Beall incorporates fresh herbs in a variety of dishes, best enjoyed on the restaurant's outdoor deck overlooking the Delaware and Raritan Canal. And they also show up in cocktails, most notably mojitos flavored with hybrid mints like orange and cherry. Chef Beall also uses mint, along with basil, almonds and mint jelly, for sweetness, in an almond mint pesto, an ideal accompaniment to rack of lamb and other grilled meats.
"We'd been doing a rosemary Dijon crust, which I found overwhelmed the delicate flavor of the lamb a bit," he said. "This sauce, which we serve on the side, just pops with flavor."
While some herbs, like sage and rosemary, come back every year, last winter's deep freeze wreaked havoc on Beall's rosemary plants. Not wanting the fragrant remains to go to waste, he took all the clippings and plans to mix them with mesquite wood chips to add a dose of Mediterranean flavor to his house-smoked pork.
Something as simple as an herb butter, created from any kind of snipped herb incorporated into softened butter, can dress up a table and add flavor to simply prepared fish and meats, Beall added.
Snag one of the 24 seats in the back garden at Gayle's restaurant, and you'll see herbs everywhere, growing in pots, planter boxes and as the centerpiece for each table. Chef/owner Daniel Stern grows heirloom herbs, including cilantro, basil, mint, lavender, rosemary, caraway and dill, along with some assorted hot peppers and tomatoes at the South 3rd Street restaurant.
