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Thoughts on Restaurant Life through the eyes of MJ JUNE 27th Today I swam in our pool for the first time this summer. No I don''t have a private swimming pool butone of the reasons we bought our home was that we look out over the swimming pool that we share with our townhouse association. It was a big draw for me. There is nothing more relaxing than waking up early in the morning and trudging down the hill to take a quick swim. Especially when no one is there and the screaming children don''t arrive till 10am or actually are not suppose to swim till 10am. If I were 6 again, I too would be screaming at the thought of going swimming. Growing up on Vashon Island, my summers were spent sitting in the back of my grandfathers yellow, ford station wagon (which was also used to haul trash), headed to the beach. My mom loved to lay in the sun and my sister and I would explore the rocky beach for treasures that were washed ashore.Whenever I get in mussels for the restaurant I immediately dump them into a bucket of water and let them soak and the first thing I do is stick my nose as close as possible to the edge of the water and inhale as deep as possible. I immediately am transported back to my Vashon Island summers. Kind of like the moment in Ratatouille when the food critic takes the first bite of his dish and you see him going through a portal in his mind to his childhood. I so treasure the days the restaurant is closed. It is really the only way that I can relax. Of course my husband may not agree but when the five days a week the restaurant is open, I wake up thinking about what needs to be done and when I got to bed and my head hits the pillow it is the last thing I think of. During stressful times it is the thing I dream of. Usually with nightmares of staff changing things and I am always in the weeds. Yesterday was an exceptionally long day but the fact that today is Sunday, means the weeks is over and you can put everything behind you, enjoy the day and think about tomorrow when your head hits the pillow. I am going to enjoy a day of going through papers and magazines that I know my husband will be thrilled to see removed from every level surface in our home and by cooking something wonderful for dinner. One of the reasons I enjoy cooking at home so much is in the corn kitchen, which is a natural restaurant occurrence, the day is always filled with interruptions. I love being at home in front of the stove without all the disturbances. JUNE 24TH A few disappointments this month. I haven''t figured out if I like the customers who stalk us for Rachel Ray or not. I am grateful for the $40 a day, television spot that has run over and over but it seems that the people that come are high maintenance and don''t want to spend a nicke,l plus don''t even tip. You can''t experience Rapid City and eat in 24 minutes! Take for example the couple last night. They told us they took two planes just to get here. Of course, everyone does. We live in a two plane town unless you have a jet. Second they came 15 minutes early. Stupid us for seating them which caused a little back up in the kitchen. A 25 minute wait for their half of cheese plate which we comped them (gave them for free) and than another 25 minutes on top of for their Spaghetti Carbonara and their blackened salmon dish. As I mentioned, we had some walk ins plus we also took a four top to go order. We didn''t know that it was four people when we said yes on the phone but it turns out that their friend Michael Pollan who they are meeting in Martha''s Vineyard (I am soooooo jealous) recommended they eat at the Corn.They wanted to see Mt. Rushmore also so the only was to take food to go. Of course, we realized we had 3 to go containers so ended up making a jumbled array of containers with food in them (sorry) and of course this to go order also caused the jam up. I would rather please friends of Michael Pollan than some people who really do not understand food and are not foodies but Rachel Ray stalkers. I can count on my hand how many times I have gotten free food and waited an hour for one course instead of 25 minutes (we put the time on every ticket so I know exactly how long plus when the plate is cleared). The Corn Exchange is about relaxing, having a glass of wine, enjoying your surroundings and taking time out of your hectic schedule to sit and unwind. What made me disappointed was they saw it as the waitresses fault and left no tip. YES NO TIP! We cook every potato and every green bean and every entree that goes out to order on my 5 burner oven (one is out and I haven''t had the time to fix it). Most restaurants to not do that. We do not have a fryolater nor a microwave. Please, if you want your food in a half an hour I would suggest FAST FOOD! Go thru the drive thru and gobble it down. Hiring. That is always a scary thought. I have been lucky over the years and out of 20 people you interview you get 1 good one. I have fortunate to have a wonderful staff who cares and if they don''t they get booted out which they have done. Walter and I have also been probably too kind and have been taken advantage of but those people will learn the life lessons on their own and in the end the