Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

“It was one of those five second ideas — it just clicked into my mind,” said artist Mitchell Dose, speaking about the genesis of the last night’s 100-course meal. Dose conceived of the dinner and pitched it to the newly opened West Bank Social Center, which eagerly embraced it. The event stretched from 7:30pm until 11:30, and when all was said and done, 101 dishes made it out to 60+ attendees. (Possibly 102; it depends on whether you count the foie gras and tarragon butters, which were passed together, as two different courses.)

A donation of $5 to $20 was all that was required to attend; the event sold out.

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

Chef Chris Olson (left, who cooks at Corner Table and co-created Paired) worked with Dose (right) to realize the idea. Using three crock pots, two electric skillets, and a hot plate in the WBSC’s makeshift kitchen, Olson, Dose, and a team of volunteers turned out food ranging from individual drops of brown rice vinegar dispensed by eyedropper to more elaborate creations such as polenta cakes with tomato and basil.

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

Custom-made pottery dishes and cups, created in the week before the event by artist Tony Angelino, acted as receiving stations for the onslaught of liquids and solids. Pacing varied — the first eight or nine courses took an hour to arrive, but the action heated up considerably as servers fell into a groove.

Sitting through 101 courses, however small, has a curious effect on the diner. Each individual component — even if it’s as ordinary as a dollop of yogurt or a piece of spinach — is tasted on its own merits, discussed, evaluated, considered. The 101-Course Meal was, as the organizers explained, really a deconstruction of a 7-course meal; assemble the various components, and you might see something resembling a traditional (if lavish) dinner.

Considering the complexity of the task, the crew tasked with tackling it performed admirably; dishes arrived in a steady stream, and only a couple of planned courses (including a tapioca pearl course that seemed intriguing) were derailed due to technical snafus. At 7:10pm, right before the event, Chef Chris could be heard asking — without any particular tension in his voice — “Hey, where’s your breaker box?”

Within moments, power was restored, and the courses began rolling out. What follows is a collection of photos — more suggestive than strictly documentary of which course came out when — and a compilation of hastily scribbled notes, ratings, and reflections for everything served.

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

1. Radish — wicked hot
2. Pickle — intensely and classically seasoned

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

3. Mustard green leaf — lingering mustard burn
4. Dried apricot — austere
5. Pepita (squash or pumpkin seed) — forgettable
6. Peapod — fresh and sweet
7. Red Russian Kale — iron-y and richly “green”
8. Galia Melon — buttery and mild
9. Guava Juice — Sweet and thick as whole milk
10. Arugula — a bit bitter and challenging
11. 30-Year-Old Balsamic Vinegar — much like fancy-pants hoisin sauce, sweet and quite thick
12. Date — chewy, surprisingly good with salt
13. Sunflower seed — kind of a blank, honestly
14. Spinach — fresh and cooling
15. Olive — moist, flavorful
16. Popcorn — underpopped
17. Dill — tastes like dill
18. Papaya Juice — refreshing and sweet
19. Carrot — sweeter than expected, mellow
20. Brazil Nut — solid

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

21. Smoked marbled egg — bit of red peppercorn tingle, tasty

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

22. Sunflower sprout — tasteless, inoffensive
23. Edamame — frickin’ tiny (my piece only)
24. Tomato — rich and juicy
25. Onion — a bit intense, really
26. Wasabi pea — mild, but nuttily pleasant
27. Broccoli — meh
28. Jicama — mild and cool
29. Olive oil — underpowered and retiring
30. Spring roll — fresh and well-spiced and balanced
31. Raisin — very natural and sweet
32. Red pepper — eh
33. Mung bean — aggressively bland
34. Tomato preserve — really pleasant, sweet, clever
35. Pancake and mini pancake — that’s what I’m talking about
36. Maple syrup — solid
37. Kombucha — vinegary, yeasty, shocking, entertaining
38. Sweet brown rice — a bit al dente
39. Kimchi — stellar, soulful
40. Yogurt — sour rather than tangy, still quite nice
41. Tofu maki sushi — earthy and low-key

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

42. Vegetarian chili — mild, pleasant tomato flavor
43. Rice cracker — crispy, seaweed inflected

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

44. Sweet potato — instantly forgettable
45. Champagne grape — really sweet and pleasant
46. Yellow pepper — phoned in
47. Baby squash — fresh yet tasteless
48. Molasses — smokey
49. Arnold Palmer — a bit weak
50. Kohl Rabi — palate cleansing
51. Tempeh — woof
52. Potato — creamy and pleasant
53. Beet — dag, not ideal
54. Cracker + Cream cheese + Cranberry salsa — Aces, great combination
55. Camel — like camel-flavored chewing gum
56. Honey — well… sweet
57. Filbert — sour on its own, nice with honey
58. Salmon — mild and pleasant
59. Polenta rounds with basil and tomato — tasty
60. Navy bean — forgotten immediately

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

61. Pork hock — pork chewing gum, decent flavor

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

62. Lemon — well… it’s lemon
63. Green bean — fresh and snappy
64. Bison sausage — salty, lacks depth of flavor
65. Grapefruit — pleasantly mild
66. Wild rice — could’ve been more cooked
67. Soy sauce — balanced and mild
68. Lamb liver — chalky
69. Spiced pineapple — looked spicy, tasted very sweet and mild
70. Adzuki bean — sandy
71. Cucumber — yep, that’s a cucumber
72. Feta — mild and agreeable
73. Sourdough cracker — neutral and pleasant
74. Cantaloupe — sweet and ripe
75. Tarragon butter / Foie gras butter — rich, restrained, delicious
76. Plum — vivid
77. Baguette — nice bold crumb to it, good crust
78. Spanish Mahon Cheese — creamy, salty
79. Brown smoothie — spinach works in fruit smoothie, neat
80. Cherry — ripe and perfect
81. Zucchini bread — soulful and homey
82. Blueberry — as you’d expect

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

83. Jalapeno — medium hot

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

84. Red Currant — woo that is kind of tart
85. Morbier Cheese — decadent
86. Watermelon — very sweet and summery
87. Brown Rice Vinegar — vividly sharp and funky
88. Peach — classically tasty
89. Kiwi — perfectly ripe
90. Oatmeal Mint Cookies — beautifully crisped and caramelized
91. Apple — apple…y? apple-ish?
92. Gelee — very mild and minty
93. Nectarine — underpowered
94. Wheat-free Brownies — kinda burned-tasting, need more wheat
95. Orange — nutty tasting? I dunno, a bit off
96. Mango — tasty, kind of a pineapple note to it
97. Chocolate truffles — the brandy in these things make them soar, fantastic
98. Thistle flower coffee — neat concept, not really getting much of a curveball on the flavor, though
99. Blackberry (black raspberry?) — decent
100. Strawberries — sweet and classic
101. Fennel Seed — would’ve preferred a wafer-thin mint at this point [link: horrifically funny vintage Monty Python]

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

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