When our meal arrived, our discussion turned to the unusual and delicious dishes that Chef Humm had prepared for us, the first of which was the spaetzle with braised organic rabbit, spinach and chanterelles, which was inspired by Chef Humm's childhood in Switzerland. "Spaetzle is a big part of winter in Switzerland, and you see it with many different preparations," Chef Humm explained. "A lot of times you see it with game. This is actually a dish my mom makes at home. For lunch, the goal is to create a menu that is satisfying, even if it's smaller. At dinner people may have more courses than they do at lunch, but we still want them to be satisfied. At lunch the dishes are a little bit more accessible because people at lunch only have an hour, and in an hour they just want to eat two great dishes and go back to work. So, this recipe is a dish my mom makes and we also eat it for lunch. It's just such a satisfying and great dish, and so winter oriented, too. There's a little bit of apple in there, as well. The rabbit is just the leg, which has been braised. With the mustard, I think it’s a great, satisfying dish."

Another appetizer we tried was the DiPalo ricotta gnocchi with artichokes, Taggiasca olives and bacon, which was just as delicious as the spaetzle. "The gnocchi is something we've been working on for a long time and it took us maybe a year to really figure it out," Chef Humm said. "The recipe is only semolina and ricotta, and that's it; the rest is just technique. The way it works is we roll the ricotta in balls, then we roll them in semolina and let them sit for one day. The semolina almost builds a dough around it. It's very cool. So then you have the dough, if you will, and the soft ricotta on the inside, which we serve with artichoke and olives. It's pretty simple in a way; the gnocchi is the star of the dish."