humbling attempts at creativity

No Knead Pain Au Levain

2011-10-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

Lets talk about Jim Lahey's no knead bread. I have made it a few times in the past, and thought it was alright..but only recently realized how good it really is. As much as I love the entire bread making process - it can be a bit of a pain to do on a regular basis at home. So I have been playing around a bit with the no knead recipe because it is practical to make regularly at home. I want to see what I can do to improve on it. First things first - get a weight measurement rather than volume - which is what was printed in the New York Times. Easy enough. I think my third time making the bread I weighed everything and this is what I got (and have been using since).

472 g Bread Flour (I use King Arthur)

1 g Instant Yeast

8.3 g Salt (8 g is fine if you dont have a scale that measures less than 1g)

370 g Water (Filtered or Spring. 24 degrees C)

Simply to combine everything, let it ferment 18 hours, turn out onto a bench & fold a few times. Rest. Shape. Proof two hours - when you start proofing turn your oven on to 450 & put a dutch oven in it. Once the bread is ready to bake, put the dough into the hot dutch oven, cover and bake 30 mins. Remove cover and bake until done, 15 - 30 additional minutes.

With that down, what is the next step I can take to improve the bread?

Use a poolish.

There are...different interpretations of what a poolish is but in the interest of brevity and ease (remember I want a bread that is a breeze to make often) I would recommend using one that I learned from this man. What you do is start with your water in the container that you plan on fermenting your dough. Sprinkle your yeast on the surface of your water, and then add your flour. No need to mix, just let it sit as is. Put your salt in a small well on top of the flour. Let this sit at room temperature a minimum of 15 minutes - and then proceed as normal (mix everything together, ferment, and so on)

How much does this improve the flavor? Marginally, if at all. So what else is there?

Pate fermentee.

This is what I was doing for a while, with consistently good results. You start as normal, mixing everything together and letting it ferment 18 hours. Immediately after folding your dough, that is after turning it out onto your bench, cut away a fist size piece and put it into a container. Keep this in your fridge until you are ready to make another batch. The next time you make the bread, add the (couple day) old dough to it. After the bulk fermentation, cut out another piece and save it for the following time you make bread. Keep doing this every time you make bread. I felt that this helped the flavor of the bread quite a bit.

And now the pain au levain, or pane levan, or whatever you want to call it. This is naturally risen bread. Made without the use of commercial yeasts. If you are looking to make this bead I can only imagine that you have a starter that you maintain. I keep mine refreshed at a 1:1:1 ratio. So if you want the bread you see in my picture...you should too. But its not that important. If you have a liquid starter or a firm starter...it will all work so long as it is alive and active.

Here is the recipe that I use - as you can see it is a modified version of the regular recipe.

475 g Flour

370 g H2O (24 C, filtered or spring)

8.3 g Salt

190 g Levain

Measure the water, add the levain and mix until it is pretty much dissolved. Then add the other ingredients and mix until they form a dough.

Put the dough in a large container & ferment for 18 hours. As you can see below, my dough had expanded to about 2.5 Q.

After fermenting 18 hours, turn your dough out onto a floured bench. Fold it a few times until it feels manageable. Let it rest, covered, for 15 minutes. Shape however your heart desires and proof for two hours - on a floured couche or silpat if your using the dutch oven. I use a banneton/bratform. It all depends on what shape youre going for. In the end you should bake it at 450 for close to an hour. Its a big loaf (if your not using the dutch oven you could divide it into two loaves).

This is what you get. Beautiful crust & crumb. Lovely sourdough flavor. Just a great loaf of bread. And easy enough to make every day.

How Wet Is Your Dough or A Visual Representation of the Effect of Dough Hydration on Hearth Baked Bread

2011-10-18T21:55:00.000-07:00

Left to Right: 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100%, 110%

So I wanted to give a visual representation of the effect that water has on your bread. The hydration level of your dough is directly related to the amount of flour in your dough. To figure it out you divide the water weight by the flour weight. For example if you have 100 g of water and 200 g of flour, your formula would be: 100/200 = hydration level or 100/200 = 0.5 which means you have 50% hydration. Simple enough, right?

I seem to have 'misplaced' my notebook where I wrote the specific recipe that I used but the ratios were based off of Jim Lahey's 'No Knead' recipe (which I translated to weight measurements a while ago). I just scaled it down to have smaller loaves and - of course - I changed the water measurement.

I decided on making doughs with 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100%, and 110% hydration. In order to eliminate as many variables as possible I did not knead any of the doughs...seems appropriate for using the no knead forumla. Anyway - I also skipped over some techniques that bakers use to make higher hydration doughs more...friendly to work with. I did not score the doughs. I did not use steam (pitching ice cubes). I baked everything for the same amount of time at the same temperature regardless of how 'done' it was.

The actual process went as follows:

1. I scaled everything

2. I mixed all the doughs

3. I fermented the doughs at 24 degrees C for exactly 18 hours. This would provide adequate time for gluten to develop without kneading the doughs.

4. I folded the doughs 2 times

5. I rested the doughs 15 minutes

6. I shaped the doughs into 'boules'. (I am using that term loosely)

7. I proofed the dough at 24 degrees C for exactly 2 hours.

8. Everything was baked for exactly 45 minutes and then cooled on a wire rack until room temperature.

Clockwise from the top right: 60%, 80%, 70%, 50%

The 50% was not extensible at all and was rather difficult to shape. Things got progressively easier as the hydration level went up (go figure).

Clockwise from top right: 100%, 110%, 90%

This is where the hydration started to make shaping the dough more difficult. The boules are a bit larger because rather than holding a nice shape, they spread out.

50% - Notice the tight, round shape & fluffy, sandwich bread like crumb.

60% - Shape still holding pretty well, crumb starting to have larger bubbles. This looks like a store bought loaf of 'french bread' to me.

70% - Maybe a bit more open structure than 60% but still pretty similar

80% - Losing its shape a bit, noticeable change in the crumb.

90% - Not sure why this one held its shape better than the 80%.

100% - Less round shape, crumb looks moist, chewy crust.

110% - Flattest shape, open structure, moist interior, chewy crust.

Lets take another look at the first photo:

Left to Right: 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100%, 110%

Here you can see pretty clearly that the crumb progressively became more and more open and moist - as well as the fact that the dough held its shape better as the hydration level went down. 60 - 80 were a joy to work with. 50 & 90-110 were not so much. I had a batch of 120% but it was more like a batter and...well it didn't survive. It could have though, if I was more prepared for it. Ill give it another shot sometime soon.

yay!

Back Online

2011-10-16T14:34:00.001-07:00

SOON!

Sous Vide Coffee ..?

2011-09-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I was trying to figure out what temperature I should try my first round of sous vide coffee at...I sat on the web for hours trying to find any bit of information on making coffee this way and...well I didn't find any. Ive already talked about how crappy my googling skills are...so cut me some slack here. This caused me a bit of stress because there were an infinite number of variables...any temperature (above say...4.5 C) for any amount of time. So there I was trying to think of other things...similar enough to coffee that I could try to find some times and temps for. As I was doing this I was sipping a cup of coffee and I realized that it was a very nice temperature. Not super hot, still warm....so I stuck a probe in it and took the temperature....51.5 C (124.7 F for my fellow Americans). And with that I had my starting temp.

For this round, the brew was the same for all cups - the variable was the time.

Brew: Standard, Sous Vide

Room Temperature: 24.7 C

Water Bath Temperature: 51.5 C

Grinds: 10.6 g, room temperature

Water: 171 g, filtered through a Brita, room temperature

Brew Time(s):

Bag A: 10 minutes

Bag B: 30 minutes

Bag C: 60 minutes

Bag D: 120 minutes

Bag E: 180 minutes

Bag F: 240 minutes

(*some bags stayed sealed at room temperature for a few minutes while I filled and sealed the other bags)

Bag A:

As you can see this brew is pretty clear. I decided on 10 minutes as my first pull because the water temp was...about half what a normal brew would be so...therefore it would take twice as long (logical, right...ugh). Really, I was having a particularly groggy morning...so I wound up guzzling the entire glass before realizing I should save some for a comparison at the end of the test. Oh well.

So what did I think of the 10 minute brew? Not bad, actually. It was a little...watered down. That is, the flavors were not very intense yet. It was mellow, nutty, roasty - had a sweet middle and was definitely not very acidic.

Bag B:

Maybe a shade darker than Bag A?

This brew had a slightly stronger flavor. It was actually a really good cup of coffee. Not very acidic, lots of darker flavors, the perfect amount of bitterness. I also drank this entire cup..so it was not present for the comparison at the end. I suspect this was my favorite brew but it may have been...

Bag C:

Getting darker..

Very similar to Bag B. Enough so its difficult to describe their differences...but I think this one was just a tad better. The finish seemed a little more bitter...and it was just slightly less sweet overall.

Bag D:

Looks pretty dark now

So this one was the first brew that was opaque. As you can see, light was not passing through it completely. It also did not filter as easily as the others. It wasn't bad either...bitter up front that quickly dies into a mellow...sweet flavor..and then finishes bitter. Overall the flavor was starting to seem a little out of balance. Maybe a little too much bitter flavors here.

Bag E:

Hard to tell if its any darker than Bag D, but...well its dark.

This one tasted a bit...chalky. Is that a flavor? Kind of bland. I don't know...it seemed odd.

Bag F:

Definitely the darkest of all the pours

This was...okay. A bit acidic now.

So in the end, I had kept some of Bags C, D, E & F in the fridge to see how they compared to each other. Here's what I thought:

1: Bag D (120)

2: Bag C (60)

3: Bag F (240)

4: Bag E (180) - I thought this ones flavor was the most similar to the n2o cold brew I was doing, but it had a very strong bitter finish that kind of ruined the flavor.

Now..I drank these cold, and...if you don't already know - you perceive flavors differently at different temperatures. This is why you should always adjust seasoning after tasting something at the temperature you intend to serve it at. Initially, for the hot pours I thought that my favorite was either Bag B or Bag C, but cold I definitely liked Bag D more than C. So...a definitive line up is hard to give. Here's what Katie thought (she only tried the cold pours of Bags C,D,E, & F):

1: Bag F (240)

2: Bag C (60)

3: Bag E (180)

4: Bag D (120)

What does that tell me? We both liked Bag C? Hmm...yeah, but really its the same as before - all of this is totally dependent on flavor preferences...which can change at any time for any reason. If I ran this today my results could have been completely different.

One conclusion I did make with this though? This middle temperature brewing kind of brought the best of both worlds (as far as I am concerned anyway). It wasn't too sweet, like cold brews have a tendency to be. It wasn't too acidic, like a lot of hot brews are. It had a very nice balance of both slightly sweet (cold brew) and darker, more roasty (hot brew) flavors. I'm excited to explore it some more.

Coffee Break

2011-08-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

No new coffee stuff today. Probably tomorrow. Not a whole lot of time for a write up, but thought I would share some photos from the ACF National Convention. These are all from the petite fours part of the ACF Culinary Youth Team USA's cold food display. What a nightmare these must have been to construct!

Pistachio & Raisin Nougat, Pistachio Croquant and Macaron:

Peanut Butter & Jelly Layered Cake, Grape Glaze, Marzipan Grapes:

Lemon, Vanilla, Champagne and Concord Grape Pate de Fruit, Meringue Sticks, Pate a Choux Filigree, Sugar Champagne Glass:

Goat Cheese Mousse, Wine Poached Pear, Honey Tuile, Chocolate & Royal Icing Wine Bottles:

Strawberry Bavarian and Gelee with Rose Glaze, Strawberry Jam Sandwich Cookies, Strawberry Crisp:

The petite fours display:

(Mis)Adventures in Coffee Making

2011-08-28T15:41:00.000-07:00

I had some big things planned for today. Okay well maybe not that big - but I was going to break out my immersion circulator and make some sous vide coffee but then we had a hurricane hit in freaking upstate New York - I suspected that I would lose power (which I did) and didn't want to have that bad boy running when that happened. SO instead I decided to make some other ridiculous (to me anyway) brews and force them on my father and sister. I didn't really go the same length to record temperatures and times and all that stuff so...just have fun with it.

What did I make?

Norwegian Egg Coffee: Basically this is coffee that you brew with eggs in it. The something or polyphenols and with which to bind i--- just read this if you give a shit. Heres my recipe(s):

Batch A:

Brew: Norwegian Egg Coffee

Grinds: 40 g, mixed with 50 g cold water and 25g egg whites

Water: 500 g boiling, 141 g cold.

Basically you make a paste with the grinds, water and egg whites. Toss it into the (500 g) of boiling water. I let it rip for 3 minutes, at which point I took it off the heat and added the remaining cold water. I let it sit for 3 more minutes and then strained/filtered it.

Batch B:

Same as above except I used 25 g of whole eggs rather than just the whites

Getting ready to strain and filter my egg coffee.

The egg white coffee came out pretty good...it was very middle of the road, no real strong or objectionable flavors. I would definitely make this again. Sadly, I cannot say the same about the whole egg coffee. While it wasn't terrible...it tasted like...well coffee with eggs. In fact if you told me you had some egg flavored coffee I would assume it was way worse than this actually was....but thats not to say it was particularly good.

I also decided to make some salted coffee. Adding salt to your coffee has been on my radar for a while now but Ive never bothered to try it...basically because I never remember to. When I was searching for stuff to make today it dawned on me to give salted coffee a whirl. The idea is pretty straight forward. Salt is a flavor enhancer...so why not use it to enhance the flavor of your coffee? The trick that everyone seems to mention is adding a bit of salt to your tonic water to make the bitterness from the quinine disappear.

So after a bit of research - and I do mean a bit - I decided that I should be adding about 0.05 g of salt per 300 g of coffee. Some people add the salt prior to brewing, some after. I added it after. Only reason was so I had some plain coffee to contrast with the salted coffee. So anyway...I made my normal coffee (31.8 g grinds, 510.29 g water), scaled it to 300 g, added the salt and...well that was it.

The regular coffee was alright, but...the flavors were not balanced at all. It was really all over the place and pretty acidic...I wasn't too crazy about it. The salted version was...much better. The salt definitely helped to calm down the flavors...it made it taste much more balanced...but the finish wasn't the best. I think that has more to do with the crappy coffee I was using than the salt. Its probably worth looking into this a bit more.

I wanted to have something else to try...mostly because I was bored. When I was looking around online I stumbled across a recipe for Taiwanese sea salt coffee. Apparently this is the number one selling coffee drink in Taiwan. The recipe I found said it was pretty close to the 85 C (think...starbucks) recipe...so I gave it a whirl. I had a bucket of regular old cold brew coffee in the fridge. All I had to do was make some whipped cream with salt and put some on top. Easy! The recipe said to use 6 g of salt per 230 of heavy cream, which I did...and was INCREDIBLY salty.

And...you guessed it. This was gross. I could see it maybe being okay with a lot less salt...but it was definitely really salty. If I ever goto Taiwan (it could happen)...or if I happen to be in Irvine CA...I will buy a cup of this stuff to see how far off mine was.

So...interestingly enough...all three of us didn't really agree on what was best and what was worst. Heres the results..

OVERALL:

1: Black Salted

2: Black Unsalted

3: Norwegian Egg White

4: Norwegian Whole Egg

5: Taiwanese Sea Salt

INDIVIDUAL:

ME:

1: Norwegian Egg White

2: Black Salted

3: Black Unsalted

4: Norwegian Whole Egg

5: Taiwanese Sea Salt

Bill:

1: Black Salted

2: Norwegian Whole Egg

3: Black Unsalted

4: Taiwanese Sea Salt

5: Norwegian Egg White

Katie:

1: Black Unsalted

2: Norwegian Egg White

3: Black Salted

4: Norwegian Whole Egg

5: Taiwanese Sea Salt

Adventures in Coffee Making Part III

2011-08-27T11:47:00.000-07:00

Todays coffee only differs slightly from yesterdays. When I was living in Chicago, I pretty much stuck with cold brewing coffee because I had such a small window of time in the morning every second saved was...well..appreciated. I would stick with four scoops in my nalgene, topped with cold tap water and in the fridge until it was time to drink it (usually 14 hours minimum). I really enjoyed this brew but never experimented much with it. Occasionally I would fill the nalgene with hot water from the tap and then place it directly in the fridge - and I always thought/suspected that it produced a better tasting cup. So...thats my lead up for todays experiment. What I did for this was place the grinds in the brewing vessel, topped them with 100 g of 94.4 C water, let them sit for five minutes, and then finished filling them with room temperature water. You'll notice my ratio is slightly different (+7.61 g of water) than it has been - this is just because of an accidental over pour and not wanting to toss the whole batch. For the heck of it I also compared it with my regular old automatic drip again. I did regular and aerated pours for each batch. Here we go:

Batch A:

Brew: n2o in 1 liter canister

Room Temperature: 24.7 C

Grinds: 31.8 g, room temperature

Water: Tap, filtered through a Brita, 100 g @ 94.4 C, 418 g at room temperature

Charges: 2*

Brew Time: 15 hours 18 minutes in fridge

* When I first sealed the canister and started the first charge I noticed some gas leaking. I immediately discharged all gas, opened the container, resealed it, and then charged it with 2 new charges. I dont think this had any effect on the brew.

