A Bold Brunch: Volt

During our Northeast quasi-road trip, we took a detour to eat at Volt, Chef Bryan Voltaggio's restaurant in Frederick, Maryland.  If you are a Top Chef fan, this may be as exciting to you as it was to me.

Unlike his brother's restaurant, Bryan Voltaggio's restaurant is airy, bright, and somewhat more formal, although not to the point of stuffy.  Servers are clad in suits but rock Chucks on their feet.  And you eat while listening to Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, Death Cab for Cutie, and The Shins.  I loved the music.

Amuse bouche -- celeriac macaron with foie gras.

This light salty meringue-like cookie was a great start.  Mr. Monkey gave me the macaron with the larger dollop of foie.  Yay for me!

Cheddar-jalapeno biscuit and bourbon pecan sticky bun.

The bread basket was nothing short of incredible, and it kept coming!  Piping hot and glorious!  I only had these two, but Mr. Monkey indulged.  The biscuit was so perfectly flaky and cheesy with just a bit of kick.  The sticky bun was like candy.  I can't believe I'm raving about complimentary bread, but it was seriously rave-worthy.

We got the five-course brunch tasting menu for $55 -- a great bargain for food of this caliber.

Kampachi, ginger, chive, green apple.

Fresh and brilliant.  Do you know what brilliant tastes like?  Have this, and you will.

Ravioli, garlic scapes, Marcona almond, goat cheese.

Dreamy.  Creamy.  Garlicky.  Fab.

Halibut, asparagus, hen yolk, caper.

Possibly the best halibut I've had in recent memory.  Meaty yet delicate.

Beef, Kennebeck potatoes, green garlic, English pea.

A terrible miss.  Yes, you read that right.  This sucked.  The meat was full of chewy tendon.  We both left an ample portion on our plates.  Really disappointing after the previous excellent dishes.

Chocolate marshmallow, caramel, peanut.

This reminded me of the dessert that my friend had when we went to ink.  Deconstructed and delicious.  Good comeback.

Crumb cake to take home.

Who is the person baking stuff here?  I really want to know because that person deserves a medal.  I ate this the next morning and mmm-mmm-mmmed.

This meal was great, even with the sad meat.  You should take this detour, too.