Behind the Menu: Seasonal menu at Veritas welcomes spring with refreshing, bright flavors

The new seasonal menu at Veritas celebrates the best of spring with refreshing, bright and lively flavors.

The menu (five courses for $85) was developed by Dan Kamel, chef de cuisine at the Downtown restaurant known for its inventive fare.

The first course is a one- or two-bite pea tartlet filled with minced raw peas seasoned with salt, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil and a variety of herbs, mint among them.

Toasted, crushed pistachios are added for texture, while the mixture is topped off with pecorino-Romano cheese because it’s “grassy and buttery and works really well with peas,” Kamel said.

“We really like raw peas,” he said. “They’re underutilized.”

Among the options for the second course, the beet dish is colorful, with different shades of the baby root vegetables roasted in oranges and vinegar and dusted with zaatar, a Middle Eastern spice mix.

Tahini sauce, accentuated with the liquid from crushed garlic, lines the bottom of the plate, garnished with pickled pearl onions and thinly sliced oranges that are soaked in simple syrup and dehydrated.

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The plate is topped off with fried chickpeas seasoned with smoked paprika and orange oil.

“Beets and citrus go really well together,” Kamel said.

For the third course, the funghi choice offers seven types of mushrooms, from the traditional cremini to the exotic maitake, that are roasted and placed in a bowl with congee, a type of porridge, seasoned with truffle salt and some reserved liquid from the mushrooms.

“Pretty much any mushroom we can get our hands on, we use,” Kamel said.

The plate also features an egged cooked sous vide, long enough to make the outsides wobbly and insides thick but runny, and accented with truffle aioli. The dish is covered with puffed rice and a dash of truffle salt.

Rabbit is one of the choices for the fourth course. The hind quarters are cured in a salt-and-sugar mixture for 24 hours and slow-cooked in duck fat, or confit style, until the meat is almost falling off the bone.

Crisped in the fryer upon service, the meat is dunked in a carrot barbecue sauce that uses apple cider vinegar, mustard seed, salt and light brown sugar.

“It’s a vibrant golden color,” Kamel said. “It’s sweet, it’s smoky, it’s tangy — it has all the barbecue sauce notes."

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The plate is garnished with thinly sliced rainbow carrots, parsnip cream, additional glazed carrots and pinch or two of powder from dehydrated carrot greens.

“I like dishes like this because there’s a lot of thought put into it,” Kamel said.

Lemon curd made with Meyer lemons anchors the bottom of the bowl in the final course, dessert. Fresh blueberries tossed in elderberry syrup are part of the dish, along with chewy tapioca pearls — the bubbles in bubble tea — cooked in blueberry juice. The dessert is finished with blueberry granita, a style of shaved ice, topped with leafy sorrel.

“It doesn’t matter how fast you eat it," Kamel said, "because your first and last bite are different.” 

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Veritas

Where: 11 W. Gay St., Downtown

Hours: 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; closed Sundays and Mondays

Contact: 614-745-3864, https://veritasrestaurant.com/