TORC has a playfulness — roasted chicken arriving to table with a bridal bouquet of herbs and the offer to shave truffles on anything (an invitation that led one regular to create an umami-bomb grilled cheese with Sean). Every dish is also extremely well-crafted, layered in flavor. And yet, and yet, each dish remains very respectful of its centerpiece ingredient — the soft-shell crab, the cress, the squab.
Like a Pollock splatter, TORC's open kitchen and honest integration of flavors invite us to enter the conversation of the meal unselfconsciously. But make no mistake, it is the language of a master.