8 Delicious Dishes and Cocktails — With a Dash of Weird

Updated on 6/24/2014 at 11:30 AM

Food festivals like the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen open up the opportunity to try strange ingredients prepared in even stranger ways. Since they're the imaginative products of world-class chefs and bartenders, rest assured that any bite or sip taken is more delicious than it is weird. Dishes like Japanese uni with a Mediterranean salad, buffalo milk soft serve ice cream, and shellfish flan captured our attention and dazzled our taste buds.

— Additional reporting by Nicole IizukaSources: Anna Monette Roberts and Galdones Photography / Food & Wine

Soft Cell

Cocktail master Dave Arnold of Momofuku's Booker and Dax (New York City) shook up a soft cell cocktail made from Hendrick's Gin, Aperol, lemon, salt, and a milk simple syrup. Aperol offers a slight tang and pink hue. Dave told us salt is his secret weapon for every cocktail. And the milk simple syrup rounded out the flavors. Photo: Anna Monette Roberts

Japanese Uni

East meets the Middle East in this mashup dish of Japanese uni, heirloom cucumbers, za'atar, fried cheese, and hard-boiled egg from chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of Animal in Los Angeles. The zesty Mediterranean flavors made the uni taste like a slab of butter (in a good way). Photo: Anna Monette Roberts

Shellfish Flan

Alex Stupak of New York City's Empellón didn't serve tacos! Instead, he and his wife, Lauren Resler, concocted a salty (not sweet) shellfish flan with a smoked trout roe salsa. The creamy, fish-flavored custard contrasted with the popping roe made for one weird but wonderful bite. Photo: Anna Monette Roberts

Vanishing Noodles

Cornelius Gallagher poured hot broth atop a mound of "noodles" made of chicken, duck, and bacon fats, causing them to dissolve instantaneously. Photo: Anna Monette Roberts

Modern Fried Chicken

Infusing a modern technique with classic cooking, chef Cédric Vongerichten of Perry St (New York City) aerated his spicy Szechuan and Thai chili batter in a siphon to coat the chicken before frying it up. Photo: Nicole Iizuka

Razor Clam Granitas

Chef Gallagher wowed us once again with delicate razor clams on a bed of frozen granita, giving shellfish on ice a whole new meaning. Photo: Nicole Iizuka

Green Apple Candy Balloon

Grant Achatz and Mike Bagale of Chicago's Alinea made us all feel like kids at a carnival with their helium-filled, green-apple-flavored edible balloons, complete with a sugar-coated gummy string. Though this picture makes it look like a refined experience, most ended up with sticky balloon sugar all over their nose. See us inhaling one here. Source: Galdones Photography / Food & Wine

Buffalo Milk Soft Serve Ice Cream

Christopher Kostow of Napa's three-Michelin-starred Meadowood dispensed buffalo milk soft serve ice cream with St. Helena olive oil and flaky sea salt. Who needs fudge and sprinkles when you can make soft serve savory? Photo: Anna Monette Roberts