Chef Mike Ledesma (left) and his team work by lamplight to plate foie gras atop a strawberry reduction at the Perch pop-up dinner at Blue Bee Cider.
“It’s going to be very free flowing … like a party,” Mike Ledesma said Monday night. “How much can we do without going crazy?”
On an unseasonably warm evening at Blue Bee Cider in Scott’s Addition, where the chef held yet another pop-up to promote his forthcoming restaurant Perch, the vibe was very much that of a party — a party presided over by a driven, bent-to-impress host.
The cozy, stone-clad space, the onetime home of Summit Stables, was bright with Christmas lights, and the two long tables set out for the occasion were decorated in seasonal greenery. But the relaxed and festive air was belied by Ledesma and his four-man kitchen crew, who bore down on their tasks with the focus of checkout clerks on Black Friday.
As guests chatted, studying the menus laid before them, Ledesma and his team, guided only by lamplight, were busy frying leeks, bruleeing cheese and smoking quail.
Set to open in March of 2018, Perch is Ledesma’s first project flying solo. As a longtime fixture of the Richmond restaurant scene, the chef has stayed frenetically busy in advance of the restaurant’s much-anticipated debut. He had a hand in the opening of The Hard Shell’s second location in Midlothian, as well as Max’s on Broad downtown. He has also worked at Patina and as executive chef for Richmond Restaurant Group.
And he has held pop-ups. Lots and lots of pop-ups.
These impromptu dinners enable him, Ledesma says, to test-drive dishes, refine recipes and methods, gauge audience response, and, not least, garner word of mouth for his brick-and-mortar project.
Perhaps mindful of the need to dazzle with Perch just months from opening, Ledesma added two extra courses at the last minute, taking the Monday-night event from the expected five-course meal into a seven-courser.
Nobody complained, of course.
One of the surprises was a white-bean and sage-sausage cassoulet topped with a fall-off-the-bone chicken drumstick and crispy confit chicken skin. The salty piece of chicken skin left guests wanting more, and Ledesma, tongs in hand and a smile on his face, was only too happy to come out and dish up seconds.
The chef has said that Perch will feature dishes inspired by his Filipino heritage, his years spent cooking in Hawaii and his classical culinary training. He will also rely heavily on ideas contributed by his cooks, and will make menu choices based on what is available seasonally from local farmers and purveyors.
Potato soup with crispy fried leeks and Virginia oyster
Last night, it was his classical training that spoke loudest. Among the highlights: a silky potato soup overflowing with crispy fried leeks and accompanied by a tender oyster placed carefully at the bottom of the bowl.
Discerning palates might have picked up on a dish Ledesma adapted from a recipe originated at Nobu restaurant — Hamachi crudo garnished with shaved apple and a sliver of fresh jalapeno. Arrayed on a stark white plate, the pink of the Hamachi glowed beneath a glistening drizzle of olive oil.
Ledesma got by, on this night, with a little help from his friends. There were cider pairings from Blue Bee’s owner, Courtney Mailey, as well as a Nightingale ice cream sandwich — stuffed with apple-cinnamon ice cream and swimming in a cider sabayon — courtesy of its co-owner, Xavier Meers.
