At the base of this dish is a mildly sweet and rich "cake" of raw parsnip, cashew and young coconut. Atop this sit poached or steamed claws of Dungeness crab, parsnip crisps, basil leaves and "noodles" of young coconut. Having never eaten fresh young coconut before, I found this course somewhat revelatory.
With this dish, we were served one of my favorite aromatic white wines, Susana Balbo "Crios" Torrontes. It's a crisp, incredibly fragrant wine with a fair bit of acidity to support the richness of the crab dish.
Now, you may have noticed that up until this course, the table beyond our dishes has been devoid of a centerpiece or flatware. So when we were presented with "silverware stages" -- a linen pillow for each diner which would subsequently be set with the appropriate flatware for each course.
As Joy put it so perfectly, "Pretentious? Yes. Silly? Yes. Awesome? Also yes."