Did Toledo just birth a culinary movement?

6/7/2018

A 12-course meal unlike any of its kind was served Tuesday at The Heights rooftop bar of the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Toledo through a collaboration of Executive Chef Aaron Lawson and the Gathered Glassblowing Studio. Cubes of A5 Wagyu beef are seared over 2000º molten glass.

THE BLADE/PHILLIP KAPLAN
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While the rest of the world went to bed after eating a typical dinner Tuesday evening, the Glass City tried to reinvent itself once again as the epicenter of a budding culinary movement.

A 12-course gourmet meal was served using molten glass as the cooking medium.

“There weren’t even any YouTube videos,” said Renaissance Hotel Executive Chef Aaron Lawson. There indeed are a few, but nothing as elaborate as what on display.

WATCH: Chefs prepare food using molten glass as the heat source

In 2018, if you find something nearly un-Google-able, you might as well put a flag in it for your own, and Toledo is trying to do just that.

Chef Lawson and Gathered Glassblowing Studio teamed together for this extraordinary event.

In the glass-artist community, the practice actually has been common trade for generations.

“When we get hungry or thirsty, we just have this hot oven for heating up coffee or food,” said Gathered co-owner Adam Goldberg. “But no one has ever done anything like this. First, nothing has been done on this scale. It’s the first time with gourmet ingredients and a chef. It’s the first time it is 12 courses.”

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