Crux hits Indianapolis with a collaborative dinner at Milktooth.
I just found out that a handful of tickets have become available for the upcoming Crux dinner Tuesday at Milktooth, with chefs Jonathan Brooks and Brandon Baltzley, and you should probably grab them.
I’m serious. I know there’s going to be a lot of great food being made that night in Indy, what with the pricey Pig n Pinot dinner at Oakleys that same evening, but the $85 Crux dinner, one stop on a Rust Belt tour of one-off dinners in Chicago, Detroit, Columbus and Indianapolis, promises to be an experience. (I experienced Baltzley’s first dinner visit here in Indianapolis, a Chefs’ Night Off event, which saw attendees gamely popping crickets into their mouths as part of Baltzley’s “forest floor” course.)
Baltzley and his wife and co-chef at the Falmouth, Mass., Buffalo Jump, Laura Higgins-Baltzley, will join Brooks and chef Kyle Paton of Ontario’s Black Lodge pop-up for Tuesday’s dinner. This is the second time Baltzley’s Crux tour has hit Indianapolis; the last dinner was in January.
“We’re doing it again so we can hit the cities that fell through during the last tour,” Baltzley said. “Indianapolis is happening again based on the friendship Brooks and I have made, and that’s why we are taking him on the road wth us this time.”
Brooks is also cooking at Sunday’s dinner in Chicago. Like at other Crux events, the collaborative nature of the dinner is the appeal, and this lineup promises plenty of creativity.
“We are excited to be bringing another colaborator to Indy, Kyle Paton, from last year’s tours as well,” Baltzley said. “And that’s how these things work. It’s all in the spirit of collaboration, and that’s the only way to progress food.”
Here’s the menu:
Kyle Paton — melons, almond, fennel, cultured cream
Laura Higgins-Baltzley — sour carrot, white fish broth, cauliflower, dried lamb
Jonathan Brooks — rabbit, sweet onion-corn pudding,preserved chanterelle, marigold
Brandon Baltzley — dry-aged pork, pumpkin, tobacco, rose
Crux collaboration — persimmon pudding
You can get tickets for Tuesday’s dinner here.
