Plan Check: Dreams Of Marrow. Bone Marrow Turnover Pie. Pure Poetry At Plan Check

We have many types of poetry out there in the world. Haiku, sonnets, verse, to name a few. But a new kind is sorely needed, the kind of poetry that gives expression to an experience that is ecstatically indescribable, like when eating bone marrow.

Exquisitely cooked beef bone marrow speaks to you. It gurgles, gushes and goops. It slurps and slides. It jiggles and tempts like the big bosomed lady with the Dutch accent. In lieu of this yet to be discovered style of luscious lyric, I shall dub these coos that are born from deep within the bone ― marrow music.

Chef Ernesto Uchimura, the former Corporate Exec Chef of Umami Burger, may not consider himself a poet but there's no mistaking that his culinary creations express the pleasure and flavor that no other medium can.

Uchimura's luxurious yet humble Bone Marrow Turnover Pie started out as an empanada that was whipped up for family, friends and now and again as a menu special. After a reboot, it returns as an accompaniment for Plan Check's Short Rib Pot Roast. I was lucky enough to score a couple of these pies sans pot roast and thereby able to spend some quality marrow time alone without any interference. Don't misunderstand me, the pot roast is fantastically flavorful, but without the marrow pie, it's just another lovingly braised piece of cow flesh.

The magic begins once the flaky, buttery crust is breached. A fragrant, fried burst of fresh pastry followed by a fatty, savory release of gelatinous bone treasure are enough to intoxicate. The singular savoriness of bone marrow combined with a perfect fried crust lands Plan Check's Bone Marrow Turnover Pie onto my Death Bed Bites list along with Petrossian West Hollywood's "Squid Ink Fettuccine Wild Californian Sea Urchin, Curry, Salmon Roe", Cafe del Rey's "Foie Gras & Oyster" and Sotto's crispy pork belly. This pie makes the list simply because it is to die for. In the very end, don't we all want to suck the marrow out of life?