June 15, 2010

This time last year we were gearing up for summer dining week. Unfortunately there will be no dining week this summer. Neither the Downtown Committee nor the other area restaurants have the funds to support the advertising budget.

So far this spring the downtown business has been quite slow. Some said it is the Pascale Effect, they may be right. Pook, Ali, DDT and I went there last week and we ended up having to say "Hi" to half of the customers in the dining room. We went there twice to finish the whole menu. Their concept is great. Its a lot more casual than before. Those 2 bros will make it well over there. For sure we will miss them downtown too.

Next month Pook and I will go back to Chicago again to see one of my daughters. She made reservations for us at L2O (L two O) it is a French-Japanese or French-Asian restaurant. This is one of the very top places in the area, we will go there for their Peking Duck special. My kid sent me L2O's blog about their Peking Duck and told me to check out a different preparation. Its really quite interesting what they are doing there.

While Pook and I were in Thailand I ate several Peking Duck at two of the best restaurants in Southeast Asia. This is the way they serve it: 

The lacquer skin with a homemade crape, Hoisen sauce, fresh cucumber, and green onion. Then the rest of the meat they cook to your liking. We had them cook it two ways. One with black pepper sauce and the other sautéed with sprouts and celery.

Soft shell crab may not last that long this season. The fish, shrimp and oyster price is going up very fast. They are using the Gulf excuse to murder us on the price. We'll see what I can do.

Your Chef,

Max

June 8, 2010

The past few weeks have been too slow. It's been good for the staff's sanity just not good for their pockets!

Last week we got our first shipment in from Brown Trading Co. They are good to very good. I can't wait to put my hands on the Lobster Roe for this coming week's special... it will be very yummy in my tummy!

We had a meeting with Tony and Nicole from the MOST to discuss the menu for the Gala. This year we will take a slightly different approach. We will have more variety of food but lighter in style. This gives me a chance to be a little more fun with the food. Ali will post the menu once it has been finalized and approved.

Two weeks ago I had a chance to taste a Black Button mushroom, a delicacy in Northern Thailand. They have a very short season just like our ramp and fiddle head ferns do here. Just two days into the season four locals had died because they mistook them for a poisonous mushroom. I bought mine from the older vendor and I figured if they have stayed this long they were okay to eat... I was right I'm still alive!

I used to get this kind of mushroom in a can but then they got banned by the USDA. When I got back I asked around and my guys said the ban was lifted and they are safe to buy again. I was thinking of using the Black Button mushrooms and roasted prawn with an orange curry, shredded Kaffir lime leaves, pickled young bamboo, palm sugar and tamarind jus.

I will test it out and save you a picture.

Your Chef,

Max

June 2, 2010

I didn't give up on writing my blog, I had a family emergency and had to travel to Thailand for ten days after graduation week. It was not fun at all. With a low temperature of 94-95 at night, a great cool day at 110 or a bad evening at 122 the heat was deadly!

I had a chance to refresh my palate memory for a lot of food, most likely I'm still OK. For example most curries, they are so hard to get the classic flavor like before. Even from the best chef, most of the curries lack a third dimension, and of course no forth dimension at all.

I took a lot of pictures for you guys. I went out hunting for lychee nuts and I found a lot of them along one of the major highways. I found a variety of lychee nuts some that are the size of a golf ball! I bought 16lbs of them, I paid $12.50 USD estimate about 80 cents a pound.

The first stand we went to the skin was so bright they had just picked them three hours before. When I bit into it it was so sour. The guy at the stand said it was so fresh that the fruit hasn't forgotten the tree yet. At the next stand the lychee nuts were much darker in color they had been picked two days before. They were delicious so sweet and juicy. I saved the fresh lychees to eat over the next few days. Each day they got sweeter and sweeter. I ate half of one right there at the stand. The first half was a little sour because they just picked it 3 hours before. So I saved the other half and eat it after about 36 hours of being picked. The skin was quite dark and they were so sweet. I wish we could get lychee nuts like those here in Syracuse. I have paid $4 to $6 per pound for lychee nuts imported from China and Florida but they were not very good and 1/3 of the size.

Now that I am back I have a lot to catch up on. The Annual MOST Gala is coming up in July. I am finalizing the menu and locking in my wine and food donations for the event. We will also be trying out a new fish vendor this week.

