Tiny Yet So Tasty

By Lisa McLaughlin

The next time your entree arrives with a tuft of tiny greens on top, don't push them aside. Those diminutive, seemingly unnecessary sprigs of baby basil, chervil or arugula are an integral ingredient, not a garnish. The teensy leaves are sprouting up in restaurants across the U.S. as chefs discover that big flavor is sometimes hidden in little bundles. Charlie Trotter pioneered the use of microgreens at his namesake Chicago restaurant, paving the way for the baby herbs to show up on the menus of such eateries as Alain Ducasse at the Essex House in New York City and the French Laundry in Yountville, Calif. "In addition to being small and pretty, microgreens also have an intensity to them that mature herbs don't have," says chef Craig Koketsu, who recently invigorated the staid menu at New York City's venerable Manhattan Ocean Club with South American and Asian accents and lots of microgreens. He tops shrimp a la plancha, below, with micro chives, micro cilantro and micro mint, and accents a vibrant orecchiette in green garlic curry with micro Thai basil. "Microgreens are a visual representation of spring, and I want my menu to taste like spring and look like spring," he says. Home cooks can find the bijou greens at farmer's markets and specialty grocers. --By Lisa McLaughlin