The 200 block of West Water Street in downtown Syracuse is usually lined with cars parked on both sides. On May 19, the street will be closed to traffic to accommodate an enormous tent housing a series of tables set for dinner.
Defi Cuisine Corp., a restaurant at 208 W. Water St., will celebrate its first anniversary with a five-course “long table’’ dinner that day. Chef-owners Cody Dedischew (on left, below) and Nick Salvetti have received a special permit from the city for the street closure and hope to welcome 200 guests to the table. The public is invited to attend – with a ticket, of course. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS
Defi (pronounced de-FEE) is French for challenge. Defi the restaurant opened on May 14, 2018. It's an intimate, 40-seat room with an open kitchen at its center, allowing diners to converse with the chefs and see their meals being prepared. Cody and Nick chose the name Defi because they want to challenge people and their perceptions of food and dining out and because they want to challenge themselves to do and be their best. Their goal: Give people an experience, not just plates of food.
What's in season and available in Central New York shapes the menus at Defi. The chefs use a good amount of produce and pastured pork, chicken and other meats from Grindstone Farm, an organic farm in Pulaski, as well as produce, greens and grains from other area farms. They estimate that 70 percent of the ingredients used at the restaurant are sourced locally. That includes local cheeses from 2 Kids Goat Farm, Tumino Cheese Company and other small producers, artisan salts from Syracuse Salt Company, coffee from Skytop Coffee and local and regional beers, wines and spirits. (Below: Spring Ramps Farro Grits with Gulf Shrimp)
In summer, the percentage of local sourcing rises to more than 90 percent. Both chefs like to visit the Central New York Regional Market on Saturdays and walk a block to Clinton Square on Tuesdays during the summer to pick up fresh ingredients to spotlight in dishes. "Everything we do is geared towards farms,'' Cody says. "A lot of farmers come right here to our door,'' Nick adds.
Both chefs say their first year with Defi has brought them challenges and joy. They started out serving lunch as well as dinner, but pretty quickly dropped lunch to focus on dinner service and special events. They are pleased with how diners are receiving their food and their approach to it and especially pleased with the number of people who choose the four- or six-course "Defi'' option, where the chefs consult with diners to determine their tastes and needs and create custom meals in the moment using what’s in season and what's at hand in their kitchen. Menus change with the seasons and often change again within a season as more produce becomes available.
For the May 19 event, Defi's chefs are planning a five-course tasting menu ($85 per person) that includes pre- and post-dinner cocktails and wine pairings. The menu will depend on what's in season and available, but is likely to include spring things like asparagus, rhubarb and fiddlehead ferns. The event will begin at 3 p.m. with a cocktail hour, with dinner courses beginning around 4 p.m.
"I love the idea of doing a long table dinner,'' Cody says. "It's going to be fun.''
Defi Cuisine Corp. is at 208 W. Water St., Syracuse. The restaurant is open for dinner Wednesday to Saturday. Phone: 315-907-0202
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