Over the next few weeks I will share more about the food I had overseas and also keep you posted on what's going on here at the Grass and my Big Elephant.

Your Chef,

Max

May 20, 2010

There is a family emergency in Thailand and Pook and I have to go to Bangkok for a week. We will leave in the morning and come back on Tuesday, June 1st.  I will talk to you when I get back.

Your Chef,

Max

May 19, 2010

I can't believe that it took me two full days of light work to get back to normal again. It was fun for a solid 80 hour work week in the kitchen.

The whole staff front and back are all pretty much burnt out. They are all taking turns to get a day or two off to get back into shape. We still have parties all over the place to take care of for a good week.

I had a good talk with my partner Palmer Foods. We are trying to get them to dry age some Prime CAB for us. We are also looking for a Kobe Rib Eye lip. DDT (Dave DownTown) my Bistro Chef, and I are still debating on whether we should carry one more cut or just stick with what we have now. We want to update the Bistro menu but will we be able to maintain our prices if the quality keeps going up? This coming Tuesday DDT and I will meet with Palmer's meat specialist and discuss the alternatives and possibility of alteration.

Your Chef,

Max

May 11, 2010

Graduation day is right around the corner and we are trying so hard to fill our chairs to capacity. If everything goes according to schedule we should served about one thousand customers this weekend. The kitchen and front have been staffed, kitchen orders have been placed and now we are just tying up a few loose ends with the menu.

Here are just a few of our specials for the weekend:

Fresh Canadian diver scallops from North Coast, huge U-5 shrimp, Chilean Sea Bass and Belon Oysters from JP. I am also trying to get the "whale" soft shell crab instead of the "prime." The "prime" looks like crickets they are so small. Of course we will also have Russian King Crab and Kobe, Dry Aged and Prime Beef.

Steve our sales rep from our "partner" Palmer Foods gave us more time on our account. He has been good to us but I always make him work for his order. We are not the type of restaurant that will just order 300lbs of haddock every week. He must watch the quality, price and have good timing to earn a good order. He does a good job that is why he has been with us for years.

Our relationship with Palmer Foods is getting a lot better. They seem to understand the need of a fine dinning establishment. Their seafood program has greatly improved and we are very happy with their company right now. Thanks to everyone from Steve all the way to Mr. Palmer himself!

I will spend the rest of the week preparing for Graduation Weekend. I will talk to you all next week.

Your Chef,

Max

May 7, 2010

After 13 hard weeks at the Grass it seems like everything is slowing down a little. This is good for everybody. At the very least we get to relax for a day or two but we all know that this is the calm before the big storm!

Today I even had enough time to fix some issues with my eggplant appetizer. We are using Japanese purple eggplant. It is available year round but we are having a hard time keeping it in stock because it bruises so easily and has a short self life. I just got a new baby eggplant in from California. They are so very nice, young, tender and most of all they are so yummy.

We sliced them real thin and made a quick grill with sea salt and olive oil. Then we rolled them up and served them over our double roasted pepper sauce and more olive oil.

Our lunch menu is getting old and out dated so it is time to polish it up a bit. I had enough time to work with Scott on a new shrimp entree. Now a days, since we have a lot of Japanese influence around the Square, why don't we just follow the trend and make them look more attractive and taste better.

First of all I am thinking about tempura shrimp. How can I make them light, fresh and fast on every order with out pulling them out of a box from the freezer and popping them into the grease fryer? It took me half the day but I think I got it. Now I just have to work on the presentation I have already a couple preliminary drafts down.

I will pile the shrimp high over a bed of sushi rice serve it with Japanese pickles or greens. The price will be in the $11.50 range.  Remember this is just one of my ideas. You will not see it on the menu until I am completely satisfied.

This lunch menu is going to be the best! Just give me a week or so.

Your Chef,

Max

BTW Kevin my web kid is working on fixing the photo problem so we can have a better time together.

May 4, 2010

Last week was really hard for me. We had parties everyday from Monday all the way to "My Best Friend's Daughter's Wedding" on Saturday. 50 - 55 hours is normal for a full time chef.

From the second week of January, most of our new staff (2 - 15 months) stared to leave, some of them left us to different places that needed the Grass's staff to bring their restaurant to the "next level".. yes, this was their actual words that they told me.

