FEAST at the Carnegie Museums - An Exceptional Dining Experience

Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on March 14, 2019.

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The Carnegie Museums in Oakland have an annual dinner series known as FEAST which is a themed a dining experience in conjunction with a current exhibit. During the Carnegie International (running until March 2019), the museum is hosting three unique dinners in order to celebrate topics being presented during the flagship exhibition.

The first dinner was themed after the topic Beauty and hosted by Kate Romane from Black Radish Kitchen- a popular pop-up restaurant that is known for being highly sought after and almost impossible to get a seat at (we've yet to get in ourselves!).

I was invited to check out the dinner series as a guest of the museum, and share the experience of the dinner series in this one!

The FEAST Dinner at the Carnegie Museum

The dinner consisted of a screening of select movies in conjunction with the dinner's theme, access to the museum (great to see the exhibits brought in for the Carnegie International!), a welcome hour, and a three course meal- making for a wonderful night out.

The welcome hour was an informal mingling session where visitors could talk to each other in the cafe's bar area with antipasto, house-made breads, and a welcome glass of Prosecco.

The two dinner courses were served family style such that guests passed the serving plates around the table, talked, and got to know each other- taking a play on the beauty element in the lens of family togetherness and strangers becoming friends.

The first course offered three plates including a radicchio, romaine, watercress, gorgonzola, and shaved fennel salad topped with tangerine oil and lemon vin; a white fish served on top of a parsnip whip (think mashed potatoes) with lemon, olives, and parsley butter; and the third plate featured gorgonzola polenta cakes with late summer roasted tomatoes- all paired with a Rose Pinot Noir.

The second course offered three more plates including a pork loin with tonnato and fried capers; a helping of agnolotti with porcini brown butter, thyme, and fried mushrooms; as well as grilled broccolini with Iberian chili, garlic, pecorino, and lemon- paired with a full body Pinot Noir.

The dessert course followed the idea of family togetherness and was a true Pittsburgh cookie table with biscotti, cannoli, pignoli cookies among others- paired with espresso and an amaro.

Now, not having food from Black Radish Kitchen prior to this meal, it is hard to give a reference point. But judging by the response of my new friends at the dinner table, Kate Romane knocked it out of the park- something I can fully imagine with the quality of the meal (and her reputation of selling out pop-up dinners within seconds of tickets going on sale).

The white fish offered such a light flavor which was balanced with a proportional punch from the parsnip whip and parsley butter that was an exceptional flavor. The pork loin was so tender you could cut it with a spoon (literally) and balanced perfectly with the slightly tangy tonnato sauce. And the agnolotti came topped with a generous amount of fried mushrooms and brown butter sauce that really brought out the flavors of fall.

In being served family style, you can be rest assured we all feasted on as much as we could eat, and then some, which is something I can always appreciate for multi-course dinners such as this (however, this format may have been unique to this specific night too).

But when it all comes down to it, what really jumped out to me was the simplicity of Kate's cooking style and how just a few, fresh ingredients can come together to make a meal be something truly exceptional. Share that with a few new friends and I can truly see the beauty in it all!

Now to figure out how to get into one of Black Radish Kitchen's sought after pop-ups!