February 2, 2011

For the next few weeks I will try to blog two times a week. One will be about my trip and the other will keep you up to date about whats going on at the Grass.

I have returned from my trip refreshed and ready to get back in the kitchen. Before I went to Thailand I was experimenting with some new dishes. The first is a deconstructed spin on a classic Thai-Muslim dish called Kanum Jean Num Prig. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before its been on the drawing board for eight weeks now. It is a Tamarind curry with half a kiffer lime simmered in the sauce served over rice noodles, fresh vegetables and tempura greens.

We have faced several challenges with this dish.

1. New materials, this is the fun part, what works? what doesn't? We decided to substitute shredded cabbage for the banana florets. It brought a nicer texture and more color to the dish.
2. The technique is tough. It has more components than many of the other dishes and with our extensive menu will we be able to keep the flavor and presentation consistent? Will we be able to rotate the sauce and materials to keep its freshness?
3. Timing and fabrication, some of the components are prepared at different stations. Will everything come together correctly?

I had a lot of fun with this dish. After all, now I can extend variations of this basic sauce to create other new dishes.

Here is a glimpse of the creation process...

This is our first experiment. Its too close to the original, the sauce is too thick and there was too much going on in the dish.

Our second attempt a week or so later. It was too wimpy and the sauce was still too thick.

And the final product. Its an old classic with a new twist!

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The other dish we have been working on is an Indian-Muslim vegetarian dish called Barh Yearh. Its an appetizer of mung bean fritters with fresh herbs and spices. We put our Thai twist on it by serving it with our chili tamarind dipping sauce. We wanted to spice up our vegetarian options and these fritters pack a little heat without over shadowing their great flavor.

Both of these new dishes will be offered on our lunch menu starting next week. So far everyone we have tasted them on seems to really enjoy them. Now it is time to put them to the true test... their very own spot on the menu. So come in, check them out and let us know what you think!

Your Chef,

Max

January 31, 2011

So I'm back in Syracuse just in time for the arctic weather. It is winter in Thailand right now too. They also were experiencing extremely cold temperatures. The whole time I was there it didn't get over 93 degrees! And the cold 75 degree nights were frigid for most of the Thais. Ha ha I can't believe it everyone over there was wearing sweaters and complaining about how cold it was. It was nice to thaw out for a while!

The morning we arrived in Thailand I went out to breakfast with my brothers and nephews to Mongkol Chai. My dad used to take us there when we were young. We had Chicken Rice and Morning Duck Soup, a basic Thai dish that was inherited from Cantonese. I remember the dish from my childhood it was one of my favorite places to eat. The meal was just okay but the memories with my dad are priceless.

This was not just an eating trip. The real reason we went was for a funeral in Pook's family. The ceremony began the first day we arrived. After breakfast I walked around the morning market before the services began at 10:30. We sent her parents' ashes out to sea during a great ceremony performed by our Royal Thai Navy.

Ant Egg Soup with seasonal local vegetables. You can see all the white eggs over the spoon!

For the first two days during the ceremony we explored the local North and Northeastern style food. After the services we went out to lunch where we ate Ant Egg Soup. I've never been one to eat bugs or try anything too weird but what the heck, why not? So I jumped on the bug band wagon and I actually enjoyed it! The restaurant catered to the locals and the near by university. Their portions were small but very inexpensive.

Tom Sap or Northern style spicy chicken soup.

The ant egg soup was just a warm up for the rest of the meal. We also enjoyed their papaya salad with salted egg yolks, roasted pork (moo yang) with sticky rice, marinated whole fish fried in fish sauce with a green mango salsa, hot and spicy chicken soup (tom sap), a couple of curries, rice, a few beers, some sodas, and dessert. For ten people it cost less than $10 US per person!

When I was walking around the morning market I came across a whole in the wall Kah Num Kruk stand that has been there for almost eighty years! They open up at 5am and run out of food by 1pm. This is where I got my inspiration for our new coconut risotto cups I put on the menu last month!

Thailand even has fried dough. Its a little different than our Italian fried dough that you'd find at the NY State Fair or the farmer's market. It has less yeast, is softer and is more inviting. Plus its only ten for $1

I took so many pictures over there. These are just a few from the first day. I will blog more about my trip this week.

Your Chef,

Max

December 31, 2010

This will be my last blog of the year. I will post again in early February. For the month of January Pook and I will be traveling to Southeast Asia to finish some family business in Thailand where we will stay for several days.

After we are finished we will meet my old friend Trongjai in Bangkok and go to Singapore together. Trongjai is a great eater with a well defined palate that is focused and precise. He has a knack for finding the best food around even if we have to travel to what appears to be a hole in the wall dump! He has been sending me several links to the best food in Singapore. We will be eating our way through Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern's blogs. I can not wait to see what this "Best Food City" has to offer!

