La Cantine

An ode to spring produce and seasonal transition.

Earlier this week, I met friends for a Monday dinner at La Cantine. I’ve been following the restaurant for several years without visiting, eyeing their daytime sandwiches. More recently, I have been hearing good things about their dinner program, Sunsets.

I arrived first, sat outside, and read the menu. I typically hate sitting outside in the city. Here, it was not so bad, nice even — well-lit and plenty of sidewalk. When my first friend arrived and asked what looked good, I immediately jumped to dessert: strawberries and cream tiramisu with strawberry milk soaked ladyfingers, strawberry jam, white chocolate strawberry almond praline, vanilla mascarpone whip, and sliced strawberries. By the time our third arrived and we ordered food, we were notified that they were sold out. Devastating.

The dinner menu focused on spring produce — ramps, asparagus, and herbs at the forefront. Our unassuming favorite was the Snap pea salad: arugula and snap peas settled atop a butter beans & basil spread, finished with mint, sumac, pickled shallots, and a pile of rich coppa. The refreshing brightness of the crisp arugula and asparagus, paired with the thinly sliced yet rich pork was sensational.

Doubling down, we got the grilled asparagus, served with ‘nduja and lemon dill creme fraiche. I originally fell in love with ‘nduja after having it in a vegetable soup at Gem several years ago. I love Calabrian chili peppers. Take their heat and smokiness, add the richness of spreadable pork salami and I’m sold. I love La Cantine’s thought to pair it with creme fraiche. We sopped up every bit with leftover sourdough from our bread, chive butter, and saucisson starter.

We had to order the lemon buttermilk crispy chicken and fries with ramp mornay sauce. Creamy cheese sauce, garlicky ramps, and fried chicken can do no wrong. I tend to default to making compound butter, pesto, or pasta during ramp season. I’m adding mornay sauce to the list.

By the time we reached dessert, the restaurant was thinning out and we had made peace with ordering the chocolate cake and bay leaf vanilla gelato instead of the tiramisu. With few guests left, our server offered to check if the kitchen could find enough for one last tiramisu. To our surprise, she came back with good news and we received the last serving. Our server described it as their transitional dish — a little bit winter, a little bit summer. It exceeded expectation. The soaked ladyfingers and jam provided a sweet base, layered with crunchy, nutty almond praline and smooth mascarpone whip. It’s no surprise the strawberries were Harry’s Berries, the producer with a cult following whose cartons go for close to $25 (and are absolutely worth it).

The next night, I planned to make my aforementioned simple salad with asparagus and arugula. I couldn’t resist stopping in the grocery store on my way home to grab snap peas and prosciutto to replicate the La Cantine salad.

This is one of my favorite parts of eating out, it makes your home cooking better!

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