Volt

One huge perk about talking about food too much is that your friends start calling you and offering away their reservations before they cancel them.  You can imagine my excitement when my wonderful/fabulous/amazing friend Erin asked me if I wanted her reservation for the Chef's Table at Volt, Bryan Voltaggio's restaurant in Frederick, Maryland.  (For those of you who have been unconscious for the past year and don't know who that is, Bryan Voltaggio was the runner-up on Top Chef season 6.  His brother Michael Voltaggio won.)

Everything about this restaurant was impressive.  Yes, it's in the middle of Frederick...an area that probably brings rednecks and Budweisers to mind more so than it invokes images of fine dining...but in actuality, Frederick is an adorable quaint little town, with a bunch of good restaurants, live music, shops and even a brewery.  It may be 40 minutes from D.C., but Volt fit in very nicely.

Other than the food- which was incredible- the most impressive thing about my experience was that Bryan Voltaggio was actually there.  On more than one occasion I have been to a restaurant with a famous chef and the chef is not working.  Bryan Voltaggio being there, dropping off food at my table and being able to shake his hand and thank him after my meal, made the experience THAT much better.

Food time. Prepare yourself for the ultimate recap. We went with the Kitchen Menu, which consisted of six courses. The first course was a Tuscarora Beet Salad with Goat Cheese, Upland Cress and Balsamic Six.  I don’t exactly know what half of those things are, necessarily…upland cress tasted like microgreens and balsamic six I can only assume is balsamic vinegar that was aged for 6 years.  But the beets were really tender and fresh, and the goat cheese, which was more of a goat cheese cream, was extremely mild.  It was a beautiful plate and overall a wonderful start to the meal.

Beet Salad

For my second course, I upgraded for an extra $25 (pretty steep when you think about the fact that the 6 courses are $95 total) for the White Truffle Farro Risotto with a Hen Egg on top.  This. Dish. Was. To die for. There was a bit of a hiccup between the first and second course…an approximately 35 minute hiccup…but the server apologized for the delay, and it bothered me up until Bryan Voltaggio personally delivered my dish and grated white truffle on my risotto.  I am happy to pay extra money and wait even an hour if that’s what happens when I upgrade my dish! The risotto was perfectly cooked- tender but melting into a creamy sauce.  As for the egg, it wasn’t runny like I thought it would be, but rather...velvety.  And when it melded with the risotto and white truffle it created a rich yet surprisingly light dish.  I realize that you can't tell from the pictures, but it was perfect.

Second Course: Pure Zexy-ness

The yolk was separate from the white, so awesome.

So anyways, as I try to get over my food-crush that was the second course...the third course was a beautiful piece of Arctic Char with Black Forbidden Rice, Squash puree, Matsutake Mushrooms, Brown Butter and Pumpkin Seeds.  This course was very complex, and I feel like I was able to catch a glimpse of Bryan Voltaggio's skill in combining textures and flavors that most of us wouldn’t think to put together, to create a truly memorable dish.  I normally find Arctic Char, which looks and tastes similar to salmon, to be too fishy.  But at Volt, the Arctic Char was buttery and mild.  The black forbidden rice gave texture to the dish, and was perfectly salted and cooked, not sticky and not too hard, as rice too often ends up being.  My only complaint was that the skin on my fish was way too salty for my taste, although my dining partner was more than happy to gobble it up.

Third Course: Arctic Char

For my fourth course, and a very close runner-up to the risotto dish, was the Red Wattle Pork Belly with a Sweet and Sour Mustard Sauce, Haricot Verts and Cannellini Beans.  I’m not sure if words can accurately explain how delicious the pork belly was…if it was on a bone, it would have fallen right off of it.  It was tender and salty and I wanted to put it between two pieces of bread and eat it for lunch every day.  It was that good.  However, I found the cannelini beans unnecessary; cannelinis are pretty flavorless and a very soft bean which was almost the same texture as the pork, so it didn’t add depth to the dish.

Fourth Course: Pork Belly...nom nom nom

At this point in the meal I was nearing a food coma, and while the fifth course of Waygu Beef Short Ribs was a good dish, I can’t remember anything of note.  I thought the meat was a bit too fatty and the other components to the dish (carrots, chanterelle mushrooms and Yukon gold potatoes) didn’t blow my mind.  The little garlic chip was good though...for a garlic chip.

Last, but not least, was the dessert course: Chocolate covered Banana Ice Cream with a “PBJ” on the side- Concord Grape sorbet, Roasted Peanuts, and Caramel Powder.  Cute concept with the PBJ, and the Concord grape sorbet was tangy but sweet, and legitimately tasted like Concord grapes.  But…caramel powder, or any powder for that matter, is weird to eat. Why? Because sometimes by accident you inhale it in a cloud of smoke like a pixie stick.  And you choke and look kinda stupid, and the server sees you and laughs at you, and you wonder…couldn’t Bryan Voltaggio have just drizzled some caramel on top if he wanted me to taste caramel? But I digress.  Any dessert that has chocolate, banana and peanuts in it is already a winner in my book, and it was a nice end to the six courses.

The Final Course: Dessert

Overall this was a FABULOUS meal.  Besides all of the courses, the meal started with an amuse bouche and ended with an array of chocolates and other small treats.  Additionally, right before they gave us the check, we were each given a mini poppy-seed pound cake that was wrapped up for us to take home.  It was a nice touch, and in combination with all the other little touches by the staff at Volt, definitely made me feel like the $400+ (!!) we spent on the meal was worth it. 

If you love food, and you'd love to catch a glimpse of a celebrity chef in action, and you feel like calling tomorrow for a reservation in late December (you have to call about two months ahead of time for a reservation) then GO TO VOLT! You will by no means be disappointed.

Volt
228 North Market Street
Frederick, MD 21701
(301) 696-VOLT
http://www.voltrestaurant.com/index.htm