restaurant or as I think of it (my baby) is way better off because we always get someone a million times better who is more caring and gets it. The thing I don''t get is people not calling. People who blow all their credentials up your ass and than when you take the time to meet with them and extend a hand, do not have the professional courtesy to call back. There are a tremendous amount of unprofessional restaurant people out there and of course there are a tremendous amount of Professional people too. It just seems in South Dakota because a lot of people had not have the opportunity to leave the state or don''t want too and yes I understand that you do have that prerogative and maybe do not want too but isn''t it nice to see what is on the other side of the fence? You can always come back. (I know I am one of them that did) I feel it is nice to see what the industry has to offer and constantly has to offer. I am glad I did and that is why the corn exchange gets so many complements and people feel like they are in a big city when dining at the restaurant. Gypsy Dancer has seemed to disappear. I am sad but in his/her place Mata Hari has appeared. Between the bird food and the cat food and at a time the chipmunk food (I think he has also gone way side) you could go broke. I feel like an urban Snow White feeding the animals of the alley. The Potted Rabbit is coming along nicely. I wish I could enjoy the birth of it a little more but when you open your own restaurant you sign up for better or worse and at times it may mean that you have to wor keven longer hours. So be it and even cook every night. My friend Guy in NYC who has a great bar called No Parking, has found us a fabulous chandelier from Harlem that is Art Deco which will be placed in the center of the retail shop. Mike Stanley, who has been laboring over the design and who is also running our front of house part time, adds a huge professional touch to the corn team. He is picking our hardware for the sliding door between the corn and the potted rabbit. Hmm-mm $1600 hardware or $400. The farmers market opened a few weeks ago on Saturday with some lettuces and mostly jams and jellies and of course some sausages and some local meat. The weather has been like Seattle (I love it) but doesn''t make for a great growing season. I am looking forward to a lot of wonderful local produce. I do not think people realize the extent that you have to go to get good produce. We do not have a walk in at the restaurant but will have one at the Potted Rabbit. This will allow me to have a wonderful truck from Denver come up with organic produce but I have to spend $500 at least. I do not have room for 40 lbs of carrots at the moment and just have two fridges, one is a coke fridge. I shop at Safeway, pretty much every day and they have a great organic section and I have been doing it for the past 14 years, 5 days a week! Plus anyone of the food service companies make it a special order which you need a week to place an organic order and I''m not cooking for next week...I''m cooking for tomorrow! In NYC, I would pick up the phone at night and place the produce order and it arrived on a truck the next day (even if it was one pepper and 2 onions ...you did have to spend a limit thou) and you would check it in and begin cooking. How luxurious when I think back on it! I have planted some strawberries on my front porch in my strawberry pot and they look great.I am hoping to figure out how to put a few photos on my blog (in my spare time) so you can see them.It won''t be like my experience on Vashon Island, picking strawberries for Augi Takasuka when I was 12 but I think I can get at least 9 berries. May 16th Today it is raining. It hasn''t been raining all day but since 1pm it has. There is nothing better to sit on your couch and enjoy the rain. It isn''t fun when you have to drive in it and work in it but it certainly is a treat to be able to do nothing and just enjoy it. Mr. skikkels also is as pokes his head out onto the balcony door and lifts his nose up to take in the smell. I have always enjoyed the rain. A lot of people I know find it depressing but maybe since I grew up with rain it makes me think of my childhood. I find the rain to be cleansing and a time of reflection and it makes things stand still. Nobody plans anything outside in the rain so you can enjoy nature at its best, minus the people. May 15th I think I am getting too old to stand in front of the Vulcan and stick my head in it night after night. Don''t get me wrong, I enjoy cooking immensely but standing in front of the stove at 32 and 48 is a long stretch. The repetitive moves is what gets you. But for me, there is no other way to cook. I don''t like standing over a grill and turning things unless it is over a wood burning grill or pushing a button to a microwave or scooping things out of a steam table. Cooking is all in the technique and you have to be able to master the technique of knowing when something is done and not over or under cooking it and creating a wonderful taste sensation of flavors and textures. Flavors and textures are all where it is at. That is one of the things I noticed when eating at Charlie Trotters restaurant, the flavor was superb but the texture of