Archive for the ‘Fine Dining’ Category

Sidney St. Cafe, St. Louis

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Posted 16 May 2011 — by S.E.
Category Fine Dining, Full Service

Sidney St. Café chef-owner Kevin Nashan is passionate about culinary arts. He’s a professional culinary athlete who has the endurance and drive to survive the long hard hours it takes to achieve greatness; his work ethic is legendary. While on a tour of the café, chef Nashan proudly shows me his charcuterie aging room (a small humidity controlled custom room in the basement of the restaurant), fresh pates and terrines (classically made), and smoked products. We are out the back door of the kitchen in a flash and across the street to see the massive urban garden in the adjacent parking lot. Chef Nashan shows me the range of vegetables and herbs planted in neatly tilled mounds of soil, each tended by a designated member of the kitchen crew.

Back in the kitchen Nashan explains his drive to serve fresh local foods and to employ simple cooking methods with some modernist techniques mixed in. He also has a penchant for making as many things as possible from scratch. This isn’t unusual but the types of foods he makes from scratch including salumi, terrines, sausages, pretzel bread, and condiments remind me of the old school items I used to see in commercial kitchens back in the early 1980s. Few contemporary chefs of Nasan’s age (he appears to be in his 30’s) in smaller cities like St. Louis have the courage or expertise to take on scratch preparation of these types of items. Chef Nashan is a young chef with an old-school streak down his back and the unusual ability to balance classical and contemporary techniques with equal expertise and effect. His cuisine would hold up in any major metropolitan market including cities four times the size of St. Louis. Back in February the James Beard Foundation acknowledged Nashan’s talents by nominating him for the “Best Chef: Midwest” award for 2011 (Nashan didn’t win this year).

Chef Nashan is back in the kitchen now and I am sitting at the very end of the beautiful antique oak bar that dominates the front of the restaurant. The bartender and I begin to chat as she hustles to fill orders. She tells me that she has been with the restaurant for years having bartended for the previous owners. She loves how quickly the restaurant has evolved in recent years and the great attention Nashan has brought to the Benton Park neighborhood of St. Louis along with others including chef Gerard Craft of Niche located half a mile further up Sidney St. Although Craft’s food is outstanding, Nashan’s style is much more robust and craftsman-like in a St. Louis sort of way and just the type of food to draw local as well as national attention.

I am glowing with inspiration now so I order a seven-course tasting menu and sit back to enjoy the experience. My bartender gives me a refill and chef Nashan stops by again as he makes his rounds through the bar and packed dining room. As he heads back to the kitchen I am reminded once again that I just met another American chef working his heart out while living the dream. What a beautiful thing. 

Sidney St. Café Charcuterie Board with Pickled Cabbage and Pretzel Bread

 

Pork Belly with Flageolets and Bacon Powder

 

Seared Sweetbreads with Wilted Greens

 

Compressed Melon Salad

 

Sautéed Escolar with Pickled Vegetables and Pappardelle

 

Pomegranate Martini Sorbet

 

Roast Missouri Lamb Chop, Lamb Crepinette, Cassoulet with Fresh Sausage, Polenta

 

Whoopee Pie with Salted Caramel Ice Cream

  

Sidney St. Café

2000 Sidney Street

St. Louis, MO

314-771-5777

 

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Quince Restaurant, San Francisco

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Posted 11 May 2011 — by S.E.
Category Fine Dining

Michael Tusk is an experienced professional chef who, for a multitude of reasons, deserves the James Beard award he won two nights ago (best chef Pacific). Perhaps it’s the Italian inspired menu at Quince or the tremendous wine offerings or the outstanding décor and artwork in the restaurant or the well-heeled staff that gracefully provides service or the cool-cat bartenders who are quick with a joke and loose with a pour. To me all these aspects of Quince make it worthy of the accolades but the key inspiration is chef Tusk and his food.

I am sitting at the very end of the bar at Quince contemplating whether to grab a table and settle in or have a few courses and then head out into the sea of fantastic restaurants that make San Francisco such an outrageous food city. One of the bartenders senses my indecision and suggests that I take on a five course tasting menu and a flight of wines right at the bar. Good idea, I am not in the mood to sit at a table, nor in the mood to wander off into the Jackson Square neighborhood where Quince is located. My bartender is a real pro and our conversation continues comfortably.

The kitchen at Quince is located right up against the street in a two storey glass storefront. At night the kitchen radiates light and bustles with activity. Cooks in dark blue bibbed aprons work facing the street just on the other side of the glass. Chef Tusk stands at the far side of the hot kitchens island suite, back to the street expediting. Work in this kitchen flows smoothly.

My five course menu includes turbot, pasta with sea urchin roe, lobster with sun-choke and Dungeness crab. Tusk is known for his inventive pasta preparations and his heavy Italian influence. His menu is extremely seasonal and local and not overly modernistic in technique. While observing the kitchen from the  curb I noticed lots of old-school copper in use, traditional techniques being executed, and plenty of olive oil and butter being used. Chef Tusk’s time with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse comes through in his cooking. He handles seafood adeptly and my culinary experience is excellent.