Batch B:

Brew: Grinds and h2o in 1 liter plastic container

Room Temperature: 24.7 C

Grinds: 31.8 g, room temperature

Water: Tap, filtered through a Brita, 100 g @ 94.4 C, 418 g at room temperature

Brew Time: 15 hours 18 minutes in fridge

Batch C:

Brew: Automatic Drip

Room Temperature: 24.7 C

Grinds: 31.8 g, room temperature

Water: Tap, filtered through a Brita, 518 g at whatever temperature my KRUPS brews at...hot

Brew Time: A few minutes

So the first thing I noticed this morning was that the two cold brews were darker in color than they have been. Batch B & C were both relatively clear, while Batch A was as cloudy as it has been.

Batch C:

As you can see, the color is dark and it is relatively clear. Sorry about the condensation on the lens.

Batch B:

You may have to click the photo to enlarge it - but, again - you will notice that it is relatively clear compared to batch A below

Batch A:

Dark in color, very cloudy. The oils that I mentioned seeing on the surface of the n2o brew day 1 were back today on Batch A - as you can see here:

Batch B:

There was also a very small amount of oils on the surface of Batch B.

While its not entirely apparent in the photos above, because of different lighting, Batch A & B are virtually the same color - the only difference seems to be their clarity. Batch C was a slightly darker shade than the other batches.

Batch C - I think I prefer the regular pour over the aerated pour..for no particular reason. It still tastes a little funny when compared to the cold brews. Much more acidic, the flavors seem...out of whack.

Overall, the flavors of Batch A & B seem less sweet to me than they have in the past. They're definitely still sweet up front, but it dies off much faster than before. The dominate flavors are dark and roasty. Batch A finishes with a flavor that I can only describe as wheaty or malty.

Like yesterday, Batch B tastes pretty much like a watered down version of Batch A. It also tastes...cleaner (if that makes sense). The flavor does not linger at all - once you swallow it is gone. Batch A really sticks with you for a while after swallowing. Definitely gives you coffee breath.

Thats it for observations. Heres the rundown.

1: Batch B, Regular pour

2: Batch A, Regular pour

3: Batch A, Aerated pour

4: Batch B, Aerated pour

5: Batch C, Regular pour

6: Batch C, Aerated pour

So it seems the aerated pours, which I have preferred leading up to the post, were not favored today. Could this be because of the method used in brewing? Or just because of the flavors I wanted this morning? Who knows. Definitely seems like the hot automatic drip sucks though.

Adventures in Coffee Making Part II

2011-08-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

So for todays coffee I redid the n2o cold brew that I made yesterday and compared it to what I would consider my normal cold brew coffee.

Batch A:

Brew: n2o in 1 liter canister

Room Temperature: 24.7 C

Grinds: 31.8 g, room temperature

Water: 510.29 g, tap, filtered through a Brita, room temperature

Charges: 2

Brew Time: 15 hours in fridge

Batch B:

Brew: Grinds and h2o in 1 liter plastic container

Room Temperature: 24.7 C

Grinds: 31.8 g, room temperature

Water: 510.29 g, filtered through a Brita, room temperature

Brew Time: 15 hours in fridge

So I did break out my 'real' camera for todays comparison. However its pretty apparent that I still do not really know the finer points of photography. I tried using a backlight to really show the difference in color between the different brews but that just kind of made my pictures really dark. Either way - if you look at the picture above you can see the difference - Batch A, on the left is much more opaque than Batch B, on the right.

Above you have the regular pour of Batch A. The only difference I noticed between today and yesterday was the absence of the oils on the surface. Not sure what would cause this but...okay. The flavor was, as far as I could tell, identical to yesterdays brew. One thing I did not note yesterday, and which happened again today was I had to change the filter in the middle of straining Batch A because of an excess of fine particles. This was not the case for Batch B - which was identical with the exception of the n2o.

Above you have the aerated pour of Batch A. My process was the same as yesterday, pouring the coffee between two glasses 20 times. The bubbles you see on the surface are there because this was the last cup I poured before snapping pictures - it did not have time for them to work their way out.

This was the regular pour for Batch B - it looks a little weird in the picture mostly because its a crappy picture. This looked identical to the aerated pour which is pictured below - showing the clarity much better.

Okay so..Batch A tasted more or less so exactly the same as yesterday. The aerated pour wasn't quite as mellow as I remembered it being yesterday, but it was still my favorite pour by a large margin. Batch B tasted much more like Batch A that the hot automatic drip did - making the comparison a little more difficult today. For the most part Batch B just tasted like a slightly watered down version of Batch A. As I mentioned above, and from what you can see in the pictures - Batch A was much more opaque than Batch B. From what I understand of coffee brewing in general - the pressure on the grinds when you make espresso helps extract oils which emulsify and become the crema in the end. My best guess here? The pressure in the isi canister is much greater than what is produced in an espresso machine - so maybe the oils are suspended throughout the coffee rather than in crema on top?

Or maybe Im an idiot.

So top to bottom. Best to worst. My favorite was the aerated pour of the cold n2o brew. A distant second would be the regular pour of the regular cold brew. Just a hair behind that would be the regular pour of the cold n2o brew. And in last place is the aerated pour of the regular cold brew.

Adventures in Coffee Making Part I

2011-08-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

Okay - so first things first. Im going to apologize now for the less than stellar photography in this post. Everything was done in a bit of a rush and I can see that its going to require a bit more thought and maybe even breaking out my 'real' camera. These coffee posts are going to be..on going - so it will be fun to see the evolution of the photograph...I guess.

So a friend and I have been randomly bullshitting about coffee and fun ways of brewing it (stemming from him having some ordeal with a broken burr grinder and a coffee snob, and me then talking about the old silex that was found in my attic). So fast forward a bit and I was sitting around thinking about making some desserts and how I have yet to use my iSi canister that Ive had for about a year...and I remember reading about how you can make instant infusions with the iSi canister. For some reason the first thing that came to mind was coffee...and then I was off, in the bowels of the internet, trying to find any information I could possibly come up with. And there was a couple sites that had talked about playing with it. And I mean a couple...as in two. Im sure theres more but my googling skills are only so-so.

Anyway, in the time I spent searching for information on what I will now refer to as the "n2o brew" I came across about a million other variables that people take into consideration when brewing coffee and some pretty interesting ideas on how to get the perfect cup.

Im rambling now. Time to get down to business. Ive decided to pursue a better cup of coffee - no matter how impractical it is. And because of the lack of information out there (or at least the lack of information-that-greg-can-find-quickly) I am going to document my results on here. Because theres a lot of really long brew times, I only have one iSi canister, etc.. these wont be very...scientific, but I will do my best to document everything and be as consistent about things as possible. So here goes (and please remember my disclaimer about the photos!)

Brew: n2o in 1 liter canister

Room Temperature: 24.4 C

Grinds: 31.8 g, room temperature

Water: 510.29 g tap, filtered through a Brita, room temperature

Charges: 2

Brew Time: 15 h 24m in fridge

So I simply put room temperature water and grinds in the canister, charged it twice and tossed it in the fridge for 15 hours & 24 minutes. Today, when I was going to taste the n2o brew, I also poured a hot cup of coffee made in my KRUPS automatic drip with the same ratio and ingredients. This is more-or-less what I have every day. I also took a cup of the n2o brew and poured it between two cups 20 times to aerate it a bit (just like you would with wine. Sadly I do not have one of those wine aerators so instead I made a huge mess). This gave me three different cups to taste (aerated n2o cold brew, n2o cold brew, automatic hot brew)

What you see above is the n2o cold brew on the left, and the automatic hot brew on the right. Its a bit hard to tell, but the n20 brew is a lighter color and cloudier than the hot brew.

There was also a noticeable amount of oils on the surface of the n2o brew - did my best to capture these with my iPhone.

Versus the complete lack of oils on the surface of the hot brew.

I was having a hard time capture the colors with my phone so I put all three brews into pipettes. From the top down you have the aerated n20 cold brew, the n20 cold brew, and the automatic hot brew. As you can see there is virtually no difference in color between the two n2o brews and the hot brew is noticeably darker.

L-R: Aerated n2o, n2o, hot automatic drip

So...my results. The two n2o cups were very similar - Im not sure how effective my aerating process was but I do think that the aerated cup was the most enjoyable - same flavor profiles as the plain n2o but not quite as in your face. Both n2o cups were very sweet (everything was unsweetened and black) up front and then mellowed into a somewhat complex, roasty flavor. Definitely good coffee. Now for what was most shocking to me - the hot brew, which I mentioned I have been drinking daily, was practically undrinkable by comparison. The flavor was completely different - if this was a blind test I would not have believed they were made from the same bean.

So my conclusion - Aerating the coffee helps soften the flavors, n2o cold brew is tasty - but is it tastier than a normal cold brew? And I cannot believe how bad my normal coffee is.

More...soon!

Cafe Spiaggia

2011-08-24T19:23:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since this meal - so this will be a quick write up!

I went to Cafe Spiaggia during restaurant week this past...winter. Cafe Spiaggia is the poor mans Spiaggia, both of which are owned (?) by Tony Montuano who you would probably recognize from his...many TV appearances. The dining room here is seriously charming. My table was essentially in a bay window overlooking Michigan Ave..it was really cool.

Bread service was great - had a nice sampling of different varieties.

Starter:

Olive, Noci e Pastinache - Just a nice variety of snacks. Cerignola, Gaeta, Alfonso, Torremaggiore, orange zest, pickled fennel, Sicilian almonds, pumpkin seeds, cicerchie beans, walnuts, crispy parsnip strips, sage, parsley.

Course 1:

Fegato - Rabbit liver mousse, cranberry compote, arugula, baguette.

Course 2:

Gnocchi - Menu says gnocchi...but pretty sure these are cavatelli or some similar pasta. Served with wild boar ragu and Parmigiano Reggiano.

Course 3:

Polipo - Octopus, potatoes, sambuca, jalapenos, garlic, lemon. This is the course that I really remember, it was SERIOUSLY yum.

Course 4:

Gelati/Sorbetti. I dont remember what flavors. Oh well!

I definitely enjoyed my meal here - everything was pretty solid. For a restaurant week menu they really knocked it out of the park. Too often restaurants just fall back to whatever is easy to scoop and serve just to turn tables during restaurant week...and seldom do they take advantage of the opportunity to wow guests who otherwise wouldn't be there. There wasn't anything too crazy on the menu but everything tasted great - the starter was varied and generous, and there was something like ten options to pick from for the other courses. So yay...good job cafe spiaggia!

more bbq

2011-08-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

Stacys - Jacksonville, TX

Hard Eight - Coppell, TX

Texas...old and new.

2011-08-20T08:42:00.000-07:00

So a few years ago I spent the majority of my summer driving around the United States with no real plan or itinerary. Aside from some National Parks, I only had a few places I had to go. This was one of them:

Are you seeing the theme...?

Dublin (er, uh, Dr Pepper), Texas. The home of the oldest Dr Pepper bottling plant in the world. What drew me in was the fact that they were still using the original formula - which uses cane sugar instead of corn syrup.

After leaving Dublin - we were headed towards Austin trying to avoid highways along the way. We wound up passing through a very photogenic town - Hico, Texas (pop. 1,341). We wound up stopping because - at the time I was really into photographing ads painted on walls and we saw several of them in town. Almost immediately after pulling over we noticed a statue of Billy the Kid..apparently Hico was his final resting place...a claim that is highly disputed.

So while walking around Hico we wound up meeting an older gentleman - from southern California - who was also driving around the country. He was traveling with an elderly couple who had lived in Austin, Texas their whole lives. As we chatted and got to know each other - he invited us to have dinner with them at their campsite. We wound up pitching our tents there as well and spent the night. While Im coasting through this story, it was one of the best experiences I had on this trip and Ill never forget these people. They were so welcoming and friendly and had so many stories about their travels. Anyway - Curtis, the man from Austin, said that because we were headed south to Austin we had to stop at a Barbecue place in Llano, TX called Coopers. He proudly proclaimed it as the best he had ever had which was more than enough for us to head straight for it. We had hit up a few 'best in America' type BBQ places in Memphis only a week or so earlier and were excited to see how this random place would be. Needless to say it was the best I had ever had - by far. One of those moments where you think you have had good BBQ, or at least knew what it was like, but really you have no clue. We got to Llano and didnt really know were we were going - we were using a road atlas rather than GPS for the whole trip. We pulled into a gas station to ask for directions when we noticed the plumes of smoke billowing down the street. We hopped back into the car and followed the smoke to Coopers. They had all their meat in outdoor smokers - you order from the pit and have it dry or dipped. We got a rather large sampling and what really stuck out in my memory were the beef ribs.

So flash forward to this past January when I started at the French Pastry School in Chicago, IL. We spent a good portion of the first day doing a round-the-world style introduction to get to know all of our classmates. And thats when I met Heather - from Hico, TX. Heather - maybe the sweetest person I have ever met, wound up being in the same group of students for the remaining six months and we got the chance to get to know each other and become friends. I think one of the first things I asked her about was Coopers - which she had heard plenty about but never had the chance to go. When I found out I was going to Dallas a month or so after graduation, I told Heather that we had to get together and hopefully take the drive to Coopers.

So the day after the ACF Convention I headed to Hico to meet up with Heather. When I got into town Heather introduced me to Kevin Wenzel - the owner of Wiseman House chocolates (do check them out! so good!). We chatted for a bit and then Heather and I headed off to Coopers.

I stuck with two beef ribs and some sliced brisket dipped...and boy were they good!

So was it as good as I remembered? No, probably not. But I idolized it. Any time I knew someone going to Austin I told them they had to go here. Either way - it was still really good...and better than any other BBQ I had on this trip.

Town House - Chilhowie, Virginia. The best restaurant in America?

2011-08-04T23:12:00.000-07:00

*So after publishing this post I reread it and - while its certainly a love letter to Town House, I'm not sure that I really conveyed how spectacular this meal was. For some time now I have felt...burned out (?) on fine dining or food of the caliber. Too often I get so excited about it and in the end its just okay. I've found that almost without exception chefs today are trying to wow their customers with bells and whistles - that is with new techniques or service trickery (eg: the candle on the table is actually butter for this course)...as if it is more important than the food itself. And while the food at Town House is certainly contemporary and utilizes many modern techniques..the food is the star, not the technique. Every dish I had...every component, every ingredient belonged and served a purpose...to improve the overall dish. Every bite was delicious before anything else. Now...with that being said..:

So for a while now I have been drooling over the serious food porn on Town House's blog. I can't quite remember where or when exactly I first heard about the restaurant or the blog but its been some time. I essentially wrote it off as being out of the way enough that I probably would never wind up eating there. Then this past May I was asked if I would be willing to drive some kitchen equipment from upstate New York to Dallas - where my friend Caitlin would be competing at the ACF National Convention. I immediately agreed to do this and knew right away that this was my opportunity to make a pit stop in Chilhowie. This was certainly going to be the only time in the near seeable future that it would be on the way to wherever I am going.

For those of you not totally up to speed with the Town House story... It goes something like this. John and Karen Shields - alumni of such great restaurants as Alinea, Charlie Trotters, and Tru - decide to leave Chicago to take over a restaurant in rural Virginia...aka the middle of nowhere. They're given carte blanche to do as they please...and the rest is ..history.(?)

Now since they took over in 2008 (I believe) there has been some pretty steady buzz. Every now and then Id see a write up here and there - almost always from people who I know and/or trust - saying that this place is one of the best restaurants in America and that it is absolutely worth the trip to eat here. Now that I've had the chance - I can say that without a doubt it is worth every bit of hassle required to get there. I cannot stress how incredible it was - one of the best meals I have ever had...and certainly the best restaurant meal I have ever had. I have been very fortunate in that I have dined at many of the best restaurants in America and I do not hesitate to say that Town House has surpassed them all - by quite a bit. I haven't been able to stop thinking about the meal I had and I am anxiously awaiting the next chance I get to be there.

Theres not much I have to say about the food beyond how incredible it was...so forgive me for my...lack of words here (as well as my redundancy) because...for the most part I sound like a baffling idiot:

It was a pretty hot day so I started with a nice cold beer; Starr Hill Northern Lights IPA - recommended to me by sommelier Charlie Berg. Like everyone else in the world I love IPA's and this was a great example - Id love to try more brews from Starr Hill.

My first course, or amuse, or whatever:

Oyster leaf - Ive read a bit about these guys but this was my first opportunity to try one...and it was pretty awesome. The texture is that of a hearty green but the flavor is identical to an oyster. Awesome.

Course 2:

Flowers - An absolutely stunning salad of flowers and crispy fried artichoke - with an artichoke emulsion poured table side. This is when it really hit me that I was in for a treat. This was so much more than a plate of flowers - it was a delicately composed salad with a beautiful play of flavors and textures. Everything on the plate served a purpose and nothing was there to just look nice. This was delicious.