everything was all the same. Soft or in a broth. I certainly would like help in my kitchen but the thought of needing at least 10 people plus to execute my food turns me off. Simplicity is where it is at. If I see a dish with more than 5 ingredients I wonder why and I guarantee you 80% of the time it is horrid and there is no rhythm or reason to them. May 9th, 2010 Mother''s day. I am not open on Sundays which I find is a wonderful relaxing thing. Of course, it isnice to go out on a lazy Sunday and have brunch somewhere and maybe visit a flea market or two (these were my Sunday rituals when I lived in New York City) which means that someone must work on Sundays to make this happen. I have worked my fair share of Sundays in the past. A stint as a brunch chef on Sundays at a little place in Prospect Park where I lived in Brooklyn that was a long 4 block walk to after my Saturday night line cooking gig at Henry''s End which of course afterward you would go out and have a drink and I had to be at Tartine by 7:30 am since I was the one who pushed up the gate and unlocked the door and begin to prepare for brunch. It was a cute little place that had a small intimate bistro charm to it and was actually ahead of its time located on 7th avenue between 14th and 15th street. Fran was the owner and the restaurant ended up closing a year later after I no longer could get up at 7 :30 am anymore. I made Christmas Cookies for Cleaver and Company one Xmas season, made muffins and specialty breads for The Leaf and Bean, special occasions as a private chef, filed papers and odd errands and of course the restaurant industry where in new york City the restaurants are open seven days a week to pay your rent. I had off Tuesdays and Wednesdays or a Monday and a Thursday, all sorts of wacky days and worked many Sundays. I lucked out at Home restaurants where two months into my night sous chef job and Wednesdays and Thursdays off the morning sous chef quit and I transferred to that schedule which was Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 5pm which was unheard of. I dread coming in on Monday thou which meant opening the small walk in door to sardines in my veal stock, eggs broken, just a total mess that was the morning ritual of a Monday work day. I have often thought about opening on a Sunday with the corn but one of the reasons you live in a place like Rapid City and own your own business is that you can set your own schedule. That is one of the luxuries of the entrepreneurial sacrifice. So instead of opening up so ten tops and 12 tops and 14 tops and 8 tops (tops are people) which is what Mother''s Day Brunch is all about, going out with 14 people which to me is a nightmare. I want you to bring your mother in with only 4 people or six at tops and celebrate on Friday and Saturday. 4/13/10 Happy Birthday Edna Lewis! From the moment I read your story in an old issue of Food and Wine, long before I ever attended Culinary School, I knew that I wanted to meet you some day. I kept my promise. Years later, I applied for a job at Gage & Tollner in Brooklyn in the fall of 1989 (upon graduating from The French Culinary Institute in July) where Edna was working. What a joy and delight. Here was the same woman whose warm smile lighted up the page of a magazine and here I was sitting in front of her, telling her why I wanted to cook with her. I will always relish the stories of Cafe Nicholson where Edna cooked for the likes of Tennessee Williams and William Faulkner. She would relay these tales tell while she peeled a case of tomatoes for her gumbo in the kitchen as she sat on a chair or while we cleaned soft shell crabs. After working a long day, she would sometimes enjoy a little nip of Jack Daniels in a coffee mug and I felt special to hold court in her kitchen along with her sous chef Tommy who would also chime in with a story or two on their days at Middleton Plantation. Here was someone who was in her 70''s and still line cooking. I always get a chuckle when I think how we chatted about lazy people in the kitchen and her comment would be that they were just “sashaying about.” After I left Gage & Tollner, I kept in touch with Edna and would meet her at her apartment she still had on the west side in the 40''s or at the Union Square market where she made such an impression in her brilliant colored cloth draped over her 6 foot frame. She looked like an African Queen as she picked up each farmers ware, bringing it to her nose and inhaling its aroma. When she left NYC we kept in touch through letters and when I moved out to South Dakota I chatted with her a few times on the phone where it took a few minutes to jog her brain on who I was (she was living in Atlanta by this time and was under the care of Scott Peacock.) and her memory was slowly failing her. At WCR conventions I would run into people who knew her and would ask of her health and at the James Beard Awards I would run into Scott and he would update me on Edna. When she passed I felt as if a candle had been diminished. Last year, when I read Judith Jones book “The Tenth Muse.” I felt as if I was back in the kitchen again with Edna. When I cook quail, I still feel connected to her. Gage and Tollner was the first place that I learned to cook or