Eats
PHOTOS BY DON JAMES/ATM
DISH
TAKING IT TO ANOTHER LEVEL
Savoy keeps things fresh with uncommon ingredients and unique offerings
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t is always a nice surprise finding something new and exciting on a restaurant’s menu. Savoy Bar & Grill Executive Chef Dylan de Jonckheere looks for ingredients and offerings that cannot be found around town to turn diners into regulars. When he is not in the kitchen, de Jonckheere is watching anything food related on YouTube or searching the Internet for exotic grains, vegetables and other entrée pairings. “I think it’s a big help in keeping the spirit alive of trying to find new things out there and it’s a really good gateway to look into what is going on in the bigger picture rather than seeing what’s around you,” he
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explains. De Jonckheere also likes to change things out on the menu every so often. He recently replaced the chicken parmesan dish with chicken carbonara. It features housemade fettucine tossed with some eggs, Grana Padano cheese, artichoke hearts, pancetta and peas. It is served with a pesto tarragon pan sauce that is made to order. Chicken at Savoy is never dry. Airline chickens are brined for several days in a mixture of lemon juice, salt water, dried rosemary, thyme and black pepper. “We brine those for at least four or five days just to get them nice and moist,” de Jonckheere says. “Especially with the long
cook time on them and how big they are and then taking 20 minutes in a 500 degree oven, it’s got to stand up to that heat and stay moist.” De Jonckheere has spruced up the salmon dish by pairing it with something other than the typical asparagus or roasted potato accompaniment. “With a savory dish, there’s a lot of creativity that can go into it and I love making very colorful dishes when it comes to that,” he explains. I especially like tropical themed stuff on there. Like this next one we’re going to have bamboo rice. That’s what we decided on, bamboo rice, a tropical fruit, a jicama slaw, it’s going to have like pineapple, mango and dragon fruit in
WWW.ABQTHEMAG.COM | MARCH 2022
