NYC Chef Dave Santos will be cooking a Game of Thrones tasting menu for fans of the upcoming premiere of HBO smash hit at his six-seat Um Segredo Supper Club. A believer in following trends the right way, Santos is excited to indulge fans with a meticulously crafted feast fit for a doomed king (or queen, ahem, Cersei).
The photo above, skewered hamachi and radishes, hails from one of last season’s GOT dinners. Inspired by King Joffrey, Santos says “God, I hate this fucking kid! But he plays his role well, so I can’t be mad at him. I started thinking about his affinity for that crossbow, and decided to skewer some stuff. Then I added a little fiery sauce in the hopes that he burns!”
And burn he did, Chef. Burn he did.
“I’m expecting a lot from this shortened season,” Santos adds. “There are a lot of moving parts and a lot of main characters to die! It’s actually going to be very interesting how they are going to get all this done in such a short time. We have Jon going from all the way North, surrounded by White Walkers, to having a meeting with Daenerys in Dragonstone. It’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
To commemorate this much-anticipated season — whose initial premiere date was ironically pushed forward due to winter not arriving on time — Santos is serving a brand-new GOT-themed tasting menu inspired by the characters who are not yet dead.
Jon Snow & Sir Davos
Fire kissed tuna carpaccio, onions, jalapeño ice
I wanted to play on the thought of Jon being of ice and fire. That’s where the torched tuna comes in along with the fiery jalapeño ice. Sir Davos’ banner flies the onion, and he’s also known as the onion knight. Their relationship together will be hugely important in convincing the mother of dragons to help!
Arya & Gendry
Needled heirloom potatoes, crème fraiche pudding, summer truffle
There is a lot of speculation about what’s gonna happen with these two and when. The one thing we know for sure is that they are currently both laying low and acting very humbly. To represent this, we have the potato. I chose heirlooms because I was inspired by Arya’s ability to change faces just like the potato comes in different colors but is still a potato. I took the idea of Gendry’s forging ability and am using a “sword” called Needle (Arya’s sword) to skewer the potatoes. And finally to represent the very real royal blood that courses through them, we have a royal ingredient in the truffle that pairs so well with the humble ones.
Tyrion & the Dragon
Fire-consumed Santos family sausage with rice grits and eggs
This season there are rumors that Tyrion gets a dragon to lead the army against his brother Jaime. We will see if this is true or not. We are bringing this old school by tableside cooking my family sausage and serving it over rice grits – made from a product that was a throw-away, like Tyrion, but kept around because of who it was more than what it was. And then we are gonna drop an egg on there because, well, eggs are delicious and we have to have a dragon egg of some sort in here!!
Cersei & Euron
Black chicken and smoked eel dumpling soup
This could get interesting between these two. I’m super curious how this relationship from necessity will pan out. More than likely a disaster! For the dish, I am taking a Silkie chicken, which is probably the coolest, most beautiful chicken in the world on the outside but when the feathers are removed its skin is as black as Cersei’s heart! What better way to make this surf and turf connection than with the snake of the sea, the eel to represented that snake Euron! A deadly, delicious combination.
Theon & Yara
Sea salt and vinegar fish and chips with ale stewed tomatoes
Will these two survive all this? The trailers have them practically burning alive on their ships so we shall see. What we do know is this brother and sister love each other and work well together. So what works well together? Salt and vinegar! And what from the ocean is delicious with salt and vinegar? Fish and chips, of course!! So we have two delicious combinations paired together. But pirates love their ale, so I figured some ale tomatoes would be a fun addition, as well as the vinegar — a Santos-made rum vinegar!!
Sansa & Little Finger
Finger of duck consumed by red (red rice, cherry sauce)
I fish in Central Park and I watch just about everything going on there. Last year a very odd looking duck showed up. Unlike all the other ducks we see in parks, he was more like an Indian runner duck [a breed that runs rather than waddles]. I thought, boy that outcast is gonna have a hard time. Fast forward a year later and that duck now leads the pack at the Harlem Meer! He reminds me of Little Finger who I severely underestimated and has come a long way. Now, I’m not sure if that duck is as evil as Little Finger but either way I was impressed. That and Little Finger basically being in charge of Sky Castle, I thought something that flew was perfect! However he has his weakness and that seems to be Sansa who I believe is playing Little Finger like a violin. I represent her and her red hair by everything red consuming him until his end. Yeah, he definitely dies (I think!)
Daenerys & Jaime
Burnt banana blondie, vanilla bacon snow, torched rosemary
Lastly, like you thought I would forget about my Mother of Dragons! These two have what I call an opposing relationship. But somehow I think they are gonna help each other by the end. There is the whole queen slayer theory out there! Burnt banana to represent her and her ability to get burned and still be awesome, the blondie to represent them both as their hair would dictate, the vanilla and bacon to represent the opposition that at first glance may be bad but in the end is great. Snow because after all winter is here!
Game of Thrones tasting menus will be served July 14th, 17th and 18th at 8 p.m. and July 15 at 9 p.m. The dinners are BYOB and run $125 a head, including tax and gratuity. Reserve your table here — tables are sure to book up quickly!
