Dan Fox and Chad Vogel are currently renovating the space that once housed Underground Kitchen, site of their upcoming restaurant, Fox & Bird. In the meantime, they’re building their names through special meals, such as the upcoming Slow Pig event in March and last week’s Valentine’s Day dinner, held Thursday and Friday at the Livingston Inn and a reprise of last year’s Century Dinner.

It was a fun evening that began with appetizers and cocktails in a parlor room, continued on to a luxurious five-course dinner with wine pairings and concluded with desserts and coffee in that same parlor room.

Chef Fox is a master of the heritage pig, and the pork belly appetizer was my favorite–I enjoyed it while sipping an old fashioned and a cognac-based cocktail made by Vogel. By the way, those were just two of several creative libations he was crafting that night. I would have had more, but I knew five glasses of wine were on the horizon.

The meal, in order, with my thoughts:

• Crawfish Lemongrass-Coconut Bisque – The pork and crawfish dumpling was a wonderful touch to a superbly seasoned bisque.
• Smoked Duck and Foie Gras Pin-Wheel –  Prior to the evening, I never would have thought to eat foie gras with beet-apple compote or candied orange, but they all complemented each other perfectly.
• Ossabaw Speck-Wrapped Black Bass – Nice, light dish, with delicate accents from the squid ink reduction.
• Grapefruit-Pistachio Crusted Lamb Chop – Loved the lamb, but I didn’t care for the bed of roasted carrot, beet and French Puy lentils, which opposed the lamb too much. I also was surprised that despite this dish taking more than 30 min. to be served to us, the lamb was very rare.
• Future Fruit Farms Brown Butter Peak Cake and Bitter Chocolate Cake – Most memorable part of these two desserts? The candied rose and beet petals. Flowers can apparently be tasty, too.

While these dishes may not necessarily be served at Fox & Bird, it’s a great preview of things to come. To see more photos, please visit our Fox & Bird Flickr set.

I’ve always liked hotel restaurants. I’ve celebrated big occasions at the Admiralty Room, enjoyed meals and the view at Top of the Park and dined at Ovations before seeing a show (coincidentally, all three are closed in some form or another). Thus, I was happy The Wise inside the stylish HotelRED invited me to preview its new seasonal menu, which makes its debut on Dec. 21.

Before I get to the food, I always say that service is at least as important as the food itself. If you get the chance, say hi to Executive Chef John Bauer or Service Manager Nicole Mode. They are personable and make you feel like you’re the only diner in the room.

My favorite item by far was the lamb chop pops ($21), served with bacon roasted potatoes. I was curious how the accompanying pesto and house mustard jus would blend together, and they turned out to further enhance a supremely succulent lamb chop. Order this! You can’t go wrong.

If you’re looking for something to share, try the hand-cut fries ($6). It’s a generous portion, and you have five dipping sauces from which to choose. Need some help deciding? In order of my preference, go for the aioli, ginger wasabi, Moon Man mustard, smoked paprika or the basil.

The greenhouse tomatoes and Burrata is a deconstructed version of bruschetta. I like it because you can add as much or as little of the fresh mozzarella (made in-house) and tomatoes to the grilled crostini as you’d like. I adored the honey and Modena reduction that was drizzled over this ensemble.

I also sampled the crab cakes ($12; I appreciate that it was gushing with crab, not  filler vegetables), the Red Spread ($9; you can dip just about anything into the blended roasted bell peppers and walnuts) and the roasted beet and chevre salad (don’t order this if you don’t like beets).

The cocktail selection also is robust. The Red Rudolph ($6) is made of Jim Beam Red Stag, cola and grenadine and is superb (though I would have preferred diet cola). The kitchen makes plum reduction every day to supply the gorgeous Sugarplum martini ($9), which is mixed with vodka and lemon juice. And because I can’t say no to drinks, I also enjoyed the Fruitcake ($8). Here, the essence of this drink is to smell the crystalized ginger cube resting on top as you sip the brandy, amaretto, Cointreau, lemon juice and cola. Quite the indulgence.

I think the most impressive part of my meal was from where it came. The kitchen was originally supposed to be on the top floor, so its current location on the first floor is relatively small. That keeps ingredients fresh as Chef Bauer has to re-order frequently. Plus, it goes to show how much you can do with so little.

Unfortunately for The Wise, it’s not quite a destination restaurant yet for several reasons, including lack of nearby parking. And that’s really a shame, because whether you’re looking for breakfast, lunch, dinner or just drinks, this place certainly deserves your consideration.

See more photos of food from The Wise on our Flickr set.