How a dish becomes a part of the menu at I.d.

At I.d., dishes rarely begin with a recipe. More often, they begin with a season.

Spring, for example, doesn’t quietly arrive in the kitchen. It changes everything. The flavors get brighter. The ingredients become more delicate, more vibrant, more alive. Suddenly, the dishes need to feel lighter, fresher, and a little more energetic too.

That’s where the process starts.

Take asparagus.

We only use it for a short window every year, which means once it arrives, it goes straight into the conversation. This spring, it paired naturally with something we’ve explored before: a grilled Caesar. Grilled asparagus already carries a smoky character, so building around that flavor felt effortless.

But at I.d., it’s never just about one ingredient.

The next question becomes: what makes the dish interesting from the first bite to the last?

To deepen the grilled flavors, the cured egg yolk was smoked. Basil brought freshness and lift. Lemon segments added brightness without making the entire dish overly acidic. Capers and shallots layered in texture, salt, and umami so each bite felt slightly different from the one before it.

That balance matters.

A dish should keep evolving while you eat it. It should surprise you a little. It should never feel flat halfway through the plate.

And that’s really how menu development works here. Not by forcing ideas together, but by letting ingredients lead the direction.

Much of that starts with local sourcing.

At I.d., the menu is shaped heavily by what farms and purveyors are actually producing at the moment. Ingredients coming through Farm Happy and other local partners often determine where the menu goes next. Green garlic from the Pacific Northwest foraging community sparked one direction this season. Soon, ramps and morels will shift things again.

That’s part of what makes spring exciting in the kitchen. Nothing stays still for long.

Even with planning, menus rarely unfold exactly the way they were expected to. Ingredients change. New ideas develop organically. One dish sparks another. Often, the best additions happen naturally in the middle of the process.

And increasingly, the creativity doesn’t just come from one person.

The team contributes constantly—testing dishes, refining ideas, and bringing their own perspectives into the menu. Right now, there are already several new spring dishes being developed behind the scenes, along with plans to source a high-quality local chicken program that the restaurant hasn’t explored before.

Because ultimately, the goal isn’t just to create something that tastes good. It’s to create dishes that feel connected—to the season, to the ingredients, and to the people growing them.

A lot of restaurants talk about being farm-to-table. At I.d., the intention runs deeper than that. The menu doesn’t just feature seasonal ingredients. It moves with them.

And that’s what keeps the process interesting.

No two seasons ever look exactly the same.