At least Mizner had his best friends for consolation, the five sled dogs he named after the menu he most craved: Scrambled Eggs, Oysters, Salad, Mushroom and Cake.
The fava-bean-and-wild-mushroom risotto cake served with the filet mignon was rich and complex.
The menu is urban contemporary with Southwestern and Asian flourishes, such as a grilled black Angus ribeye with chipotle butter and onion strips, and seared tuna with citrus soy glaze and mushroom risotto cakes.
At the head of the class were wild mushroom polenta cakes ($5), three golden crusted triangles with a moist interior; and basilla ($5), four flaky phyllo dough crescents filled with Moroccan-spiced minced duck.
Blandy's wife, in a much-reproduced photograph, was shown cutting a mushroom-cloud cake, with a hat that bore a noticeable, though apparently accidental, resemblance to the top of the cloud itself.
ON THE PLATES "About 12 different items off the menu," the elder Mr. Cohen said, including butter-poached lobster pizzetta ($18), barbecue duck confit and black bean empanadas ($10), Creekstone Farms braised short rib soft tacos ($19), wild mushroom risotto cakes ($12), tuna tartare roll ($13) and the restaurant's signature French onion soup dumplings ($12).
With just a little sugar and a few egg whites, you can make decadent layered cakes -- also known as pavlovas -- airy cookies, and even little mushrooms for cake decorating.
RECOMMENDED DISHES -- Salad bar, cream of mushroom soup, crab cake, filet mignon, linguine with smoked salmon and wilted watercress, mushroom-stuffed rigatoni with prosciutto and arugula.
Now it serves imaginatively prepared food like buffalo steak with portobello mushrooms, potato cakes and lingonberry sauce ($27).
I love how Detoutcoeur Limousin makes mushroom in a cake a good thing.