Course 3:

Zucchini Gazpacho - Razor clam ice, green tomato, green bean, pickled coriander, zucchini...just amazing. Another essentially perfect dish that captured summer in ways that I hadnt imagined possible. Green, fresh, briney, crunchy, refreshing...just unbelievable.

Course 4:

Barbecued Eggplant - Lemon, basil, black garlic, ashes of smoked mussels. If I were force to pick a favorite dish of the night this would probably be it. But...thats like picking a favorite movie or song...or child. Its just unfair. This was served chilled - which I was not expecting and was simply an explosion of flavor. SO good.

Course 5:

Sweet Corn, Chicken, Lovage - Crispy chicken skin, corn silk, chicken liver, chicken reduction. This was incredible.

About this time bread and olive oil were brought to the table. I was told the bread was ciabatta, which I have always thought of as being an airy, chewy, high hydration bread with irregular crumb structure. This was not the case here. Because of this I looked into ciabatta a bit and came the realization that it - along with pretty much all Italian food, is a very regional thing and can vary greatly ..from a dense, tight loaf to what I just described...and everything in between. ANYWAY - the bread was very nice!

Course 6:

Lobster in Brown Butter & Butter Whey - Spring onions, shellfish cream, lime, crisp scallop, pork stock. Well this was every bit as good as it sounds.

Course 7:

Squid 'Risotto' - A risotto made without any rice or diary..Among the very best risottos I have ever had. Ive read a bit about the process of making this dish and was very excited to finally try it and...well like I said, it was incredible. Perfectly toothsome, runny, sweet...great. I feel bad for whoevers job it is to prepare the squid to look like rice!

Course 8:

Beef Cheek Pastoral - Cows milk skin, toasted garlic, horseradish, grasses, hay, tongue, crispy tongue. Seriously awesome. The meat was all perfectly cooked and hugely flavorful...the accompaniments all provided wonderful contrast...and get it? grass - hay - beef - milk...talk about 'what grows together goes together'...brilliant.

Course 9:

Border Springs Lamb Shoulder & Wild Blackberry - Glazed in black malt, barbecued beets, licorice, black olive, caramelized yogurt...While it was not as beautiful to look at as the other dishes - it certainly made up for it in flavor. This was without a doubt the best lamb I have ever had.

Course 10:

Liquid Chocoalte Bar - Burnt ember ice cream, sour yogurt, milk, sugar, chocolate soil. A very nice dessert - the highlight of which was the burnt ember ice cream. I would kill for this recipe. It was most similar to a smoked ice cream I had at Boka - but not nearly as overwhelming in the smokey flavor department. Man I would love to have some now...

Course 11:

A Curd of Sour Quince, Olive Oil, Black Pepper - Dill, pine ice cream, pine shoots, toasted meringue, blueberries. Just look at this dish:

It was so beautiful it hurt to eat it.

Course 12:

Broken Marshmallows - Cucumber (slush), softly whipped cream, preserved green strawberries, geranium, lemon verbena. My favorite of the dessert courses. So light, so delicate, and beautiful. Just wonderful.

Course 13:

Cocoa and Black Sesame Chewy Meringue with Wasabi and Lime - Just awesome.

I also want to acknowledge Charlie Berg and Jeannie Barrett who ran the front of the restaurant with such warmth and care...and were so genuine about everything..its really rare to come across people like this in this industry. This place is something special and I cannot recommend it enough. Go here now. Seriously...You will thank me later.

Here we go

2011-07-18T06:08:00.000-07:00

Well I am leaving for Texas in a few hours. I have decided to avoid highways for the majority of the trip - this will take 12 extra hours total. Should be fun though, seeing a more intimate view of the country than I would on highways. I have a reservation at Townhouse Restaurant in Chilhowie VA tomorrow evening, which I will be sure to post about. Ill probably be doing random brief updates periodically throughout the trip so...stay tuned!

Troy Waterfront Farmers Market, ACF Competition

2011-07-09T13:47:00.000-07:00

Since returning to Albany I have been spending a lot of time at SCCC helping my friend Caitlin prepare for an upcoming competition. Caitlin and I first met a couple years ago when we were both on the SCCC Student Hot Foods Team. In the time since Caitlin has been on the Hot Foods Team a second time, she was elected the Student President for the Capital District-Central New York ACF chapter, she won the Student Chef of the Year Northeast Region. Now in just a few short weeks Caitlin, myself, and a great mentor of ours - Chef Christopher Tanner, will travel to Grapevine (Dallas) Texas for the ACF National Convention where Caitlin will be competing for the title of Student Chef of the Year.

A few practices ago, I took some snapshots of Caitlin's food..

'Pan Seared Trout, Caramelized Sweet Corn Gnocchi, Shellfish Tomato Stew with Pancetta, Basil Oil'

'Sauteed Chicken Breast, Red Wine and Tomato Braised Chicken Leg, Herbed Chicken Vegetable Sausage, Carrot Green Bean and Caramelized Leek Risotto, Sauteed Broccoli Rabe with Truffle & Olive Puree'

One thing that is especially nice for me is that while Caitlin is doing her practice run throughs I cannot really do much to help her, as we are trying to create an environment as close to the actual competition as possible. So I have the facilities and staff at SCCC at my disposal and I get to play around a lot. I have been doing a little work on sugar showpiece techniques which I hope to...get a little more practice in before posting about. At the last practice - after being inspired by a slew of posts at Ideas in Food, I made a plated dessert utilizing corn as a main ingredient

'Steamed Sweet Corn Cake, Roasted Corn Husk Ice Cream, Blueberries, Black Currant Reduction, Corn Flake Tuile, Mint':

crappy quenelle...eek!

Sometime in the past week I made milk braised chicken, which was actually really great. You start by searing the entire bird in a hot pan, then braising it with milk, garlic, a fistful of whatever herbs, and some lemon zest. During the braise, curds separate from the milk which you then spoon over the finished chicken. YUM.

And lastly, today I visited the Troy Riverfront Farmers Market which was at its new location on River Street for the first time. Its a wonderful change, the vibe of the market has changed entirely - for the better. It was vibrant and full of energy and in a very charming area.

One thing I have to say is great about upstate New York is our farmers markets. They absolutely blow all the markets I went to in Chicago out of the water.

Road Trip

2011-07-06T21:34:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge

Any suggestions?

Boucherie @ SCCC

2011-07-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

Mortadella, Pepperoni, Coarse Bavarian Mettwurst, Fine Bavarian Mettwurst

Great Lakes, Pequods, the never ending quest for best pizza

2011-06-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

Pizza. What is there to say that hasn't already been said? I love love love pizza. I don't care if its Chicago style - pan or thin, Neapolitan, NY Style - it doesn't matter. All that matters is that its good. And good pizza is not easy to find. In New York or in Chicago. Or anywhere for that matter. Here are some of the more memorable experiences from my time in Chicago.

Spacca Napoli

I ventured to this Ravenswood pizzeria with a friend a few months ago after reading a lot about it in various places. We shared two pies (the daily special - cannot remember what was on it, and the Diavola - Buffalo Mozzarella, Salami, Red Pepper Flakes, Basil) that were among the best I have ever had. Im not sure if it was because I hadn't had a great crust in months at that point - and this crust was seriously mind blowing - but it was SO good. Definitely the best I had in Chicago - significantly better than Great Lakes, which has been called the best in the country.

Great Lakes:

So after all the fuss over this place I put it on my 'cant-leave-town-without-going-here' list. Everything Ive read said it was incredible but it took forever to get a seat, even longer to get your food, and the staff are stand-offish and generally not nice. This couldn't be further from the truth. We arrived a half an hour after the doors opened and put our names in. About 45 minutes later they called us and we came back to the restaurant and were promptly seated. The dining room is just as small as everyone says. Theres a community picnic table - capable of seating maybe 8 people? And 2 or 3 other 2 top tables. That it. In a room the size of my bedroom. It was charming though, in an Ikea kind of way. The staff were all very gracious to us and not at all like I had read. We ordered one of each of the pizzas available that day - and added Mortadella to the Pizza #1 ( tomato sauce, farmers cheese, dante cheese, fresh herbs, and grey sea salt) as this was the specific pie named the best in the country. It was very good - my favorite of the three - but still nowhere near the pizza we had at Spacca Napoli (my dining companion agreed). Ive been told they are currently selling some Mortadella at SCCC - so I may try to recreate this pizza at home.

I cannot remember what was on this pie but it was good. Second favorite of the evening.

The third, and my least favorite, spring onion...asparagus?, cumin...I felt everything was a bit overwhelmed by the cumin which made the whole pie taste kind of muddy. Oh well. My two friends both loved this one so...maybe Im the weirdo.

Pequods:

So after searching high and low and listening carefully to the recommendations of Chicago natives I ventured to Pequods a few months back. It was so good it wound up being my last meal in Chicago. Not much to say here...just look at these ridiculous pictures.

Sous Vide Fried Chicken

2011-06-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

First you brine your chicken overnight; I used Thomas Kellers recipe which can be found here:

Next I rinsed the chicken, deboned it, bagged it up and dropped it in a water bath at 64 C. This is 147.2 F. Health Department says cook your chicken to 165 F. I figured the frying process would bring it to a good temperature somewhere between 147 and 165. It did.

Since my chicken was all kind of thick I left it in the bath for about 1.5 - 2 hours. Wasn't paying that much attention to the clock. Once it was done, I removed the chicken from the bag and patted it dry. I then coated the chicken in seasoned flour - again, I used Thomas Kellers recipe for this. After coating, I heated some oil in a dutch oven to 350 F and fried the chicken until it looked done.

Clockwise: Roasted broccoli, mashed cauliflower, fried chicken.

Garnished with flash fried herbs. Yum.

Well that was fun

2011-06-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

My last week in Chicago was a whirlwind of prepping for graduation, packing, running around the city with Sheena, eating so much good food (including a "10" course dinner at Graham Elliot) and finally graduating from the French Pastry School. Needless to say, I am sad to leave. Here are a few pictures from graduation, to give you an idea of what it was like!

Yummy! I will, of course, do a more complete post on that...soon. (really! I mean it). Now that I am back in Albany I have agreed to help a friend & former ACF Hot Foods Team - teammate prepare for the Student Chef of the Year competition at the ACF national convention in Dallas TX. I will be attending the convention; in fact I am driving all of her equipment down so maybe there will be a brief road trip post here or there. I am hoping to make a pit stop at Townhouse in Chilhowie VA as it only adds a few miles to my trip and it has been essentially impossible to get to for me for the past year or so. So...some exciting stuff coming up!

ROA

2011-06-08T03:37:00.001-07:00

West loop, Chicago.

Skipping town

2011-06-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

A few days before moving out to Chicago, I had decided I should put some music on my phone so I would have something to listen to on the drive out here. Its been a while since I paid much attention to music and I knew the other people in the car wouldn't want to listen to Milo Goes to College on repeat for 12 hours so I tried to put some stuff I knew would be more universally accepted. One thing lead to another and I wound up with Come on Feel the Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens on there (and Milo Goes to College). These two records, along with the weekly podcast of this American Life, have been the soundtrack for my daily commute.

I have two more actual days of class where I will complete my sugar showpiece - from there I have a week of practicals and then preparation for graduation. In two and a half weeks I will be leaving Chicago and heading back to upstate New York. Chicago has had a profound impact on me in so many ways. The food I've had, the people I've met, the places I've see and things I have done. School. So much has happened in the past six months its hard to articulate how I feel about the whole experience. I've grown so much. It breaks my heart leaving - I feel like theres still so much I can do here. But at the same time I am excited to be back in the comfort of my home, with my family and those I love. There are a tremendous amount of possibilities now - things I can do, places I can go. Who knows whats next. I am anxious for whatever it is.

View from the top

2011-05-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

Pho 888

So, over the course of the past six months I've photographed more food than I have..well...ever. Its not something that makes sense to me in the way that photographing architecture or landscapes does. I feel like no matter what, it is never presented in a what they does the food justice.

The Publican

I should clarify that all of this is in reference to my own food photography. Maybe its because Im too self conscious to use flash in a restaurant or to take thirty shots while my food rapidly reaches room temperature. Anyway, I have found that I enjoy one particular type of photo...the birds eye view.

The Original Pancake House

Im sure theres a real name for this style but...I dont know it or care to google it. What I love is the stuff you see other than the food. How the table is set. How messy the meal was. How clean a plate is after eating. Where napkins land.

The Publican

oh yeah

2011-05-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

Im still here. School & life got the best of me and I neglected this thing for nearly two months. Fear not, I still ate food. And yes I still have a massive backlog dating back to January. School is rapidly approaching the end, which is super depressing - I haven't gone on too much about this place but its pretty much a pastry heaven. Best chefs, best ingredients, best equipment & facilities...every day I continue to be dumbfounded by the things I see. Take today, for instance, I spent most of the morning casually working on a chocolate showpiece and for lunch I ate a buffet put together by world pastry champion, Leonardo DiCarlo & a class of visiting professionals. A few weeks ago I got to watch another world pastry champion, Dimitri Fayard, make entremets all morning and then later that day I spent the afternoon watching Stephan Leroux, MOF, make chocolate showpieces. Anyway...as I was saying - school is coming to an end soon and I will make the pilgrimage back to New York. As the capital disctic isn't quite the culinary capital of the world, I'll probably start writing about some other stuff...and maybe about food or pastries I am making. I don't have any concrete plans for when I get back home so who knows what could happen.

So heres a bit of what I've been doing. A few friends and I have been having little dinner parties somewhat regularly - one of these friends is a vegetarian and I have been trying to make some fun dishes so she can enjoy the food as well. Borrowing (heavily) from chefs who inspire me (as all young chefs should do) I made a pea shell consomme that was particularly awesome:

Here it is prior to the (chilled) consomme (pea shell, shallot, garlic, mint) was poured. The soup was garnished with lightly blanched peas, pea shoots, lilac blossoms, lemon zest, macadamia, white chocolate, and spearmint. This was an incredibly refreshing and light soup. I used the leftover consomme to make a very nice pea risotto. I love doing table side pours on soups like this..where you spend a bit of time delicately placing all of the garnishes for the soup in the bowl only to have it destroyed in front of the guest moments after it is placed in front of them - this process has always reminded me of buddhist monks destroying their sand mandalas.

Thats it for now

Next Restaurant

2011-04-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

Opening weekend. Will report back soon!

partyin partyin yeah fun fun fun fun

2011-03-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

proceeding, made, or occurring without definite aim, reason,or pattern:

Hall & Oates:

Riesling:

Juan Munoz, Stone Hill Center @ The Clark Museum, Williamstown MA. 2010:

Juan Munoz, Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC. 2007:

Somewhere in Chicago, October 2010:

Chorizo Taco:

TIKI:

Alinea Dinner Feb 11 2011

2011-03-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time I picked up a copy of the Alinea cookbook. It was big and bold and beautiful...and above all else, inspiring. At the time, there was very little information on this sort of hyper-modern cuisine and it served almost as a textbook for me. I still reference it often for ratios, flavor pairings, techniques, etc.. Needless to say, this book had a big impact on the way I think about food. Ive also become very...let say aware (obsessed) with the restaurant and I have closely followed its menu changes, developments, etc.. Like just about everyone on this planet, I have a great deal of respect for Chef Grant Achatz and admire the way he is always trying to outdo himself and seemingly never at the expense of the food (unlike many other contemporary chefs). Its all about the food with Chef Achatz.

Anyway, the meal I had at Alinea had kind of a profound impact on me, as it has on many people. That being said, I took nearly two months to do this write up because I needed time to reflect on it. Ive discussed it with many friends, mentors, chefs, etc.. and ultimately - while the meal was inspiring in some ways - even encouraging to a young chef - it wasn't what I wanted it to be. I left feeling depressed. Nearly every course was excellent but...the 'magic' wasn't there for me. Was this because I followed this restaurant so closely that there were no surprises for me? Was it because I held it in such high regard that my expectations were simply impossible to meet? I don't know.

So a few things before diving in - since so much time has passed, and my notes are MIA, things will be short and to the point. Also, there is a no flash policy at Alinea, which is totally OK by me - but the lighting at my table wasn't exactly friendly so the photos are a bit MEH. I used the HDR feature in some of the photos as it adds a bit of overexposure to lighten the photos. Otherwise, as always, the photos are untouched. There were also courses that I did not photograph. Some were because I forgot, some were because they literally placed in my hand and I had to eat them immediately. Seeing as how this restaurant is #7 in the world - a quick google search will probably turn up pictures of any course.

The menu:

So my first THREE courses were edible cocktails. No pictures. 1 - Lemon, luxardo bitter, luxardo amaro, grapefruit. 2 - Apple, laird's apply brandy, grenadine, thyme. 3 - Squash, cynar, carpano antica, flor de cana 7 year. All three were one bite and they were all nice. Favorite was the squash one which had a pleasing foie like texture.

Course 4:

Golden Trout Roe, dijon, rutabaga, grapefruit, mustard seed. This was not the best start to the meal. Some bites were good. Lots of bites were extremely bitter. Unbalanced and ultimately unenjoyable. Pairing: Cocktail of Pierre Peters Brut with Chrysanthemum liqueur and bitters. This was nice but really just tasted like a glass of Brut to me.