For years I have had people asking me to go to Bangkok with them so I can show them where to eat. So later this year we are planning another trip to Thailand and Southeast Asia. We would like to get a group of 8 to 10 people to go with us. The plans are still in the works. I will let everyone know more details later.

Before I finish up my last blog I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of my fans and loyal customers that have supported us for all these years. Without all of you I would not be the "Max" I am today.

Also I would like to thank all of my employees. Especially the ones that have stuck with me for 10 plus years. We are getting old together now. They have taken heat from me every shift they worked and together we have built The Grass. Thank you to all the "Rookies" for stepping up and showing your strength.

To all of our customers we resolve to work harder to bring you great, innovative cuisine from Southeast Asia and beyond. Thank you all so much from the bottom of our hearts!

Happy New Year!

Your Chefs,

Max & Pook

December 28, 2010

I haven't given up or forgotten about my blog, I've just been too busy... actually I just haven't had much to write about!

I've been working with my staff on some new lunch and dinner menu items. So far we've added Ka Num Kruk, a pureed risotto cup to the appetizers. For entrees we've added Olive Fried Rice, Mussamund Curry and we have switched from sliced chicken to our new lump young chicken for the curries. So far all the new stuff has been moving quite well and people really seem to like the new style of chicken. We've pumped up the lunch menu now its time to tackle the dinner menu.

Pook and I just got back from Chicago where we spent the holiday with our two kids. We all ate like pigs. On our eating spree we checked out some restaurants that had recently been rated by Michelin...

We went to...

Two 1 star, one of them was really bad.
A "Best Value" which really lived up to its title. The food was great and dirt cheap!
A Japanese place... I bet this one won't be around for long.
A Hong Kong inspired Chinese place. The quality was ok but they went too heavy on the Oyster sauce.
An authentic Vietnamese place with great variety yet very inexpensive.

The best meal we had was at my kid's house. She made Mac & Cheese and a nice cured ham. We bought a lot of Thai togo from a "hole in the wall" Thai Grocery store. I was a little nervous about it but I was wrong it was great! Their desserts were fantastic. I would love to hunt down their pastry chef and add them to my staff at the Grass! Oh well maybe next time...

Your Chef,

Max

November 24, 2010

Le Beaujolais est arrivé!

Every November on the third Thursday of the month a new young wine arrives from France. The very first year we were open we decided this was a tradition worth celebrating. In 1991 we began our Beaujolais Party with a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau for $4.50 a glass.

The next year we started to serve food with the Beaujolais. The price started at $35 per person with wine. We had almost 500 people in the four week celebration. Some of our customers from the early years still come in every November. It has become a tradition for them. Nineteen years later the price has gone up to $65 per person for a seven course meal and all the Beaujolais and Cru Beaujolais you can drink.

For years we have understood that Thai food does not pair the best with the young Burundian wine. The Beaujolais has a hard time keeping up with our strong flavorful cuisine. There are limitations on the spices and numerous conditions of tate profile that so framed by the ceiling of fruitiness and acidity which most likely reflect the finish of the wine.

Due to the food limitations with the Beaujolais Nouveau we introduced Cru Beaujolais to the party. Most of the Crus have more structure, a better finish and keep longer in the cellar. This years cost was a lot more because our dollar is so weak. We had to pay through the roof for all imported wines. But no matter what, with the quality of food, services and variety and quality of the Cru Beaujolais we are still the offer the best deal in town.

In recent years we have cut down on advertising for our Beaujolais Party. We no longer send invitations out to our loyal customers. I have even toyed with the idea of canceling it all together. But our good friends over at WAER FM 88.3 have kept the party alive. The past three years we have partnered with them for their annual fund raising dinner. It has been such a success that we are honored to continue this tradition for years to come.

I have come to realize that our Beaujolais Parties are not about the rightness of the food and wine, its about everyone coming together, enjoying each others company and just having fun!

Your Chef,

Max

November 16, 2010

Sorry I missed my blog last week. Ali went on a vacation with her family and its been a little hectic around here. The Grass and my Big Elephant have been doing so well lately. We have just surpassed last year's sales and we still have a month and a half to go. Thanks to all our great customers for your support and to the whole crew for putting up with me for another year!

Our development is still going non stop. We started to set quite a few things in place for December. There will be a couple new appetizers, nothing like any one around here is selling! They are on their last stage and we are hoping to put them on special soon.

A couple new lunch entrees are still in the works. I have picked up some salted olive oil for my Olive Fried Rice, and Kobe Top Butt for my new stew. If everything goes according to plan they should be ready after Thanksgiving.

Palmer Foods introduced me to a new seafood guy from Hawaii. His name is Terry. There was an error on our first shipment it landed in NYC! But last week Terry made it up to me by sending us some beautiful Miro Sea Bass. Everyone loved it! They moved so quickly we had to order it again. I will keep this fish as long as the quality keeps up or until something better jumps out at me.

So far this year Singapore has been selected as the greatest food city in the world. I just bought tickets for Pook and myself in early January to check them out. I will let you know where we plan to eat.