even work with quail and Edna always got a kick out of crossing their legs and putting a glass pie pan on top of them so they would stay put when we browned them on top of the stove. They looked so elegant on the plate with their crossed legs. Life is full of wonderful people who cross your path. I am so glad that Edna crossed mine. 4/12/2010 Just when you think you have experienced it all from customers, something catches you off guard. This experience was on Saturday. I had already put in my 60 hours for the week due to a missing employee which means the owner takes up the slack which I am happy to do because the restaurant is your baby and when you don''t want to take care of you baby anymore you need to find someone to adopt it! Anyway the customer had ordered a cheese plate for dessert and stated that he had wanted the olives instead of the fresh fruit which we add extra fruit for the dessert cheese plate since we leave off the olives. The waitress brought it to the table and I just happened to be next to her when she placed it down the gentleman snapped. I have seen a lot of people fly off the handle but to have someone turn from Dr. Hyde into Mr. Jekyll before your eyes in a split second is spell binding. All I could do was just sit there and let him rant and rave about where was the cheese, there was no cheese, it was all fruit and crackers and nuts, etc. He only wanted cheese. In my earlier days at the restaurant I would of picked up the plate, told him to get the F*** Out and ripped up his check. I would of eaten his tab and tipped out the waitress myself and said just get the hell out of my establishment. I would like to say that I have matured over the years and have learned to deal with customers in a more professional manner. It could also have been that I was so drained from my prior drama of finding out my unemployment rate went from 1.16 to 5.50 due to the fact that a former employee felt that they needed seven months of vacation and couldn''t find a job so they put The Corn Exchange into the hole and I had to make up for it with $1900 being deducted from my checking account, had drained any other responses of drama from the restaurant in me so the customer may have been lucky. I did explain about how I have to federal express/overnight cheese in due to its fragile nature but that was not his problem as he told me. I take pride in my cheese plate and I can tell you that I have eaten cheese plates everywhere I go at high end restaurants and I don''t know if he was expecting us to push out a cheese cart and let him choose his cheese as I lay a slab on his plate at probably a price that he would have created another scene. I remember my $25 cheese plate at Gramercy Tavern where we got 3 little, teeny, tiny squares of cheese with a slab of quince paste and and a side of nut bread. In Philadelphia, my husband and I had the cheese plate at Fork. There it was a strawberry, we choose two cheeses and had a side of bread and another blob of jam and that was also in the $23 or around there range. Our cheese plate has a side dish of marinated olives that we marinate ourselves, we are adding clementine segments and Marcona Almonds which are an additional treat not listed on the menu along with a bunch of fresh grapes and Carr''s whole wheat crackers and their water crackers, an organic Medjool date, dried apricots, two cheeses that I get from a cheese monger in the east coast and from the Midwest and some of those cheese have to clear customs. All this for $20. I don''t think that is bad at all. Midwest Living wrote about our cheese plate in last May''s issue they enjoyed it so much. The cheese plate is a reflection of what I would like in a cheese plate. The cheese would go bad if we paraded it around on a cart putting it back in the fridge each night and taking it out before service to let it come to room temperature. It is a challenge to bring certain things that are not readily available in your area. Cooking in New York City, you could call up the Cheese monger or just visit the shop and have cheese dropped off the next day to your restaurant. Here in the Midwest I have to make a phone call or chat via email and preorder specialty cheeses that take a few weeks to come from over seas and in the warmer months it must be expressed overnight which at times my federal express shipping is around $145. In the winter I can get away with having it shipped in two days. This is just one of many little things that require extra work when you run a restaurant that is 6 hours from the nearest big city (Denver). The customer did apologize later for his sudden outburst of cheese unhappiness ( I did bring him more cheese ) which I was happy about. We sell anywhere from 10-20 cheese plates a week so we must be doing something right. As a restauranteur ,I do my best and try and hit the mark every single time. I care about the attention to detail and my staff also cares about attention to detail. P.S. On Tuesday, when I hosted, a gentleman told me it was the best cheese plate he had ever had. He ordered the half cheese plate at our restaurant and for $1 more he got the whole works as opposed to a Denver Airport cheese plate ($9) that had one big strawberry and a sad melon slice and a blob