The Cobb Galleria wants everyone to know that convention center food doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, that’s exactly what Chef Nick Walker, who’s been heading up the convention center kitchen at the Cobb Galleria told us all when we joined him to sample some of the menu offerings available. I’m not going to write a lot here, I’ll just let the pictures and descriptions do the work.

I love being invited “behind the scenes.” When we first stepped into the kitchen, we met Chef Nick Walker putting the finishing touches on his melon soda he’d made for us from scratch. Our tables set up inside the kitchen, we were lucky to watch the finishing touches put on the menu items. We started out with a Foie Gras and Tempura fried okra with a horseradish aioli drizzle. Not exactly what you’d expect from the convention center.

Next up, we sampled tuna and watermelon cubes with watermelon caviar. Chef Walker explained the way this was made, which sounds very intriguing. I would have never thought of pairing watermelon with tuna, but they were a perfect blend.

After that we were treated to a lovely corn soup with roasted red pepper gelatin. It was super creamy but not too rich at the same time. I loved what Chef did with the red pepper – never had anything like that before. I don’t think there was a single person in attendance that didn’t jump at the opportunity for second serving.

How many different ways have you ever had pork in one dish? We had pork three very different and creative ways for the main course. The dish consisted of pork belly, bacon powder and Foie Gras Trotter (Trotter = Pigs foot). The Foie Gras was stuffed inside – it’s the fried ball that you see the on the plate, my favorite of the pork varietals.

By the time dessert came around, I was quite full, but did manage a couple nibbles and it was pretty stellar as well. The plating of everything was quite beautiful too. Chef Walker seems to be somewhat of a perfectionist making sure the appearance is every bit as good as the food he puts out. Kind of amazing that they are able to churn out this quality of food for large groups of people. This was definitely not like any convention center food I’ve ever had before.

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