New on the Menu: Lobster crudo, beet tartare and sunchoke kebabs
Lobster Crudo
At Cultura, a new restaurant in Asheville, N.C., executive chef Jacob Sessoms cold-smokes raw, shell-on lobster tail. Then he uses a blowtorch to heat the shells, loosening the lobster meat and allowing him to remove it raw. He slices the lobster meat thinly and serves it with black sesame purée, Tokyo turnip, a white Philippine seaweed called guso and a lobster chile salt that the restaurant makes by dehydrating roasted lobster shells and fermented sweet and hot chiles, grinding them and blending them with kosher salt.