Life Underground: Hidden Dinner at the Vagrancy Project

J. Cabral

Asparagus, Bacalao, Chorizo, Chile

J. Cabral

Foie Gras, Ras-el-hanout, Celery, Drippings

Aubrey Huestead, who during the day serves as wine director for Son of a Gun (he was also a general manager at San Francisco hot spot Mission Street Chinese during its pop-up days), maneuvers between seats, refilling glasses with a funky, unfiltered Prosecco he picked up on the drive over. Huestead acts as the dinner's manager, helping with coursing and other kitchen duties. The men aim to launch a restaurant of their own in the near future, one that doesn't take place in Thompson's apartment, of course, and one that will focus almost entirely on moderately priced tasting menus, taking bistronomic cues from places like Le Chateaubriand in Paris and Brooklyn Fare in New York. Their current dinners follow the pay-as-you-like format, a method that doesn't garner much profit but rather is aimed toward the larger objective of attracting attention to the team's efforts.

J. Cabral

Lobster, Fromage Noir, Anise Hysop, Piquillo

Next there is butter-poached lobster smeared with what Thompson calls fromage noir, a deep purple paste made from sheep's milk cheese blended with squid ink and almonds; a complex molé raised on a dairy farm. A bowl of crimson-hued hibiscus broth, bracingly tart and unsweetened, arrives later -- the kind of thing you pray doesn't end up down the front of your shirt. In the middle swims a delicate fillet of rouget, dabbed with sweet pickled cucumbers and sword lettuce purée.

J. Cabral

Lamb, Soy, Espresso, Cotija

There are lamb necks, too, a special at Lindy and Grundy's earlier that week, braised until they dissolve into distinct strands, pressed into warm squares, dotted with cotija cream, then spooned with a mixture of soy sauce, espresso and dashi that mimicked, in an odd way, a classic demi-glace. The little cubes of neon green opposite the meat? Green tomatoes cured in limeade.