 

Twice Baked Dungeness Crab and Oyster Souffle, Salsify and Red Endive Salad

 

Caramelle of Lobster and Sunchoke

 

Mancini Artisan Spaghetti, Sea Urchin, Fennel and Controne Chile

 

Turbot, Stuffed Artichoke, Artichoke Puree, Carrot and Red Onion

 

Meyer Lemon Tartlet, Meringue, Confit and Caramel

 

Financier, Chocolate, Blood Orange Gelee

 Quince
470 Pacific Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94133
415-775-8500

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American Mussel Harvesters, North Kingstown, Rhode Island

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Posted 05 May 2011 — by S.E.
Category Fine Dining, In Case You Missed It!, Travel, Uncategorized

When Bill Silkes approaches me he is smiling and, as a shellfish lover he has much to smile about. Silkes is president of American Mussel Harvesters, Inc., and he’s a fish guy. More specifically, Bill is a shellfish guy whose office window view is the pristine waters of Allen Harbor just off Davisville, Rhode Island. American Mussel Harvesters, Inc., is one of the largest producers of mussels in North America and a major distributor of oysters and clams as well. In addition to farming mussels, oysters, and clams, Silke’s company also markets and distributes nearly three dozen varieties of oysters from the east and west coast of the United States and shellfish from several provinces in Canada. The company is headed toward total sales of over 10,000,000 pounds of shellfish.

A dozen workers in orange colored rubber overalls are working to pack pallets of oysters and mussels as we tour the cold and damp packing floor. Although the room is chilly, the sweet, clean aroma of fresh shellfish gently touches my nose. I too am a shellfish lover (and a fish guy at heart) and the smell of such pristine, high-quality shellfish is more than enticing; it’s intoxicating. Slikes shows me the massive hydraulic pumps that drive the fresh seawater circulating in the thousand pound totes full of shellfish stacked at one end of the floor. Although American Mussel doesn’t grow every product it sells, it does prep and purge a good portion of its inventory on any given day.

As the oysters and clams sit inside these massive totes full of circulating salt water they filter and purge while gaining strength. Silkes has designed the system so that circulating water passes through a massive ultra-violet sanitizing process assuring that the sterile salt water arriving out the pipe at the top of the system is absolutely free of bacteria. In turn, the shellfish in the totes become happy little buggers, plumping up to peak freshness while purging sand, grit, and trace bacteria prior to being packed and shipped as “restaurant ready” product. The process is brilliant and a perfect example of the food-safety solutions so needed in the global food supply-chain.

Now we are sitting in Silkes conference room with a big pile of fresh shellfish (Raspberry Point Oysters from Canada and Quonset Point Oysters from Rhode Island, mussels and little-neck clams from Narragansett Bay, )

Raspberry Point Oysters, Canada

These meaty, briny, cold water oysters are farmed in the shallows off the rocky coast of Prince Edward Island. It’s not unusual for icebergs broken free from the arctic to float buy in sight of where these oysters are grown and the cold water (along with other factors that Silkes can share) are why it takes 5-7 years for Raspberry Points to grow to market size. They have a beautiful briny flavor with an above-average  saltiness, good density and texture, and an outstanding clean, sweet aftertaste.

Quonset Point Oysters, Rhode Island

The Quonset’s are a bit saltier than the Raspberry Points and have a meatier texture and composition. They grow faster than their cousins from Canada and take just 2-3 years to reach market size. According to Silkes the plankton levels in the bay are high right now and this impacts the flavor and texture of the Quonsets. I guess we came at the right time because the taste  is perfect with an almost crunchy texture they are so fresh.

Little Neck Clams, Narragansett Bay Rhode Island

If you are a clam lover, there is nothing like a perfect Narragensett Bay little neck clam that is ice cold and just shucked. The ones I sampled were perfectly pale orange in color, plump, healthy and fresh with a mild saltiness, great clam flavor and minimal iodine aftertaste (which I like by the way). These clams are what put the “Ocean” in Ocean State.

Restaurant Ready Whitewater Mussels, Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island

For years I have been spiking the sauces I serve over fish with reduced mussel broth. There is nothing nicer than the rich, deep, seafood flavor of mussel broth when the salt level in the mussels used to make the broth is mild. These Whitewater Mussels were mild in salt, sweet and, like the other products I sampled, distinguished by their ultra-fresh state and perfect flavor. Makes you want to pull this photo off the screen and eat it doesn’t it!

American Mussel Harvesters, Inc.

Salt Water Farms, LLc.

165 Tidal Drive

North Kingstown, Rhode Island 02852

 

USA

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Bistro C.V., Steamboat Springs, Colorado

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Posted 26 Apr 2011 — by S.E.
Category Fine Dining, Food Alert Trends

Last month during a trip to Steamboat Springs Colorado I had an incredible meal at a fantastic restaurant called Bistro CV. I know its spring now and that pictures of mountains with snow are out of favor but I have to write about this place. Steamboat is known for its spectacular blue skies (see above!), winter Olympian Billy Kidd, and some of the best skiing in all of Colorado but food hasn’t been one of Steamboat’s strong suits until now. And Bistro CV holds up. I hope after the end of the mud season when summer truly kicks in, that the restaurant generates enough volume to survive and thrive in the years and seasons to come. It’s well worth the lengthy drive up from Denver.

Chef Brian Vaughn, a professional chef who has found his niche in Northwestern Colorado, studied culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University and met his lovely wife Katy in 2001 while she was a server at a restaurant they both worked at. Along the way Chef Vaughn worked in Coral Gables, FL with Chef Norman Van Aken and migrated to Chicago to work with Chef Charlie Trotter (one of Van Aken’s best friends). His food has a Chicago feel with modernist influences and I sense a bit of aesthetic from Avec, the fantastic earthy Chicago bistro, in the Marcona Almonds and La Quercia prosciutto, both of which are featured on the menu there.  Imagine, a bit of Chicago in Steamboat. Some will be shocked but I love it! You know the culinary arts are alive and well in America when a resort town like Steamboat starts to shift toward world class cuisine.

When I arrive at the restaurant it’s quiet with only one table of two seated. My first impression as I look around the dining room is that Bistro CV is a high-end husband and wife dream of a restaurant and the kind of place that every culinary student and young cook dreams of owning. It has a contemporary design, enough seating (more than 60) to make the place profitable in season, and a charming spirit that fills the high-end needs of a great mountain resort community. It doesn’t take long for the restaurant to begin filling up.

