On October 17th, inside a tattoo studio, Skull.n.Co, in Bozeman, the talents of Chef Dave Wells, this year’s nominee for Best Chef Mountain from the James Beard Foundation, and tattoo artist Patrick Thomas, come together to create culinary artistry. Fourteen people will experience a nine-course meal highlighting local ingredients, artfully presented in a space filled with toe-tapping vinyl music and art on the walls by local creators. New flavors will be tasted, and new friends will be made at this Skully’s Supper Club.
“So, Chef Dave messaged me. I think he shot me a text almost a year ago,” Thomas shares about the first hearing of the idea of a pop-up collaboration. “And it was really interesting because I immediately, without a second thought, absolutely.”
Over four years, Wells had been creating his sleeves of art depicting his love of the outdoors, food, and foraging. Wells says, “During this time, we became friends through that. What I always enjoyed about going to his studio was the hospitality. He spins vinyl. He plays good music, a wide range of music. He always made you feel very much at home. And so, of course, the world I live in and work in —hospitality — is everything. That’s something I’ve recognized in him.”
Wells continues, “He’s a very inspired individual. He takes his craft very seriously and is passionate about it.”
Thomas enjoys cooking and has done stints at Izakaya Three Fish with another James Beard Foundation-recognized chef, Paul Naugle, learning how to cut fish and make sushi, and helped Wells work the Tasting Room at Chico Hot Springs.
The dinners debuted in September. “It was an opportunity to take what we were doing in the Tasting Room and then really try to work with someone who can give it this artistic vision,” Wells shares.
“I enjoy doing tasting menus. Either side of it that I’m on, whether I’m eating it or I’m cooking.”
The menu begins with Trout with roe, buttermilk pudding, sorrel, and frisee, and moves to Bison presented with capers, quail egg, lavash, and fresh herbs. The house-made Armenian flatbread is molded into a silicone bison mold. Since Wells only had one mold, each piece of bread took about 15 minutes to complete. With fourteen guests, the task took hours.
“Once the cracker itself is actually crispy, I hand it over to Patrick for him to finish it, which he actually uses a woodburning kit, to put the detail of the skull into the cracker. So he is basically tattooing, in a sense, on this.” While Thomas burns the details into the cracker, he is toasting it and adding more flavor.
The third course begins the incentive for Thomas’ art. The Ravioli is stuffed with chanterelle mushrooms, parmesan cheese, guanciale, and egg yolk. “I molded a piece of clay into a skull shape, and then my neighbor and I, we 3D scanned it, 3D printed it into a custom ravioli mold.”
Thomas grew up in Kansas. ‘I grew up in a fundamentalist religious cult and went to full Catholic school. I got into trouble a lot in school. They did not like artists in that school.” He admits with a laugh, “I’m not very creative, so I just think of skulls all the time.”
Matsutake on Alley Engelbrecht’s home-made sourdough bread, drizzled with unagi sauce, continues the local fare dressed with world flavors.
The Duck course arrives at the table, served on a tree trunk slab. A skull is etched into the bottom corner. The scene depicted on this palette is cattails anchored by a stone. The stalk is made with roasted pecans in duck fat, shaped with winter squash, and fried spinach leaves. The stem is a thickened demi-glace with the rock created by a generous slice of duck over farro, which simulates pebbles. This was the crowd favorite for tonight.
The next courses — Lamb Saddle, Venison, and Wagyu — are presented in more traditional ways, although the beef that arrived with pommes and petit greens had a stencil of a spruce tree atop the plate—the edible, hardened sauce served as the backdrop for this landscape.
The last course, dessert, honored the season. The Cliché (Pumpkin Spice) was a winter squash cake with winter squash namelaka, dacquoise, and salted caramel Chantilly. Dinner guest Aaron Parker shares of the multi-textural dish, “It’s so hard to bring in all the aspects of the season into anything, and I just tasted all the fall flavors, all the things you wanted to taste.”
Wells will be working with Aaron Parker, owner of Jam and Revelry, as the new Culinary Director. He hopes to be able to create something like tonight’s pop-up dinner at his restaurants.
Skully’s Supper Club pops up twice a month for the union of food and artistry presented in a tattoo studio.