Course 5:

Shrimp in three parts, gumbo flavors. The three parts were 'something' dusted legs (gumbo..flavor?), pudding filled head, tail with..stuff. This made up for the previous course. The legs were crispy and flavorful...would make a GREAT bar snack. The head with pudding was nice, though not as good as the legs. And the tail..was essentially the best piece of shrimp I've ever had. Pairing: Emmerich Knoll Kellerberg Riesling Smaragd, Wachau, Austria 2007. A late harvest Riesling...dry.

Course 6:

Halibut, black flavors - black pepper, vanilla, lemon, coffee. Parsnip. - Fun to see these black elements served in a completely white dish. Overall very nice. The standout was how awesome the coffee flavor worked with Halibut. Pairing: Testamatta Cicala del Giglio Toscana 2009.

Course 7:

Professional Photo:

My photos:

Rabbit parfait, rillette, consomme. Enlarge the professional photo for a good map of everything. This was probably the second best dish of the night. Everything was REALLY good. Pairing: Vinyes de Coster Igneus Mas Priorat Spain 2007.

Course 8:

Hot Potato Cold Potato (black truffle, butter). This is one of Chef Achatz most recognized dishes. The server who delivered it hovered as he instructed me how to eat it, not leaving until I did. No biggy, but thats why there is no photo. Google image of hot potato cold potato turned up 4 million results. Dish was good. Nice contrast of temperatures. Flavors were strong and well balanced (maybe a little salty).

Course 9:

Short Rib, olive, red wine, blackberry...other stuff. This was the spring roll course where my table's centerpiece (a flag of sorts) became the wrap for a...roll. I never really thought much of this course, reading about it online for a while. Seemed a bit hokey to me. But it turned out to be really flavorful. I put a bit of all of the garnishes in the roll. The short ribs were awesome. Looks like a lot of stuff to wrap up but it wound up being about 2 bites (as most of the dishes at Alinea were). Pairing: Quinta de Vicosa Alentajo, Portugal 2005.

Course 10:

Smoked Hamachi, west indies spices, banana, ginger. Served on bay laurel. All I remember was the weird tingling sensation after eating...like after eating sour patch kids. Weird.

Course 11:

Canard a la Cussy. The Escoffier course. This was my favorite of the night, and got me SUPER excited about Next's opening Escoffier menu. As much as I doubt I'll make it into Next while this menu is being served...I really hope I get to try it! So good. Duck breast, duck confit, foie, cockscomb, red wine reduction. This course really made me wish I brought my copy of Escoffier to Chicago with me. Pairing: Maison Tardieu-Laurent Vieilles Vignes, Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2004

Course 12:

Venison, cherry, cocoa nib, eucalyptus. Good but forgettable. The eucalyptus was VERY fragrant and nice.

Course 13:

Black truffle explosion. This is probably Chef Achat's most famous creation. It is a black truffle stock that is encapsulated then used as the filling for a ravioli, which is garnished with romaine and parmesan. People unanimously love this dish...and while it was great...it was over so quickly it was hard to..savor. The impression wasn't lasting? Its hard to say what I'm trying to say but...well yeah. It was good.

Course 14:

Foie gras, macadamia, birch, orange. I had to think a bit about this one to remember it. It was served in a bowl with a round bottom so I couldn't set it down to take a picture. I remember the macadamia soup/broth to be the standout...it was really really good.

Course 15:

Yuzu snow. I understand the cleansing of the palate thing but this was a total throwaway.

Course 16:

Sweet potato, charred cedar, burbon, pecan. What this boils down to for me was sweet potato pie. Flavors of thanksgiving dessert. I don't know. While the whole thing was a bit sweet, it was really good. The burnt cedar added a smell that really transported me to fall/winter dinners/desserts at my aunts house in rural Connecticut. I've had lots of dishes at different restaurants that try to use aromatics or other tricks to add another element to dishes to try and help recall memories with foods...and this was by far the most successful one I have come across. It really hit the mark, and consequently was the most memorable dish of the evening. Pairing: Nittnaus Riesling Beerenauslese, Burgenland, Austria 2002. VERY sweet wine.

Course 17:

Lemongrass, dragonfruit, finger lime, cucumber. Okay...too sweet though.

Course 18:

Course 19:

Course 20:

These three were served at the same time. They were 18: Bacon, butterscotch, apple, thyme. 19: Nutella, bread, banana, chocolate. 20: Pineapple, ham, freeze dried cherry, clove. All three of these were throwaways for me. I guess if I had to pick one, the bacon was the best of the three. Pairing: AE Dor Pineau Francois 1, Pineau de Charentes

Course 21:

Chocoalte, blueberry, honey, peanut. This was the plated on the table by the chef course. It sucked. The mousse was the best part. Everything else was out of balance...too sweet...weird flavors..whatever. This course broke my heart. One of the reasons I so greatly admire Chef Achatz is that he seems to always take good food over theatrics. This course was all theatrics. I would much rather have something thoughtful put together in the kitchen than have a shell of a dessert plated in some spectacle at/on my table. I was really disappointed with this. Pairing: Toro Albala Don PX Gran Reserva, Montilla-Moriles, Spain 1982

So in the end...there were highs and lows of the meal. I guess more highs than lows...but really the meal as a whole lacked the pizazz I was expecting/hoping for. Even with the good..everything was so microscopic...so short lived..that it lacked the lasting impact needed.

Sphincter says what?

2011-03-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

Playing around with some webmaster tools lead me to read some search queries that lead to this site. Here are some interesting ones...in no particular order:

Fat kid eating cake

Fat kid eating chips

Fat kid eating chocolate

Fat kid eating chocolate cake

Fat kid eating ice cream

Fat kid eating pie

Fat kid with glasses

Im sensing a trend here....

Others worth mentioning:

Coconut man moon head and pea

Paper plate astronaut

Henry Hudson early life

Eclair pizza

Blood composition

Beef twinkie

Im not so good

FRANKS N DAWGS N GUM PASTER FLOWERS

2011-03-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

Had a hankering for hot dogs earlier this week but felt like something a little more than the standard. I had been meaning to try Hot Dougs for a while but decided that it was a bit far from where I was. I remembered hearing about a similar place with consistently shorter lines that was worth checking out...so I made my way over to Franks 'N' Dawgs on N Clybourn in the Lincoln Park/DePaul area. Once we were properly introduced to the menu by the owner, Alex Brunacci, we proceeded to order a ridiculous amount of food:

1 - Spoiled Brat - Bratwurst, Braised Red Cabbage, House Beer Mustard, Roasted Red Pepper Relish, & Parsley

2 - Truffle Mac'n'Cheese Dog - Bratwurst, Truffle Mac'n'Cheese, Parmesan, Brioche Bread Crumbs, & Thyme

3 - Brunch Dog - Pork Loin Breakfast Sausage, Cobb Smoked Bacon, Fried Egg, & Maple Mayo

4 - Triple Truffle Fries - Yukon Gold Waffle Cut Fries, Truffle Oil, Truffle Butter, Truffle Salt, & Freshly Chopped Herbs

5 - Lyonnaise Fries - Hand Cut Fries, Braised Pig Cheek, Arugula, Poached Egg, & Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette

6 - Cloe Slaw - With Raisins & Caraway

Heres the spoiled Brat & the Slaw:

The Truffle Mac'n'Cheese, Lyonnaise Fries, Brunch Dog, & Truffle Fries:

Close up of the Brunch Dog:

And the Lyonnaise fries:

& the Mac'n'Cheese Dog:

So everything was super extravagant and really awesome. The buns are really something else...apparently they are made daily. I know its a bit silly to wax on about a hot dog bun but these were seriously solid. Each hot dog was really good. A fried egg on a sausage? YES. Truffle Mac & Cheese on a hot dog? Why didn't I think of this? So good. The Lyonnaise fries were a bit soupy, which is okay. They were good but a bit salty. We did finish everything. And also had a couple peanut butter and jelly macarons from Vanille (sold at Franks N Dawgs). It was awesome. Can't wait to go back.

This past week we worked on gum paste flowers. Here are some roses:

And some toppers...with roses, carnations, daisies, 'blossoms', and foliage:

Lilies and Orchids:

Annnd thats it!

Alaska 2008

2011-03-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

So southern Alaska is a LOT like upstate New York, except for the snow capped mountains, ice bergs, and glaciers. Hah. The towns are very touristy and like what you would see on boardwalks or in towns like Lake George.

Tracy Arm Fjord

Ketchikan

Somewhere..?

I think this was just outside Juneau

Noodles by takashi

2011-03-09T13:48:00.001-08:00

Working a CE class at school this week means Ive been grabbing lunch downtown. Had this shoyu ramen which was alright. I definitely liked the udon at takashi better...I know these are two different things but they're similar enough to compare. The broth lacked a bit of depth, but the garnishes (bamboo, Bok Choy, fishcake, egg, pork, other stuff) and noodles were nice. For the loop I'd say this was a solid.

SCHOOL

2011-03-07T14:02:00.001-08:00

Mango Mousse Cake:

Almond dacquoise, apricots, mango mousse.

Uncle Hansi's Cake:

Pate sucree (sugar cookie..ish), rum soaked raisins, chocolate chips and a pound cake like cake. All brushed with a rum fondant. I love this thing. Heres what it looked like before it was cut:

We started tarts today and made what was honestly the best fruit tart I've ever had. Never been crazy about baked fruit tarts for whatever reason but this was GOOD. Crust so flaky it barley stayed together, filling was mission figs & sour cherries with almond cream. I ate the whole thing before I could get a picture. Sucks for you! Should be a fun unit!

moar

2011-03-06T19:49:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to keep content on this thing updated regularly Im going to start randomly posting pictures that have been lost in the bowels of my computer. It'll be fun, I swear.

A few years ago I had a phone with a photo stitching feature. I found that taking panoramas of peoples heads was...fun:

(as with all pictures on this blog, click to enlarge!)

Naha, School

2011-03-05T09:52:00.000-08:00

One of the restaurants I checked out during restaurant week was NAHA. I've been wanting to eat here since before moving to Chicago - it was the 'other' restaurant that got eliminated when choosing where to eat the first day I was here (Blackbird is where we wound up). Needless to say, I was excited - and the fact that the restaurant was offering several options per course for their menu only put me over the top. I've always felt that restaurants focus too much on turning tables during restaurant week and not enough on wowing customers. Its an opportunity to really impress people who aren't regular diners. NAHA embraced this, and did a wonderful job.

Bread service:

A trio of breads, wheat, white, and a raisin and caraway(?) - All three serveed room temp (good!) and were very enjoyable. The raisin was my favorite. I ordered a Delirium Tremens which was alright.

Course 1:

Yukon Potato Gnocchi, Wild Boar Spanish Chorizo, Shaved Montelerraina, Caramelized Broccoli, Marcona Almonds - This was not part of the restaurant week menu, but I couldn't pass it up. And boy am I glad I got it. Everything about this dish was perfect - the sear on the gnocchi, which were light as clouds, the brown flavors...this dish was a serious ode to the maillard reaction. The Marcona almonds were a prefect textural complement and the flavor worked so well. I wound up trying to recreate this at home, with some success but..well it just wasn't the same. The flavors in this dish reminded me so much of meals at my aunts house growing up. Always so satisfying and delicious.

Course 2:

My first option from the restaurant week menu - Shrimp & Grits - The menu I have does not have this listed so I can't give the best description, however this was the least exciting dish of the night. Still good though. The flavors reminded me a lot of some Escoffier dish we did a school a lot...lots of butter, shellfish, chervil - good stuff. The shrimp were perfectly cooked. I had a Bells Amber Ale with this course which was also pretty good.

At this point, Terry Kane - NAHA's service manager, came over and talked to me a bit about beers (for all you wine-o's out there, we beer drinkers always love to see other people drinking beer with their food). He wound up talking to me about a beer called Inedit - developed by Ferran Adria. He wound up pouring me a glass, on the house, to have with my third course. The beer on its own was relatively tame, but with food it literally transformed with every bite. It was really an incredible pairing.

Course 3:

Lacquered Kurobuta Pork Belly & Organic Carnaroli Risotto with Matsutake Mushrooms, Roasted Zucchini, Spinach, Parmesan and Thyme - Not much to say here past the description - it was just as good if not better than it sounds. The risotto was very well done (especially for restaurant week risotto), the pork was meltingly tender. More brown flavors that were so satisfying.

Course 4:

Chocolate mousse cake with house made cracker jacks - I wish I took better notes for this one - Visually this plate reminded me a lot of the linear foie at Tru. The flavors were all spot on & the house made cracker jacks were great. I really liked that this cake highlighted the bitter aspects of chocolate more than the sweet - and the cracker jacks sweetness offset this a bit. More complex than it appears on the surface.

Mignardise:

Apple spice pate de fruit, burbon ganache - The ganache was great..silky texture..bursting with flavor. The pate de fruit tasted wonderful but the texture was a little more firm than I am used to.

Overall, NAHA knocked it out of the park. Considering I ate there on a weekend during restaurant week - I cannot imagine how great it is during a normal dinner service. I am really looking forward to returning. I cant thank Terry Kane enough for his generosity and hospitality - he spent some time recommending to me restaurants to check out - and now that both he and Terry McNeese from Henri have recommended it, Riccardo Trattoria is now on my list.

Now some school stuff. My stream has been wrapping up early all week so we have been spending our extra time writing with chocolate. Check out some examples Chef Pierre Zimmermann piped for us:

World Cup (of Pastry) Cake:

Hazelnut Dacquoise, Candied Hazelnut, Hazelnut Mousse, Chocolate Biscuit, Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate Mirror Glaze. SO GOOD

Raspberry Silk Cake:

Blurry picture, but the only one I have to show off the layers - Top to bottom: White Chocolate Diplomat Mousse, Raspberry Gelee, Almond Dacquoise, White Chocolate Diplomat Mousse, Chocolate Hazelnut 'Crunch' (Royaltine), Almond Dacquoise. Again, SO GOOD

Annnd a Pithivier (pronounced...PTVA):

Almond cream incased in puff pastry. I wound up giving this to a bartender at Duffys who inquired about why I was walking around with a giant cake thing. Hope they enjoyed it!

Vanille

2011-02-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

After having my first Chicago pie at a place called Pequods (no pictures or write up for this - but it was SERIOUSLY good), I couldn't pass up the chance to check out Vanille. Vanille is a small patisserie in DePaul run by the Chefs Dimitri and Keli Fayard. Both chefs have very impressive backgrounds which you can read all about on their website. Dimitri is also a chef instructor at my school.

The display case at Vanille (stole this picture from Julia):

Close up of the macarons (also stole this from Julia):

Being pretty full from pizza, I settled on some espresso, a pistachio eclair, and some caramel macaroons:

The pistachio eclair was very nice:

As were the macarons - perfectly aged...a light crack giving way to a chewy, flavorful center:

Yum

We have moved onto the cakes section at school. This one is made of pistachio dacquoise, passionfruit-apricot gelee, nougat mousse with apricots, pistachios, pecans, and cherries:

This one was made of coconut dacquoise, passionfruit mousse with kirsch & candied pineapple, and coconut mousse:

Thats it!

TAC for more

2011-02-20T10:04:00.001-08:00

So my Internet connection is still kind of hairy so I guess I'll be using this mobile blogging app until that gets straightened out. What that means is I wont be doing any lengthy write ups for a hot minute.

We just finished 3 days of practical exams in school which concludes the bread, breakfast pastries, and petite fours section. Tomorrow we start cakes with the famous Pierre Zimmermann. I'm super excited to have the opportunity to work with him.

This week is restaurant week in chicago so I'll be eating out a little more often and hopefully staying on top of my posts. I still have a huge backlog of restaurants to write about.

Last week a friend and I headed over to TAC Quick - they love Thai and hadn't been to TAC yet...and it did not disappoint.

So starting at 1:00 in the photo we have Kra Phrao Kai Yeow Ma, which is stir-fried minced chicken with crispy basil leaves, served over fried preserved duck eggs. Here's a close up:

This was really awesome...the egg and chicken were super flavorful and the basil was wonderfully crisp.

Back to the first picture, at 3:00 is the boat noodles that I have written about before. I've had these 3 or 4 times and they have been consistently awesome. I would recommend them over all else when going to TAC Quick.

Last, at about 10:00 is the green curry with beef, Ginger, and eggplant served over omelette. This was a great green curry...not much else to say. The omelette was awesome.

Mobile chinatown

2011-02-19T14:27:00.001-08:00

Testing out mobile blogging. My Internet connection at the apartment has been iffy at best this week so I figured I'd give this a try..at least autocorrect will fix my horrible spelling. I was in Chinatown this afternoon and had a great lunch at Lao shanghai. Started with some drunken chicken and chicken feet with wine sauce. Both were tasty. After that we had some soup dumplings - xaio bao long:

These dumplings were better than the ones I had at moon palace a few weeks ago. The dough was much thinner and ha a better filling to broth ratio. They also didn't all stick together and tear apart when you pick them up.

