The Dish

PÂTÉ-ERS GOING TO PÂTÉ

Imagine you’re a sculptor. In front of you sits a mass of clay, and it’s up to you to look at it and—through your combination of vision and experience—turn that unformed mass into something that moves people. How is that different from what Colin Johnson, one of the talented crew at St. Lawrence, does when he dons his heavy blue apron, approaches a mound of pastry dough and ingredients and begins to think: What if I painstakingly combined duck, pistachios, maple syrup and Grand Marnier? Or wild boar and black truffles? Or goose, chestnut, cranberry and sage? Johnson’s pâté en croûte—a middle-ages era dish that broadly consists of a terrine wrapped in pastry—has become one of the calling cards of St. Lawrence, simultaneously refined and comforting, sophisticated but not too posh. (We’ll credit Johnson’s Nottingham roots for that last part.) It’s an incredibly time-consuming process—from start to finish, Johnson can spend three days on one—but who worries about time when you’re making art?

by Neal McLennan photograph by Chris Giannakos

DRINK THIS

PENFOLDS ST. HENRI

SHIRAZ , $150 How often do you get the chance to drink the highest expression of something? Penfolds has been making St. Henri—their ode to aging shiraz in old wooden vats—since 1957, but there’s a critical mass who seem to think 2018 is in the running to stand on the podium of “greatest ever.” There’s a bushel of fresh, not heavy blackberries and blueberries kept on focus by a structure of tea and tobacco and a dash of mocha. Age it for three decades or drink it tomorrow—both are acceptable with this refined yet bold effort.