Matt's Red Rooster Grill
22 Bloomfield Avenue, Flemington, NJ
Sunday, June 14, 2009
An Old Friend Entertains at Matt’s Red Rooster Grill
By Ernest Jaeger, Charge de Presse Provencial Honoraire
Chambellan Provincial/Bailli Robin Jacobs and Chargee de Missions Celia D’Arienzo discovered Matt’s Red Rooster Grill, a five-year-old restaurant in Flemington, New Jersey when they were searching for new venue for our events. At the same time, they announced their find, the regional food press was giving the five-year-old restaurant a second life with excellent reviews from as far a field as Philadelphia.
Jacobs and D’Arienzo’s find turned out to be a great choice for our June event. More than just an evening of wonderful food and wines, the event offered us an opportunity to greet an old friend, chef/owner Matt McPherson, a former student of our bailliage, with the rank of Rotisseur. During the event, he was elevated to the rank of Chef Rotisseur by Balli Provincial George Muller. We were all very proud to be a small part of McPherson’s successful career.
The event was what is now a tradition with our chapter, a BYOB, with each member toting his/her own wine choice(s), nothing with less than a Robert Parker rating of 90. For those in our chapter who hold cellars this was an opportunity to share their best with their table mates, for those whose holdings are more modest, this was an opportunity to do some research and find some new wines, perhaps future favorites. A good deal of sharing went on throughout the evening.
Passed hors d’oeuvres and a sparkling wine welcomed us. The hors d’oeuvres were a huge hit, especially the apple cider glazed pork belly, the pastry spoon with grilled avocado, and small cones with local roasted beets and herbs. Each of the courses of the evening showed the same creativity as the hors d’oeuvres. A second course of enormous grilled Day Boat scallops were incredibly fresh and accompanied by a black garlic emulsion and micro greens.
The entrée of cold-smoked beef tenderloin garnered the most curiosity from the most of us . The beef served hot had been cold smoked. McPherson explained that the process involved packing ice around the perimeter of the smoker as the beef was smoked for two hours. After the smoker, the beef was grilled and presented with creamy whipped potatoes, truffle oil, and locally grown Swiss chard. We all marveled at the tenderness of the meat and its delicate smoky flavor.
A cheese course featuring perfectly ripe St. Andre, aged cheddar, and Maytag blue preceded the dessert, a classic strawberry short cake, with the first of Jersey’s strawberries.
D’Arienzo and Chambellan Jacobs presented McPherson with the tradition Chaine plaque for his restaurant, recognizing his talents that evening and welcoming him to chapter as Chef Rotisseur. We applauded loudly, recognizing the talent manifest in this dinner and the fact that McPherson had taken another step in his Chaine journey.
