Varnadoe’s flair for the experimental extends to his staff as well. Chef Jeffery Ponder came up with our dessert, a chocolate and chambord torte topped with a berry and champagne sorbet, orbited by little clouds of caramel bubbles holding aloft little translucent beads of mint gelée. The foam and gelée are interesting on their own, but when a little of the rich torte and the berry reduction meets the caramel and mint, the dish transforms into a complex, new flavor, which is the point of this modernist cuisine—to step away from the tried and true methods of making food and seeing what, with the help of a little science, our ingredients can really do.

Details. Details. Details.

Chef Sclafani teaches classes every month at Ruffino’s and will be doing a Top Chef Master Class on Monday, October 17.

Ruffino’s
18811 Highland Road
Baton Rouge, La
(225) 753-3458
RuffinosRestaurant.com

Chef Varnadoe is presenting a dinner of his “Upscale, Down South” cuisine at the James Beard House in New York City on July 27.

Stroubes Seafood & Steaks
107 3rd Street
Baton Rouge, La
(225) 448-2830
stroubes.com

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