When did caviar get so casual? How a luxe ingredient acquired mass appeal and a surprising number of diners became comfortable with slurping caviar “bumps” from their own fists.
STURGEON CRAZY CaviAir Imperial Kaluga Extra Fancy caviar brings a nuanced saline pop to a humble ridged chip and creamy dip./ Photographs by Emma Fishman for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Tyna Hoang, Prop Styling by Catherine PearsonI had caviar with potato chips, it was at Air’s Champagne Parlor, shortly after the Greenwich Village wine bar opened in 2017. A mere half-ounce of caviar dressed up thin potato chips dipped in crème fraîche. It felt subversive.
That high-low juxtaposition was intended to make caviar “approachable and not scary,” recalled Air’s proprietor, Ariel Arce. During the pandemic, Ms. Arce went on to launch a caviar company of her own, CaviAIR, aiming to bring the “cool factor to fish eggs.”