of cold cheese. He loved the whole flavor combination of everything! Imagine that! April 4, 2010 @ 10 am Growing up, Easter was a day where I would finally get to wear my new patent leather shoes that were sitting on my dresser for the past week which killed me to look at and not be able to wear. And the dress that my Godmother, Mae Judson had purchased for me in Seattle at Bonwit Teller a few days prior. Usually it rained but a few Easters we were lucky to find eggs hidden outside among the daffodils and lush grass that surrounded my grandfather''s house on Vashon Island. When I lived with my grandmother in Mitchell, South Dakota, the Easter ritual was pretty much the same but what awaited us after church was an Easter feast that my grandmother was making at home upon our arrival from church. Also the four blocks that was the distance from my grandmothers house to home was a treat as opposed to the mile that we would often walk from our home on rural route 1, box 666 on Vashon to the Episcopal Church at the end of the road. Now at 48, I am known as the C&E Christian which is the Christmas and Easter person who attends church on those two days (when I can). Or as Father Mark told me in Safeway the other day as we were chatting, that I was also the P&L christian – Poinsettia''s and Lilly''s. It seems that somehow from 10th grade on, I just kind of vanished from church. When I moved in with my father and step mother in the sixth grade, we were sent to church and by the time I reached eighth grade the battle of trying to get us to go on Sunday was lost. The fact that they didn''t go and wanted us to go never made sense to me. I can''t blame them now, when I look back, they both worked six days a week and their one day of rest was Sunday. I feel that way now with my own business after putting so many hours into a week I so look forward to Sunday and relish that I can lie in bed and relax. I especially love my Sundays since the bank is closed and it is my one day of mental peace in not thinking about cash flow until I put my head down on my pillow on Sunday night and than it all flows back into my brain. When a holiday falls on Monday, wow it is like two Sundays in row, a double bonus! Growing up my Uncle was a preacher and when we would visit and stay with him for a time in Harrah, Washington, population 50. Church was a lifestyle. If you even wanted dessert, you would have to remember a Bible verse just to eat it. My mother was very religious and I believe she found solace in her loneliness through church. She would go to the Wednesday prayer meetings the Monday meetings, the Tuesday meetings and Friday meetings, and two services on Sunday. We even had the women from our church come over and clean our house when my grandfather was in town (he thought our house didn''t need cleaning) towards the end when my mother was too ill to clean. We would visit other church ladies and have tea and cookies with them. We were surrounded by the church. It felt comforting and good when I was little. I find as I grow older and cross peoples path in life, I can tell whether they went to church as a youngster by their manners. I found that church gave me moral structure. The base to treat others as you wanted to be treated. Of course there are those that do go to church and the the rest of the week are horrible people and than on Sunday, everything is absolved and they are good people once again till Monday arrives. I never understood that. I hope that I am the same person Monday through Sunday and work at being a good person starting from the inside out. I have found so many people to only care about being attractive on the outside and never think about developing the inside. I kind of feel like a preacher through my food. I have tried to build a flock through my restaurant and through the food that I cook I try and make it honest and true. You can cover up your food with all types of gimmicks and pretense but in the end it is either a chicken or a lamb shank and when you get to that, if it isn''t prepared properly, no amount of sauce can cover the fact that it is bad. Maybe that is why I take everything to heart. Cooking is so personal and the fact that you are putting it out their and asking people to pay money for it, at times is scary. Throw in all the other elements of just running a restaurant with the whole cleanliness and freshness aspect and employees and you can be driven insane. Especially if you really care about quality and a level of excellence. This Easter I am not going to church. In the last five Easters, I have been in New Jersey with my Mother in law and my husband enjoying the service and an Easter dinner in her home. This year I am preparing it for my sister and her family and my husband and his daughter as I drink my “just arrived” Blue Bottle coffee beans that are roasted for Chez Panisse which was an Easter present to my husband. We won''t be hiding eggs, but we will be eating peeps and I will enjoy my lovely flowers that were bought for me, until I grow tired and give in to my cat London who insists on eating every last rose. I will reflect on next year''s holiday since The Potted Rabbit will have been open for at least eight months and I will be up to my ears in icing