Also had some dried chili chicken. It was good - and even spicier than it looks. According to Sheena, this dish is where general Tsos chicken came from. Needless to say, it is infinitely better than any GTC I've had.

Alinea Menu

2011-02-17T19:44:00.000-08:00

quickie

2011-02-13T21:25:00.000-08:00

So im about elbow deep in petite fours at school. We have been cranking them out, as they say. Madeleines, plain macarons, pistachio white chocolate macarons, chocolate earl grey macarons, opera cake, chouquettes, salambos paris brest(s), apple tarts, chocolate espresso tarts, blueberry tarts, and so and on. There are pictures somewhere, but not here. I promise, I will eventually remember to take some pictures. Were coming up on exams, which will prove to be interesting. 3 days of practicals! Fun stuff.

This upcoming weekend is the start of Chicago Restaurant Week. The list was..nice, but there were only so many places I really wanted to go. I will be hitting up Cafe Spiaggia, The Gage, Naha, and the Seasons. I also made a reservation for the March 1 grand opening of Homaro Cantu's new place, iNG. As far as I can tell, the restaurant will be in a soft opening stage from 2/14 - 2/28 and 3/1 is its official grand opening. Heres hoping I will enjoy it more than I enjoyed Moto.

So a week after my first dinner at Henri, I returned to have more of their incredible cassoulet. Please take a look at my earlier post about the meal, it was truly incredible. The entire week between my first meal there and this one I spent dreaming about their cassoulet. After a few days I couldn't take it any more and made a reservation for the following Monday (the cassoulet is only offered on Monday's).

I feel that I should say that word of my post about my dinner at Henri had travelled to the restaurant and Catherine Gilmore-Lawless, the owner, had contacted me to thank me. I cant really explain how kind it is to have someone involved in a restaurant seek out some totally insignificant, wannabe food writer just to say thank you for writing a positive review...but it really meat a lot to me. I mentioned to Catherine that I had made a reservation to come back to the restaurant and she invited me to tour their kitchen. Again, an incredibly kind gesture. Being a...'budding' chef..its always exciting to see the intricacies of any operation, and its just...weird outright asking a restaurant to go tour their kitchen. So of course I jumped at the opportunity and upon arriving at the restaurant I was lead downstairs to their kitchen. Its hard to describe the layout of a kitchen in any way that is exciting to read, especially without the aid of pictures..but it was a great experience. Everyone I met in the back of the house (and really...in the entire restaurant) was incredibly gracious and welcoming and didn't seem the least bit off put by some strange kid touring their kitchen. I have had the pleasure of working in kitchens that people wanted to tour and I've seen some chefs be kind of...annoyed to go through the motions...but the staff here is proud of their facilities and excited to show it off.

Back in the dining room, I found out that Megan was once again going to be my waitress for the evening. After being beyond happy with her knowledge of the menu and warm, professional service; I trusted her to guide me - more or less - through my dinner. The poultry/game special sounded incredible; though I don't remember what it was - some Texan game bird. This only sticks out because each time Ive gone to Henri I knew I wanted the cassoulet but have been seriously tempted by their daily specials. It took me a bit to decide between this dish & the cassoulet...and ultimately I went with the cassoulet. Next time (and there will be a next time!) I will definitely try something other than cassoulet!

I started with a Linch Pin cocktail, made with Pineau de Charentes, Farmers Gin, and orange peel. This was refreshing and delicious.

Next up, I had crudo of Hawaiian Tuna, with local mache, crisp shiitake, and salted pineapple:

This was a beautifully refreshing crudo. The acidity of the pineapple dressing was very nice with the tuna and not overly salty as the description may lead you to believe. The crisp shiitake added a wonderfully textural contrast as well as a really wonderful flavor. Ive had quite a bit of raw tuna apps in the past year or so; so I wouldn't have had this dish if Megan had not suggested it. In the end, I'm glad she did because it was great.

As I have already rambled on and on about; I had the cassoulet for my entree. Not much else to say here that I haven't already said. Ive now dined at the majority of the micheline star restaurants in Chicago, including Alinea - the best restaurant in North America; and I still stand by my statement that this cassoulet is the best single dish I have had in Chicago. If youre reading this and in Chicago...go make a reservation already!

With my entree, I enjoyed a stellar glass of 2008 L'angevin chardonnay. This was sent to my table. I could speculate why, but its not important really - it was extremely generous of the restaurant and I cannot thank them (specifically Terry McNeese) enough for it. Im not really a wine guy, never have been...it all tastes more or less so the same to me. Its a little embarrassing admitting that, being someone who's entire career will be guided by my palate...but its just the way it is for me. Maybe I don't drink the stuff often enough to compare and contrast. Who knows. Either way, occasionally I'll have a glass thats really great and I can recognize that. This was one of those glasses.

I ended the meal with their dark chocolate tart (on Terry's recommendation from the last time I was there...sorry for the blurry photo!):

This is a pretty standard tart done extremely well. It had just enough caramel layered beneath a velvety smooth ganache...topped with a just sweet enough chantilly cream...so that it didn't take away from the bitter notes from the dark chocolate. I know how hard it is to achieve this sort of balance in flavors and textures...how difficult it is to pull of the classics and make them stand out...and they've done this repeatedly at Henri. And frankly..they do with everything that they do...from their amazingly generous, kind, and welcoming service to all of their food...no detail is too small. This is what separates the good from the great. And Henri is truly a great restaurant.

TAC TAC

2011-02-10T22:55:00.001-08:00

Its no secret that I am in love with TAC Quick. I wanted to grab a bite to eat there this afternoon but wound up taking a long nap instead...now I'm awake and hungry and they're closed. Bummer. Heres what I had last time:

Nam Prik Kapi Plaa Too - Shrimp paste chili served with fried trout, cha om omelet, fried eggplant, and raw vegetable. When I ordered this, my waitress warned me it was 'smelly'. Which it wasn't. I was expecting stinky tofu bad. This was tasty, albiet a little bland.

Moo Ping - Thai style grilled marinated pork with spicy sauce. How can you go wrong with grilled pork? Now Im getting a serious craving for Com/Bun Thit Nuong. Maybe a trip to little Saigon is in my future.

I have a reservation at Alinea tonight so expect a post on that soon. I also have quite a back log going right now, including Bistro Margot, Cafe Des Architectes, Charlie Trotters, Davanti Enoteca, Henri, Kith & Kin, Tango Sur, and so and on.

Topolobampo or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the snow

2011-02-07T20:59:00.000-08:00

Its been quite an eventful week here in Chicago. Something about a bit of snow...? Check out this insane picture of Lakeshore Drive (kind of the equivalent to the Henry Hudson Highway) stolen from the Tribune:

crazy, right? I guess there was something like 400 abandoned cars. City was quite a mess. In reality it wasn't that bad in terms of snowfall. 20 something inches, although I dont know how they figure that number. The wind in Chicago is constantly moving the snow around so there are like...snow dunes. You can be walking on dry ground and then have to climb over a mountain. Either way, the snow wasn't so bad, the reaction from the city & its residents was. I wound up having two days off from school which kind of blew. I spent the time dehydrating.

So the day the storm hit I had a reservation at Topolobampo. This place is one of the most popular restaurants in Chicago. You have probably heard of or seen Rick Bayless, who runs the joint. Due to his fame and the restaurants popularity, I had to make my mid week reservation a month in advance. So naturally the entire day I was panicky that the restaurant would close and I would have to make another reservation. On my break from class I got a phone call from them wanting to reconfirm my reservation. If they were staying open, I was going. Once class let out I had to work a CE class with Chef Pierre Zimmermann, which just means I had to wash some dishes. The class wound up letting out early because of the weather, which meant I had to figure out where to hold up in the storm for a couple hours before dinner - as Topoolobampo is much closer to school than my apartment. I found a bar a few blocks away and had a few beers...maybe some wings..and then made my way over to the restaurant. Even though I only had a couple blocks to go I was a bit disoriented due to the white out conditions at the time. When I got to Topolobampo I was quickly seated and brought this:

Guacamole with blood orange; cukes & turnips for dipping - This was super tasty, subtly spicy...and the veggies were a nice touch. Lighter and easier to eat than chips.

I ordered a drink:

The Vampiro Fronterizo - El Milagro Silver tequila and Maraca tantalizing bloody mary mix, spiked with fresh lime juice. This was tasty...like a bloody mary and margarita had a child. I always put lime in my bloody marys because Im not a huge fan of lemon...so this was right up my alley.

Topolobampo offers 3 different five course menus, as well as al la carte service. I knew I wanted a tasting but couldn't really decide on any one in particular. The dining room was a little..vacant due to the weather and I assumed the kitchen staff would be a bit bored (maybe not the right word.....expecting a less than exciting service for the evening?)..So I asked the kitchen to just send me 10 courses, whatever they felt like doing. They agreed without any hesitation. A little disclaimer ahead of time, some of the courses I received I couldn't place off the menus at any of the Frontera restaurants so my descriptions may be a little subpar. You'll live.

Course 1:

So the first course was a sample from the raw bar. Three different oysters - no clue what varieties but they were all super fresh and yummy. They were paired with tomatillo-habanero mioneta & a smoky chipotle-garlic salsa. Also on the platter were two different ceviches...both of which were great too. One was Ceviche Fronterizo - lime marinated hawaiian albacore with tomatoes, olives, cilantro, and green chile. The other, which I absolutely loved, was Ceviche Yucateco - steamed mexican blue shrimp and calamari tossed with lime, orange, habanero, avocado, jicama, and cilantro. I spent a good portion of last fall making raw bar platters...which by no means makes me an expert but..this was a seriously solid platter. It set a tone for a really spectacular meal.

Course 2:

Ensalad de Noche Buena - A contemporary take on Mexico's famous holiday salad, with tangy crunchy jicama, local beets three ways (poached, powdered, and crisped), smoky blood orange, sweet-savory peanut marzipan, and tangy baby beet greens. Okay so...I love beet salads. I love beets....so naturally I loved this dish. Everything went together beautifully...great balance of flavors. Really awesome. One amazing thing about this meal was that each course had some ingredient or preparation that I love..it was like I was cooking for myself (if I was a much better chef, that is)

Course 3:

Red chile roasted carrots 'a la plaza' with pickled vegetables (jicama). This was not on the menu currently so I'm going by what I could snoop off the internet. This was a really nice, smoky...lots of flavor and not heavy at all.

Course 4:

Chorizo-Blood Sausage, egg yolk & white, 3 chile salsa, hickory bacon meringues, turnip. This was SO good. Theres no way I can do this course justice. It was elegant without being pretentious - incredibly savory and satisfying. I wanted to lick the plate. I cleared it in the time it took my server to grab a pitcher of water to refill my glass. So good.

Course 5:

Succulent Slow Poached Texas Red Fish infused with herby acuyo, camote hash brown, braised fennel, fennel broth & hoja santa oil (I think?). The first slurp of broth made me instantly want to sneeze, kind of like the first gulp of a really strong ginger beer. It was awesome. Super strong fennel flavor, which I really love a lot. The fish was incredibly tender and flavorful. Really solid dish all round.

Course 6:

Roasted Cauliflower (my favorite) & Sunchoke...some other stuff..and some salsa? I couldn't come up with any information on this one...Doesn't matter though. If theres roasted cauliflower to be had, I'm happy. This was awesome.

Course 7:

Ribeye with bone marrow, sunflower seed pippin, wilted and fried kale, & sunchokes - I was dumbfounded by this course. Its like I made a list of my favorite things and sent it to the kitchen and they just put them all on a plate. Bone marrow? Ribeye? I was in heaven. Awesome way to end the savory courses.

Course 8:

Melcocha epsuma, compote of masumoto farm dried peaches & seedling white cherries, fennel, pistachio - Again with the list of favorite things...This dessert/intermezzo/transition ...whatever you want to call it..was simply brilliant. There was such a delicate balance of flavors...little nuances like the random pistachios bringing a wonderful nutty flavor and texture...This was my favorite from the pastry side...and I would love to have it again.

Course 9:

Coco y Dateless - Steamed sweet coconut tamale, creamy coconut ice cream, tamarind stuffed bahri dates, candide deglet noor dates, coconut..crispies? - The cake was awesome and incredibly tender, the ice cream was delicious and had a wonderful mouthfeel. This dessert walked a fine line between sweet & overly sweet, something I feel coconut things can do...but it worked really well. A very refreshing course.

Course 10:

Chocolate cake, sour cream ganache, preserved fraises de obis, mint-milk sorbet - So its worth mentioning that at this point I was so far beyond full that I couldn't finish this course. I was full from beer and wings when I walked into the restaurant and knew it was going to be challenge to finish everything by the time I was eating course 2. But everything was SO good I took one for the team (team greg?). This was great. The mint ice cream actually tasted like mint...not some gross minty sugary crap that you get out of a cardboard container. The cake was delicious and...well look at the picture..it was a seriously beautiful dessert.

Mignardises:

So...these were delivered to my table by the pastry chef, Jennifer Jones. She thanked me for letting the kitchen play around and said they had a great time putting together a longer menu. I always think its silly when people thank me for eating their amazing food. They did all the work! So thank you Jennifer, and the rest of the amazing kitchen and FOH staff at Topolobampo...you guys certainly deserve all the praise you receive. Oh yeah..and the mignardises...heres the thing. This is the best way to compare and contrast pastry chefs because everyone in the city (or...everywhere, frankly) does pretty much the same thing...so..you can see who makes the best pate de fruit...or the best torrone...and well...each one of these were seriously good...some of, if not, the best Ive had in Chicago. The thought and care, and attention to detail put into each of these desserts and mignardises was really amazing and..well yeah, I was super impressed all around. Wish I had asked about staging with them!

Later in the week (Saturday) my school held a fundraiser at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. This was quite an event (no real # yet, but we were expecting 1000 people). Chefs from all over Chicago, as well as some from other parts of the country were there supporting the French Pastry School. It was really amazing to see so many people rallying behind the school to raise money for scholarships. Some chefs in attendance: Rick Bayless, Sherry Yard, Meg Galus, Jimmy MacMillan, Giuseppe Tentori, Kady Yon, Graham Elliot Bowles, Paul Kahan, Patrick Fahey, Jean Joho, Kai Lermen, Jason MeLeod, Takashi Ygihashi, Paul Virant...and about a million others. Quite the event!

More School & Big Jones

2011-01-29T13:26:00.000-08:00

So school....I've officially been in school for one month now. A quick recap for those of you who care, the first week was just introduction & ServSafe classes, the second week was all basic skills, and the third and fourth weeks we have been doing various breakfast pastries and breads. I have a couple pictures of product I have made.

Pear & Frangipane Danish - love the layers on this guy:

Pain au Chocolate, again beautiful layers. Thanks to my class partner Julia, who I stole this lovely picture from:

Some Pain a la Biere about to go in the oven - SCCC friends should recognize this:

Sourdough:

Sourdough Multigrain, with oats, flax seed, sesame seed, pumpkin seed, & sunflower seeds:

A few weeks ago I went to a place called Big Jones in the Edgewater/Andersonville area. I didn't have any plans for dinner and early into the evening I was getting pretty hungry. It was relatively easy to get to from my place and had pretty decent reviews on yelp so I figured it was worth a shot. Plus they do all of their charcuterie in house, which is nice to see (..and actually somewhat common in Chicago)

So to start I ordered a Blackhawk Stout. If my memory serves me correctly it was pretty ok.

Bread service was fresh cornbread - pretty straightforward no bitter taste that lots of cornbread seems to have and it wasn't super sweet either, which I enjoy.

I ordered a few 'tastes' to start with:

On the left you have a pork terrine with pickled red onions & creole mustard. I enjoyed this a lot, everything blended well together; the terrine wasn't funky in the way pork terrines can sometimes be. I'd definitely order this again. On the right is smoked tasso ham with piccalilli, and pickled mustard seeds. This was a little bitter from the bark on the outside...I'm still undecided on Tasso. I've had it a few times and even made some in one of my Garde Manger classes. Its always tasted a little strong for me. This seemed to be on par with other Tasso I have had.

A last, I had some pimiento cheese with benne biscuits, pickled laughing bird shrimp, and green tomato relish. I pretty much got this because I wanted the pickled shrimp. They were awesome. So was everything else. The pimiento was as good as pimiento can be.

After these plates were cleared, I started with my first (or fourth, however you want to look at it) course:

Crispy Pork Belly, Chow-Chow Pancake, Plum Ketchup, Pea Shoots - I really liked this. A lot of times I'll order pork belly because I know when its on, its seriously good. Sheena's mom makes a killer red braised pork belly for hanging buns and I'll never forget Dale Miller's (CMC) sous vide pork belly. The issue is, maybe...fifty percent of the time, whatever pork belly dish I order winds up sucking. It'll either be too mushy or too dry or taste funky or one of a million other things. This one was solid. It had a great crispy exterior and a still moist interior. The chow chow pancakes were unusual (I think?) in that the vegetables were not in the batter, but rather wrapped with a thin, crepe like pancake. It was good. Everything on the plate worked well together.

