In a city where dining costs quite a bit, it is almost unheard of to get a four-course meal for under $40. Anomaly’s takeout menu manages to pull off this feat. I’ve dined at their seated pop-up restaurant a couple times, and thought that this takeout menu was my favorite. I think Anomaly hits a sweet spot of being elevated, yet accessible due to price and familiar flavors. I could see this concept do well for introducing more people to “fancier” dining.
Of the menus I’ve had during takeout, Anomaly’s menu did require notedly more at home plating. Instead of printout instructions, videos on Instagram introduced the courses and showed a photo of each plated dish. Some more video guidance would have been helpful. Realistically I knew my plating would look nothing like the photo, so I just went with my own inspiration!
The menu started with tabil spiced beets with goat cheese and toasted garlic crunch. The warm coriander and caraway spice played well with the goat cheese tang, and the beets had a nice chew. This was my favorite course.
I was glad to see the dangerously enjoyable miso scallion corn bread with basil butter from the previous menus as part of takeout. Chef threw in a pão de queijo as a bonus (another staple from his past menus, but this time not smoked). These puffs are best warm right out of the oven so I reheated them.
The main course of pork belly and tenderloin was solid. The pork belly was extra fatty, the tenderloin tender, and the chicharron stayed crispy as it was packaged separately. The fennel was delicious, and the mint mandarin sauce tied it all together.
Dessert was a corn pie covered in a vanilla glaze, with fresh peaches, and a fun basil meringue and granola. I liked the variety of textures, and while the pie was quite sweet, the fresh peaches offset it enough that it worked well.