rabbit and egg cookies and making Easter baskets for others to enjoy from my heart! Oh and not to forget, Mr. Skikkels (my friend from the alley whom I tamed through my ability as a cat whisperer) will also be enjoying Easter dinner with us. 3/29/10 @ 8pm After spending a few hours on a favorite website of one of my food mentors, I felt like being lazy and since the farmers market wasn''t open yet and I felt like some roasted vegetables, Walter and I settled on pizza from our favorite place in town, Picasso Pizza Barn. I decided that we would try the new wine we got in the other day, 2004 Clarendon Hills Bakers Gully Syrah from South Australia. Upon opening has a bouquet of tobacco and tones of black cherry and prune, my cost $43 dollars. It wasn''t what I expected, I thought it would be more fruity and intense jam but it was more of aged cherries and prunes. I thought of Robert Parker''s review and wondered how one''s person tongue could change the demand of a wine. What power. I think it may need to age a little longer. I will have to try the 03 and compare the difference.
3/29/10 Where has the time gone. I say this a lot when I go back to blog. When you live the life of a restauranteur you put your head down and the next time you look up it could be four days later, two weeks or even a month. Spring is in the air here until we get a sudden blizzard which could happen these next few months. I went to the store the other day and found rhubarb. I decided to make our Rhubarb-Almond brown sugar cake with the rhubarb strawberry compote which always cheers everyone up when we have the winter when is spring coming blahs! When I went back for more rhubarb the next day, it was all gone. I guess everyone had the same idea. Soon I will have people clamoring to bring me rhubarb and will be up to my ears in the next month with it. Growing up for a time in Mitchell, South Dakota, with my Grandmother my sister Lisa and I were treated to wonderful rhubarb compote that was made to accompany a spice cake or ice cream that Anna pulled from her back yard. When I make the compote at the restaurant I always imagine my grandmother back in her kitchen. I am back to running the front of the house full time. This always allows me to hire better and reconnect with our customers and the staff. The restaurant is always taken up a notch when this happens and it is a good thing. People have been asking about the potted rabbit and when are we opening it. Walter and I are on top of it. We both certainly want it opened but last years economy just wasn''t the perfect setting. We have put the date June 15th out there and we both decided if we only are selling coffee/espresso and a few morning breakfast items, that is a good thing. Kara Murner who has been under my corn tutelage these past seven years going on eight will be our early bird person who will be making the morning pastries along with other delectable s. I will follow in with other pastry items and making prepared salads and Walter will be overseeing our soups. We will have an espresso bar. We are all excited. The Potted Rabbit will be all take out with a few soups, a sandwich of the day, some prepared vegetarian grain salads, specialty cheeses and other items. A few of those will be my curried turkey salad and cranberry turkey salad that I will sell by the pound and people have been telling me they have been missing it since we closed for lunch in September of 2001 along with our chutneys and compound butters. Down the road I will be teaching cooking classes as well as having some food friends coming out to teach a class or too. Walter and I plan on making it a culinary center and a hangout for foodies. We will keep you posted over the next few months. I am looking forward to the arrival of Black Hills Morel mushrooms (hopefully) and wild asparagus. A wonderful purveyor who has no middle man and sells Maine Lobsters, sweet shrimp and Peeky toe crab meat contacted me a few weeks ago which is exciting and at times we will be selling items like these at The Potted Rabbit. I felt honored since he also sells to Dan Barber of Blue Hill in NYC. Not that I want our customers to be wearing lobster bibs but I can see some nice lobster pasta dishes and a salad for Friday and Saturday of Easter/Passover week. I am meeting a new Argentinian winemaker this week and look forward to tasting some of them with Kara and having them on as specials. 03/02/10 There''s is nothing better than waking up and looking out the window to a view of the East River and the Manhattan Bridge. Equally fabulous is Walter''s and my view from our home in Rapid City, looking out over the city and beyond that the wide open prairie. Met my friend Jean at The Standard Grill. Funny how she lives in Interior, SD and we can''t seem to get together for lunch in Rapid City but can in NYC. It was relaxing to sit and chat for a few hours and catch up on our lives. We both are always on the go and never seem to have a chance to chat unless it is midnight and Jean has ranching hours and I have restaurant hours. Dan Silverman is the chef and use to be a former chef at Alison on Dominick Street where I was also employed once. I spent 6 weeks of hell as a small stint out at Alison on the Beach the summer