Half an hour later the restaurant is nearly full and my food starts to arrive. Perfect small plates of well prepared food find their way to my table. A fantastic chicken-chorizo pot pie in a small Staub cast iron container; a perfect pork belly with sous-vide egg, and an absolutely delicious Steelhead trout with sweet potato. Steamboat is more than 3 hours from Denver but if you hike, bike, fish, or ski, head to Steamboat and Bistro C.V.

Morgan Farms Lamb Carpaccio, Preserved Lemon-Truffle Relish, Pickled Maitake, Baby Herbs, Marcona Almonds

Grilled Romaine, Truffle-Garlic Dressing, Parmesan Custard, White Anchovy, Benton’s Ham

Chicken-Chorizo Pot Pie, Savory Corn Crust

Quinault RiverSteelhead Trout, Mashed Sweet Potato, Baby Turnips, La Quercia Prosciutto, Baby Radish, Lemon Vinaigrette

Molten Chocolate Cake with Fresh Marshmallow

Bostro C.V.

345 Loncoln Ave

Steamboat Springs, CO

80487

970.879.4197

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The Slanted Door, San Francisco

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Posted 23 Apr 2011 — by S.E.
Category Fine Dining

It’s lunch-time at the Ferry Building in San Francisco and The Slanted Door is jamming. As a professional chef, I love a busy well run restaurant and Slanted Door is a perfect case study. I arrive without a reservation curious about the culinary arts offered and am escorted to the bar and given a perfect seat from which to view the entire restaurant. Servers are on the run, the bar is packed, and everyone is eating. The Slanted Door is pulsating with energy and I can see everything.

The wall of glass that serves as the north-east facing side of the restaurant looks out over the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island. It is a beautiful sunny day and the telephone operator who sits just opposite the window at a booth by the main entrance is constantly busy taking calls while the host at the front door steadily seats arriving guests. Boy, this place is busy. At one table of four there’s a group of “business types” in suits wrapping up a late lunch. Two tables over there’s a group of three moms and kids in carriages deep in discussion and multiple two-tops with couples of all types scattered about.

The bartender approaches, I order an Anchor Porter and the Uni appetizer to get things started. She smiles and floats away returning with my cold beer and a glass just a few seconds later. Service is crisp, friendly, and professional. This is a big restaurant in a fantastic location. There are roughly 150 seats in the main dining room plus additional seating at the bar and patio. What a perfect size for a successful restaurant.  Slanted Door must be a gold-mine.

Chef Charles Phan, the mind behind The Slanted Door’s modern Vietnamese cuisine, owns several other restaurants in San Francisco. Phan was recognized as a James Beard Award Outstanding Chef finalist in 2010 and is a semi-finalist for the same award this year. His approach to Vietnamese flavors with an American sensibility paired with pristine ingredients and a knack for simple, homes style presentations has allowed his reputation in the bay area to grow along with his business fortunes.

The Uni arrives and my mouth starts to water. Fresh from the Monterey bay, the bright orange roe is sushi fresh with a sweet lightly salty aroma. I can’t wait for the first bite.

 

Wild California Uni with Avocado, Cucumber, and Black Tobiko Roe.

Absolutely perfect, Sushi fresh, rich and sweet with a wonderful complimentary fattiness from the avocado, a crisp snap from the cucumber and a well composed contrast in color and flavor from the granular and salty Tobiko roe.

 

 Wood Oven Roasted Manila Clams with Thai Basil, Crispy Pork Belly and Fresh Chilies

 Excellent flavor, the Clams are perfectly cooked and served steaming hot in an earthenware dish. The Pork belly is crisp but would have been better if it was braised or cooked sous vide prior to crisping (it wasn’t cooked to the point of falling apart like I prefer).

 

Caramelized Catfish Claypot with Cilantro, Ginger and Thai Chilies

Although this dish doesn’t look as nice as the others, it was fantastic. Catfish and Basa are key fish species in Vietnam and Phan handles this dish masterfully. He uses skin-on catfish steaks in this dish and steams them with the cilantro, ginger, chilies.

Grass Fed Anderson Ranch Lamb Sirloin with Spring Onions and Red Chilies

When I ordered this item, I thought that the Lamb Sirloin would come out whole in a 3-5 ounce portion but the lamb was cut into strips and stir-fried instead. It was a very good dish but not as nice as the catfish.

The Slanted Door

1 Ferry Building #3

San Francisco, CA 94111   

tel 415.861.8032

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Crush Seattle

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Posted 16 Apr 2011 — by S.E.
Category Fine Dining

It’s spring in Seattle and, like so many of my evenings, I have two hours to have dinner before heading to another commitment. For an hour I vacillate between heading out to Crush or staying in to rest. Life is too short to sit around so I head out. It’s early and the sun hasn’t set yet. Before long I am driving west on the Evergreen Point Bridge toward the city, exiting at the Washington Park arboretum. The east side of the city is turning a beautiful spring-time green.  A few minutes later and I’m on East Madison Street heading southwest toward the restaurant.

Crush is located inside a light brown two storey clapboard clad building that looks like it was a private residence before being repurposed as a restaurant by Jason and Nicole Wilson. Chef Jason Wilson has received plenty of press since being recognized in 2006 by Food & Wine Magazine as a “Top Ten New Chef” along with other top names like Mary Dumont, David Chang, Cathal Armstrong, and Jonathan Benno.  My culinary friends in Seattle suggested that Crush had settled into a steady presence of consistent great food with a bit less energy compared to 2006-2008. That Wilson earned the 2010 Best Chef Northwest award from the James Beard foundation may have been lost in the conversation.

