We had the pleasure of introducing our East-meets-West cuisine to a new community, and to use the incredible produce, meat and dairy (especially the dairy!) from local farms in Wisconsin. Huge thanks to the UFC, Glass House & Bradbury’s for making this happen, and for contributing far more to this menu than it may seem. Here’s what we cooked:

Menu

Lamb, Mint & Cilantro Soup Dumplings

Kidney & Organ Confit Steamed Buns with Pickled Carrots & Hot Mustard Mayo

Smoked Chicken Wings with Korean “Buffalo” Sauce & Fermented Tofu “Blue Cheese” Dressing

Snug Haven Frost-Sweetened Spinach Salad with Soy-Bacon Vinaigrette, Candied Kumquats, Lardo and Tea Leaf Eggs

Homestyle Udon Noodles with Duck Sausages, Pickled Shiitakes & Black Pepper Meat Sauce

Sassy Cow Sweet Cream Ice Cream with Apple & Candied Ginger Tempura

homemade udon, duck sausages and pickled shiitakes piled high

steamed buns with kidney & organ confit

Korean hot chili “Buffalo” wings

spinach salad with kumquats and tea leaf eggs

The dinner received a lovely write-up from a local reporter from the Daily Page, whom we did not even know was in attendance. So rather than sum up our thoughts on the courses, we’ll let her review do the talking, as it so thoroughly describes them as well as captures the friendly, social atmosphere that we’ve always enjoyed ourselves at dinners hosted by the Underground Food Collective. Cheer

Our collaborative dinner will be hosted by the Glass House Supper Club at Bradbury’s on February 28th. It will be a cozy, intimate six-course dinner and tickets are now available for it here. Once in Wisconsin, we’ll be sourcing our food from local farms that UFC and Glass House has established great relationships with, as well as the Saturday Farmers’ Market in Madison. We can’t tell you how excited we are to bring hapa flavors to a new region, and new, local foods, just like UFC has been doing each time they cook in Brooklyn. (Above photo: from Underground Food Collective’s winter dinner held at the Meat Hook, January 17th.)

Next stop in Madison, we’ll be serving a big group dinner for about 100 members of the Slow Food University of Wisconsin chapter. Slow Food UW has been holding Monday Family Dinner nights each week for a while (along with a host of really great sounding events – see their blog), with guest chefs often coming to create the menu and serve.

Speaking of which, those menus are still in the works and we’ll be posting more info here soon. In the meantime, you can also catch the Hapa Kitchen at the book launch party for co-founder Cathy Erway on February 18th. We’ll be making some of our favorite “hapa tapa”-style snacks, revamped for just the occasion — some ideas tweaked from recipes in Cathy’s book, The Art of Eating In, and others just off-the-wall nods to all flavors half-Chinese/half-New Jersey, like the author herself. At least, I think that’s what Akiko is up to on this… Get your tickets for that foodfest here!