The last time I posted about music at The Triple Door it was from the point of view of being a worker bee, enjoying what I could whilst endeavoring to entreat the guests of the 3D with all that we offer. Today I will opine what it’s like to actually sit in the theater and get the royal treatment!
For those that know me, you’ll recognize my frequent companion to all things cool and spectacular in my life as none other than my ever-loving daughter Siobhan (shuh-von). For those that don’t, well, I’m one of those guys that gets his child every other weekend. So what we do is a major deal! On this particular weekend I wondered if she’d like to go and check out what it’s like to take in The Triple Door experience. As Siobhan is a burgeoning gourmand in her own right, and has an exceptionally broad taste in music for one so young, I felt sure that she’d be more than agreeable. With our friend Morgan in tow, we set off to inquire if seating was available for our trio. As being an employee has some major advantages, we got comped 3 tickets to see Noah Gundersen and The Courage followed by Ian McFeron.
None of us had any idea of what we were about to see. Just some cursory prefunk googling to see what these acts were all about. But that was kind of the point. Good friends, good food, great venue. Just have some fun.
We arrived about 7ish to allow us plenty of time to partake of the great menu the lovely establishment I work for presents. We started with our Potstickers, classic Asian dumplings. Ours is filled with a mixture of chicken and vegetables, served with a nice little dipping sauce of soy and chilies. We also enjoyed the Stuffed Shitake Mushrooms (a personal fave of mine) and the Peasant Chicken Satay. The 3D menu is for us sauce hounds. And the appetizers are abundantly sauced! Peanut sauce for the chicken, a sweet/tangy/spicy tomato based sauce for the mushrooms, and the aforementioned soy concoction for the potstickers. I’m all about the sauce. As my friend says, “The <insert food item here> is just a vessel to get the <insert sauce here> to my mouth!” The dumplings were plump, tender, and flavorful (we had to get more for Morgan!). The chicken satay flavorful and succulent. The mushrooms are a wonder of contrasts. Crisp on the outside from the tempura, tender yet firm on the inside, and the stuffing enhancing all the flavor profiles. I swear if Wild Ginger were to market that sauce for the mushrooms, I would never lack for it in my pantry!
For our second course we went with The Mongolian Triple Chops (another must have in my humble opinion), The Wok Fried Barbecue Prawns, and The Mandarin Chicken. The last two were concessions to Siobhan and Morgan, respectively. I longed for other fare, but I’m a gracious host. The lamb chops are Austral-US lamb, lollipop cut, marinated in a hoisin barbecue sauce that also features coconut. Just… uh may zing! Lamb chops are, essentially, mini little bone-in ribeye steaks, but with the added bonus of that great lamb flavor! And this breed of lamb has a rich and buttery flavor profile (not gamey!), add to that the wonderful hoisin barbecue sauce and you really have an emblematic approach to Asian cuisine! Rich and buttery contrasted with sweet and savory. I could eat about seven of these at any given time! The barbecue prawns were delicious as well. Heavily flavored with my favorite onion, the shallot! As well as generous amounts of garlic, chilies and peanuts. I had to spar with Siobhan in order to get my fair share of prawns! Our Mandarin Chicken is great! The Chinese classic of fried chicken with a sweet and spicy sauce coating every delicious morsel. I would have preferred something a little less omnipresent in our fair Pacific Rim city, but Morgan wanted it, he is a bro and it is a really good dish.
To finish we went with some new offerings from our pastry kitchen. Our pastry chef, Sacha, does such an excellent job. Her whole staff is so knowledgeable and helpful too! We got the Rhuby and the Drowned Truffle Sundae. The Rhuby is a puffed pastry rhubarb tart with a dollop of strawberry gelato, complimented by a little panna cotta. Oh Em Gee! So good! The Drowned Truffle Sundae is Sacha’s take on an affogato (literally “drowned” in Italian). The classic is to pour a shot of espresso over some vanilla ice cream or gelato. Sacha ups the ante by using sweet cream gelato and adding a fantastic textural aspect with these crunchy crumbled Amaretto cookie bits! You taste the coffee, the richness of the gelato, you get the crunch from the cookie crumbles and then you get this fantastic almond hint at the finish of every bite because of the Amaretto. Brava, Sacha, brava!!
I wish I had pictures to accompany everything, but we were too busy eating and enjoying ourselves that I forgot! Maybe I’ll take some at another time and supplant them into the post. Y’all wont care, right?
Now to the entertainment.
Noah Gundersen
First up was Noah Gundersen and The Courage. As I mentioned, we really did not know what to expect, so we had really open minds. As they came on they looked quite eclectic. Electric guitars, dreadlocked singer, and fiddle player? The opened with an atmospherical intro that really set the mood. Their sound was very dynamic. Touching on many influences, yet not contrived. Genuine. And heady at times. I really liked them. M. Gundersen is a pretty good showman. I could only imagine what he could do with more time. At one point the rest of the band exited so that he could perform a little solo number entitled “Jesus, Jesus” (you can hear it on their myspace page). The song was very interesting to me. It was, at times, quirky, rebellious, approachably composed, and very touching. I was very moved when, in his repartee with Jesus, he asked for His help in fixing this world because someday he’d like to have a family. I’m getting a lump in my throat now just thinking about it. But then… I’m a very sentimental fella. Very enjoyable performance all around. Thanks, Noah and The Courage!
Now we get to the part that I don’t really want to expound to much on, Ian McFeron. He’s very talented. Very prolific. It just wasn’t our cup of tea. It kind of bummed us out as the first act set the bar so high, and we really tried to enjoy M. McFeron’s art, we really did, but we ended up leaving a tad early. Sorry, Ian.
The best part of the night is when, during the first part of the first act, I queried my friend Morgan about our seats. No response. Another try. Nothing. Finally, a third attempt to prevail on him to relate to me what he thought of everything. “What? Sorry… Amazing… Just… Amazing. I’m in my own little world right now.” I could not have been happier. Thanks, Noah. Thanks 3D! Thanks to Ryan who is an awesome server. Thanks to Calvin for the tix! Thanks to Siobhan for pretending to be sleepy so we could beat a hasty retreat. No offense, Ian, best of luck!
p.