When I enter Crush the place is completely empty. As I said, it’s early, around 5:30 and I don’t have a reservation. I am greeted warmly if not a bit awkwardly as I catch a few front-of-the-house staff just finishing up their prep. Without any discomfort I am offered a table for two by the front window facing the street and handed a menu. The staff is warm and the interior design is just a nice as Crush’s website suggested: “Shelley Buurman’s interior design combines the crisp Verner Panton furniture with the warmth of chocolate trim. The room is at once a blank canvas for the kitchen’s creations and a rich enclosure for intimate dining.”

My server asks if I am a local or just visiting town and, after some small talk, recognizes that I am into food and suggests that he have Chef Wilson prepare a multi-course tasting menu. Service is crisp and comforting and the food is progressively outstanding until the dessert which was very good but not on the same level as the prior courses (a problem I am finding more and more these days). Crush has settled into the forefront of the Seattle dining scene and the restaurant is still producing outstanding cuisine on par with the food at any great restaurant in the country. The use of local ingredients and the weaving of flavors from the Northwest like Blackmouth King Salmon and Douglas Fir draw me into the region while providing a tremendous sensory effect. Crush, to me, is inspired and full of steady positive energy. The next time I visit Seattle I am coming back.

 

“Bacon & Eggs”

Smoked Salmon Roe, Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup, Parsnip Flan

 

“Crudo of Hamachi”

Hamachi, Trio of Celery, Black Fermented Garlic, Pickled Kumquat

 

“Potato Gnocchi”

Brown Butter, Black Trumpet Mushroom, Verjus Compressed Apple, Smoked Foie Gras Powder

 

“Blackmouth King Salmon”

Hear of Palm Puree, Red Endive, Vanilla

 

“Foie Gras Steak”

Marcona Almond, Rosemary Financier, Endive, Cava Vinegar, Meyer Lemon

 

“Sorbetto”

Douglas Fir Sorbet, Cranberry Meringue Dust

 

“Rabbit Roulade”

Rabbit Loin & Mousse, Herbs Confit, Trio of Salsify Root

 

“Valrhona Chocolate Coulant”

Molten Chocolate Cake with Caramel, Cherries and Salted Caramel Ice Cream

 

Crush

2319 E. Madison Street

Seattle, Washington 98112

206-302-7874

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Providence Restaurant Los Angeles, CA

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Posted 30 Mar 2011 — by S.E.
Category Fine Dining

It’s freezing in Los Angeles tonight and I am hustling down Melrose to Providence to meet a professional chef friend for dinner.  Earlier today I scoped out a new culinary arts facility under construction in Montebello Unified School District (MUSD) over in East LA with this friend; a proud moment visiting what will be a great school for a community that deserves it.  She is one of the dedicated culinary instructors from the district who has put her heart and soul into this facility and we’re out to celebrate the progress being made. This isn’t our first time dining at Providence but it has been three years since the last visit. Back then planning was still underway and neither of us was sure that the center would be built. The lousy economy didn’t help things but she persevered along with others and funding was secured.  Today the building is more than halfway complete.

At the time Providence had been open for a year and things were feeling new and fresh in what was a tired looking Patina. The food was great and Providence was settling into its own getting great reviews. Chef Michael Cimarusti had worked the kinks out of his seafood niche and was banging out plates of the highest order. It was a great meal then and tonight my expectations are high particularly since the restaurant was awarded two Michelin stars in 2009.

Upon entry I notice the bar area has been updated but the dining room looks very much the same with those strange white trumpet mushroom-looking decorations pasted along the walls. The bar to the right of the entry has been refreshed, looks great, and the vibe is positive and full of energy as I talk with the host prior to taking my table. The two of us take a two-top along the back wall and I take the outside seat facing the wall so my guest can have a view of the dining room.

We read through the menu, order some wine and place our orders. Anticipation is building as I consider what Cimarusti may have in store for us. He has an eccentric style and weaves modernist techniques into an otherwise well executed traditional approach to cooking. The balance in technique is often excellent although on occasion there are disconnects. Tonight we experience a great meal in general and enjoy celebrating the potential to make a difference in the lives of kids back in the MUSD.

 

Bacon Soft Roll, Wasabi Focaccia

The bacon roll is mild and could be stronger and crunchier but the Wasabi focaccia is spot on delicious 

 

Parsnip Parmesan Soup with Sweet Port Reduction, Gruyere Gougère

The parsnip soup is excellent and the port reduction sits on the bottom of the shot glass like a delightful explosion of flavor waiting to happen. The Gougère is well done too and I make a mental note that this is the third time I have encountered a Gougère in a fine dining restaurant since January. Maybe a trend is developing.

Mojito Ice, Screwdriver Sphere

These two items were good but not exceptional. The Mojito ice was better than the screwdriver sphere.

 Dungeness Crab, Winter Citrus Fruits, Pine Nuts, Flowering Cilantro

The first time I experienced a jelly sheet over a hot savory dish was at Alinea and Cimarusti’s take is a bit heavier but still excellent. I love the aromatic flowering cilantro.

Maine Lobster, Buckwheat Noodles, Japanese Turnips, Smoked Sesame

Other than the fact that the lobster endured more flying miles than the crab, this dish is excellent too. Cimarusti shines when it comes to seafood.

Foie Gras Ravioli, Black Winter Truffles, Aromatics

This is the highlight dish of the evening. Certain flavors are matched in heaven and this dish pushes the marriage between foie gras and truffles to new heights. The truffles are shaved onto the dish tableside adding a nice touch and the truffle portion is generous.

Wild Spanish Octopus, Blood Sausage, Sweet Peas, Potato, Paprika

This is the one dish that didn’t quite come together as it should. I love all the components but think additional refinement is required before this item will reach its full potential.

