I served a “beet salad” on a tasting spoon as an hors d’oeuvre at my recent dinner party.

This hors d’oeuvre was a symbol of working in New York City. I don’t know what it is, but it seems New Yorkers love beats. I’ve worked at 6 restaurants so far in NY, and 5 of the 6 had a beet salad on the menu, and one of them had two! (At Aquavit – a fancier one for the dining room tasting menu, and a simpler one for the cafe.) So I thought it was funny that I’ve made 6 different beet salads, so I made my own version and put it on a tasting spoon. I did a play off the classic combination of beets and goat cheese. I pureed the beets, dropped a dollop on the spoon, and topped it with a piece of goat cheese, and a leaf or two of Chervil. What I did was redefine the beet salad, so you could have a taste of it on a spoon.