Next course:

Sweet Tea Infused Pork Chop: Center-Cut Niman Ranch Pork Chop, Sea Island Red Pea Puree, Sweet Potato Hash - I ordered this on the recommendation of my server. I probably wouldn't have otherwise. Im not a fan of using sweet potatoes where regular potatoes usually go, and I usually don't like the idea of sweet meat dishes. I did, however, like this. The pork was cooked medium rare and had more of a tea flavor than a sweet flavor. The sweet potato hash ruled as was the pea puree which had a nice kick to it.

Dessert:

Moon Pie: House made honey grahams filled with peanut butter fluff and dipped in dark chocolate with banana ice cream and crispy bacon granola. SO this was okay. Big surprise that the moon pie was a little rich. The banana ice cream wasn't too bananay and I enjoyed it. The bacon granola kind sucked though.

Takashi

2011-01-22T20:08:00.002-08:00

So this past week in school we made: Pain de Mie, Muffins, Brioche (by hand..very messy) for Bee Sting Brioche & Brioche Nanterre, Whole Wheat Bread, Croissants, Beignets, Lemon Pound Cakes, French Bread, Danish (just the dough, havent shaped or finished product yet), Pain a la Biere, and other stuff that I'm probably forgetting. The nice, or well..horrible thing that is different from my previous school is that we take product home. So right now my freezer is bursting at the seams with breads and croissants. I've been eating a lot of panzanella and bread based soups. Bread pudding is on the menu for tomorrow. So much bread.

So a few weeks back I made my way over to Takashi, a Micheline starred Japanese restaurant in Bucktown. Takashi is the namesake restaurant for Chef Takashi Yagihashi, who's credentials include Yoshi's Cafe, Amria, Tribute, and Okada, as well as being named Best Chef: Midwest by the James Beard Foundation.

I decided to check it out on a Sunday - when the regular menu is replaced with their noodle dinner menu. I had been craving some solid udon for a while so I figured this was a good time for it.

I had two beers throughout my dinner: Hitachino Nest Classic Ale & Hitachino Nest White Ale. Kiuchi Brewery is quickly becoming one of my favorites. The Classic Ale was seriously delicious. White Ale was good. Espresso Stout I had at Moto was fantastic too.

Course 1:

Angus Beef Tartare, Quail Egg, Asian Pear, Cucumber, Sesame-Chili Soy - Pretty great tartare. Not quite as good as what I had at Henri, but still a solid dish. There was just enough toasted sesame flavor without being overwhelming, as it so easily can be. Quail egg added a wonderful richness. The cuke & pear were nice additions, bringing a welcome sweetness and texture to the dish.

Course 2:

Duck Fat Fried Chicken - Marinated Amish Chicken, Spicy Sesame Dressing - My notes on this dish just say 'Holy crap good'. Which pretty much sums it up. Seems everyone is doing fried chicken now a days. Thats OK by me. Flavor-wise, this was very similar to Taiwanese salt & pepper chicken. The plate was half wings and half tenders...all incredibly moist, hot, and delicious. Worth making the trip just for this plate.

Course 3:

Gyoza...pork dumpling. So dumplings, potstickers, etc.. are a little weird for me. Since having Sheena's mothers dumplings...everything is inferior. And it sucks, because Ive always been the fat kid eating the entire order of dumplings before anyone else gets them...and now all dumplings kind of suck in comparison. Now every so often if I'm somewhere that seems special or authentic, I'll order some in hopes of them at least coming close to matching Sheenas moms. These were a good try. Best Ive had in a long time. The quick pickle cucumber served on top was a nice touch.

Course 4:

Kinoko and Yamaimo Ponzu, Enoki and Shimeji Mushrooms with Taro Root and Citrus Vinaigrette - This was the worst dish of the night. Not bad by any means, but not what I was expecting. A little slimy too. Eeek!

Course 5:

Niku-Tamago Toge Udon, Sliced Rib Eye, Egg, Fried Tofu - Okay so my usual is Nabeyaki Udon, and they had a Udon on the menu very similar to Nabeyaki...but my server insisted that I try this one. And it was solid. Perfectly tender noodles, with the rib eye slowly cooking in the super hot, slightly sweet and spicy (mostly from the togorashi I added) broth. Eggs. Fishcake. Spinach... This was seriously good, soul warming udon. Love it.

Course 6:

Green Tea Shortbread, White Chocolate Mousse, Mango Sorbet, Burnt Caramel - This was...good. The presentation was a bit amateur but thats kind of a silly thing to complain about. The shortbread had a nice texture, but would benefit from a stronger green tea flavor and a little less sweetness. The white chocolate mousse was good, if I remember correctly. The mango sorbet was what I really wanted, and it was good.

So yeah, Takashi noodle dinner rules. I will be back again before leaving town. The menu is limited but totally solid and less expensive than the regular menu. And it has that chicken. So good.

Henri: The best meal I've had in Chicago

2011-01-20T19:19:00.000-08:00

Well, as the title suggests...I went to Henri this past Monday and had what was truly the best, most satisfying meal I have had since moving to Chicago. Every last detail was near perfect, and I cannot wait to return. Since starting my dining adventures in Chicago, I have heard bits about how there was this great new restaurant, sure to become a classic. For some reason I kind of brushed it aside. That is until a fellow student mentioned that she had a truly memorable meal there. After telling me a bit about it, I immediately made a reservation for the following Monday. Why monday? Because the plat du jour is cassoulet on Monday...that why. And boy am I glad I picked Monday.

So I arrived at the restaurant and was quickly seated. As many people have said, the dining room is gorgeous. Its elegant without being stuffy. After being super indecisive, my lovely waitress Megan (sorry I forgot your name! you're great!) suggested a Manhattan...So thats what I started with.

Burnham Manhattan - Wild Turkey Rye, Vya Sweet Vermouth, Fee's Aromatic Bitters, Michigan Cherries - This was a seriously solid Manhattan. At least on par with the barrel aged Manhattan I had at Boka. Super smooth and delicious.

Bread Service:

Bread service was a mini baguette. It seemed pretty obvious it was made in house, due to the irregular shape. This was the only part of the meal that was just OK. The bread was a little dense. It was served warm, which as my bread professor says, 'all bread tastes good warm - only good bread tastes good cold'. So..yeah, it tasted fine, but nothing special.

Course 1:

Smoked Steak Tartare, Quail Egg, Potato Chips - There were a few appetizers that I was torn between but again, my waitress suggested the cold tartare would be a nice counterpart to the warm and rich Cassoulet. So I had the tartare. And it ruled. As you can see, it was dressed with a frisee salad and cornichons, and served with the thinnest, and most delicate potato chips I have ever had. The beef was incredibly rich and of the highest quality - and made even more rich when I mixed in the quail egg. The tartare had paper thin slices of garlic and a generous portion of capers (I couldn't tell if these were smoked as well, a little trick I picked up from Ideas in Food, and one of my favorite things). The smoke flavor was present, and very nice, without being the least bit overpowering. A lot of people look at dishes like tartare or carpaccio as too basic to be anything special, but a lot of care had to be put into this to achieve the balance of flavors and textures. Hands down, the best tartare I have ever had.

Course 2:

Cassoulet - Duck confit, housemade Toulouse sausage, pork belly, haricots coco - This dish sent me into a frenzy, for days after I had a incurable craving for Cassoulet. I almost ordered it again, immediately after finishing it. When I got home from dinner I spent probably an hour trying to find the best Cassoulet in Chicago, or even just french restaurants close to my apartment with it on the menu. I've always loved Cassoulet but this was like...as if I have never had it before. I did wind up getting it again later in the week, at a place in Old Town. Im sure it was a fine example, but difficult to finish in comparison to what I had at Henri. I'm trying my hardest to not go back on Monday, which would sandwich me between a dinner at Trotters and Toplobampo. Maybe the following week. Now I suppose I should actually describe the dish. The beans were wonderfully tender without being mush - the sauce was rich and salty and heavy with thyme. The sausage and pork belly were both great, but the highlight was the duck confit. Meltingly tender with skin that remained perfectly crispy to the last bite.

Course 3:

Paris Brest - So Paris Brest is probably my favorite pastry. I used it as a component on a plated dessert I did for competition last year and consequently ate it several times a week for several months. The beauty in a Paris Brest, is the same as an Eclair (a very similar pastry, so maybe not the best comparison). When everything is on, you want to cry its so good. Yet its so simple. With this, and other pate a choux based pastries, I get all misty and philosophical - not unlike most bread bakers get about bread. Anyway, if you're not familiar with a Paris Brest, as many Americans seem, its a pate a choux ring (which is supposed to represent a bicycle tire, the pastry was made to commemorate the Paris-Brest-Paris bicycle race) filled with a praline cream. This was a very nice example, my only complaint was the pate a choux was either soft from being filled and held too long, or was not baked quite long enough (which is very easy to do). Either way, minor complaint as I was dizzy from joy.

As I was finishing my dessert, the incredibly hospitable Director of Operations, Terry McNeese came to my table (which he had done during my second course, to ask how I was enjoying it and to mention it was one of his favorite dishes as well). He commented that this was also one of his favorite desserts and we chatted for a minute. He returned to my table shortly after and poured me a glass of Pineau des Charentes. He explained that it is a fortified wine made from lightly fermented grapes and cognac. He went on to explain it is typically drank as an aperitif, but he likes it as a dessert pour. In the interest of full disclosure, this drink was on the house. And it was good. Unlike anything I have had before, and difficult to describe. Next time I am at Henri, I will order a drink that uses this (its in a couple of their cocktails).

After settling the check I was brought a mignardise (mignardi?):

This was a dark chocolate truffle with caramel and banana. It was yum.

As I was putting on my jacket, I thanked Terry for the drink and we started chatting. I mentioned how I was new in town and he started listing off places (restaurants and bars) I should check out. This was incredibly kind of him, and it seemed so genuine for him to be doing, rather than just trying to please the customer. He even pulled a waiter over to help come up with some ideas.

I cannot stress how great this meal was. Every course was carefully thought out and executed with such care and precision, its hard to fathom. That cassoulet was not only the best single dish I have had in Chicago, its the best thing I can remember having in a VERY long time. I'm still in awe of it. The service from start to finish was incredibly personal and friendly while remaining professional. Its very difficult to balance these things, and not come off as a phony. The people here love what they're doing. And so do I.

Everest & Tru

2011-01-16T09:17:00.000-08:00

This week I went to both Tru and Everest - two of Chicago's longstanding institutions of fine dining (both with Micheline stars). Everest has some ridiculous claim like holding four stars for 19 straight years. Pretty intense. Tru is...well, Tru. Its reputation is pretty huge. Rick Tramonto is no longer part of the restaurant (as of 2010). Meg Galus is no longer doing pastry (again, as of 2010) there. The current Exeutive Chef, Anthony Martin was named chef of the year by the Chicago Tribune only a few days after I was there. Good timing on the reservation. I'm not sure what exactly Gale Gand is doing at Tru presently, but her name is still on the menu. ANYWAY..

Everest:

So..it was a little tricky finding the restaurant..seeing as how its on the 40th floor of the stock exchange. That probably means something to someone from Chicago but the only building I know and can recognize is the Sears (WILLIS) Tower, and thats because I'm staring at it from the window of my schools kitchen five days a week. Once I figured out which building it was, I had to be OKAYed by the doorman. I made the reservation online, last minute, so my name wasn't on the list that was printed for security. They had to call the restaurant and verify...So I get on the elevator and head up to the 39th floor, where I then had to transfer to Everest's special elevator to go on up to the 40th. I get there and find my way to the host. The dining room is seriously old school - black and white linens and carpet, mirrored walls. Kind of charming after being in so many hyper-modern dining rooms in the past couple of weeks. Everyone talks about the view - which was nice...I guess. The building is set on the western side of the inner loop, and the windows are facing west. What this means is there are no high rises to obscure the view. What it looked like to me was the view from the Egg in the Empire State Plaza, looking at Rensselaer. Then again, that view is not so fresh in my memory. What I'm gettin' at here is the view is...whatever. Heres the food:

Started with a Manhattan - no cocktail list and lack of creativity on my part. It was OK. A little watery. Bread service - offered a rustic sourdough, mini baguette, a multigrain roll, maybe something else, and a Kalamata olive bread. I had the sourdough (good, not great) and the olive bread (REALLY AWESOME)

Course 1:

Les Ouvertures de la Soiree er uhhh a couple of Amuse Bouche - Well I knew there was going to be fish with the amuse because there was an obnoxious table of young (30-somethings) douche bags across the way from me that complained loudly to their server that even though they were specifically asked about allergies, dietary restrictions or aversions - and they said nothing; and that because they didn't order any, they assumed there would be no fish in any course. Okay so..from right to left theres a mushroom emulsion with bacon, a sunchoke and lobster potage, and some fried fluke and with radish, cuke, and black sesame slaw. All three were great. The mushroom emulsion with bacon was straight umami and really awesome. The potage was good, but the flavors were a bit muddy. The fish (essentially a fish fry) was good. The mushroom was the standout.

Course 2:

Presskopf of Duck and Pheasant, Apple Carrot Aigre Doux - A duck & pheasant terrine, a peppery salad, some other stuff. Okay so Ive always been kind of into charcuterie, and in school I really loved my garde manger classes; one of my great mentors is a Garde Manger chef - But one thing I never really understood was the fuss about were terrines. Ive had quite a few and they have all been good but nothing to write home about. I remember reading a quote - maybe MFK Fisher or Julia Childs...someone said something like they never got terrines until they had the one and it was the greatest thing they ever had. Thats kind of like what this was. It wasn't the greatest thing I've ever had, but it was a-freaking-mazing. So now I get terrines. I subbed out a cheese course later in the menu and seriously considered asking for this again.

Course 3:

Sauteed Casco Bay Sea Scallop, Pomme Mousseline, Alsace Tokay Jus de Poulet - This was a perfectly executed dish. Scallop was perfectly rare and melt in your mouth tender, with a beautiful golden sear - the mashed potatoes er, uh, pomme mousseline were very good - especially with the chicken/tokay jus. Everything on the plate came together really well. Im getting hungry just thinking about it.

Course 4:

Crepinette of Wild Sturgeon, Wrapped and Roasted in Cured Ham and Cabbage, Pinot Noir - This was also a really good course. On its own, the sturgeon was the weakest part, as it more or less so tasted like any old steamed white fish but when it was combined with everything else, it was awesome. The cabbage was flavorful as were the cured ham and the Pinot reduction.

Course 5:

Filet of Venison, Wild Huckleberries, Alsace Red Cabbage and Knepfla - Not a whole lot to say here. It was great. Venison was fork tender. Knepfla were delicious and butter. Sauce was savory and tart. Cabbage was cabbage and the chestnuts were...chestnuts. I loved the (what I think were) cocoa nibs used to garnish the venison. Really nice touch.

Course 6:

Composition of Tapioca Pearls, Blood Orange Sorbet - So this was essentially the best intermezzo ever. Its made of some tapioca pudding, passionfruit, pomegranate seeds, and blood orange sorbet. Just fruity and refreshing and not too sweet. I really loved this.

Course 7:

Guanaja Chocolate Parfait, Wild Hazelnuts, Gewurztraminer Slow Poached Pear - For those of you reading from the Albany/Saratoga area, this was more or less so the same thing as the Il Duomo from Mrs Londons, with some poached pear. So in other words it was awesome. For those of you who aren't from the Albany/Saratoga area, well..sucks to be you because you don't have Mrs Londons at your disposal (Check out this blog by Rose Levy Beranbaum where she proclaims Mrs. Londons has the best croissants in the world)

Course 8:

Alsace Vacherin - I subbed this course for a cheese course. Just...wasn't in the mood for the funk. Made up of crispy meringue, chocolate and pear glace, and vanilla coulis. This was OK. Weakest course of the night. We made some meringue crisps in school earlier that day and they were much more flavorful than these ones were. I know thats a silly point to make but this meringue had an off taste to it. Not sure how to describe it. Ohhhh well.

Mignardise:

Didn't really take notes on these...they were..pear pate de fruit, anise meringue, spearmint marshmallow (the chocolate cone thing) - some sort of white chocolate bon bon thing...a financier or something. I dont really remember these but the photo says I had them.

So Everest is pretty good stuff. They have a $50(ish) pre theater 3 course prix fixe that I'm sure is quite the bargain especially once you figure in amuse & mignardise.

So on to Tru. This was pretty intense. I was kind of uncomfortable, being the first person in the dining room which is serious kinds of fancy, as well as being the only solo guest for the duration. The service here is seriously top notch. My waiter brought over some (picture) books for me to browse to keep myself entertained. A nice touch - its weird eating by yourself. Anyway...sad story is I felt a bit too out of place to be snapping photos...so the ones I have here (for only a few courses) are stolen from starchefs.com.

So the first thing brought to the table was a comte gougere. It was one of those puffs that you see in photographs that you dont believe actually exist - perfectly round and even. Dont know how they pulled it off but I'm envious that they can do it. It was as yummy as a gougere can be.