Dark Chocolate Rooibos Ice Cream, Brandied Cherries, Eggless Crème Brulee

Until this meal I had never had Rooibos before and loved the subtle flavor it imparted into the ice cream. Rooibos is grown in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its needle like leaves are dried and used to make tea. The Rooibos marries well with the chocolate and cherries, the cherries being handled expertly.

Pumpkin Polenta with Candied Pecans

I am a sucker for rustic, home-style desserts and this one hits the mark. Pastry Chef Adrian Vasquez uses just enough flair paired with restraint to make this dish special. Delicious.

Chocolate Marshmallow, Whiskey Macaroons, Ginger Gelee



Providence

5955 Melrose Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90038

323-460-4170

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RN74 San Francisco: The Michael Mina Restaurant Empire

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Posted 19 Mar 2011 — by S.E.
Category Fine Dining

In 2010 RN74 received a “Best New Restaurant” nomination from the James Beard foundation in 2010. I had an opportunity to join three friends at the restaurant for a dinner recently and we had a fantastic experience. The restaurant is hip with a dynamic and good looking clientele and I love the large railway station sign used to market wine and wine prices at the end of the large dining room.

Michael Mina’s RN74has received reviews that range from average to exceptional since opening in 2009. This year Gayot named Mina the 2011 best restaurateur in the USA. With 18 restaurants and a team of corporate chefs and executives, Mina is truly a restaurateur and entrepreneur and an emerging foodservice powerhouse. I predict that 2011 will be a year of growth and expansion of Mina and many in the foodservice industry are aware the he plans to leverage RN74 as a growth concept in major metropolitan markets in the US with the second unit opening in Seattle this month.

We dined at RN74 to investigate the food, service and wine ( a major attraction at RN74).  The food was outstanding with several items rising to the level of sublime. As the name indicates RN74 is a wine focused restaurant. RN74 refers to Route Nationale 74 (route des grand crus), the main roadway that runs through Burgundy France. The name carries a theme that fits the restaurant and its personnel well. Chef Jason Berthold is a wine lover, has studied wine making while working at the French Laundry in Yountville California and is the ideal chef for the concept. His food is thoughtful, well executed, simple and delicious.

#1 Foie Gras Pavee with Avocado, Huckelberry, Pickled Onion and Brioche

Berthold created a fantastic starter in this item. The Foie Gras mousse is absolutely perfect. It’s light, rich and clean in flavor. The mouth-feel is creamy smooth and full of great foie gras flavor. He tops the mousse with a delicious duck gelee that melts in your mouth and offers an explosion of savory flavor. I wouldn’t have thought of serving this with an avocado mousse since the foie gras is itself so rich and creamy but the addition of the avocado  (which is slightly acidic) is perfect. Add the pickled onions for deeper acidity and the huckleberry compote for sweetness and the whole dish comes together like a well written symphony. Berthold finishes the dish with a generous halved slice of toasted brioche. By the way, Berthold is serving some serious bread at RN74. The brioche was inspiring and the sourdough absolutely perfect.

#2 Sauteed Sea Scallop, Kumquats, Salted Almond, Winter Radish, Saffron Croquette, and Petit Lettuces

This entrée portion was a bit large as a second course but I am on a seafood kick and loved the presentation and always order scallops when they are offered. These sushi grade scallops were seared perfectly and rare in the middle. When Kumquats are served, I worry that they will overpower and ruin a dish but these were thinly sliced and offered a subtle, citrusy bitterness that enhanced and offset the sweetness of the scallops nicely.

 

 #3 Loup de Mer et Cochon , Pork Cheek Ragout, Glazed Pork Belly, Lentils DePuy, Melted Leeks and Madras Curry

I love the idea of serving sea bass with pork and this is a wonderful interpretation. The sea bass fillets are seared with the skin on and served on a bed of delicious savory lentils. A generous quenelle of melted leeks is served next to a gorgeous slab of pork belly topped with a browned tourne potato. The madras curry sauce (more of a pork glace scented with madras curry) is poured tableside.

#4 Bittersweet Chocolate Cream, Spiced Pears, Cocoa Nibs Streusel, Marzipan Ice Cream

After a wonderful first two courses washed with delicious Pinot Noir by Au Bon Climat “Le Bon Climat” Cuvee RN74, Santa Maria Valley 2008, a final tasting of something chocolate was in order. This dish was technical and executed well. The pears were juicy and tender. However, the best part of the dish was the cocoa nib streusel and the marzipan ice cream.

RN74
301 Mission St
San Francisco, CA 94105
Tel: 415.543.7474

 

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Five Reasons Why “Modernist Cuisine” is The Most Important Culinary Book of the Decade

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Posted 28 Feb 2011 — by S.E.
Category Food Alert Trends

The Five Reasons Why “Modernist Cuisine” is The Most Important Culinary Book of the Decade

Chef Maxime Bilet and Nathan Myhrvold plating a course

I am trailing a small group of people including food writers, professional chefs, and culinary educators, being led by Nathan Myhrvold through the varying nooks and crannies of his IVF laboratories in Bellevue, Washington.  Myhrvold, dressed in dark slacks and a stark white short-sleeved chef coat, is animated his voice pitching up an octave from time to time as he gets excited. He is showing us The Cooking Lab with all its technology, tools, and toys. It dawns on me that he is Willy Wonka and I am a very lucky Charlie Bucket. There are fourteen of us here tonight, each with a golden ticket. Our purpose is to experience a 28 course menu prepared by Myhrvold’s team in celebration of the release of Modernist Cuisine; a book authored by Myrvold and chefs Chris Young and Maxime Bilet. Myhrvold is showing us around the lab as a warm up to what will be a dinner of the century later in the evening. In the first room he shows us a microwave oven that he cut in half, magnetron tube and all, so it could be photographed for the book. Next, pink cheeks aglow and smiling with excitement, he shows us the electric plasma cutter he used to slice other pieces of equipment in half and a high powered water jet cutter where he custom fabricates all sorts of matter.  Why? Because he can!

