Rockenwagner’s white asparagus menu at Venice cafe; more expensive per pound than lobster

The email just came in from Hans Röckenwagner announcing the start of Spargle season at his restaurant 3 Square Café in Venice. Röckenwagner, a German native, introduced the tradition of white asparagus at his restaurant Röckenwagner almost 30 years ago. Asparagus lovers swarmed the place each June for the chef’s spargelkarte, or asparagus menu, which featured traditional dishes along with the chef’s more creative flourishes.

Röckenwagner still has the stately white asparagus flown in from his European supplier several times a week. More expensive per pound than lobster, the fat ivory stalks require great care in their preparation. He told me once that the peeling is such a delicate operation most chefs won’t trust it to anyone else.

It has to be done very carefully; leave a little strand of the membrane that surrounds the stem and it can give the vegetable a bitter taste. The peeled stalks are then blanched in boiling water, with salt, a little bit of sugar and lemon juice.

The most traditional way to eat white asparagus is as a main course with earthy new potatoes and either a vinaigrette or a mayonnaise. This year the café’s spargelkarte also includes white asparagus soup, cold poached salmon with pickled white asparagus and tarragon rémoulade, a white asparagus and green pea risotto, and pork tenderloin with thyme butter, white asparagus and new potatoes.

Those all sound terrific, but if I could have my asparagus just one way, it would be this: the half-pound of steamed white spears with new potatoes, handmade mayonnaise and sliced smoky Black Forest ham. Let me at it.

Quantities are limited, so please call (310) 399-6504 beforehand to check availability. 3 Square Café is at 1121 Abbot Kinney in Venice.

ALSO:
Pig snout tacos late at night at the La Tehuana truck

Liberace: Pianist, fashion icon. . .and cookbook author

Sales data prove it: Some people are even too lazy to microwave popcorn

Twitter.com/sirenevirbila