Dill in Reykjavik, Agern in NYC

We just got back from Iceland. We had many reasons for going, including scenery, birding, and food (and others). Two reservations I made before going were at Dill in Reykjavik and at the restaurant of Hotel Buðir on the Snæfellsness peninsula in the West. Both were amazing meals, although Dill takes the prize. I had bought the cookbook “North” by Karl Gunnar Gíslaison (chef at Dill) a while ago, and it knocked me out, it is a cookbook and it is kind of a manual describing the special nature of Icelandic foods. The animals there have to come from “Viking stock” meaning they have been there for 1000 years. Thus the sheep have horns, including the males, females, and little lambs. The males have big impressive curled horns. The horses are small but tough and beautiful (they do eat the foals sometimes). There are Icelandic goats as well but the Viking pigs went extinct and pork is rather rare. Cod and lamb are staples everywhere. The flavor of the Icelandic lamb is mild and “sweet” - this time of year the sun never really sets and the grass is very lush, and the sheep eat the grass and are free of hormones and other flavors.

In Karl Gunnar´s cookbook he made impressive use of powders, plus infused oils, foam, dehydration, smoking, etc. In our meal at Dill last Friday I noticed no powders at all but plenty of the other techniques. For example the first “snack” (served on a black rock) included very thinly sliced salt cod dotted with basil oil, which looked like green peas. The cod was crunchy like a cracker. One dish involved lumpfish caviar and smoked lumpfish, with a dehydrated egg yolk grated over the top. There were interesting wine pairings with each course.

I was interested to learn that Karl Gunnar has become the head chef at a new restaurant Agern in NYC. I know little about this new place and I am curious to learn if anyone has tried it? The man has such an imagination and the Noma/Dill/Nordic approach to food is so clean and delicious that I imagine it is something we would really enjoy.

My wife and I were just in Iceland a couple weeks ago. Dill was on my radar but we ended up going to Grillmarket in Reykjavik and doing the tasting menu (8 courses over 3 hours). It was a great meal but our best meal was at Varma Restaurant (at Frost and Fire Hotel in Hveragerdi). There we had an exceptional meal. The best lamb dish I’ve ever had at a restaurant and on par with the best lamb I’ve had (English lamb from C. Lidgate butcher in London). This was a really memorable meal and one surpassing anything we’ve had in Philly or NYC in the past few years.

I’ve read about Hotel Budir before going but we were going to try and make it to Narfeyrarstofa in Stykkisholmur. The weather was crappy so we cut short our day on Snæfellsness Peninsula.

Another excellent meal we had was at Fjorubordid in Stokkseyri after a day touring South Iceland.

On another note, the best fish and chips I can recall ever eating was at a roadside truck parked near the entrance to Skogafoss. Freshly caught cod!

I love Iceland! Such a wonderful visit.

Frank, based on your comments I picked up Gunnar’s cookbook - there’s a kindle version available! Lots of great ideas in there, and really a region of the world and style of cuisine I haven’t paid attention to, so a great chance to try some new things out and learn.

We put a few of our best pictures of Iceland into a Flickr file

I think it’s a place everyone could enjoy – but of course food, gas, and lodging are expensive. The food is expensive partly because tips are always 100% included. Much of the food (vegetables) and all of the gas has to be imported. At Sea Baron (Sægreifinn) at the old harbor, they have a famous “lobster” soup, and they have skewers of raw fish (halibut, cod, scallops, salmon, etc.) which you select and then get a number. They bring the perfectly grilled skewers to your table.

Frank: great pictures! I’m really curious though how you managed to have blue skies in just about every picture! I was there recently and it was mostly cloudy every day and I keep checking the weather and it has been mostly cloudy/rainy every day.

Joe, we were ridiculously lucky, in several ways. We had a couple of days of worse weather (no pictures of that!) but mostly it was quite beautiful. Blue skies at noon and midnight!

Here is a good article about Agern in NYC – hopefully an American version of Noma or Dill, eventually!

Agern = “Acorn”

http://www.villagevoice.com/restaurants/slap-on-your-foraging-shoes-at-claus-meyer-s-new-nordic-agern-8795478

We did a winemaker dinner / event at Agern 2wks ago. What a great night. Gunnar is the man. He and I spent about 2hrs after the dinner chatting and drinking beer. He’s one of the coolest chefs I have spent time with.