Myhrvold shaves Sea Urchin “bottarga” for Pim Techamuanvivit while Chef David Kinch looks on.

I find him energized, brilliant, and immediately likeable, and intellectually one of the smartest (if not the smartest) person I have ever met. Myhrvold has invited a diverse group to this dinner and is completely aware of how amazed (and jealous I must admit) we are by his laboratory. Chef Sam Mason, former pastry chef at WD50 is to my left, tattoos bursting with color (he radiates cool), and the shy, extremely talented and kind David Kinch of Manresa is to my right, dapper in a blue sweater and knit scarf. Ahead of me, the legendary and statesmanlike Harold McGhee, the original curious cook, is peering at an electron microscope as global food expert and rock-star blogger Pim Techamuanvivit (Chez Pim)takes photos. In 2010 Fast Company called her one of the most influential women in technology. How the hell was I lucky enough to get on this list? Myhrvold passes by an electron microscope and a large printed image of what appears to be the roundworm Trichinella spiralisis taken using the device while researching content for Modernist Cuisine. I am floored that these folks have their own electron microscope and notice that Myhrvold is smiling at us. What fun!

Chef Sam Mason downs a glass of Foie Gras Egg Nog, Myhrvold to his right, Chef Chris Young to his left.

We turn another corner in the lab and make a loop back to the IVF kitchen where two tables of eight have been set for our dinner. Myhrvold wraps on a blue apron, explains that we will enjoy 28 courses that are intended to show the range of techniques and recipes featured in Modernist Cuisine rather than a menu focused on a logical progression of flavor (although that was a consideration too I am sure). We all sit excited with anticipation, and fasten our seat belts. It’s 6:45 P.M. PST and our first course is placed on the table: Asian pear, Watermelon and Spicy Pickle Chips. The pears, watermelon and pickles are sliced, coated with modified starch slurry, compressed in vacuum bags, removed from compression, patted dry and fried. I have never had crispy watermelon before and it’s delicious. The pickles are even better. My mind drifts for a moment as I look around at the other guests and realize we are in for a night.

Chef Maxime Bilet with centrifuged pea juice

The rest of the meal ebbs and flows from extremely simple items like the fourth course of grilled chicken skin glazed with pineapple and Sansho pepper (cooked sous vide for 12 hours prior to grilling, powerful chicken flavor, crisp, deeply savory, addictive) to the incredibly beautiful and complex thirteenth course of rare beef stew (an extraction of beef broth kept rare through separation in a commercial centrifuge poured over the most beautiful three Michelin star composition of garniture).

I provide detailed descriptions of the meal and with photos at http://satedepicure.com/2011/02/1365/.

It’s 10:34 PM now and I am chewing on the last of 28 courses: fresh made olive oil, vanilla, and thyme gummy worms. Myhrvold, radiating with positive energy, holds up the fish lure molds he used to make the gummy worms and explains the recipe to make them (for more buy the book). They are the best damn gummy worms I have ever had. I close my eyes for a second to soak in the moment and consider how blessed I am to be here. Every once in a while life comes to a complete stop and I realize that I am experiencing first hand significant moments in the evolution of our profession. Tonight is one of those nights and Myhrvold, Young, and Bilet, have sent us crashing through a glass ceiling of culinary practice. I hover in mid-air over his lab in Bellevue Washington looking down on the city below. My golden ticket still in hand, it is clear that the culinary profession will be profoundly changed by the tremendous gift Myhrvold and his team has given to the profession.

I offer below five simple reasons why Modernist Cuisine is the most important book of the decade. Note that I feel the five reasons listed are a gross understatement of the real value and importance of Modernist Cuisine.

The Modernist Cuisine team at The Cooking Lab

Reason 1: The Perspective and Intellect of Nathan Myhrvold

Myhrvold’s intellect is of a level and type unique in the world. He is one part Thomas Edison and another Auguste Escoffier. That food and cooking caught his attention and that Modernist Cuisine is the result is an enduring gift to the culinary profession. His perspective and intellect inform the many discoveries, schema, and taxonomy that appear in the book. Without Myhrvold’s mind as a lens, the new discoveries and syntheses of prior practice would not have achieved the level of innovation documented in the book. Nathan Myhrvold is the first reason why Modernist Cuisine is the culinary book of the decade and we should thank him for sharing his intellect, curiosity, and resources (he funded this work himself).

Reason 2: Modernist Cuisine Places Modern Cooking into the Context of Traditional Cooking

Modernist Cuisine is not about molecular gastronomy, it’s about linking modern cooking with traditional cooking in an evolutionary and, subsequently, revolutionary way. Just as Escoffier (and others) codified classical cuisine in the late 19th and early 20thcentury, Myhrvold and his team have done the same from a modernist perspective. Historically, something of this magnitude tends to happen once a century. The influence of Modernist Cuisine will be nothing short of Le Guide Culinaire and will probably exceed it from a historical perspective. Basic scientific method was used to unpack the science behind cooking and food without any sacrifice to the aesthetic or emotion to food or dining. Myrvold, Young, and Bilet took this scientific knowledge and polished it with a solid understanding of the aesthetics and creativity that underlie a great dining experience. In turn they discovered many new and tantalizing facts and techniques. Modernist Cuisine is about using scientific principles to inform food preparation in pursuit of making food and a dining experience better. Through it all, Myhrvold and his team repeatedly state that in order to understand modern cooking you must start with a firm understanding of traditional cooking from which to build.  I am reassured by the notion that Modernist Cuisine is rooted, in part, in the traditional. The baby wasn’t thrown out with the bathwater; instead the water was tossed and replaced with fresh water precisely heated with a thermal circulator.