before I moved back to South Dakota. The prior chef had quit and the sous chef took over but was really in over his head. When you are cooking for 400 people a night, why in the hell would you want to be making tomato water? Since the new chef was inept, Alison had Dan Come out from Alison on Dominick to expedite on the weekends. Thank god. If it wasn''t for him, I don''t think I would of even lasted a week. The promise of helping them out and swimming at the beach in the hamptons and working a 9-10 hour shift turned into 15 hour days, the only water was the stuff dripping off my body from my sweat, sleeping on the floor at times of waitstaffs home, shooing away seagulls that were swooping down on me as I wrapped caul fat over a chicken breast on a make shift prep table outside. I could go on but won''t. We started out with an array of oysters and moved on to an iceberg lettuce, Kentucky bacon and blue cheese salad which seems that everyone is doing that now across the country. Next was a swordfish with tabouleh and a chermoula sauce but unfortunately the toasted cumin in the chermoula was so intense that it overpowered everything. The waitstaff garb was a little bizarre. Everyone is dressed in plaid flannel pants and vests or jackets. I guess they are going for a dandy look? From their, I took my friend up to Bouchon Bakery where I enjoyed a glass of champagne while my friend had their classic chocolate bouchons. If you haven''t been to Bouchon Bakery, it is a must on anyone''s NYC visit. You can just stare for hours into the pastry cases and see an array of exquisite desserts and savory items. Chef Marcus Samuelson was also in the area, busy chatting on his cell phone probably preparing for another spot on a show to push his new cookbook. Later that evening my friend Christopher and I enjoyed a superb dinner at Vinegar Hill. What another Brooklyn treasure. The whole meal was outstanding from start to finish. We had a 1998 Rose and the soup with sheep''s cheese and prunes and a chicken liver mousse along with a roasted chicken in a cast iron skillet and a pumpkin ravioli that tasted like it was made in heaven. This was a great end to my last night in NYC. I feel rejuvinated to come back to middle america and save it from chain restaurants! 3/01/10 You couldn''t have asked for nicer weather. Started my day with a decaf espresso and a soft gruyere omelette at the bar at Balthazar. It''s been there for ever and I never seem to tire of eating there. With the old mirrors and the yellow decor, you feel like you are in Paris which is the idea. Moved on up through Soho hitting Balthazar''s bakery first than on to Birdbath which is Maury Rubins new place inside the old Vesuvio Bakery than up through the village and visited my former place of employment, Home restaurant. I was happy to see it still was there and fondly remembered the steps into the basement where the walkin in was located and how many times a day I would trudge up and down the steps carrying product. No wonder why my knees hurt 16 years later! I wandered up through the west village stopping at The Spotted Pig where I enjoyed a glass of Olivier leFlaive and 6 Hog Island Oysters and a great smoked haddock chowder. The look of it was a little too cooked for me for me, I like my chowder to look chunky so you can tell what everything is, but the taste of the chowder was over the top plus they even made their own crackers. Nobody makes their own oyster crackers. From their I wandered up to the hipster meatpacking district. What a change. Stella McCartney store, Coach handbags. It is quite a change from 15 years ago. I reached my destination, Chelsea Market which I have been to often in the past but what an amazing transformation of a space. Inside an old warehouse is a whole world of food shops and a flower shop and also kitchen wares plus dining spots. It also houses the Food Network headquarters. From there I wandered up 9th avenue and Ethan Hawke casually was walking down the street and passed by me. As I was thinking about the first movie I saw him in (Dead Poet''s Society..i think) I looked into the window of a butcher store and saw black garlic. I immediately went inside. I couldn''t believe my eyes. I have never seen it sold anywhere. I patiently waited for 15 minutes while the butcher was grinding hamburger and slicing swiss cheese for a customer. $2.95 for a head which I thought was fair. If you have never eaten it, it has a wonderful sweetness to it like molasses. Great warmed up and eaten smeared on bread. It is almost like a texture of a gummy bear. From there I made my final trek to 23rd street to wear Madeleine is. It is a little cafe that I was told, makes the best macaroons ever. Since I took the class at The French Culinary Institute and will be making them at The Potted Rabbit and The Corn Exchange, I figured I must taste what everyone says is the best in nyc. I have eaten the best in Paris where I waited in line behind 30 people at Pierre Hermes shop. They were exceptional. The ones at Madeleine were equally delicious but it is nice to eat one staring up at the Eiffel tower. They had flavors like Peach and Saffron and Cassis. The colors are exquisite. I took my bundle of goodies home, and cooked a veal roast for my friend. Can''t wait to see what Tuesday will bring. I know I am having lunch at The Standard Grill. 