12.28.06
Posted in Other Fun at 3:30 pm by Chef Matt
I took a trip in the woods. It was kinda cold. But the food was good and the wine flowing.
Writing to you all up here from Bedford, PA - where my parents have their own house in the woods. Now that I am done celebrating Christmas with my wife’s family in Albuquerque, it is time to spend it with my family in the woods. Mountainous desert to temperate deciduous forest - quite the change in biomes. But family is family no matter where you are, and the fact that I get to extend the celebration this way means I am truly blessed.
The secret ingredient kids, is booze! |
So what does a chef get for Christmas? Well, besides “drunk”, your guess of “stuff for the kitchen” would be pretty accurate. I of course asked for many cooking-related items, and I was not disappointed in what I received. First off there are the things I needed around the kitchen that I asked for - little things like tongs and a carving board. The little things that I have needed for too long that I have been too lazy or cheap to get for myself.
Then there are the cookbooks. I have many cookbooks already of course, but I could always use some more. As a side note, a common question I am often asked is, “What is the best cookbook?” I find the answer to this question is the same as “What is the best adult diaper?”
What is it you are trying to make? If you are looking for the best
French cookbook, then my suggesting
China, The Beautiful Cookbook will not help you, now will it?
I believe all kitchens should have a copy of Joy of Cooking, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. But are any of these the best cookbook? No, I would say not. My personal favorite cookbook is Culinary Artistry. It has almost no recipes in it though. Just extensive listings of flavor combinations and ideas of dishes from great chefs around the world. It is an invaluable tool for anyone who would prefer to just plain invent when they are in the kitchen. To me, this is the best cookbook, but it is not right for everyone.
But I digress… Anyway, since I already have all these books. Here are the ones I asked for and received this year:
Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon by Claudia Roden
This is a fascinating read so far, and a cuisine that I have really been fascinated with as of late. The problem being that all the recipes I have are from random magazines that aren’t dedicated to food from this part of the world, so I am not sure how “authentic” my cooking is. But I love the flavors and stews that I have been making, so I figured it was time to take it ot the next level. She is a well-respected cook, and the photos are just fabulous - and the techniques and flavor combinations are all new to me. This will be a fabulous learning resource for me in addition to being the source of many awesome dinners.
 |
Jamie’s Italy by Jamie Oliver
Well it is no secret that I love Italian food, and I love Italian cooking as well. I have several books on the subject, but I have to say that Jamie’s book here caught my eye both for the aesthetic look of the book, as well as the clever and well-thought-out recipes within. Jamie is one of the few personalities on Food Network that I can stand to watch for more than 10 minutes, and I think it’s because he’s not “phoning in” his performance. He is thinking up new and exciting things that I would not have come up with, and this book is no exception. Again, I think there is a lot to be learned from this book, and I look forward to diving in as soon as I get back to civilization.
Time to see how many bags of flour I can fit in here at once! |
And finally, there was the gift I didn’t ask for, but one that was really a very nice and generous surprise from my parents, a KitchenAid stand mixer. I have wanted one for a long time, and I think I just might have room to store this big-ass thing now. So to return the favor of this incredible generosity, I am already making a loaf of fresh bread for everyone here using it. My brother is making chili, so I am making a loaf of bread with cornmeal and caraway seeds. Would like to have added some rye flour to it as well if we had some, but hey, I am stuck out here in the woods, what can I do?…
Anyway, this is the long way of me wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and I hope you all got everything you wanted as well! Happy cooking!
Matt
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12.22.06
Posted in The Story at 4:07 am by Chef Matt
Well, it’s finally over. The rush of parties, the incredible 13 hour shifts, and the arriving at work and being greeted by my boss saying, “Hey Matt, we got a party for 130 people going out the door in 2 hours - you gotta bust ass right now man!”. I put in my day today, and they don’t need me for tomorrow AM, and I am off to Albuquerque tomorrow afternoon to celebrate Christmas with my in-laws, and of course, my lovely wife.
No chef left behind. |
I just want to say that part of me is a but sad to be leaving work a bit early. I feel like a soldier leaving his post early, or a Navy Seal leaving a man behind. It just doesn’t seem wrong for me to be working when my fellow chefs are busting their humps. All I know is, the list of parties is finally down to one last party, and I helped make some of the food for that party well. And might I say, the shrimp salad was damn good.
But the thing I want to talk about is the Christmas party that we had this past Monday night. It was a day off for most of the employees there, but I actually had to come in that day. Yes, it has been THAT busy. I swept and mopped the whole restaurant (the health inspector was coming - we passed) and then started to trim and marinate a bunch of chicken breasts and flank steaks for another party. I cleaned up, and headed home to get changed to come back to the party later.
I came back to the party later with Caroline, and was immediately impressed by the spread. Lots of great food and beer to chose from. We had the party catered, which at first seemed almost counter-intuitive. I mean, having the party of a catering group being catered almost seems like a dentist getting somebody else to floss his teeth for him. But when you thin about it, it makes a lot of sense. For us to cook for our own party is sort-of against the spirit of what a holiday party should be all about. I mean, how does this sound as a set-up:
“Happy Holidays! We really appreciate all you have done for us this year! Now get cooking, everyone else is starving!”
“OK, gimme the bath salts!”
“Then you give me the scented candle collection!” |
Fortunately we were spared from having to cook for our own party, and the Thai food was really quite good. This was followed by a white elephant gift exchange, which is always entertaining. As a suggestion for you all, next time you have to do one of these - lottery tickets are a great gift to give. People will fight for them, and they could be worth a ton, or nothing. (The $20 in lottery tix I brought turned out to be worth $5 for the person who ended up with them.) At first, nobody was stealing anything, it seemed to be a pretty lame white elephant, but then the exchanges started going fast and furious. It was like a Turkish Bazaar on crack. I eventually ended up using my pick to help Caroline get some great coffee gift, but that’s the kind of great hubby I am. Caroline herself was holding on to a Starbucks gift card she was really stoked about, but that was stolen at the last minute by Amy, our pastry chef. I later learned that Amy doesn’t even like coffee, and is going to re-gift it as well. I am sure Caroline will be pissed when she learns that. Thank God she never reads this blog! 