Reason 3: Modernist Cuisine is Incredibly Thorough and a Great Value

The breadthand depth of topics covered in the book, all 2438 pages worth, is expansive. Myhrvold must have spent a fortune unpacking each of the topics he covers and there are few organizations or individuals on the planet that could have matched the effort, passion, and completeness of his coverage. There are five volumes in the set including: 1)History & Fundamentals, 2) Techniques and Equipment, 3) Animals and Plants, 4) Ingredients & Preparations, and 5) Plated Dish Recipes. Although priced at $625 per set, Modernist Cuisine represents a tremendous value when you consider its content. $625 is a small price to pay.

Reason 4: Modernist Cuisine is Advanced Professional Cooking and is Approachable

The book is written in easy to understand language. Myhrvold, Young, and Bilet were thoughtful about keeping the narrative easy to read. They offer thousands of photos, illustrations, and diagrams including  innovative models like a periodic table of essential oils and a table of egg custards. The “parametric” recipe format used is virtually foolproof as long as you can precisely measure. The team has produced a volume that is within reach of most cooks young or old, professional or not.

Reason #5: Modernist Cuisine Throws Convention on its Head

I thought, after 30 years of professional cooking, I knew what I was doing. Myhrvold proved me wrong and demonstrates that we barely know anything about the real science of cooking and food. While sitting in his IVF conference room, Myhrvold had an assistant place a vitimix on the conference table. She proceeded to pour a 750ml bottle of red wine into the blender and then she fired it up, pulsing for four or five times. Then she poured the wine into glasses and we did a side by side comparison of the aerated wine and the same wine straight from the bottle. We all tasted and the aerated wine was wonderful. Point made: wine can be aerated in seconds using a blender. Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before (my oenology friends are probably squirming)? This is just one example of how Myhrvold throws convention on its head. The point of this isn’t to raise the dander on sommeliers across the country, it’s to prove that much of what we practice in our profession is handed down from generation to generation without any regard for the science behind what we practice or concern for improving practice based on this science. Modernist Cuisine will shift us in the right direction.

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Dinner at The Cooking Lab: 28 Courses of Modernist Cuisine

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Posted 28 Feb 2011 — by S.E.
Category Food Alert Trends

Dinner at The Cooking Lab: An Evening of Modernist Cuisine

This is a posting of thirty photos from a recent dinner at Nathan Myhrvold’s cooking lab in Bellevue, Washington. The dinner was a celebration of modernist cuisine and the release of Myhrvold, Young, and Bilet’s new book by the same name. (to purchase Modernist Cuisine visit Amazon.com) A more detailed description of this gathering of professional chefs, writers, can be found at satedepicure.com

Note: I prefer to post the photos of each course served in this format so each can be viewed with a detailed description and in the order served. The notations made under each item are taken from guidelines distributed during the dinner. Special thanks to Dr. Myhrvold, Chris Young, Maxime Bilet and the rest of the The Cooking Lab team along with the esteemed guests I had the pleasure of meeting and dining with.

Modernist Cuisine

#1: Asian Pear, Watermelon, and Spicy Pickle Chips (starch compression)

Asian pear, watermelon and spicy pickles that have been thinly sliced, coated with modified starch slurry and fried at a medium high temperature until crispy.

 

#2: Roasted Corn Elote (freeze drier, N-Zorbit powder)

Freeze dried yellow corn kernels with brown butter powder, spicy mayonnaise, cilantro blossoms, Lime and Ash Powder.

 

#3: Cheese Soufflé (constructed, re-heatable, soufflé, N-Zorbit crumble)

Delicate gruyere cheese soufflé steamed and baked with a cheese crumble. The soufflé is a mixture of intense cheese water, egg yolks, albumin powder and corn maltodextrin. The crumble is made from grated cheese blended with N-Zorbit. After steaming, the soufflés are topped with the cheese crumble, baked and served.

 

#4: Grilled Chicken Skin (sous vide skin gelatinizing)

Sous vide cooked, fried and grilled chicken skin, glazed with pineapple and seasoned with sansho pepper. The chicken skin is cooked sous vide for 12 hours so the skin doesn’t recoil when fried.

 

#5: Foie Gras Egg Nog (warm constructed cream)

Warm emulsified soup of pressure rendered foie gras fat and roasted shallot juice spiked with Calvados. The cream is equal parts foie fat and shallot juice emulsified with a rotor stator homogenizer.

 

#6: Green Apple and Fresh Wasabi Snow Ball (vacuum aerated sorbet, frozen fluid gel powder)

Aerated green apple juice sorbet with frozen fresh wasabi powder. The apple juice is slightly thickened with glucose, albumin and gelatin and transferred to a whipping siphon. It is famed into a mason jar inside a vacuum chamber to hold the vacuum. The jars are deep frozen…how cool is that!

 

#7: Foie Gras Rocher (frozen, molded foie gras)

Foie gras parfait with a hazelnut core, coated in rich hazelnut praline and rolled in hazelnut crumble, garnished with a sliver of Meyer lemon. The foie parfait is molded, deep frozen and dipped, then very carefully halved on a band saw while frozen.

 

#8: Chickpea Tajine (sous vide chickpeas, pressure cooked pine nuts)

Sous vide chickpeas and pressure cooked pinenuts braised in a preserved lemon tajine jus. Garnished with a salad of Cara Cara orange, beldi olives, black caraway, argan oil, pickled dried fig and mint, finished with a roasted sesame yoghurt.

 

 

 

 #9: Oyster Cocktail (liquid nitrogen shucking)

Preparation 1: Shigoku Oyster with chufa nut horchata and finger lime droplets

Preparation 2: Shingoku Oyster with ponzu, hazelnut oil and smoked char roe

 

#10: Ankimo, Yuzu, Enoki, Pear (sous vide torchon, centrifuged juice)

Ankimo (Monkfish liver) torchon, centrifuged pear juice seasoned with honey vinegar, fresh yuzu and white soy, enoki salad dressed with macadamia oil, ficoide glaciale, Asian pear.

