb as well. At this point, would you expect me to say anything else? The portion was actually so large that I could only eat half. Steve helped me with the rest. I am a huge savory fan (my mother is always shocked by this because she doesn’t like savory things as much), and this dish was wonderful. The rosemary glaze was perfect, the chicken was moist, delectable, and the succotash was light and heavenly. I loved every minute of this dish… but not as much as I loved the ravioli.

• Do we really have to talk about the dessert? I mean, really? Because it’s going to ruin my glowing review of Volt. Remember a little bit ago when I said that I ordered the dessert for the wine? Well, I wasn’t kidding. Remember also when I said I was a down-home dessert lover? Well, I wasn’t kidding about that either. I love me a good piece of chocolate cake with fudge icing, or the perfect peanut butter cookie, or a simple bowl of vanilla ice cream. To be honest, I hated the dessert… except for the homemade chocolate ice cream. I could have eaten a gallon of that. The rest of it? Entirely too frou-frou for me. The wine was excellent though, so I don’t regret it a bit (the wine did not appear on their regular wine list).

All-in-all, I give Volt 5 stars. And I’ll skip dessert next time.

For some light reading, I recommend Volt’s blogs:

• Happenings Around Volt
• Updates from the Kitchen – incidentally, if you go right now you can read about the tasty morels that were in my ravioli dish.

And Cherry Glen Farms has some recipes that sound fantastic on their site:

• Cherry Glen Goat Cheese recipes
• And you can find out where to purchase their goat cheese too!

Random Posts

• August 10, 2005 -- 110 volts can kill you; unless you’re not the average man.
• August 14, 2006 -- Our toilet is German
• February 10, 2006 --
• May 31, 2007 -- Uphill battle
• January 29, 2009 -- Loudoun County Dog Licenses – Confusing Changes