Nick Day pens a profile of Michael Sheerin, the new (and first ever) chef de cuisine at Blackbird. Paul Kahan decided that his attentions were too divided by other projects to give Blackbird’s kitchen the attention he felt it deserved, and his sights turned to the sous chef of wd-50, the New York mole-gas extravaganza run by his friend Wylie Dufresne. Once Sheerin was hired, he set about finding a way to fuse the radical pairings of wd-50 with the seasonal ingredient focus of Blackbird, and the result is a new menu which pays tribute to both sensibilities. The seared Alaskan halibut is accompanied by pickled bone marrow, for example, and served with spring onions, swiss chard, fried capers, pine nuts and preserved lemon puree for $28. Smoked accompaniments run the gamut from sausage to onion to sunflower seeds to grapes. This ain’t your grandma’s Blackbird, but it has Kahan’s unequivocal seal of approval.
Blackbird’s New Magician [Reader]
Blackbird [MenuPages]
Blackbird [Official Site]
