Works of art

The restaurant name says it all. Composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art. The master creator of this culinary canvas is chef/owner Robert “BJ” Mueller Jr. After receiving his degree from the culinary program at the Art Institute of Phoenix, time at a couple of four-star resorts in Tucson, a couple of years as a private chef aboard yachts in the Caribbean, Montreux Country Club brought him to Reno.

The late Dennis Medina hired him for Café Soule, then a stint at the steakhouse at Red Hawk, a private dinner for President Clinton and other opportunities to feed dignitaries, and Mueller got the bug to do his own thing. With his front-of-the-house partner, Justin McDaniel, Composition Café was born. They also own Sauce Wagon, a gourmet food truck, and Cutting Edge Catering.

It’s a small, simple bistro with seating inside for 40 but, adding the atrium of the museum, there’s room for another 80. They offer a small spirits bar and a nice wine and beer list. Everything is house-made, fresh daily, and a cheerful staff and efficient service adds to the overall experience.

Lunch is amazing sandwiches and burgers ($9-$12), but the nouveau tapas menu at night is the pièce de résistance. My first canvas was the duck consomme ($8): duck confit dumplings, shiitake mushrooms and micro chives floated in a warm, brown broth. Like Gauguin’s still life paintings with thick brushstrokes, the savory dumplings—moist and rich, with broad flavors and soft colors—and the warm broth—serene, tantalizing in your mouth—this is food art.

Next, the lobster wonton pouch ($8), red curry coconut soup, blood orange olive oil: the explosion of van Gogh’s “Starry Night” in the mouth best describes this work. Rich, brilliant flavors of spice and subtle coconut burst in your palate with a memorable Milky Way finish.

The zucchini cannoli ($6) is a fine example of Rubens’ Baroque artistic style—exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail producing exuberance and grandeur. The zucchini is hollowed, ricotta and buffalo mozzarella stuffed inside. Then, it’s lightly battered, quickly deep fried, and a pomodoro sauce with shaved asiago cheese brings grandeur to this canvas.

Sous Chef Taylor Caldwell takes the easel next, rendering the Mango Sorbet ($6). His work patterns after Monet’s focus on light, color and individual brushstrokes. The frozen composition is colorful with a silvery coconut Jell-O filling surround by a white Kiwi sea foam and a brown spot of balsamic caviar sits atop; individual, distinctive layers of color, refreshing, sublime, a tropical-tart.

It’s challenging to find a wine to complement these small plates. There’s pairing suggestions on the menu. But a rosé from Southern France, a 2011 Chateau de Campuget, caught my eye. Intense peony pink color, its bouquet is very aromatic, exhaling scents of small red fruits such as raspberries or black currants. The final taste is very long, leaving a delicate impression of fruitiness.

On the upper floors of the Nevada Museum of Art, you’ll find works of the masters. One the first floor, in the southwest corner, I’m guessing Mueller and McDaniel feel the challenge echoing from above. It’s been said that true art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist. Art is man’s expression of his joy in labor. Composition Café’s food is worthy of an art museum, masterfully done with broad strokes of joy, colorful creativity, and most importantly, magnum opus flavor.