Your Chef,

Max

November 1, 2010

Sorry I missed my blog last week. Pook and I went on vacation to the Dominican Republic. It was great I played 27 holes of golf a day for 3 days.

Lets talk about food... It was ok. Nothing flashy just resort food. Its such a shame that they live on the ocean but can not prepare a great seafood dish. The best thing I got was a lot of fresh, dry warm air and plenty of sea breeze!

Back at the Grass they had just an ok week. Some people said we were slow because it was the week before the elections? I really have no idea, I've never kept a record of that. We keep records of the shows in town, weather, holidays and other activities going on, but no political records. I will start one now.

We are hoping to keep up with last year's numbers through the month. If we can hold that we will be up for the year. Thank you to all of our customers and staff that have supported us through the year!

I still haven't graduated from Apple Salad school. I will try one last time this week. If I don't like what I come up with I may twist or deconstruct the old Waldorf Salad. We will see how creative I can be.

We are starting to work on a few new curries. This time we will try pairing them with tempura, noodles and seasonal vegetables. My chef de cuisine Sri will work on them with me this week.

More and more bad news! I just received numerous emails from our suppliers, most of them from our partner Palmers. They are all informing me of price increases. Yesterday I talked to some one from the Department of Agriculture and he told me that if the weather doesn't improve there will definitely be shortages for some produce. He said we could see an increase of 40 - 50% by next year... how can we live our life???

Your Sad Chef,

Max

October 20, 2010

Fall is here and we are taking advantage of the season. Our Butternuts Squash Soup made its debut two weeks ago and has been a hit ever since. We make it daily and this year we've added a little twist for the fall, smoked pumpkin seed oil and roasted pumpkin seeds!

I am constantly trying to find ways to spice things up a little bit. We have been researching and working on a classic Thai dish called "Kanom Kruok," a pan roasted rice pudding traditionally served for breakfast. Over the last 30 - 40 years this dish has continued to develop and every generation has put their spin on it. Now its my turn!

The last few days we have just been working on the basic concept. We need to nail this down before we can jazz it up. Chef Sri has been working so hard on it. She has already changed the recipe four or five times. We are making progress but Pook and I are not 100% satisfied. Hopefully we will have a prototype for a few select customers to taste next week.

I went back to the drawing board on the Apple Salad. I do not want to be too late into the season but I refuse to send out something that I don't believe in. Now I'm trying to make it warm instead of cold. No matter what I did last week it came out too much like the old Apple Walnut Salad. So I scrapped that and am starting over.

This Friday all the new material that I need for my Apple Salad and Kanom Kruok will be coming in. I will play in the kitchen over the weekend and let you know how it goes next week.

Your Chef,

Max

October 13, 2010

Last week was a serious week for us. My Heirloom Tomato Salad has gone, but my new Pear Salad came on even stronger. We converted the old concept upside down. Our new Pear Salad looks so cool, it tastes so good and its well worth the price.

Pear salad

We also launched our new Shrimp Ravioli dish on our lunch menu. I owe the execution of this dish to Chef Sri. She has a very strong basic Thai background and she made one quick fix to my ravioli and it came out flawless with great timing and it tastes darn good.

Ali and the rest of my front staff have been complaining about my "Lack of Greens" syndrome. There is some really great fall produce on the market right now. So I decided on two dishes:

This week I have been working on a new fall Sweet & Sour. We have added some fall vegetables to give it a little attitude!

New Fall Sweet & Sour

I am also hoping to finish up a fall Apple Salad. I have been working on it a lot lately but they have all ended up in the garbage. Hopefully I can find my direction by the end of the week.

Your Busy Chef,

Max

October 6, 2010

Our new lunch menu came out on Tuesday and so far its going well. After several long debates we decided to keep the Strawberry Salad on the menu for a little while longer. If the quality of the strawberries lasts we might even keep it on til the end of the month.

For sure this is the last week for the Tomato Salad. No matter what God gave us, let's be it. We just finished the new preparation of our Pear Salad today. If you liked last fall's Pear Salad just wait til you taste this one! We just need to add the last finishing touches to take it to the next level, the "Oh my God" level!

This year has been the best year for salads at the Grass and our big Elephant. This coming year we will try our best to step in to the new era of appetizers and entrees. If you really now Thai restaurant food you will realize that 98-99% of Thai restaurants are serving the same food. They are American-Thai style with about 3-5 saute sauces and about 4-8 different curries. Now depending on how you define those sauces determines who's doing better.

Our problem used to be that when we tried to cook "out of the box" we were rejected by the crowd. Now a days we are encountering this problem less and less. It may be a good time to slowly change things around and bring this restaurant to the next level.

I have at least 5-6 different dishes on my design board that I am hoping to finish in a couple of months. Pook also mentioned that she wishes to change a few desserts too. Nothing too drastic, we just need to spice things up a bit. I promise to keep you posted on any new changes.

Your Chef,

Max