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The Hightened Series was designed to be \u201can enhanced sensory experience combining cannabis and the art of fine dining.\u201d<\/p>\n
With elegantly crafted cuisine from\u00a0Opulent Chef<\/a>\u00a0and featuring Humboldt County\u2019s\u00a0NASHA Extracts<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Topstone vaporizers<\/a>, guests were invited to \u201ccome meet the farmer, the hash maker, and the chef to experience a forward-thinking, unexplored, crop to kitchen concept,\u201d at a dinner event held in San Fransisco last week.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve got it made in the Bay Area when it comes to canna-cuisine \u2014 OG Chef Coreen Carrol\u2019s\u00a0Cannaisseur Series<\/a>\u00a0offers infused food plus flower and\/or vape pairings, The Herb Somm\u2019s\u00a0#ThursdayInfused\u00a0<\/a>features, you guessed it, infused bites as part of the educational\u00a0experience. Even with technically less than legal status, these events are always sold out, and new canna-cuisine hybrid events are sprouting up more frequently. Halfway through California\u2019s first-year legal cannabis, the Bay Area isn\u2019t starved for infused dinners, CBD cocktails and even\u00a0cannabis-themed drag night<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0which is why it\u2019s shocking this dinner was a \u201cfirst of its kind\u201d event for the veteran Opulent Chef.<\/p>\n Canna-cuisine aficionados know chef Michael Magallanes, or the Opulent Chef, founder and host of The Hightened Series is no stranger to working with cannabis, but this dinner was unique in how the chef\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0use cannabis.<\/p>\n \u201cOur dinners in the past were more focused on infusing cannabis into the food, how the flavors work in the food itself,\u201d Magallanes said when I caught him before the event held on Saturday night at a secret location in San Francisco. \u201cThis dinner is about enjoying the food while vaping concentrates. And pairing the two. Enjoying the two together.\u201d<\/p>\n So this meal wouldn\u2019t include any cannabis\u00a0in\u00a0the food, but we would get to vape all the NASHA hash that we could want\u2026 cool.<\/p>\n It was easy to spot the dinner\u2019s secret location in the airplane hangar-like structure thanks to the giant garage door, openly showcasing some of San Francisco\u2019s finest hash heads. Skylights illuminated the space and high ceilings accentuated the stunning living wall \u2014seriously it was like a jungle growing out of the kitchen. A funky collection of classic clocks adorned the other side of the room where\u00a0The Josh Craig<\/a>\u00a0spun funky grooves in the corner.<\/p>\n Guests were greeted with an infused, non-psychoactive sparkling beverage. It was light and refreshing featuring mint and honey from the\u00a0Sunboldt Farms<\/a>. Sunshine Johnston, was in attendance at the dinner and spoke briefly on Sunboldt\u2019s growing process. Using dry farming and beyond organic practices,\u00a0Sunboldt proves top quality cannabis can be grown with minimal environmental impact.<\/p>\n Mingling pre-dinner I was happy to see some familiar cannabis industry friends- fellow creatives and foodies, brand reps and founders in the house, along with hash\u00a0legend,\u00a0Frenchy Cannoli<\/a>\u00a0and his protege\u00a0Cherry Blossom Belle<\/a>, whom I sat with, alongside a couple enthusiasts in town from Santa Cruz. Our table was one of three, all cozily packed with about 25 people in the room.<\/p>\n Topstone, the hardware device for the event, was new to me, and it seemed, nearly everyone else. One female guest commented that the high-end portable vaporizer was \u201cvery phallic,\u201d while laughing, and I must admit she was right. About the size and shape of a longer cigar, I was not offended by the design, but more concerned about the coil. I usually prefer coil-less devices, but as always, I was open-minded Barron Lutz, CEO and founder of NASHA was on hand discussing the hash varieties he brought for the evening.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m used to working with a sommelier and chefs don\u2019t tell a somm what wine to select,\u201d Magallanes said of the relationship between chef and hashmaker. \u201dI work with a hashish with whom I can speak the same language, it\u2019s a very trust-based relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n Photo by Elise McRoberts<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Dinner consisted of nine delightful to mind-blowing courses. It began with an almond, anise liquid filled, gel ball, which Magallanes compared to \u201cGatorade,\u201d I think for the hydration explosion we experienced upon popping the ball in our mouth. The next course was a melon, but our corner agreed it was the yogurt which was the star of that course. It was truly reminiscent of classic, old-school French onion dip, naughtily delicious. Skipjack, \u201cthe lamb of tuna,\u201d was better than most sushi I\u2019ve had lately. Cuttlefish was followed by allium grain yuzu, roasted bone broth, before the beef (or mushroom, for this vegetarian)course. I\u2019m told the beef was as satisfying as I found the mushrooms, which were more like a savory, vegan steak, done just right. Taking us toward the sweet side of the flavor spectrum, tofu came before strawberry angel cake sent us off to sensory bliss.<\/p>\n In between the courses, Will Bosch, co-founder of Topstone Projects stopped by each table with the loaded Topstone vapes and we passed shared amongst our tables. Sitting next to me, Beth Breen from of Santa Cruz was a first timer to a dinner like this, but not new to cannabis. She was commenting on the flavors and feelings with such bliss, I felt more intoxicated in response to her authentic joy.<\/p>\n Magallanes meant it when he said it: this dinner was about cannabis and how it affects diners interaction with food. Of course, naturally cannabis affected how we interacted with each other. Vaping<\/a> and smoking were allowed, and encouraged, but there was zero pressure to consume. This made the event perfectly suited for couples and mixed groups from canna-curious to total cannasseurs. This new freedom and the law of averages of newbies means at least one person is likely to have a little too much too fast. Reminder y\u2019all, always start low and slow. It\u2019s easy to add more, but not so easy to undo overdoing it.<\/p>\n \u201cI eat with groups of friends all the time, but we never talk about food like this in the process- commenting on each flavor, of each component, of each course,\u201d Breen said. \u201cWe\u2019re more like \u2018Pass that, ok thanks, as I was saying.\u2019<\/p>\n This is just so much more\u2026 I don\u2019t know it\u2019s like just more\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMindful?\u201d I asked with sarcastic inquisition.<\/p>\n \u201cExactly,\u201d she asserted.<\/p>\n \u201cExactly,\u201d I declared. \u201cWould you mind passing me hash?\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>,\u00a0would you attend a cannabis dinner event?<\/p>\n The post Please Pass the Hash<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Hightened Series was designed to be \u201can enhanced sensory experience combining cannabis and the art of fine dining.\u201d With elegantly crafted cuisine from\u00a0Opulent Chef\u00a0and featuring Humboldt County\u2019s\u00a0NASHA Extracts\u00a0in\u00a0Topstone vaporizers, guests were invited to \u201ccome meet the farmer, the hash maker, and the chef to experience a forward-thinking, unexplored, cropContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":246,"featured_media":28313,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5204,5205,50,4071,5206,5207,5208,112,5209,2724,918,1831,5210,780,69,5211,5212,5213,5214,5215,5216,5217],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/246"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28314,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28312\/revisions\/28314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Cannabis-Cuisine.jpg\")
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\nRead More: Please Pass the Hash<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"