A bread tray was brought over - all the options looked great. I settled on a pumpernickel mini loaf. It was beautiful with a subtle flavor.

Next up was the amuse, which was one of my favorite dishes of the night. It was a hell of a way to start the meal and really set a tone for everything. It had a bit of a silly element to it which, frankly I wasn't thrilled about - and it also had the second snow man I have had in a meal in Chicago. I love for food to be playful but not juvenile. Or maybe Im just a typical sourpuss from New York. Anyway, heres a photo:

This was served in a cone of magically appearing snow, with some pine or juniper branches and maybe red currants or something. I don't really remember. It was supposed to look all christmasy and snowy which it did. It was made up of a truffle turnip snowman, cauliflower puree, truffle mousse, black truffles, and beef consomme gelee. So. Good.

Next up was the white sturgeon 'caviar' with avocado puree and hazelnut crackers. You can probably find a photo of this dish if you try hard enough. It was pretty good. They take smoked sturgeon and through culinary wizardry (aka sodium alginate...or maybe tapioca) they turn it into caviar...thats white. It was pretty tasty.

The following course was the linear foie gras, with black fig ice wine vinegar, caramelized popcorn tuile, popcorn shoots, figs. Not a bad foie course, but kind of bold considering how sweet it was so early in the meal. The popcorn tuile was essentially toffee with some pulverized caramel corn on top.

After the foie there was a celeriac soup with butter poached yukon gold potato, black truffle puree, some sort of crispy thing, poached quail egg, and gold leaf. This was a pretty solid soup not much else to say. Truffle was kind of lost in the mix.

Next was probably the best dish I have had in Chicago so far. And it was a scallop dish (something that is seemingly on EVERY tasting menu in the world). This was seared scallop with butternut squash & ginger puree, apple celery salad. It was served with a scallop cream, in a glass conch shell. Each bite was so carefully composed, with a scary good balance of flavors - the precise amount of salad and puree perched atop of each slice of scallop...topped with a single leaf of micro red amaranth (or some similar microgreen)...each ingredient played an important part and it was incredible. Go here and eat this. Oh and the scallop cream? Whipped cream with...scallop essence? I damn near shoved my tongue inside that conch shell to get every last bit of it. Amazing. I need to learn how to make it.

After this I had the flavors of the season, which were apparently pumpkin, date, chestnut, (compressed) pear, and madras curry. This was a small dish with all of these ingredients in a madras curry foam. Not my favorite dish of the night, but still good. The pumpkin was so flavorful I asked what variety it was and they told me it was regular old pumpkin. I cant decide if I believe them or if they know something I dont when it comes to cooking pumpkin. The curry was a little flat...I guess the idea is the foam lightens something heavy but...I still wanted a stronger flavor.

After this I had duck fat roasted day boat cod with bouchot mussel veloute and chanterelle mushrooms. I think there was a foam on this dish as well - if not then it was the veloute - either way, something was flavored with 'the flavors of southeast asia' aka lemongrass, thai chili, ginger... Pretty much the same feelings on this dish as the one before it. Fish was good, everything else was good...would have liked a more assertive flavor anywhere on this plate.

The next course was cervena venison, with brussels sprouts, crispy applewood bacon, and red currant & venison jus.

Venison was literally fork tender...incredibly cooked. The accompaniments added a nice textural contrast, as well as a welcome tartness from the sauce/currants. This was a solid course

Next there was the cheese course. All three I picked were wayyyyyyy too funky for me. Did not enjoy this at all.

After this I had an intermezzo of sorts, a pear foam with citrus spiced port. This was weird and sweet and not very pleasant. It also lingered in my mouth, kind of..defeating its purpose.

Lastly I had honeycrisp apple beignet with creme anglaise and vanilla ice cream. This was a perfectly fine dessert but considering this places reputation...specifically Gale Gands reputation, I kind of expected more. The ice cream had noticeable crystals in it, which didn't make it taste bad but definitely took away from the overall pleasantness.

Afterwords I was given about a dozen mignardises, which of course I didn't write any notes on. They were all veyr good and beautiful. I do remember the exploding salted caramel bon bon, which was fun.

As I was leaving the restaurant I was also given a financier to take home with me, which I ate the next day and was delicious.

So Tru was great, though Im not sure if it lived up to my expectations. Its hard to rate something like this because Ive heard about this place for so long and expectations are so inflated that if its not the best meal of my life I wind up disappointed. Really the only faults were the two courses in the middle being a little more subtle than I would have hoped. And a more pedestrian dessert than I expected. Not the end of the world

Cozy Noodle & Rice

2011-01-15T08:24:00.000-08:00

Okay so Cozy Noodle & Rice is a (seemingly) popular Thai restaurant in Wrigleyville. They have a pretty cheap lunch menu that they are known for, featuring $2 soups, $5 noodle dishes, and $6 entrees.

I stopped in for some lunch...every surface in the restaurant looks like this:

I ordered the 'Ginger' entree, which came with some spring rolls:

These were spongy and kind of gross. The sauce was also much sweeter than I am used to having with spring rolls. Not a fan.

My entree was made up of chicken, ginger, onion, black mushrooms, carrots, and dry hot pepper. This wasn't really anything great. Not bad by any means, just...forgettable. It was VERY spicy.

Still wanting some quality Thai, I headed over to TAC Quick later in the week:

I started with some Kai Tod, which is deep fried marinated chicken with 'Thai special sauce'. This was just good fried chicken. The kind thats intentionally over done so it gets that great crispy chewy texture. I loved it.

My waitress recommended the special, Neua Pad Bai Horapha or Spicy Thai basil:

So this is something I've had at lots of Thai restaurants. Its more or less so spicy stir fried beef in a thick, sticky sauce with loads of Thai basil. This was by far the best example I've ever had. Utterly satisfying in every way. TAC Quick is quickly (sorry!) becoming one of my favorite places. Can't wait to go back.

Blackbird lunch

2011-01-08T21:59:00.000-08:00

So...back to Blackbird. When we were here my first night in Chicago, I noticed a $22 prix fixe lunch option. I had a couple days off from school this week so I made my way there to give it a try.

Course 1:

Coffee-scented fluke tartare with lemon cucumber, saffron, and bread sauce - As a tartare course there's not a whole lot to say. The fluke was nice and fresh - the cucumbers added a nice textural contrast. I wasn't crazy about the saffron crisps - they were a little too hard making them difficult to eat. The bread sauce was nice - second time having bread sauce in Chicago and I gotta say its pretty awesome.

Course 2:

Wood-grilled sturgeon with ham hock, red beet, cabbage, smoked date puree, walnut consomme - This was SO good. Sturgeon may be my new favorite fish. YUM.

Course 3:

Chestnut brioche, Asian pear, Pedro Ximenez sherry, tarragon ice cream - This was decent. The brioche was sliced in three different thicknesses, each one a little more caramelized than the other. I'm not sure if this was intentional but it was really good and a nice touch. The tarragon ice cream was a *little* strong, but still enjoyable. The pears were definitely too ripe and somewhat overpowering. The sherry worked better in some bites than in others. Good but not great.

Blackbird continues to impress me and needless to say, the lunch prix fixe is a serious bargain. I'm really looking forward to returning - hopefully for their dinner tasting menu.

TAC Quick

2011-01-04T20:37:00.000-08:00

TAC Quick, the TAC standing for Thai Authentic Cuisine, is a small Thai restaurant in Wrigleyville. You can (have to) ask for their 'secret menu' which has a wide variety of more ...authentic offerings than their regular menu. This soup - Kuay Teaw Reua - has brisket, beef balls, pork skins, chinese broccoli, bean sprouts, cilantro, and vermicelli in a thick, spicy, sweet, pungent broth. Im getting weak in the knees just thinking about how good it was.

TAC Quick

3930 N. Sheridan Rd

Chicago, IL

School, Food

2011-01-03T21:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, so school finally started today and from what I can tell its going to require quite a bit of my time, so the frequency of my posts may slow down a bit...thats not to say I wont be posting...just not every day. Theres some exciting stuff coming soon (?), as well as lots of events in Chicago.

Anyway, continuing my gluttonous tour of over the top & highly praised Chicago restaurants, I went to Boka last weekend for their 9 course grand tasting. I started with a barrel aged manhattan (aged in house for 2 months). After my drink at Graham Elliot I've been craving Manhattans. This was unusually smooth for a Manhattan and delicious. It seems that Boka's barman, Benjamin Schiller, has been making quite a name for himself and his bar. Later in my meal I picked a liquor and a flavor and he crafted some delicious cocktail that I have no clue what was in it other than sage and gin. On to the food:

Bread: Rosemary focaccia - this was the best bread I have had in recent memory. Perfect amount of rosemary, just crispy enough crust, salty...awesome. I had four slices (I rule)

Course 1:

My frist course was a bento box of raw samplings - clockwise from the top right: 1: Marinated snapper, crispy coconut crusted tofu, green tea soba noodle, pickled radish. 2: Shigoku oyster, American caviar. 3: Hamachi, blood orange, sunchoke puree, some chips (sunchoke maybe), black tobiko. 4: Bigeye tuna, eel terrine. The oyster & caviar was incredible..maybe the best oyster Ive ever had. The hamachi was also fantastic. The other two samplings were great but paled in comparison.

Course 2:

Seared Sonoma Valley foie gras, grilled banana, caramelized brioche, brioche puree, baking spice gastrique. I was told this was supposed to be reminiscent of banana bread pudding. I can see it. It was insanely rich and delicious - as would be expected with a foie preparation like this.

Course 3:

Maine diver scallop, forbidden black rice, cumin dusted lotus root, roasted zucchini puree. Everything on this plate was great. At this point I was super happy. Each course was great, tasteful, and exciting.

Course 4:

Scottish salmon, winter spinach, crayfish brandade, black garlic puree, crosnes, mussel & saffron foam - This plate was good. Im not a huge fan of black garlic, its flavor is VERY assertive and tends to overpower things. This was the first time I've had crosnes, and they're awesome. The brandade was great & the salmon was good.

Course 5:

Pheasant, beet braised kohlrabi, celery root, chestnut puree, truffle foam, black truffle - I was really excited when this was delivered, the description sounded so good. It was good...but not as mind blowing as I hoped.

Course 6:

Seared strip loin, crispy sweetbreads, moroccan ratatouille, creamy grits, collard green puree - All the individual pieces were really great - especially the sweetbreads and the creamy grits, but it didn't all come together as cohesively as I hoped.

Course 7:

Prickly pear sorbet, lime curd, tequila gelee - A brilliant and stunningly beautiful palate cleanser. Unfortunately the sorbet was a bit too sweet, leaving a lingering sweetness. Ive made prickly pear sorbet a few times and it is an unusually sweet fruit and makes for a bit of a tricky sorbet. Ive had bases that tasted great turn into horribly over sweet sorbets.

Course 8:

Spiced apple cake, honey crisp apple, vadouvan butter, walnut, yogurt gelato - This was a holy crap I can't believe how great this is kind of dessert. The vadouvan (essentially a french curry, with shallots) worked incredibly well - the yogurt gelato was perfectly tangy and refreshing..the cake moist and delicious. I would come back just to order this dessert.

Course 9:

Flourless venezuelan chocolate cake, hickory smoked chocolate gelato, cocoa nibs, pulp of cocoa pod - So this dessert was ruined by the gelato. I can totally see a smoked chocolate being awesome, but hickory was a strong flavor to pick and the smoke was overwhelming - becoming the only thing I could taste. Luckily I always try each individual piece to a dish before combining - because this was the first time I have had the fruit from a cocoa pod and it was incredible. Tangy, sour, faintly sweet with an afterthought of chocolate - unlike anything I have had.

With the check I was given a chocolate salted caramel and a cocoa nib meringue (that tasted suspiciously of cinnamon). Both were nice.

So thats Boka!

Ba Le Bakery

2011-01-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

Ba Le Bakery is a Vietnamese bakery/cafe located in uptown Chicago, in an area affectionately known as little Saigon. While they have a small grocery section and a fairly extensive selection of cold prepared food, their main draw is their Bahn Mi - known to most westerners as a submarine sandwich. Apparently Ba Le provides bread to many of the restaurants around chicago that serve Bahn Mi. They have a wide variety of (pork) options, most of which cost about $3.00. So much for five dollar foot longs.

The one you're looking at above has fried tofu, fresh avocado, swiss cheese, mayo, house pickled diakon & carrot, lettuce, tomato, olive, vinegar, jalapeno, onion, cilantro, and soy sauce. Yum.

Ba Le Bakery

5016 N. Broadway St

Chicago, IL

The TV chef

2011-01-01T07:41:00.000-08:00

OK. Graham Elliot. This restaurant is run by Graham Elliot Bowles, who appeared on the first two seasons of Top Chef Masters. It also just received its first Micheline Star. Its also the kind of place you can goto in jeans and a t-shirt and not feel like a jackass. Theres an interesting mix of 90s punk and modern hipster music playing. What Im getting at here is that for the quality and style of food they're pushing out here - the setting is not the norm. And I love it. It can be weird eating dinner by yourself, even more so when you have a lavish tasting menu. Being in an uncomfortable, stuffy dining room only adds to that. At Graham Elliot, I was totally relaxed and at ease. I also had one of the best servers I have ever had - Robbie. If youre there, request him. You wont regret it.

I want to apologize ahead of time for the photographs - the camera is new to me and Im not really used to doing it in a restaurant so I tried to be discreet. Hopefully the quality will get better as time goes on.

Popcorn (bread) Service:

So instead of bread at Graham Elliot, you get popcorn. I read a bit about it before I went and its a little unclear to me if the popcorn toppings change or if they are always the same. Mine was topped with cracked black pepper, parmesan, and truffle oil. The popcorn itself was a *little* stale but it didn't bother me much because it was delicious. I doubt I will ever have plain popcorn again.

I started off with a cocktail - I was a bit torn between a few and my server recommended the Christmas Manhattan (Black maple hill burbon, orchard cherry, great lakes xmas ale, cardamom demerara, cherry-vanilla bitters). My grandfather used to make me Manhattans every time I would go see him and he would make them with burbon and add a splash of the cherry juice. This tasted pretty much exactly like his Manhattans and I loved it. The photo I took of the glass looked worse than the beet salad photo below, so you'll understand why Im not bothering posting it.

Course 1:

Roasted beet/homemade ricotta/fried prosciutto - While you might not think it from the photo - this course was beautifully composed. When it comes down to it, it was just a beet salad but it was delicious. A wonderful blend of texturs and flavors, just the right amount of acid. The prosciutto chip was really yummy

Course 2:

Deconstructed caesar salad - Made up of gem lettuce, anchovy, brioche twinkie, and parmesan fluff. Tasted just like a good caesar salad. The twinkie was awesome and very pleasing texturally. Playful without being silly.

Course 3:

Butternut bisque/coconut milk/curry marshmallow/cabbage/toasted pepito - Garnishes were presented dry with the broth/soup poured table side. I was instructed to let the marshmallow melt fully into the soup. It was great...curried butternut bisque. Velvety smooth. If I was forced to complain about something it would be the garnishes were a bit al dente for me, but barely so.

Course 4:

Cheddar risotto/pheasant bratwurst/green apple/beer gel - This is the type of playfulness that Moto is desperately trying to achieve, and failing at doing so. Beautifully presented, wonderfully balanced - taking pedestrian flavors and dishes and elevating them to fine dining. The risotto, a riff of mac and cheese, was great. The bratwurst were fantastic. The beer gel made sense with everything rather than just being there to say hey look what we did. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Course 5:

Sea scallop/braised endive/salsify gnocchi/persimmon puree/persimmon chip - Right before this dish arrived, my server came over and poured me a glass of some Sardinian wine, saying it pairs so well with this course I had to have it. Awesome. The scallops were perfectly seared and wonderfully tender inside. Im kind of weird with scallops - one day I will love them and the next day I hate them. This day I loved them. All the accompaniments were great EXCEPT the persimmon chip, which was chewy and sticky the way a sugardaddy is.

Course 6:

Arctic char/mustard spaetzle/pickled beet/pumpernickel dust/dill coulis/caraway vinaigrette - All I wrote down for this course was 'awesome all around'. I really liked the spaetzle. I know Im reaching for description here but...pretty much all I wrote for every course was 'AWESOME', 'AMAZING', 'REALLY GREAT'...so...well you get the point

Course 7:

Heritage chicken/roasted chestnut/cranberry marmalade - Before this course came out my server asked me if I wanted anything else to drink, and I said in a sort of indecisive way, 'I think Im all set'. He then asked me if I would say no if he brought something out - and I said I wouldn't. So....he brought me a cocktail for this course...that I dont think was on the menu, and I cant recall what exactly was in it aside from some beer and some cranberry something. It was nice, in a negroni kind of way. It went really well with the dish. What I wrote about the dish was 'everything rules except the chestnut'. Im not a huge fan of chestnuts...they have a bizarre mouth feel.

