When I go out to eat in the Detroit area, it is rarely to try something new, but to eat something old that I knew and loved growing up there. But when it came time to celebrate my step-dad’s 70th birthday, something a little more special was in order. Namely, Iridescence at the top of the Motor City Casino in Detroit. The place features some of the most innovative food in the area and some of the highest prices to go along with it. Some might call it molecular gastronomy, but I just call it fancy-pants.
It all started with a little mango jelly amuse-bouche to clean up our respective palettes. Then it came time to order, and while I only ordered one dish, some of the other things people ordered were interesting enough to snap pictures of and write up a little bit. For example, my mom ordered something called the Cyclical – Four Linked Salads. Truly, this was something I would never order, but it was unique in that the plate came with four things, each intended to be eaten in a specific order and none resembling a normal salad.
My step-brother ordered something called A Slider and A Loaded Potato, which at first glance seems perfectly normal. Yet, he claimed the slider (mini burger in reality), containing pickled cabbage, dill yogurt, grilled shrimp, tomato and parmesan biscuit, was the best burger he had ever had. And the loaded potato was a crazy cube of potato that was also apparently ridiculously good. Plus, it came with a random house-made soda (which, by the way, should have been called pop since it is Detroit).
As for myself, I ordered the Colorado Lamb Two Ways. One was a loin, the other a curry. The loin was seared in ghee, with roasted garlic hummus, sumac, burnt cauliflower and pita crisps. The curry had brown rice, golden raisins, yogurt and soybean. Knowing my wife would like the cauliflower and what a pain it would be to order without the soybean, I kept the dish as-is and ordered the loin medium-rare.
The medium-rare turned out to be a bit too rare, and while I liked that better than the alternative of overcooked, I’m not particularly fond of the taste of raw lamb. On top of that, the lamb was engulfed in cauliflower to the point where that nasty white veggie seemed to steal the center stage from the meat of the situation. As for the curried lamb, it was actually quite tasty. The stew had a strong, delicious flavor and the lamb was crazy tender.
In the end, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had ordered the wrong dish, but in my defense the waitress did recommend the lamb. I would not say it was bad by any means, but it simply did not end up being a dish fit for an unvegan like me. Iridescence has a number of great dishes that are worth the splurge for a special occasion, but if you are going to order the lamb, just be sure that you are the kind of person that should be ordering that lamb.