 

#11: Spaghetti Vongole (centrifuged broth)

Goeduck clam “noodles” dressed with garlic confit oil, bagna cauda broth, sea beans, goeduck belly, maitake and walnut marmalade, dried miso powder. The Goeduck siphons are split, sliced into sheets and pounded in sous vide bags to allow them to be cut into noodles.

 

#12: Squash Soup (pressure cooker and baking soda)

Caramelized squash soup, sunchoke ice cream, chaat masala, flash pickled Fuji apples. The baking soda increases the pH allowing for deeper browning and intense aroma and flavor. 

 

#13: Beef Stew (low temperature extraction, cured, sous vide marrow)

Rare beef broth, sous vide cooked small root vegetables, curd marrow, pressure cooked barley, chard leaves. Beef cubes are cooked sous vide at 53C for 4 hours. They are pressed with a wine press and the resulting juice is then centrifuged.

 

#14: Shellfish Bisque (sous vide stock, centrifuged carotene, enzyme peeled citrus)

Shellfish broth with coconut cream powder, carrots cooked in carotene butter, young coconut noodles, mandarin and lemon verbena.

 

#15: Mushroom Cappuccino (sous vide infusion, siphon foam)

Intense mushroom broth with warm bacon Chantilly

 

#16: Raw Egg Shooter (reverse spherification)

Raw “quail egg” of passion fruit yolk, lemongrass white and a few drops of chili oil. A reverse spherification is used; the setting bath has alginate and the set liquid has calcium to provide a finer membrane. The white is given its texture with a combination of xanthan gum and locust bean gum

 

#17: Polenta Marinara (pressure cooker and mason jars)

Grits cooked in corn juice with a quince, Bartlett pear “marinara” toasted corn husk consommé, ricotta salata and basil

 

#18: Kelp with Sea Urchin (gluten enforced fresh pasta, constructed bottarga)

Cocoa pasta sheets dressed in cocoa butter, sea urchin tongues, sea urchin butter, salted candied grapefruit, tarragon and a shaving of sea urchin bottarga.

 

#19: Mushroom Omelet (constructed egg stripes, combi-oven steam)

Black trumpet mushroom and egg striped with aerated scrambled egg based, mushroom marmalade and fines herbs. The egg stripes are created using a pastry comb on a silicone baking sheet.

 

#20: Marble Salmon with Spiced Butter (ultra stable beurre blanc)

Sous vide salmon with butter composed of coriander seed, sesame seed, roasted hazelnut, white poppy, ginger and chamomile. It is served with a beurre blanc of sake, white soy, shiro miso and lime and garnished with shiitake, bok choy and sorrel.

 

#21: Roast Chicken, Jus Gras

(combi oven roast program for chicken, heat stable jus gras, pressure cooked vegetables confit)

Roasted chicken with a rich emulsified gravy of dark chicken just and pressure rendered chicken fat. Accompanied by vegetables that are pressure cooked in mason jars with chicken fat. These are garnished with an herb salad dressed with quince vinegar vinaigrette. The chicken roast program includes injecting the chicken with brine and hanging it for three days refrigerated to desiccate the skin. The chicken is cooked in dry heat at 60C until it reaches temperature, rested for 30 minutes. Prior to service it is brushed with oil and roasted at 300C for 6-7 minutes until deeply roasted and crisp.

 

#22: Pastrami and Sauerkraut

(72 hour sous vide, precise curing and brining, fermentation, dehydrated bread)

Short rib pastrami, house-made sauerkraut with sweet onions, Brussels sprout leaves with fish sauce butter, cognac mustard with pickled mustard seeds, black bread crisps. The ribs are brined, smoked, dry rubbed and cooked sous vide for 72 hours.

 

#23: “BBQ” (high tech smoking, sous vide, centrifuged sauce, ultrasonic fries)

Hot smoked spareribs, cold smoked flat iron, Kansas City, South Carolina and MC Barbecue sauces served with ultrasonic fries. The ultrasonic fries are made by cooking large fries sous vide until tender. They are cavitated in an ultrasonic bath while warm to create lots of invisible fissures. The final product is deep fried resulting in fries that are furry with a crispy outer texture.

 

#24: Goat Milk Ricotta (fresh ricotta, centrifuged pea puree layers, essential oil)

Fresh goat milk ricotta with pea juice, pickled lemons, cinnamon, walnut and pea butter toast. The peas are centrifuged yielding pea juice and pea “fat” which has the same intense pea flavor with the texture of butter.

 

#25: Pistachio Gelato (frozen constructed cream)

Dairyless, eggless pistachio gelato with cocoa nibs, candied black olives, and Arlettes. The cream is made with pistachio butter, pistachio oil, water, sugar and an emulsifier, all churned in a Pacojet.

 

#26: Pots de Crème (combi oven steam, cold infusion, vacuum reduction, acid coagulation)

The first cream (L to R)is a cold infused coffee egg custard finished with a smoked egg yolk curd. The second is a vacuum reduced whisky sabayon on top of centrifuged banana juice fluid gel. The third is a cold infused earl grey posset garnished with sous vide lemon curd.

 

#27: Caramel Mou (sweet, savory caramel, edible film)

Gruyere cheese caramel, cheese water film. Grated cheese and cheese water are added to a basic caramel base. The cheese film is set with agar and gelatin.

 

#28: Gummy Worms (oil gel, fish lure molds)

Olive oil, vanilla, and thyme gummy worms made with 200 bloom gelatin, gum Arabic.

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