Course 8:

Wagyu beef/potato confit/autumn root/powdered foie/truffle consomme - Robbie, my server, brought another glass of wine to pair with this course. All I know was it was red and it was good. And the food was as good as it sounds. Perfectly seared flat iron, wonderfully earthy flavors. It was served in one of those wide, shallow bowls that can double as a plate. This made it a little tricky to spoon up all of the truffle consomme.

Course 9:

Pistachio pudding/sour cherry sorbet/blood orange gel/cocoa nib/sugar tuile - This was a really great dessert. The pudding was velvety smooth with a wonderfully soft pistachio flavor. The sorbet was awesome and really countered the soft pistachio flavor. The tuile and cocoa nibs added great texture.

Course 10:

Indoor s'mores - graham cracker/milk chocolate foam/dark chocolate ganache/house made marshmallows/peanut butter gelato/sea salt - This was unfortunately my least favorite dish of the night. It was most certainly s'mores, but I felt that it was a bit too rich for the last course. Everything was delicious, especially the peanut butter gelato.

I wont soon forget my dinner at Graham Elliot. Every dish was delicious, playful and sophisticated while maintaining its integrity. The two wines and cocktail that my server brought to my table were complimentary, which I was shocked by. Rarely have I seen front of the house service that was so into the food they were delivering. Robbie was obviously passionate about not only impeccable service, but the nuances of the food and drinks and flavors and how they worked together. If you're looking for a place to eat in Chicago, you could certainly do worse than Graham Elliot.

Up Next: Ba Le Cafe, Boka

Taco de lengua

2010-12-31T08:52:00.001-08:00

El Burrito Mexicano

936 West Addison Street Chicago, IL

Its nice living in a city where theres a large enough hispanic population that one can have a legitimate debate about which taqueria has the best food. Maybe I'll find out

Moto

2010-12-30T10:50:00.000-08:00

So I lied about having Graham Elliot in this post. It will be in the next one. Im just too lazy to write up two lengthy tasting menus in one sitting. Now on to Moto. Let me start by saying once again I was hesitant to take photos as when I started my menu I was one of two guests in the dining room and there were a lot of waiters and it was stuffy and...well Im a huge pussy and dont want to stick out ever. Because of this, I am borrowing all of my photos from this lovely Japanese blog. Its actually kind of fun to read with google translate. Anyway, my afterthought of my dinner at Moto was...is this some kind of joke that Chicago likes to play on out-of-towners? There were some signs of brilliance, and some overall good dishes...but as a whole, the dinner was lackluster and full of things being done for the sake of doing them. Throughout my time in culinary school, my chef instructors would constantly drill one thing into the students head. NFG are NFG. Non functional garnishes are no fucking good. I feel like this applies to moto...but in a more grand way. Not so much garnishes but dishes that left me thinking why the hell would they do this or use that or whatever. If chef Homaro Cantu learned a little restraint I could see it becoming a stellar restaurant. But for now he strikes me as that kid who hangs out with your group of friends who nobody actually likes because they're constantly trying way too hard to be noticed. But maybe Im the douche because the dining room at this ridiculous expensive restaurant was packed on a cold, dreary Tuesday night.

I do want to be clear that I fully understand how personal food is and I try not to fault chefs who do things that Im not crazy about. I respect what Cantu is trying to do, however the more I think about how much I paid for this dinner, the less I want to hide my criticism. The front of the house service was top notch and polished. No complaints on that end. The music selection was a little strange though...it was exactly the same obnoxious clubby stuff you would hear in some shitty trendy clothing store.

I started off with a cocktail - the Cucumber GINger - featuring ginger infused gin, lillet blanc, fresh ginger, and cucumber. It was served in a Erlenmeyer flask, with a straw and frozen twist of cucumber. The drink tasted like cucumber simple syrup. I did not pick up on any ginger flavor, which was the main reason why I ordered the drink.

The amuse...or maybe bread service, depending on how you want to look at it..was my menu. This is kind of a signature dish at Moto. The twist for the evening was a gourmet fluffernutter sandwich. This was one of my favorite courses. It had pleasing textures and flavors, a nice play of sweet and salty. The downfall is how tricky it was to eat while trying not to look like a complete fool. I enjoyed watching other diners tackel this throughout the evening.

Course 1:

Margarita ceviche/Snow Man - A simple tartare of ahi tuna (which was stellar quality) topped with a snowman of lime foam, dotted with hawiian black salt and himalayan pink salt. The waiter then poured a cocktail of tequilla, gojiberry juice, and some other stuff that escaped me. The overall effect was OK. The cocktail and lime foam were a bit overwhelming and took away from the high quality of the tuna.

Course 2:

CO2 Grapefruit/White Steel - This was, overall, my favorite dish of the evening. When the waiter presented this dish, they noted that the overall effect was to mimic a gin and tonic. With the use of carbonation, citrus, vanilla, and juniper I thought that it may work - but it didnt. Instead it was just a nice dish. The coho salmon was oil poached, and meltingly tender. This was one of the finest pieces of fish I have ever had. The hearts of palm, vanilla bean puree was velvety and slightly sweet and paired well with the salmon. My grapefruit segment was not particularly carbonated - I am familiar with this technique and realize that it is something that needs to be served ASAP in order to achieve the effect. No harm no foul. The fruit still served its purpose, cutting through the richness and fattiness lingering on the palate.

Course 3:

Chicken Noodle - This was another successful dish. It was very salty - but when it comes to roasted chicken or chicken soup, I enjoy it to be somewhat over seasoned. The noodle was made with dehydrated, pulverized chicken replacing some of the flour in the recipe. This worked rather nicely, creating a very savory and flavorful noodle. It was, however, a bit al dente for my taste. Im not sure if this just happens because of the chicken in the noodle or what..oh well. The powder...tasted like chicken, Im not sure what they said it was supposed to be. Ive never been a huge fan of powders made this way - using tapioca maltodextrin. They look beautiful and do serve some purpose but they always wind up feeling pasty and unpleasant in my mouth. The little chip you see was crispy chicken skin, which was VERY crunchy and sharp...not quite what I hoped it would be. The mirepoix puree was very flavorful and rich.

Course 4:

Golden twist ale - I was told this was a ode to Wisconsin. The garnishes (brunoise of dehydrated shallot, cheddar, chives, and maybe something else) were served dry in the bowl. The waiter then opened an anonymous bottle of beer and poured the pretzel broth into the bowl. The garnishes were out of whack tasting almost entirely of chewy shallots. The broth was much too sweet. I did not enjoy this dish at all.

At this point I had finished my cocktail and ordered a Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout, which I nursed for the rest of the evening. Its a great beer if you have never had it. Not a far cry from a chocolate stout.

Course 5:

Lobster & Brown Butter - As server told me that this was supposed to mimic a New England clam bake she picked up the candle at the table and said, 'no clam bake is complete without butter' She then extinguished the flame and poured the 'wax' (brown butter) over the dish. I assumed something like this would happen throughout the dinner but for some reason did not expect this - it was playful and nicely executed. So on the plate, there was an acorn squash (I THINK?) puree, potato gnocchi (what looks like a scallop) a couple nice clams, some lobster and a fork with some thyme in the handle. The thyme was not very aromatic, so the effect was lost. The gnocchi were kind of gummy. The lobster was tough. The butter had a strange smoky flavor that I actually kind of liked. Overall this was just meh.

Course 6:

Yellow snow - Same complaint with the powder as usual. This time it was very strongly flavored. The dish was supposed to be pineapple curry. I guess it succeeded in that, but it tasted kind of like crappy curry bricks or frozen curry.

Course 7:

Baseball snacks/Quail with crackerjack - This course was wayyyyyy too sweet. The pear and candy apple (..I think) puree was tasty but belonged on a dessert plate. The coca cola reduction was as nauseatingly sweet, as you would expect. The quail was nice, but the peanut coating was too thick. The paper was silly.

Course 8:

Astronaut tartare - Freeze-dried prime rib with a tartare of traditional tartare accompaniments...This was a nice departure from the previous, sickeningly sweet course. Had a nice kick to it.

Course 9:

Cuban cigar - Another signature dish - one of the best of the night. Pulled pork wrapped in braised green, red pepper coulis, ash made from some stuff...it was salty but yummy. Very satisfying in ways other courses were not.

Course 10:

Forest roll/Rabbit maki - The gimmick is its not sushi. Amazingly-tough-for-being-sous-vide sous vide rabbit, mushroom paper, sticky rice risotto (gross), pickled diakon (dyed with beet juice), some sort of aioli and dried pea. I did not like this at all. Salty, mushy, unpleasant.

Course 11:

Nuac Man/Maitake & Pork Belly - I have no clue what nuca man is supposed to mean but the only thing that came to mind was nuoc mam, the delicious fish sauce condiment found in vietnamese cuisine. This in no way shape or form resembled that. I dont know if thats what they were going for or what but...yeah. Pork belly was OK. The gai lan was...gai lan. The maitake mushrooms were ok...the meringue mushroom made from the liquid from pureed mushrooms was...stupid. It was super salty.

Course 12:

Shabu Shabuccino - Shabu shabu that is supposed to be like a cappuccino. Hum. The espresso was a thick broth made with black garlic. There was some veggies in there and some thinly sliced beef. The foam was potato. The sugar cube was compacted truffle powder. This dish as a whole was similar to eating a packet of beef ramen seasoning. And not good ramen either. Crappy Top ramen. It was SUPER salty...the beef was very difficult to eat with a teaspoon (the slices were very large). This is what I imagine eating beef base would taste like. If you like eating salt, youll love this dish.

Course 13:

Alley-yum - The venison on this dish was very nice..tender..flavorful. All the individual components (fried shallot, braised green onion, onion puree, onion chip, roasted red onion, pickled cippolini) were nice...but really it was overwhelming. Too much of a (kind of) good thing.

Course 14:

No picture but thats okay. It was a chestnut spritz cookie. Unassuming. I knew it couldn't be that simple. It was a frozen puree. Wish I knew because of my sensitive teeth!

Course 15:

Frites, frozen and fried - I loved this course. One of the least showy courses and it was good. Sweet potato fries and sorbet. Some crunchy shit underneath. Sage pudding. It worked and it worked well.

Course 16:

Green curry lime - kind of a intermezzo. Made up of a trio of gels, some coconut oil, and lime vesicles. Not horrible but I wouldnt say it tasted of green curry. More like lime that was spicy.

Course 17:

Banana Split - Frozen banana mousse (ok) freeze-dried peanut powder, caramel, chocolate, strawberry sauces. Pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Nothing special.

Course 18:

Acme bomb - I loved this. It was playful and cute. They said it was filled with graham cracker and marshmallow...but it felt like a completely liquid center. Dont know what was going on really but it was very very sweet. And fun.

Course 19:

Cookie crumbs/Earl grey & chocolate - Made up of tea cookie crumbs, freeze-dried raspberry pieces, earl grey ice cream (awesome), chocolate mousse underneath, and I think some orange something in there. Cant remember what the crispy tuille things are. Not bad...the cookie crumbs were a bit stale which messed with the mouthfeel of the whole dessert. The earl grey ice cream was awesome.

Course 20:

Tonka Bean Flavors - An edible packaging peanut and tonka bean soda. Frozen table side in liquid nitrogen, the peanut was vanilla (or so I was told) and tasted exactly like a styrofoam peanut. The tonka bean soda was like drinking a really gross syrup. Not good at all.

Course 21:

Okay so the table in front of me and next to me both got this course and seemed to really love it so I asked if I could give it a try. The kitchen was very accommodating and sent it out very quickly. It was a literal interpretation of a crab cake, made of a yellow sponge cake with king crab in it, lemon cream cheese frosting, fennel frond oil, poached fennel, and squash ice cream. The cake was okay, I think if its explored a bit more it could be successful. The cream cheese icing was a bit much. The fennel was good (can fennel be bad?). The squash ice cream was on top of some pulverized squash seeds which stuck to my teeth like sunflower seed shells do. The ice cream was VERY strongly flavored and not that great. The dish was kind of all over the place but I can see some brilliance in there somewhere, with a bit of refinement that is.

So...its no secret. I was not impressed at all with Moto. The flavors were all over the board, as was the seasoning. Many dishes were tacky and in desperate need of refinement. While I havent been to Alinea yet, I would imagine that you would be much better off spending that money there. Or anywhere for that matter.

2010-12-29T11:33:00.000-08:00

We skipped town just ahead of the a blizzard that dropped a foot and a half of snow (correct me if I'm wrong). The drive was long, but relatively pleasant. When we got to Chicago we quickly unloaded the car and unpacked. My gracious roommate then drove us around the city for a while, showing us some neighborhoods and restaurants, as well as other points of interest. We then had breakfast at Eggsperience in River North. Eggsperience has a large menu of relatively standard breakfast fare, as well as truly behemoth portions.

Caliente Wrap - Scrambled eggs, chorizo, onions, pepperjack, hash browns, jalapenos

Chorizo Omelette - Chorizo, tomatoes, onions, pepperjack, and jalapeno

Farmstand Frittata - Spinach, mushrooms, bacon, jack & cheddar

After breakfast we went back to the apartment to relax a bit and plan out the rest of the day. Exhausted from the trip, we all wound up napping longer than expected. We then headed to the West Loop for dinner at Blackbird. Blackbirds chef, Paul Kahan, seems to be one of the most popular chefs in Chicago. Also under his wing are Avec and The Publican (which smelled amazing as I walked past it on my way to Moto). We were a bit hesitant to photograph our dinner as the menu requests no cell phones...So let it be known any pictures from here on are scoured from the web. We started off with a round of cocktails, each of which were wonderfully flavored and balanced. These were the best drinks I have had in a long time. The Blackbird Orange (Koval Rye Chicago, Spiced Honey, Orange Juice, Fee Brothers Aromatic Bitters) was refreshing and perfectly balanced and not overly sweet as most drinks seem to be.

Oz - Pierre Ferran Ambre, Plum Wine, Apple Cider Syrup, Sparkling Wine. My least favorite of the three, but still a great drink.

London Calling - Plymouth, Pimms, Apple Butter, Cucumber Soda. Not overly sweet or too heavy with cucumber (a common issue I have with cucumber drinks) - this was reminiscent of milled cider, but better and more balanced.

Smoked suckling pig with hama hama oyster, fall giardiniera, sunchokes, and hazelnuts.

Octopus confit with celery root, crispy tuscan kale, caviar and red navel orange. The octopus was fork tender.

Blue hill bay buchot mussel soup with whitefish, saffron, garlic, and basil. This was the weakest dish of the evening.

Roasted chicken and sausage with cauliflower, maitake mushrooms, kaffir limes, and applewood broth. The chicken and sausage was done as a ballontine, and incredibly executed. All the accompaniments were great.

Grilled iberico pork collar with roasted turnips, charred leeks, quince, and black truffle.

Alaskan sablefish and sweet potato brandade, shrimp brased onions, turmeric and pickled cranberries. Amazing all around. The fish was some of the best I have ever had, the brandade complimented it perfectly - as did the pickled cranberries and other accompaniments.

We also ordered three desserts (sorry for the lack of photos):
Phyllo brittle with caramelized white chocolate, almond yogurt, blood orange, aperol and cranberry sorbet. A stunningly beautiful dessert. The sorbet was the highlight.

Banana pain perdu with butterscotch, malt, pine nut, and burbon barrel wood ice cream. This was the best of the three - all the components worked beautifully together. The ice cream was fantastic.

Graham cracker puff pastry with tonka bean, cinnamon, marshmallow, pumpkin, and milk chocolate ice cream. This was the only dessert we weren't crazy about.

Overall, Blackbird was a fantastic experience. The service was impeccable and the food was truly great. They offer a $22 3 course lunch as well as a $100 11 course (including amuse and intermezzo) dinner menu, both of which I plan on checking out while I'm in town.

Up next: Moto, Graham Elliot

Heading out

2010-12-20T06:42:00.000-08:00

To my one blog follower, I apologize for the general lack of activity on this blog. Life happens, you know? Let me bring you up to speed. I graduated from (community) college - started working at a upscale steakhouse/golf course/'thing' in Saratoga Springs, NY. Then I stopped working there to focus on some other things. One week from now, I will be moving to Chicago to make some pastries for about 6 months. I've been to Chicago once, and know very little about the city (aside from the restaurants I have already made reservations at). SO, in an attempt to stay in contact with people at home without actually having to pick up a phone, I will *hopefully* update this thing with some regularity.

Daring Bakers Challenge - June 2010

2010-06-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard

A pdf of the recipe can be downloaded here

Not a bad dessert at all. As far as the recipe goes - I did include the Grand Marnier, but not the Sambuca, and if I were to make it again I would reduce the amount of lemon zest. Other than that, its pretty spot on. Now for what I did differently: After baking my meringues for about 30 minutes, I pulled them from the oven and let them cool. At this point, they weren't far from the texture/consistency of a flourless cake. I scooped out the center and then put them back in the oven until they were crisp. I then filled the meringues with the mascarpone mousse rather than topping them with it. Heres a shot of the inside:

I want to thank Dawn for the challenge this month, this was the first pavlova I have made and certainly wont be the last.