Chef Roberto Cortez Disrupts The Dining Experience

You’ve been eating out all your life, right? You have a pretty good idea of what to expect: teasing appetizers precede savory entrees, which in turn precede sweet desserts. Depending on the type of dining experience, a few additional courses might be thrown in, or not. As frequent diners, we hope the ambiance will be conducive to digestion, but more often than not we are encouraged to move on quickly so tables can be turned. And don’t get me started on what passes for service in most restaurants these days! 

Chef Roberto Cortez not only disrupts your dining expectations, but turns them on end. He starts with the blank canvas of a pop up location. Talented artists and designers create a unique ambiance. Every detail, down to unorthodox utensils, is carefully considered. Culinary collaborators concoct unforgettable dishes and cocktails, coaxing unexpected colors, aromas, flavors, and textures from the best ingredients possible. 

We’re proud to be counted among the exceptional purveyors in Roberto Cortez’ most recent endeavor, Liquid Forms, which used vapor, solid and liquid as conceptual starting points. 

Cocktail for Terre Fondu: Gin, 25 year old balsamic, strawberries with a bergamot and Tahitian vanilla infused Saint Germain foam

Here is an excerpt from Chef Roberto Cortez’ notes for Liquid Forms: “When it comes to taste, liquid acts differently on the palate than solid food. Chewing food becomes a process by which flavors are expelled and discovered in stages as they are released by the teeth. Liquids immediately cover the entire tongue, which in turn activates all taste buds and it’s crevices giving instantaneous flavor delivery. This seems to be a more powerful way to taste as it requires less use of facial muscles, and with this additional brain activity, which stays in a state of “waiting” to see what the food tastes like. This also brings in a subconscious element of expectation and wonder, which deters from the purity of taste and experiencing flavor.”

If you have an open mind, free spirit and playful palate, we encourage you to have your dining expectations not just blown away, but obliterated. Take part in Chef Roberto Cortez’ next CR8 pop up dining installation concept based in Seattle, Washington. Even if you’re not in Seattle, we guarantee you’ll appreciate these gorgeous images of the CR8 events taken by Chef, himself. 

Now that you’re inspired, create your own experiments with Tahitian vanilla. Get the raw materials here.