2/27/10 What a great day. I am lucky to stay with a wonderful friend who has just moved into his new condo which overlooks the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge and you can see the empire state building and the Williamburg Bridge along with the east river. What a view. Makes me miss the city and all it has to offer. Begin the day with a Donut class where we made Apple Fritters and a yeast donut which we glazed and also rolled in cinnamon sugar. I think these would both be a hit at The Potted Rabbit. Went on to another four hour class of Cream Puffs and Eclairs. This was also another great class. I learned I could use bread flour instead of regular flour which has more gluten for my pate chouxs''. By the end of the day I felt like I couldn''t eat one more bite of sugar. I ended it with taking my friend out to Dressler''s in Williamsburg which I highly recommend to everyone. The chef is also a former FCI graduate. What a meal. Starting out with a Holland Rose cocktail, my friend with a Brooklyn. Martha Vineyard Oysters, their beet salad and the St. Louis Ribs. I have never tasted such finger lickn ribs that the meat has fallen off the bones (oh, ok I did have some fabulous short ribs at the bar of Osteria Vin Santo in Chicago but they were richer with Barolo wine). My friend had the Striped Bass and I had their Braised Oxtail with pasta. Again another oustanding dish. I have eaten at Vetri''s in Philadelphia and this dish was equal if not better than a Vetri pasta dish. I could feel the "love" when I was eating every last bite. We were treated to three wonderful desserts and I have to say they have the best Panna Cotta I have ever eaten! I have had Panna Cotta at the River Cafe in London and even at St. John''s but everyone seems to use skim milk. The Panna Cotta at Dressler''s was so rich and lush with a layer of Vanilla Bean seeds covering the entire top. The passion fruit puree was a touch of heaven. Along with the whole ambience of the room, I felt like I was transformed to Paris. This was a perfect ending to a perfect day and one which I will remember for a long time when I am standing in front of my stove in Rapid City, South Dakota, and start to feel sad and I will just remember this evening and a smile will come to my face 2/26/10 A miracle. I made the last flight out of Minneapolis to LaGuardia today. The plane from rapid city started out 40 minutes late which didn''t help, but Delta was kind enough to hold the plane while I raced thru the airport to leap onto the plane take the last seat left, which was mine. Thank god. It would have ruined my whole weekend. I had paid to take three pastry classes at The French Culinary Institute and would have missed everyone had I been rebooked on sunday which was what would of happened if I had not caught the flight. I truly feel lucky! 2/25/10 Wow, how exciting to be able to cook local Oxtail. I obtained some from 34 Ranch, which is one of my new purveyors for local beef besides my friends at Hogen Beef. They were wonderful. I slow roasted them for 4 hours with curry and vegetables, chicken stock and gewurtrazminer. I have also been making a new dessert for the restaurant but not a new recipe by any means, banana cream pie. I have been looking at the recipe in Tartine''s cookbook but have been using Bouluds'' creme patissiere recipe minus 1 T of flour and cornstarch and Maury Rubin''s tart dough from his "Tart" book. I would love to try and do a few different desserts at the corn but I don''t think people realize that it can take 2-3 hours out of a day to just create 8 portions of something new which at times it seems like there is barely enough time in a day to just get the other things done that is needed to open the door. I need to go home and pack for my flight out tomorrow. 02/23/10 How exciting. I have been working on tweaking my website for the past four years and finally it has unfolded. For those of you have been eagerly awaiting news of "The Potted Rabbit," Walter and I are happy to announce that we have put the date June 15th out there. With last years economy, it just wasn''t a good time to unleash the bunny. We both feel good about 2010. I will be taking some pastry classes at The French Culinary Institue here shortly and look forward to re-creating them at the specialty store with Kara. I am a little mentally drained from the snow and cold weather here in the Black Hills but once I stand in front of the stove, it all melts away when I begin cook. The soup I made today was Red Pepper and Fennel and I have to say it was outstanding. This comment is from someone who has been standing in front of the stove for the past 21 years. Why can''t recent culinary graduates learn to be a sponge and let some of the air out of their heads? Is it just me or is this a common trait of graduates? If you know everything in your 20''s, than I can''t imagine what lies ahead for you in your 30''s or or 40''s? I think of how lucky I was to have a lot of great people mentor me and had I thought that they had nothing to teach me I would of been wasting both their time and mine. You are never to old to keep learning. |