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featured dining guide story Advertorial Feature BY RANDY RICE | NoRthwEst ARkANsAs DEmoCRAt-GAzEttE 42 What's up! november 17-23, 2019 New Eleven menu designed to compliment the Crystal Bridges experience C hef William McCormick of Crystal Bridges Eleven restaurant does not let the moss grow on his menu. He's constantly looking for ways to not only improve the restaurant's offerings but also have them evolve with the seasons of the year. He is additionally known for designing his culinary creations around the current exhibits running at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. We caught up with Chef William who took a break from his busy day to talk about his latest menu. "We have two great new exhibits here at Crystal bridges," Chef William began. "We have Crystals In Art which is a unique exhibit that explores crystals and their uses going back thousands of years on up to current day, and the Kusama Infinity Room." Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room - My Heart is Dancing into the Universe (2018) is now on view permanently at Crystal Bridges. The room itself is small and filled with mirrors and paper lanterns that have dots that change color. This effect makes it appear like the dots expand forever into the universe. "I was inspired by the Infinity Room to create a modern, molecular menu to help us think about food in a different way," Chef William said. "I wanted to ask the question: 'what is that next evolution of what we think about cuisine?' and examine how that definition can translated in different areas of our menu items like changing textures within the dish. Another way to put it would be: we wanted to create food with a surprise!" An example of one of these 'surprise' menu items? "We took our cheesy potatoes that are cooked three times and elevated it to another level by taking a whipped cream siphon and filling it with a buttermilk and Gruyere cheese fondue," Chef William explained. "We aerate it so you get this really unique texture of this cheesy sauce that is light and fluffy. We then took it a step further by doing a Brule with it on top to add a crunchy cover." He calls it Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Buttermilk Gruyere Fondue. "I do a lot of research when it comes to the museum and the art exhibits and I always think about what the different inspirations are for the art and how can I fold that into the dishes I am creating for Eleven," he continued. "I try to think of how we can take something that is familiar and make it into something more creative and special."