TRIANGLE TODAY | THE NEWS & OBSERVER
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2018
Check out T O D A Y triangletodaync
@triangletodaync
@triangletodaync
HERONS
KIDS TOWN on page 2 for a fun craft!
Herons’ eight-course tasting menu “The Art Tour” treats diners to an epicurean flight of fancy, where each course is inspired by a work of art in the hotel.
SERVES AN EXQUISITE MEAL Greg Cox for Triangle Today
Herons 100 Woodland Pond Drive, in the Umstead Hotel and Spa, Cary 919-447-4000 heronsrestaurant.com Cuisine: contemporary Rating: 5 stars Prices: $$$$ Atmosphere: elegant, contemporary Noise level: low to moderate Service: impeccable Recommended: everything, especially “The Art Tour” Open: Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily Reservations: strongly recommended Other: full bar (outstanding wine list); get a sitter; limited vegetarian selection; patio; parking in lot (valet parking available)
presents
Juli Leonard
Shortly after we’re seated at a table draped in crisp, freshly pressed white linen at Herons, a jacketed waiter wheels a cart up to our table. A glassand-metal contraption is perched atop a Bunsen burner; it looks like it was taken straight from a chemistry lab. Our server explains that this is a German vacuum tea brewer, and she proceeds to brew an herb tea that, as it rises from the bottom chamber to the top, turns an intense violet color. This is just the beginning of an exquisite night at the posh Umstead Hotel, where we’re feasting on an eight-course tasting menu called “The Art Tour.” Executive chef Steven Devereaux Greene, a two-time James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef in the Southeast, introduced the special menu last month as a tribute to the Umstead’s motto, “where nature and art collide.”
Over multiple courses, we’re treated to an epicurean flight of fancy, where each course is inspired by a work of art in the hotel and draws heavily on produce harvested from the Umstead’s own dedicated farm. Naturally, a meal this lavish doesn’t come cheap. “The Art Tour” will set you back $150 a head, but as all great journeys are, this one is worth it. Let’s return to the meal, one whose lavishness leaves us slack-jawed, even before the first course.
“That’s butterfly pea blossom that gives the tea its color,” our server explains about the tea as she pours it into celadon green cups made by the internationally renowned Ben Owen Pottery in Seagrove. As we’re sipping the last drops of the tea, a tray trailing a cloud of dry ice vapor is brought to the table. Rising from the cloud are two small ceramic dishes made to look like oyster shells. In each, our server tells us, is an oyster harvested this morning from Harkers Island, garnished with Ossetra caviar.
Wednesday, August 15 6 to 9 p.m. 301 South Academy St., Cary
2018
AT DUSK
A uniquely southern celebration of food, drink and community.
For details and tickets, visit indulge.triangletoday.com
Supporting Sponsor