Caviar is the crown jewel of the seafood world, and an instantaneous hit of luxury. While traditional caviar service is still a hallmark of fine dining, some of the country’s most celebrated restaurants are putting their own creative—and sometimes ridiculous—spins on the fancy fish eggs. From noodles, to pot pie, to nachos, here are 10 of the most interesting caviar dishes from around the country. You decide whether it's worth picking up your mother of pearl caviar spoon and diving in.
Smoked Egg with Caviar. Momofuku Ko, New York
David Chang’s tasting-menu spot has a love affair with caviar—as exemplified by the restaurant’s iconic smoked egg dish, split open with a wave of caviar spilling out and potato chip on the side. When Chang moved the restaurant to a bigger, flashier space two years back, the beloved dish went off the menu. A few weeks ago, it made a triumphant return. The dish is impossibly simple but tastes complex, and the caviar—from renowned caviar dealer Regalis Foods—is as creamy and luscious as it gets.
Lobster Tamale Pie. Flora Street Café, Dallas
The dish you hear most about at Dallas restaurant impresario Stephen Pyles’s latest spot, Flora Street Café, is essentially a pot pie. The Lobster Tamale Pie, served in a martini-style glass, is filled with rich chunks of lobster, corn masa, and—surprise—generous spoonfuls of wild paddlefish caviar. To access the pie’s supremely comforting interior, you need to crack a spiced layer of ancho chile “glass” that forms the bruléed cover. It's topped with—you guessed it—more caviar.
Caviar with Steamed Buns. The Bazaar by José Andrés, Los Angeles
At José Andrés’s Bazaar—a high-end restaurant that’s heavy on whimsy—the menu is packed with caviar. Among the dishes that spotlight the ingredient (including a caviar-filled ice cream cone), the new favorite pairs a few varieties of caviar (including the prized Petrossian’s Shassetra) with fluffy steamed buns. The dish comes with a side of crème fraîche, chives, and a tangy spritz of tangy foam that Andrés calls “lemon air.” The steamed bun is so light, it almost melts in your mouth, which makes the sharp flavor of the caviar really shine.
Caviar and Potato Chips. Kinship, Washington, D.C.
One of the year’s most highly anticipated D.C. openings, Kinship puts creative twists on classics (fried rice studded with chunks of premium Kuroge beef; pastrami made from monkfish). Case in point: His next-level chips and dip features housemade Yukon Gold potato chips, crème fraîche, and a pile of briny Caspian Sea Ossetra Caviar. You'll find it on the menu's indulgence section where its an $80 snack.
Uni Pasta with Caviar. Xiao Bao Biscuit, Charleston
You wouldn’t expect to find a caviar-drenched pasta at Charleston’s Xiao Bao Biscuit, the soulful Asian restaurant that’s housed in a former gas station. But amid the okonomiyaki (a Japanese pancake) and mapo tofu is the creamy, yuzu-infused uni pasta served with Kentucky wild sturgeon caviar. It’s a fun and unconventional mix of ingredients whose punch of flavor feels like butter noodles gone wonderfully awry.
Beef Tartare & Caviar. Pineapple & Pearls, Washington, DC
Pineapple & Pearls is the fine dining spot from acclaimed Rose’s Luxury chef Aaron Silverman. Silverman has a knack for making already good dishes remarkable: For his take on tartare, he rolls the chopped raw beef in cured strip loin, dusts it with an earthy, rich ash of thyme, lemon, garlic, and shiitake mushrooms, and finally, cloaks the beef with a puddle of buttery paddlefish caviar.
Blue Crab & Caviar Nachos. Brennan’s of Houston, Houston
Brennan’s of Houston prides itself on its mix of southern hospitality, fine dining, and Creole cuisine—which brings us to the restaurant’s most celebrated dish, Blue Crab & Caviar Nachos. The dish combines classic nacho toppings—fire-roasted corn, queso, pico de gallo, and alligator pear (the Texas term for avocado). As a finale, there are two indulgent garnishes: a full pound of Louisiana jumbo lump crab and an entire ounce of Petrossian caviar.
Omelette with Hackleback and Trout Roe. Flora Bar, New York
The team behind New York hotspots Estela and Café Altro Paradiso just set up shop on the Upper East Side at Flora Bar, the new, upscale café located inside the Met Breuer museum. In addition to fresh, young wines, the focus is on seafood, notably oysters, lobsters, and scallops. The most luxurious dish of all is something of an inception omelet—eggs, cooked into a flat omelet, then topped with more eggs, both glistening osetra and trout roe, plus a dollop of crème fraîche. It’s a beauty to behold, the epitome of simplicity at its best.
Truffle Sashimi. Catch, Los Angeles
At Los Angeles’s hottest new rooftop restaurant (with some stunning views of the Hollywood Hills), you’ll find one of the more eclectic caviar dishes around. A Catch signature dish, it combines chunks of tuna and hamachi with chili oil, ponzu, a neat stack of black truffle slices, and a mound of osetra. The dish happens to be chef Andrew Carroll’s favorite on the menu, as it’s a flavorful and playful elevation of a Japanese staple, and at $24, it's a relative bargain.
Caviar with Coconut Dashi and Lychee. Oriole, Chicago
At Chicago's most recent fine dining destination, the first course on the tasting menu is almost always some form of caviar. Chef Noah Sandoval has served the glorious fish eggs with everything from tomato gelée to Iberico ham. These days, he's taken the amuse in a tropical direction: a gorgeous pile of golden osetra caviar set in a coconut broth among juicy lychees and sweet, acidic sea grapes. It's not only well balanced and pleasantly sweet; it also feels like an Island-inspired vacation in the face of the impending Chicago winter.
