Perfume is a lot like food. The quality of its ingredients and the know-how that goes into its preparation are key. There are scents that are akin to the most cutting-edge, gourmet foods. These masterfully combine rare or unexpected ingredients together in such a way that evokes memories, inspires dreams, and piques adventures. In fact, hardcore perfumistas are pretty much like foodies; once hooked on unique fragrances, they’re endlessly chasing delicious-smelling vapor trails for the most novel aromas.
Being a perfume newb myself, I’d never really considered how food and fragrance are so much alike until I was invited to the Scent Dinner, a perfumed-paired dining experience hosted by author Alyssa Harad at Woodward’s Garden last Thursday. The three-course meal was created by Woodward’s chef and co-owner, Dana Tommasino, who coupled each dish with five unique scents by independent California perfumers in celebration of Alyssa’s upcoming book, Coming to My Senses. Four of the five perfumers were local to the Bay Area, including three from San Francisco (Yosh Han, DelRae Roth, and Ineke Rühland).
Strangely enough, just a few weeks before the dinner, I started to obsess about perfumes. It all started when I discovered the heavenly scent of MCMC’s Kept while browsing at Reliquary. That night, I went online and ordered samples from Strange Invisible Perfumes, and later, while cleaning my room, I rediscovered a sample of Ginger Ciao by Yosh Han that was hiding in a drawer. I fell in love with the scent all over again. But then, days later, I caught a whiff of a friend wearing Le Labo’s Santal 33. At that moment I realized two things: you can cheat on a fragrance and I was super excited about the Scent Dinner.
When the evening finally arrived, I walked into Woodward’s Garden, nose and palate ready.
The scent-taste pairings started before the guests even sat down. As we entered the restaurant, we were handed paper mustaches on sticks sprayed with Yosh Han’s Sotille, bubbly glasses of Sorelle Bronca prosecco “Particella 68,” and crusty baguette toasts topped with Marin French Gold Rouge et Noir Cheese, Marshall’s Farm Wildflower Honey, and edible flowers.
Yosh is a local perfumer who specializes in intuitive perfumery (a psychic perfume maker is so San Francisco, no?). We had originally met when I wrote a story about her custom perfume services for The Bold Italic. To this day, I covet the spicy, earthy fragrance I created with her.
Yosh and I clinked glasses and marveled in how Chef Dana (seen below, on the right) was able to mimic the airy, floral, yet sophisticated softness of Sotille in the flavor combinations of sweet honey, buttery brie, crusty light bread, and fruity sparkling wine.
After the passed amuse bouche, we sat down for the first course pairing. Alyssa started us off by giving us a pair of papers, one dipped in essence of sage and the other in frankincense, the two main components of Roxana Villa’s Chaparral. Roxana is a perfumer from the Santa Monica mountains, and Chaparral is her ode to the herby, sweet native plants that make up the ecosystem of Southern California. Born and raised in Los Angeles myself, I slip back to my childhood whenever I catch a whiff of those familiar scents, reminding me of walking mountain trails down south.
It was fitting Chaparral was paired with a beautiful plate of shaved Delta asparagus, cipollinis, grilled citrus, fresh ricotta, toasted sage, fennel fronds, and bruschetta with blood-orange pimenton butter.
Next, for the main course, we smelled the elements that make up Berkeley-based perfumer Mandy Aftel’s Cepes and Tuberose. This unusual earthy perfume almost sounds like you could eat it, as it’s made with wild porcini mushrooms. It makes sense that Mandy is well-versed in the parallels between food and perfume (she’s collaborated with chefs and vintners for her own scented dinners).
Chef Dana paired Cepes and Tuberose with a parchment-wrapped package of steelhead trout, fava beans, fennel, purple fingerling potatoes, and a wild mushroom-jasmine ragout. The ragout, with a hint of floral sweetness hidden in its deep umami, was so unusual, but hearty and delicious.
And finally, there was dessert, which consisted of two parts, for two different perfumes.
First, we sniffed elegantly scented peacock feathers atomized with Ineke Rühland’s Evening Edged in Gold, my favorite scent of the evening. Round notes of saffron spiked with spicy cinnamon and earthy leather danced under my nose with floral and fruit odors. This was a mysterious and enchanting fragrance. The dessert paired with Ineke’s scent was a saffron ice milk served with poached plums flavored with cinnamon, vanilla, saffron, and osmanthus (a flower that smells like apricots!).
Last but not least, was DelRae Roth’s Mythique, which combines bergamot, iris, and sandalwood. It’s what I imagine a beautiful, elegant older woman in a Chanel suit would smell like. Which is actually fitting, as DelRae, who was at the dinner, pretty much fit that description.
Earlier in the evening, Yosh introduced me to DelRae. I asked her if she knew what dish her perfume would be served with. She explained that it was a surprise, but that she imagined some kind of meringue. Yosh exclaimed in delight that she was right; Mythique was paired that night with white chocolate meringue and candied citrus. Perhaps Yosh isn’t the only clairvoyant perfumer in San Francisco?
After all the courses were served, Alyssa read a passage from Coming to My Senses (coming to your senses and bookstores in July) about her obsession with perfume, and explained the backstory behind the Scent Dinner. Although Alyssa lives in Austin, Texas, she connected with Chef Dana via Twitter, after hearing about a recent literary dinner at Woodward’s Garden. Alyssa suggested the idea of a perfumed-paired dinner, not expecting Dana to be down for the challenge. She was flabbergasted when she realized it was going to be a reality.
And what a delicious meal it was. We all went home with full bellies, fragrance-filled nostrils, and amazing gift bags filled with samples of the featured perfumes.
All photos by Dan E. McAnulty
