At Seasons 52, the menu reflects the seasons. The concept of this upscale restaurant is built around that ancient principle of sustenance — eat what is in season. In eras long past, there was no alternative. Before refrigeration, before rapid transit, before hemispheric exchange, eating what was in season — and, necessarily, local — was a way of life. People had little choice. If humans in temperate and colder climes could not dry, salt, or otherwise preserve foods from normal harvest and catch times, other sources of food had to be found. Apples in April or asparagus in August in this neck of the woods? Nope! Not happening back then. In today’s world, many local restaurants work hard to channel that model, at least in a limited way. They offer local foods, especially in summer when the bounty of small field-to-table farms is able to deliver a cornucopia of fruits, vegetables, nuts, honey, and fungi, along with meats and more.
Tomato and watermelon salad like this is in season at Seasons 52
At Seasons 52, the menu is changed with the seasons, so that summer’s bounty at the Cincinnati location soon will settle into the autumn harvest season. As that transition takes place, a constant will be that all the produce will be fresh, and the preparation will be consistently flavor-focused. Management has chosen to grill over an oak fire and roast in a brick oven that harkens to ancient times. What you will not find is a deep-fryer of any kind. The rationale behind these time-honored methods is that grilling and roasting — as done at Seasons 52 — makes everything better, tastier, and healthier for the diner.
Take produce as an example. The mantra is freshness and wholeness of veggies coming into the restaurant. In other words, no produce is frozen, and what appears in the dishes from the kitchen arrives in a whole state. At some eateries, produce may be “fresh,” but already processed. Think sliced mushrooms, for instance. Fresh, yes, but already cut to the size needed for tossing into a sauté pan. Having those mushrooms pre-cut makes the chef’s job easier, but the time added in processing and the pre-cutting as well can diminish the flavor.
Cedar-planked salmon roasted to perfection
According to management, grilling over an oak fire and roasting in a brick oven leads to gentle caramelization of the cooked item, producing more natural flavor. Combine technique with careful sourcing, and you have something positive and rare in today’s restaurant world. At Seasons 52, the approach is to work with family-run farms instead of agri-giants. The same with seafood, where the emphasis is on boats that fish with hand methods and employ techniques that are humane and sustainable. They take care to find purveyors who raise chickens and turkeys free of antibiotics. In short, Seasons 52 purports to rely on a supply chain that brings to mind Courier & Ives or Norman Rockwell instead of giant corporate agriculture, global fishing operations, and sprawling breeder houses for chickens, eggs, and all the rest.
Sweet corn is a wonder of our Southern Ohio area this time of year, and Seasons 52 uses the local bounty in summer corn soup. The peak season for this soup is May to September, so Jewish diners-out still have time to grab themselves a bowl. This soup is made from seasonal corn that is sweet and tender, and loaded with flavor. It is one of those seasonal items that will leave the menu when the corn leaves the fields come late September.
This corn soup is my home version, made from fresh seasonal corn
Another seasonal that tingles my taste buds is the watermelon and tomato salad. Here again, the season is fleeting, and the time is now to take advantage of this dish. For me, the charm of watermelon is its juicy sweetness along with a nutritional wallop. Watermelon is over 90 percent water — not a shocker really. While the fruit is low in calories, it features essential nutrients. These include lycopene, an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, along with potassium, magnesium, vitamins A and C, and the amino acid citrulline. So, watermelon promotes heart health while having positive effects on blood pressure. All good things.
Salmon topping a Caesar salad
Salmon is one of my favorite entrée dishes. At Seasons 52, the chef offers two versions of this pescatarian’s delight. One is Norwegian salmon roasted on a cedar plank and served with French green beans and marble potatoes with a dill and mustard sauce. The other is the sesame-grilled salmon salad with wood-grilled peppers, mangos and organic greens and a toasted sesame dressing.
See you at Seasons 52!
