Ultimate cantina treats, Zombies

In the early '70s my sister and I gave our parents a full-size grandfather clock as a Christmas present. Little did I know that ... well, let's just say a "substantial number of years" later, I would be using it to lead off an article about Zombies and meat.

After multiple moves, funerals, life changes, blah, blah, the venerable old clock ended up in my Rehoboth Beach home. It was old, somewhat ragged around the edges, had a lot of memories, but did not work (I have fears of ending up the same way...). That's how I met Brian Gustafson. B. Gustafson Clock and Watch Repair was and still is the go-to place for fixing everything from a watch battery all the way up to the most grandiose antique timepieces. Mr. Gustafson is pretty much the only game in town, so a rebuild of your cherished mid-19th Century J.E. Caldwell & Company grandfather clock might take about a year. But when it returns home it will work. Perfectly. 

So what does this have to do with Zombies and meat? Brian's delightful wife, Suzanne, helps him run the business side of the clock repair shop. Her energy level is a perfect match for the cacophony of chimes, beeps, clangs, buzzers and bells that fill the shop every hour on the hour. And she has a great eye for Halloween. In the last couple of years, Milton has become Halloween central with the Zombie Walk and Apocalypse Ball. This year, as the sun sets Friday, Oct. 28, assorted Zombies and Zombettes will gobble their fill of Chef Mike Clampitt's authentic Cajun/Creole food at Po'Boys Creole & Fresh Catch, then stagger down Union Street to party the night away at the Milton Theater. Suzanne is definitely into it, and their neighbors, Milton's new-chef-in-town Robert Legget and his wife Mercedes are getting their Cantina Ultima restaurant ready for the big weekend. 

So, thanks to the confluence of (1) the clock, (2) meeting Suzanne as a result of aforementioned clock, (3) discovering that she is good friends with the Leggets, and (4) being hungry, the four of us ended up at Cantina Ultima last week to be briefed on the specifics of flesh eating and Milton Zombie protocols. Cantina Ultima is certainly a self-described haven for carnivores, but Legget is a whole lot more than just smoked meats. When we told him we were coming, he promised to strut his off-menu stuff for the four of us. And strut he did! 

Snifters of Big Oyster Solar Power blonde greeted us as Robert glided up to the table with crunchy bruschetta moistened with uni butter (sea urchin, garlic and chives) and topped with Serrano ham and chorizo cantimpalos (a spiced, Spanish sausage). This was definitely not the pork belly burger I had expected! We were seeing a side of Chef Robert that we had not seen before. It wasn't long before a crispy fried huarache (fried masa patty topped with salsa, potato, cilantro and, on this particular night, smoked pumpkin) served as a platform for savory mushrooms, roasted pepitas and a rich queso fresco. Big Oyster's Shuckin' Pumpkin ale was the master of ceremonies. 

I've written about how we eat with our eyes and how critical presentation is to the enjoyment of a dish. So when we were told that a hummus course was about to appear, I braced myself for the obligatory beige experience. Imagine our surprise when bacalhau gremolata (chopped herbs, garlic, parsley and lemon zest mixed with Portuguese salted cod), a roasted grape tomato and ... wait for it ... a Peruvian pepper drop (no room here – look it up) were all happily nested on a generous schmear of jet-black squid ink hummus. A bit off-putting? Yes. Perfect for Halloween? Definitely. Spectacularly delicious? Absolutely. I make hummus all the time, and mine never approached this. (No squid were harmed during the making of this dinner, unless they showed up later as calamari.) We washed down this multicolored carnival of taste with Dogfish Head Biére de Provence; a golden saison redolent of lavender, marjoram and bay leaves. (Herbs de Provence – get it?) 

Course No. 4 was anchored by a roasted scallop marinated in Dogfish Flesh & Blood (an IPA featuring lemon flesh and blood orange) served as a tiny taco with cabbage, onion and aji amarillo, a bright orange Peruvian chile. Cleverly constructed in one-bite format, it was intensely flavored and very citrus-forward. I could have eaten 10 of the little gems. 

Dominion Double D IPA cleared the way for Robert's own mac 'n' kim-cheese. I feared the kimchee component would overpower the cheese, but the fermented and spiced cabbage played perfectly with the ultra-creamy macaroni. The sizzling cast iron dish was topped with a spiced and cheesy crust. Course number six presented as a carnivorous coup de gras with Cantina Ultima's own house-smoked and cured pastrami topped with a scoop of deviled foie gras on a marble rye round. The beer? Yards Rival IPA made with rye malt, of course. 

Dessert was a panoply of never-before-tasted tastes. Robert folded salty chocolate cremeux into Amarena cherry syrup from Modena, Italy. He topped the little canards with candied peanuts. On the side was coconut ginger crème brûlée next to brown butter ice cream and cinnamon cherry ice cream topped with oregano and black pepper-infused chocolate sauce. Bizarre ingredients that added up to waayy more than the sum of the parts. We loved it. 

So if you're staggering through Milton this weekend, don't miss Cantina Ultima. A few of these goodies might even be on the menu! And keep an eye out for Suzanne.