You can see Chef Aaron Deal cooking live by watching his Chefcam, a live streaming video that shows the behind the scenes cooking on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 6:30 -10 p.m.
www.tristandining.com
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By Tom Crosby
(May 2008) Tristan has earned its stripes as a fine dining restaurant with a difference, earning numerous culinary kudos in Charleston’s highly competitive dining arena.
Located on the entrance level of the stylish French Quarter Inn in the heart of Charleston’s immensely popular historic Market Street area, Tristan has received Wine Spectator Awards of Excellence and prestigious AAA Four Diamond ratings.
The Chef
Executive Chef Aaron Deal also offers some novelty with Chefcam, a live streaming video on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 6:30 -10 p.m. that captures the balletic mayhem of a fine dining kitchen producing unique food offerings for discriminatory diners. Deal, a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Johnson & Wales University, a celebrated hospitality and culinary four-year college, prepares exotic offerings influenced by seasonality and regionality.
 The search can be as challenging as finding a white turnip chef offering specially grown for Tristan’s and served atop a Dijon vinaigrette sauce with sea salt to preparing an organic salmon entrée with bacon jus, salsify root puree and organic maple syrup.
Deal has contributed to various charitable causes and cooked at food events like the Epcot Food and Wine Festival in Orlando and the James Beard House in New York.
“What I try to do is create food that makes a flavor statement,” said Deal, a native of Morganton, North Carolina.
Tristan guests choose from three entrances, with the main one a trellised, ironworks walkway flanked by potted plants at 55 Market Street below the brick, three-story AAA Four Diamond rated French Quarter Inn.
Entering through a wooden door inset with glass, guests arrive in a small alcove with brilliantly-colored, jewel-toned glass art sculptures on the left and on the right an oil on linen featuring a panoramic view of Charleston as seen from Tristan’s rooftop and painted by local artist Jennifer Smith Rogers.
 The art-deco maitre’d reception desk hints of a modern, stylish interior decor that soon dazzles with a simple, yet elegant, contrast of white tablecloths and settings resting on charcoal gray carpet with navy blue and rust-patterned upholstered chairs and curved glass walls muted with sheer curtains.
The waitstaff wear black shirts and drape black - not white - napkins in the laps of anyone wearing black so as to eliminate the possibility of white napkin lint hangover. (And those in light-colored attire receive white linen napkins).
The extensive (500-plus labels) wine list comes with silver binding and the wines, located in the bar area, can be lovingly viewed in their sealed, temperature controlled environment through a glass door.
Beyond the bar area is another entrance reached through the ground level lobby of the French Quarter Inn, and behind the matri’d desk in a corner, a three piece band plays soft jazz music Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.
From almost anywhere in the 100-seat open portion of the restaurant, the kitchen can be viewed. A special “chef's table”, with its back to the rest of the room, faces the “exhibition kitchen,” and allows the booth diners an intimate, live view of the artistry of food preparation. At meals end, Chef Deal often gives the “chef’s table” dinners a personal tour of the kitchen.
The Architect
The restaurant’s décor and ambiance were created by Bill Johnson, a designer and architect from Atlanta, Georgia. Johnson used large ellipses on the ceiling, curved banquettes in the dining and bar area, and rounded glassware sculptures to give a subtle impression of gentle water flowing that is most evident by unique lighting in the 45-seat bar and a visual waterfall effect on one wall.
Soft curtains follow curved walls, and in the bathrooms, sinks are like glass trays with water flowing into troughs - not drains - again creating a waterfall effect.
 The bar, at the far right end of the restaurant from the Market Street entrance and reached via a curved hallway, separates itself from the restaurant with curtains covering a glass wall with glass shelving supporting illuminated liquor choices behind the bar's white finished concrete counter.
Patterned charcoal gray carpet graces the floor everywhere, and in the restaurant, booths line two walls. Tables are topped with crisp white linens and chairs are gray, leather-like vinyl. White dendrobium (orchids) sit in white or blue square vases on the table, set with Gingko/Helmick silverware and European crystal.
Along with various choices of water - sparkling, bottled - lemon and lime slices are offered. Homemade bread is served on depression-style, hand made colored glass plates.
 Acoustics come into play with a sound system that captures the band’s musings, allowing the sound to be heard equally anywhere in the restaurant, which often sounds like a joyous Italian trattoria, alive with conversation and music.
The result is an atmosphere that generates adjectives like snazzy, cosmopolitan, modern, cool, trendy, relaxed and romantic.
While the atmosphere can be enticing, it is the food and wine that provide capstones to a Tristan experience.
Exotic drinks include a Moscow Mule with ginger beer and citrus vodka ($8), or a mojito with 10 Cane Rum ($10) or a Tuxedo Strawberry with Godvia chocolate Liqueur and Stoli vodka ($10). The restaurant’s “Port of Call” has also received recognition in gourmet magazines. It combines Warre’s Optioma 10 Year Tawny port and apricot brandy, served on the rocks and garnished with a candied apricot.
 The Food
Chef Deal’s menu changes, depending on the freshest ingredients available. Appetizers might include a pomegranate beet salad ($12), butternut squash terrine ($10), veal sweetbreads ($12) or she-crab soup ($8). For the big spenders, California Ossetra Caviar ($100 oz.) or American Paddlefish Caviar ($60 oz.)Is served with Skyy 90 vodka or Moet & Chandon White Star Champagne.
Entrees range from a fresh organic selection of locally grown produce (Garden Select $18) to Venison Osso Buco ($34), Vermillion Snapper ($28), White Tuna with pancetta crust ($30) or a Tomahawk Rib-Eye Steak ($55).
The Tasting
No one can eat all the dishes offered in one sitting, so Chef Deal provides a tasting menu for $85 (with an extra $45 for wine pairings) that travels through the menu with panache, as each of the six offerings comes attractively styled on the plate, and then a matching glass of wine was poured with each serving. Samplings included Foie Gras Pot de Crème, Diver Scallop, Duck Breast, White Tuna, Beef Short Rib and capped with a Toasted Hazelnut Soufflé. The wines included three French including a 1973 Chateau Caillou Sauterne, a 1996 Lan Rojia Gran Reserve from Spain, a chardonnay from Australia and a concluding 2003 Taylor Fladgate Port from Portugal.
 The Desserts
For the ala carte diner, the 11 desert choices include carrot cake ice cream sandwich ($7), rosewater crème brulee ($8), chilled blueberry soup ($7) and beet & cinnamon cheesecake ($8).
The wine
Wine connoisseurs will appreciate the robustness and uniqueness of the wine selection, with more than 17 different choices of reds, whites and champagne by the glass. Prices for whites go from a low of $7 for a glass of 2006 Pinot Grigio to $15 for a 1964 Sauternes, Chateau Caillou, Barsac.
Bottled wines are international with wines from Germany, Italy, France, California, Washington, Sicily, Spain, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and Spain. Domestic wines are mostly from California and Washington states. You can buy an Italian red varietal for $24 or splurge for $380 for a 1991 chardonnay from the Burgundy region of France. The truly big spender can choose a $1,800 bottle of Pomerol, Chateau Petrus 2003.
At the end of the meal, it won’t matter how much you spent; you will have a gustatory memory that will urge you to return. (Updated May 2008) |