Good for them! Every cook wants to be a chef, every young chef wants to have their own restaurant. They want to show the world this is what they have, some of them very good, but 98% of them are not ready.

Of course I'm training a new batch of staff again. They are more willing to listen and learn than the ones I had before. They make mistakes like everybody does but they are making a lot less of them!

We are using them for fabrication on the line service. Now all we need from them is speed and precision. They will be good in less than two weeks.

Since we are talking about the kitchen today, may I clarify what I mean about my Number 1 guy in the kitchen...

Number 1 in the Grass's kitchen is the guy that takes the position as the saute man. He can read and manage the tickets wisely, most likely running the Grass's entree line which is the most expensive line but not the hardest line to run. You must be a good line cook to be successful. You will work along with one other cook, two on a busy night.

Some restaurants may call him the line chef which is okay by me, but I'd like to make it clear this position is not the Grass's Chef.

Chef is not just a title. A chef has to know how to manage his kitchen - labor, food cost, marketing (which comes with hundreds of things to learn), and it requires their whole heart and soul.

Your Chef,

Max

April 26, 2010

Last week I made several adjustments to my kitchen because of the problems we had the previous Saturday. Thursday night was a good test for the line with Anthony Bourdain's show at the Landmark. By 6:30 the whole restaurant was full. And as to be expected, most of the guests followed his theme of "No Reservations" ha ha!

If we compare the kitchen Thursday night to Tom Hank's new series "The Pacific" it would go something like this...

There was bloodshed all over the kitchen. All the lines were trying their best to fend off enemies from overrunning their base. Orders were flying all over the place as they poured in like rain. Several times they ran low on supplies but they made a good recovery with the backup they had at their base.

A lot of scallops, fish, Kobe beef, Dry Aged and Rib Eye steaks, chicken and an uncountable number of shrimp sacrificed their lives for this battle. We will remember all those we lost.

Even though we won the battle, there are still more to come. I will let you know if we nail this war down.

Your Commander and Chef,

Max

PS. Soft Shell Crab is on its way! it should be here on Wednesday.

April 20, 2010

The past week was so hectic for me. My kitchen hasn't gotten hit this hard since the Billy Joel concert many years ago. I apologize to any of our guests that had to wait for their food on Saturday night. Its a rare occasion that my kitchen can not keep up with the floor.

The menu will change this week.

Mostly we will focus on salads. We have been working to redesign and change the look and taste to be more spring like.

Here is one of them.

Goat Cheese Salad with French Vinaigrette

The salad itself has frisee, baby arugula, roasted red peppers, Belgium endive red and white. It is garnished with marinated goat cheese (just some salt, pepper and some vinaigrette), spicy micro greens to create extra acid and balsamic reduction to complete the triangle on your palate... salty, sweet and sour.

The French Vinaigrette is a basic dressing: white vinegar, light oil, salt, pepper, garlic, shallots and mustard.

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A friend of mine asked me about Kobe beef on Sunday and we got talking about the different ways it can be prepared. He asked me what I thought about cooking Kobe on a piece of flat rock at a constant heat of 350 degrees. This is not a simple question. It depends on how thick the Kobe is, how many pieces on the rock and very importantly how big is the rock. This is what I think but this is just me...

I love Kobe beef. I've been eating it for over 45 years and have learned how to cook it to perfection. I think that all chefs know that extreme heat on a thin slice of Kobe will be good for the flavor of the high fat content piece of beef.

If the surface of the beef did not char enough, the correct fragrance and flavor will not appear.

350 degrees on the rock... is the heat good enough to contribute enough flavor for this expensive piece of meat?

Will there be enough heat to cook the meat enough to get the right amount of melted fat for the first appearance on your nose??

Will you get that thin coat of fat on your tongue???

Then will you feel the passion in your mouth as it melts with a fighty surrender????

If people like to apply the Japanese technique of using a hot stone and cook Kobe beef, they should understand to slice the beef thin enough to cover the basic cooking ground. To successfully apply Eastern cooking techniques to Western food is a real charm, but did you bring the best out in your materials from your charming technique?

Now a days marketing comes first before flavor?

I don't think so!

That is what I told my friends.

Your Chef,

Max