Located in the tiny downtown of Milford, New Hampshire, Greenleaf (bar above) is proof positive that farm-to-table fine dining can coexist in a region where pasta and cheese-intensive Greek and Italian restaurants otherwise rule.

Chef Chris Viaud grew up in nearby Londonderry, studied at Johnson and Wales, and cut his teeth as part of the crew in Boston’s modern French dining room, Deuxave (deuxave.com). Drawing on a slew of excellent local producers, Viaud normally serves an inventive and artfully articulated menu based on seasonal produce, meat, and fish. But the Goslings Rum Dinner was even a step above, as three of Viaud’s fellow alumni from Top Chef Season 18 joined him in crafting a menu that would also showcase the many faces of Goslings Rum. The dinner was the next best thing to an escape to the Caribbean (or Bermuda, for that matter).

WITTY PLAYS ON EGGS FOR OPENERS

Chef Jamie Tran of Black Sheep in Las Vegas (blacksheepvegas.com) led off the dinner with a first course of kombu cured hamachi with habañero coulis, tapioca crisps, and a coconut rum panna cotta. The kombu gave the usually bland hamachi a deep umami intensity, almost like smoked salmon. The play of the pool of orange habañero coulis against the smooth white ‶yolk″ of panna cotta was like a visual reversal of a fried egg. The heat from the coulis was cooled by the round of rum-infused coconut panna cotta. Perhaps the most delightful surprise was the topping of tapioca crisps that popped like caviar. The tropical flavors of the plate were perfectly complemented by a Goslings version of a mai tai (‶Black Tai″) that used Family Reserve and Black Seal rums with Cointreau, lime, and orgeat syrup for just a hint of almond bitters.

ALIVE, ALIVE, OH!

Chef Byron Gomez of 7908 in Aspen (7908aspen.com) played off Tran’s tapioca crisps by topping a tranche of snapper with crunchy puffed quinoa. A puree of butternut squash balanced a shellfish carrot sauce on each side of the fish, with a pair of cherrystone clams (billed as ‶cockles″) to provide the intense clammy counterpart to the soft and mildly flavored fish. The interplay of strong flavors was mirrored in the choice of cocktail: a ‶Dark and Stormy.″ The trademarked drink, which Goslings even offers in premixed single serving cans, combines Goslings black rum, lime, and the Goslings brand of ginger beer.

PASTA REDEMPTION

During Top Chef Portland (as Season 18 was called), Chris Viaud had struggles with pasta dishes, finally being eliminated on a translation error in a gnocchi recipe. (You’ll have to watch to see what happened.) So he decided to make a pasta dish for this Goslings dinner. His mushroom agnolotti (perfect and beautiful) were accompanied by rum-braised duck with a pearl onion, chive oil, and a coffee hazelnut crumb. The flavors were rich and satisfying, and the variety of textures gave the dish additional dimension. The accompanying cocktail, ‶Old Rum Fashion,″ was a straightforward rum version of an Old Fashioned combining Family Reserve with Averna bitters, cinnamon, and orange. The sweet, tart drink amplified the unctousness of the duck and mushroom alike.

GOING BIG, BIG, BIG

Nelson German of AlaMar Kitchen & Bar in Oakland (alamaroakland.com) elected to amp up all the flavors into a crescendo of curried lobster with a squid ink bean puree (creamy and intense), beech mushroom, sweet and mildly hot Inca pepper, and a very elevated version of mofongo. Mofongo is essentially refried mashed plantain. Normally a heavy and greasy bite found all around the Caribbean, German’s mofongo was almost ethereal. The accompanying cocktail was a ‶Camp Daiquiri,″ a big-boy version of the classic that uses both 151 proof rum and Family Reserve with Campari, lime, and Demerara sugar.

PLANTAIN BY ANY OTHER NAME

Chris Viaud crafted the dessert, a sweet plantain semifreddo, that was light and airy and brought in other flavors from the meal. He made a rum plantain dulce de leche to drizzle on the plate combined with a ginger beer apple gel and thin slices of green apple. Complex and light, it made a fitting finale to a dinner of great craft. The Gosling rum was more of a second dessert rather than an accompaniment. It consisted of a neat pour of the 2020 Goslings Papa Seal Single Barrel. This special blend of 10-year-old and 21-year-old distillates is aged an additional three or more years. A rum for contemplation, it reveals its flavors as a series of subtle volatiles with each swirl of the glass. It made a memorable conclusion.

Greenleaf, 54 Nashua St., Milford, N.H.; 603-213-5447; greenleafmilford.com