New Year’s Eve at Communal

We had a pretty killer New Year’s Eve dinner at a little place called Communal. As its hippie name might imply, Communal is a trendy place that offers local, organic food– we’re talking the chef hand-picks veggies in the morning and cooks with them in the afternoon. The upscale comfort food is often interesting, daring, and perfectly balanced. So, here’s what we had for our NYE dinner (a steal at $50 a person for 5 courses). All the beautiful photos were taken by Jeff.

1. Amuse bouche

(Clifford Farm deviled egg with crème fraiche and caviar)

This is one of the most perfect bites ever created. The crème fraiche left the egg so light and fluffy and the caviar gave it a nice salty zing.

2. Poached pear salad

(with arugula, candied pecans, bleu cheese vinaigrette, and pear reduction)

The complicated flavors that were balanced in this seemingly simple salad were impressive. The bitterness of the arugula perfectly complemented the sweetness of the pears, reduction, and crunchy pecans, and the bleu cheese added a soft richness to the dish.

3. Cauliflower bisque

(with black truffle)

The flavor and consistency of the cauliflower soup was wonderful; however, in this dish, the black truffle was not used in the best possible way. There were large chunks black truffle placed on top of the soup, but the soup would have benefitted from some smaller bits of shaved black truffle cooked into the soup to infuse the dish with more black truffle flavor and aroma.

4. Main Course

(seared duck breast with sweet potato gratin, dried cherry and port reduction, and crispy leeks)

This was amazing. End of story. Perfect balance of flavors and textures. The sweet potato gratin had a nice, glossy crust on top, the duck was crispy on the outside and fatty and tender on the inside, and the port reduction with the cherries were the perfect flavors to pair with duck and sweet potatoes. And the crispy leeks added a satisfying crunch.

(butter poached Maine lobster with risotto, melted spinach, and mushrooms)

The lobster was perfectly cooked and it went well with the risotto, spinach, and mushrooms. Although this was a great dish, Jeff was a little jealous of my duck. It was just too awesome.

5. Dessert

(chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream and salted caramel sauce)

This was a straightforward, great dessert, and the chocolate cake was not too sweet. However, Jeff was once again jealous of my dish…

(housemade egg nog ice cream with cinnamon apple compote and almond tuile)

It just doesn’t get much better than housemade egg nog ice cream. I could’ve left the cinnamon apple compote, and just buried my face in that ice cream.

We’ve been happy patrons of Communal for brunch, lunch, and dinner, and we love it all. It’s easily one of the best restaurants in Utah, and worth the drive from Salt Lake City to wee Provo. Check out Communal here.