On March 2, Craigie on Main hosts a “Road Less Traveled” dinner featuring exotic, obscure, and palate-challenging combinations. (Peruse the menu here.) One ingredient in particular caught our eye: tonka beans. We thought they were illegal! But no, they’re right here in Boston!
We had visions of Craigie going to the same potentially anti-locavorean lengths employed by the French Laundry to track down the Gros Michel banana. Happily, pastry chef Jess Scott unearthed the crinkly legume at Inman Square spicery Christina’s. “I’m really excited. I haven’t been able to find them anywhere in Boston,” she tells Grub Street.
Tonka beans, which give off a hauntingly vanilla flavor, get a bad rap because they contain coumarin, a chemical compound that can cause liver problems in rats. Fret not, Scott will sparingly dispatch her tonkas to concoct an innocent-enough Alfajore Ice Cream Sandwich.
Chef Tony Maws promises a “five-course dinner journey that will take you, your palate, and your dining imagination to places they’ve never been before.” Sadly, chances are you, too, will need to use your imagination for the dinner, since it’s sold out. But Scott promises that many of the night’s experiments might find their way onto their permanent menu. Such was the fate of the bourbon pecan ice cream tart with bacon chocolate and candied pecan crust, a specialty item now enjoying prime dinnertime real-estate.
However, if you are locked out of the dinner, you could simply buy Kim Kardashian’s perfume. Tonka beans are a key ingredient!
