My husband and I celebrated my birthday last week with a most memorable and delightful dinner at a very special restaurant in nearby Ashland. We had been hearing and reading great things about Josh Dorcak’s MÄS for some time and decided my birthday made for an appropriate occasion to treat ourselves to his tasting menu dinner. The chef trained at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school and later moved to Southern Oregon in his 20s. He worked at others’ restaurants but had a very particular vision for his own place. MÄS, serving Cascadian cuisine, started as a pop-up at a local bakery and then took up a small, neat space off an alley in downtown Ashland.

We arrived just before our 5:30 reservation time. (There are two sittings each evening; the earlier one handily works for those who have theatre tickets at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival just up the street.) Of the two dining options available — dining room or chef’s counter — we chose the counter for a chance to see the food prep and chat with Josh and his team of two. We were seated at the wooden counter with just two other couples, facing the kitchen where, directly in front of us, the first courses were being meticulously put together. Every drop of oil, sprig of herb and flower petal was placed just so in painterly compositions that balanced colors and textures … absolutely gorgeous. After Josh greeted us, we were served an earthen cup filled with dashi, a savory kelp broth incorporating seaweeds and clarified butter which, although the menu here changes frequently to make the most of seasonal, locally produced and foraged ingredients, is one item which is virtually always served.

When you book a reservation at MÄS, you can opt for a wine and/or sake pairing, which (because Josh generously made an exception for us and allowed us to bring a special birthday bottle of wine) we did not  choose this evening (but definitely will, next time). However, I listened with great interest as Josh described each pour to our counter mates; he clearly knows his sake, and his enthusiasm for how the flavors meld with the food revealed his focus on every aspect of the meal.

Our first course was a trio of “snacks,” artfully presented and served with chopsticks. I appreciated that as Josh described each one, he also suggested the best way to eat them (one bite or  finger food or chopsticks), so one didn’t feel awkward or have to surreptitiously glance around to see what everyone else was doing. These delectable mouthfuls included (from left to right in the picture below) shiso and uni (sea urchin), crab and egg yolk fudge alongside trout roe and yuzu creme crue, and tuna gunkan and sancho. Each offered some new-to-me ingredient or preparation, and each served up a pleasing melding of flavors and textures that delighted me with these unique bites.

Seafood featured in nearly every dish, from halibut with pickled green strawberries, and gently poached-in-the shell Moon Rock oysters and burnt cucumbers (so tender!) to king salmon and cucumbers (a fantastic sauce), and unagi (eel) and Kaluga caviar with watermelon cucumber. I have never had the opportunity to taste so many different types of roe and caviar in one sitting, and it was a revelation to me how differently flavored each was. (The Kaluga is wonderfully smooth and buttery and not at all salty.)

I asked Josh about what seemed to be a strong Japanese influence in the ingredients, beverage pairings and even the place settings he uses. He said that he’d never worked in a Japanese restaurant, and that he feels his philosophy about preparing food — letting each ingredient have its voice without trying to manipulate it or alter it to any great degree — has much in common with what one finds in Japanese cooking. One of the reasons he chose to work and live in Southern Oregon is because almost everything can be sourced here or regionally (seafood, produce, meats, cheeses, wine), and indeed many herbs and vegetables come from his own garden.

Our final two courses were just as delicious and beautifully presented as the ones that preceded them. We enjoyed tender slices of beeswaxed aged duck breast in a vintage sake sauce, served with steamed dumplings, thoughtfully provided so we could soak up every drop of that wonderful sauce. We finished with Milk & Honey, combining beauty berry ice cream, a honey crumble and a whisked foam sprinkled with flower petals. It provided the perfect conclusion to a perfectly remarkable, beautiful experience.

It is no wonder that MÄS was named one of 2022’s 50 Best Restaurants in America by The New York Times and that Josh Dorcak was named a finalist for Best Chef, Northwest & Pacific in 2023 by the James Beard Foundation. We will certainly be dining here again, perhaps choosing a different season to sample a different set of courses. If you are anywhere near Southern Oregon in the future, I’d urge you to make a reservation and experience this amazing food yourself.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor