A New Knife and New Supplier

The strangest things gets this chef excited.... I'll write a full post about this soon.

Elements of taste

I was reading this blog post the other day, I highly recommend it, and was reminded of one of my favorite books Elements of Taste. Now I assure you I did not name my restaurant after this book. It was a name that my wife came up with and was the only name that myself, my wife and my father could agree on.

Back to the book, not only is it a great book from a great chef but it really makes you open your eyes to the complexity of food. I think that all chefs strive for balance in their cooking but achieving it takes something more. The book talks of the elements of food that you taste--salt,

A patron that I hadn't seen in a while commented on the complexity of a soup she had eaten that night for dinner. Now while I am very grateful that she liked the soup, I tried to remember what we had done to bring this joy to her. You know what I have know idea.

About 2 years ago I said to myself that I would no longer use "bases" of any kind, if I couldn't achieve what I wanted naturally I wouldn't do it. Now being in south jersey this proposes many problems. Number 1-- Jersey is known for tomatoes, why I have no idea, but people like my wife will eat them year round. It doesn't matter if they're in season or not( January=not). Number 2-- people in this area expect a certain something when they eat-- I think it's a preconceived idea of what something should be. Most restaurants use bases in their sauces and soups and therefore require a thickener. And thickener is the preconceived idea of soup. So when I thought it was a good idea to put a basic tomato bisque on a local restaurant week menu I discovered the big mistake. Tomatoes suck in January and people would expect a thick over creamed, roux thickened soup-- so how do I fix this.

It was quite simple actually, we ordered a case of "regular" tomatoes, let them age as long as we dared in a cold kitchen, then roasted them. The simple roasting of the tomatoes concentrated the flavor and brought out a rich flavor and deep red color. Did we do anything special after that? No, not really, we make a basic white mirepoix, added white wine, reduced and then the tomatoes. Cooked it for about 25 minutes at a good simmer, pureed and strained. It was finished with a touch of cream and "nutless" pesto-- and that's it.  Did the soup turn out "tomatoee"-- yes, was it "creamy"-- to my standards, was it thick-- not a chance. The soup by many peoples standards and comments-while very good in flavor not thick enough(or hot enough-but that's another post). But what so many people didn't realize, we couldn't achieve that "complexity of flavor if we thickened with a roux-- it would be all covered in flour.

Had I achieved after all these years that complexity in my food that I strive for? I don't think so, because I'll never be happy, lucky yes, happy no. But a lot of experience and a little luck goes along way to make some people happy. I have a great staff and great customers that are willing to try most things we do but looking for that balance between what I envision and what I put on the plate-- I don't know if I'll ever achieve that.

But, I'll keep trying.....

Going to try and catch up

Well, I haven't done a good job over the last couple of months of keeping up with this blog.

I could blame it on the few complainers that wrote in, but I really don't care what they think or I could blame it on being to busy, but who are we kidding I own a restaurant in S Jersey in the summer.

The truth is -- life got in the way.

I'm going to try and post a few times over the next couple of weeks on some of the events we did this summer. At least it sounds like a good plan tonight.

Stay Tuned!!!

Chef Wars Act 2

This time it was a little harder then the first.

I had a really good time cooking this part 2 of this dinner series but it does let me know there's no place like home. You just know your area, your stove and are bit more comfortable in your own kitchen.

I want to think Rich, Marianne and the whole staff at Andreotti's for a great evening.

And here's the pictures.

On to the 2nd Round

Sometimes life needs an explanation

This blog is about my life, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

There are many blogs that you can read that are straight marketing tools, an advertisement.

There are just as many anonymous blogs that are some one's daily complaints and they are to embarrassed to let life know you they really are.

Then there's mine..... I'm not PC..... I'm going to tell you how I feel.... about everything. I'm 41 years old, a husband, father, son, business owner, and general pain in the ass. When life gives me lemons I don't make lemonade, I make a ceviche and tell life what I really think.

I wrote a post named "Why do i get so fucking angry"--there was only one reason to write that post, to stop me from telling a customer what I really thought of them. The post is short and angry(much like me) and from what my wife tells me it doesn't do a good job of explaining my anger. It wasn't meant to. It was meant to calm me down, at the very least to stop me from verbalizing to my guest's face what I really thought of their 'rude at best' comment.

Then I got this comment after the first post.

"Love your place. We eat there whenever we can." Thank You, that's why I cook. "However, I just read your blog and the one paragraph about the emails was distasteful. I think it should be removed because it is unprofessional. Sorry."

Why, just because I'm not afraid to hide who I am. Why do people feel they have the right to tell me how to act. I'm sorry if that post offended you or you think it's unprofessional. You can ask my mom if I listened to her about things I felt strongly about... the answer would probably be, she could only calm me down but not change what I thought.

I could go in to depth about all the stupid comments that I had leading up to the one's that inspired this post but those weren't the important ones. The one that sent me over the edge was.

Everybody gets rudeness thrust upon them everyday. And a lot people just take it and then go home and kick the dog or ignore the family. I've had days like that, where I just shut myself off and hide from life rather then enjoy it with the ones I love.

Well I can't do it anymore, I've missed too much of life.

If you can't take my honesty you shouldn't read my blog.

If my blog offends you, you might not want to eat at my restaurant. But I think you'll be missing out on some great food.

But don't think that your opinion as a guest in my restaurant gives you the right to tell me how to act.

Everybody needs an outlet, a stress release and boy do I have stress. This just so happens to be mine.

Sometimes you'll get the good-- upcoming events and menus that excite me.

Sometimes you'll get the bad-- rude comments made to me or my staff that we shouldn't have to take.

Sometimes you'll get the ugly-- me venting my anger in words because nobody wants me doing in person.

But at Elements and from me, you'll get honesty-- the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I have a saying and I may have said it to you "I did good today? Thanks. I'll do better tomorrow"

Why do I get so fucking angry!

You know I hear every stupid fucking comment there is:

Lady--"I have reservations at 6pm and we'll be late"
Me --"that's shouldn't be a problem, what time will you be in"
Lady--"I don't know, when my husband gets home"

What the fuck am I supposed to say to that. I had another couple of comments this week. They were both related to my e-mail marketing.

You know people if getting a couple of e-mails-- that doesn't cost you a dime-- takes up to much of your life DON'T FUCKING SIGN UP FOR THEM! I didn't buy your e-mail address you gave it to me.

I get about 2000 e-mails a week you know what if I don't want them I delete them and move on. But I don't send snide remarks, I don't send questions about why or when they were sent. I delete them.

Chef Wars--Good Food Good Friends

We are taking our own place in the media stream and are participating in the SJHotchefs "Chef Wars".

I'll be competing against Richard Marsh of Andreotti's this Thursday night at Elements. And following that up with a dinner at his place in cherry hill on the 18th of June.

This should be a lot of fun and a seriously good match-up. With Rich's classical background and schooling from the Culinary Institute of America I know we are going to turn some great food.

So wish me good luck.

I'll follow up with some pictures on Friday and hopefully a winning score.

Why do I do this?

I spend a better part of waking hours thinking about food, thinking about how to make my food better.

For What!

Most people in this industry would give the PC answer of "for the guest".

Sorry, that's just not me. I do it for me. Don't get me wrong, it makes me very happy even proud like a daddy when I go in the dining room and a guest tells me they enjoyed their meal. But at the end of the day I'm my harshest critic.

And don't misunderstand, I want everyone to like it-my food. But....

There have been only two people in my entire life that I actually cared what they thought of my food.

My father is number one and always will be.

For a long time I don't really think he understood what I was going for. But then when I graduated from the Greenbrier and he was able to come down and stay at the hotel, come in the kitchen and see me work, and see my graduation table he got it. I didn't want to be the fry cook at the local restaurant, I wanted more and still do.

The second person is chef Peter Timmons of the Greenbrier Hotel.

After my first year at the hotel Chef Timmons came on board as sous chef of the main kitchen. A position completely beneath him. But I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity and good fortune to work with him for two years. He, more then any other chef, has shaped how I think about working in the kitchen, how I think about food, and how I teach others.

On graduation night, after being up for about 3 days straight we had our graduation dinner. A grand event with my comrades, with wine and food cooked by Chef Timmons himself. After a few glasses of wine, great food, and no sleep I couldn't tell you if this actually happened but I remember it happening so it must have--- Chef Timmons said "you know Fred your a good cook". After 2 years of working with him that is the biggest compliment he ever gave me and a bigger compliment then anyone probably ever will when comes to my job.

That's all I'll ever need. The smile and understanding of my dad and a 7 word sentence from my teacher.