We then received gift bags from the owners which included a bottle of wine and a really nice Restaurant Vero sweatshirt. I think it says a lot about a place you work for to be so nice to its employees like that. It was obvious from how they treated us all to this fabulous party that they really mean it when they say they appreciate all we do for them. I have to say, I was more impressed with this holiday party than I ever was at any of the several I attended at WWF. The love was there, and even though I have only been there a short time, I really felt like part of the family.
But now it is off to Albuquerque. I am sure I won’t be adding anything to the blog for a while, if only because I won’t be working, so there will be nothing to write about. So have a Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year, and all that jazz. Talk back at ya soon!
Matt
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12.18.06
Posted in Reviews, Rants and Raves at 6:33 pm by Chef Matt
The world of odd kitchen gadgetry continues to produce things that I just cannot explain. I love that they keep doing this though, since it makes life so much more interesting. To be an inventor, one must think up one of two things:
1. Come up with an idea for something that doesn’t exist, but that everyone needs. (Example: Invisibility Cloak)
2. Take something that already exists, and improve it in a way that makes it substantially better (Example: Remote Controls for your TV)
Alexander Graham Bell
If he’s so smart, how come he’s dead?… |
The first of these is incredibly difficult. I mean, how do you come up with an idea for something that doesn’t exist? And then, once you have come up with that idea, how do you make it? I mean really, the concept of Alexander Graham Bell’s inventing of the telephone is really something amazing when you think of it. Good work there Mr. Bell! (He also helped invent the hydrofoil, which makes him one of the cooler dead people around.)
But the second form of invention is where the really strange things begin to happen. Sure, there are some great inventions in this second category, like the way Band-Aids are now opened. Remember back in the day with the little red string in there? What the hell was that? Someone actually took the time to invent a better way to package the things, and thus improved them forever.
However, in the world of kitchen gadgets, the real improvements are few and far between, but that doesn’t stop people from trying all the time! Oxo Good Grips for example put out a carrot peeler for people with arthritis, and it turned out to be so great, that they made a whole line of items based on the Good Grips concept. And I think most of their stuff is really great.
But the attempts to improve on the gadgetry that already exists in the kitchen took a step too far recently. I just cannot get on board with this:
That, my dear readers, is a motorized pepper grinder with a light.
Yes, you will no longer have to worry about grinding pepper in the dark, this handy contraption will help you see that yes, it is in fact a salad that you are grinding pepper onto, and yes, that is in fact pepper coming out of your pepper grinder!
I mean really, how did the thought process for this go? Was the inventor not happy with all the work involved in grinding pepper (I myself am usually exhausted after a good three twists of a pepper mill myself) and so decided to not only throw in a motor, but while he was at it, also run a light off the batteries so as to drain them even faster? Or was the inventor perhaps not pleased with the way his flashlight was only putting out light into the room, and perhaps wanted a little more seasoning to accompany it?
Either way, this is a truly stupid combination of items. Though I do have to admit, the thought of someone using one of these during a power outage which results in a mass sneezing fit in the dark makes me laugh quite a bit…
And just so we can get them out of our system, here are some other truly ridiculous kitchen gadget combinations that we don’t need that I have thought up, so please don’t anybody invent them:
- A spatula with a clock-radio
- The pedal-powered shrimp deveiner
- A stand-up mixer/garage door opener
- Cheese grating pet brush (be sure to use the right side for brushing your cat!)
- A walkie-talkie garlic press
- A candy thermometer/plumber’s snake
- The hair-trimming… well, anything you’d cook with - blech!
In all fairness though, if for some reason you think you need a pepper mill that shines light on your food,
here’s where you can get one.
So have a Merry Christmas people, and remember, when you are thinking of getting gifts for that special someone in your life, try getting them a cool invention. Like a telephone, or even better, a hydrofoil.
(God, I hope my wife is reading this… a hydrofoil would rule!)
Matt
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12.16.06
Posted in The Story, Recipes at 4:25 am by Chef Matt
For those of you who have been following this blog, you know that I almost had my first addition to the menu at Tirolo in the form of butternut squash soup. I planned it out, and even researched different preparation methods to better suit the equipment we had available to us at Tirolo. I give and I give. But alas, that was never to be, as I had to leave Tirolo before I was able to make that addition simply because I was not being taken all that seriously as a chef there, and so I headed to the greener pastures of Vero.
So imagine my surprise when I arrived at Vero yesterday and Edwin - the line cook who gets it all done - told me that if I had the time, he would love for me to make the soup for the next few days. Wow - what a shock! I mean, this was my free reign to make whatever I felt like, and offer it up to the public. And I had planned nothing. Hell, I was still in the middle of cutting 200 jerk chicken skewers for a corporate Christmas party. What to do?
They are great sautéed, and they make great soup too! |
Well, there was no butternut squash in house, so that was out. The next thought was to think of what was in season. Well, the fall squashes we have had recently looked good, so I decided to make a cream of zucchini soup, basically working form a recipe tat I had learned at Tirolo. (Once again, this was a recipe that they refused to teach me, I learned it by watching. I am sure they would be mad to know I actually learned when they weren’t paying attention…) Anyway, I set about cutting the vegetables and preparing the pan.
All was going well. I was making the right progress, and I was still making inroads into preparing the fruit and cheese platters for the many upcoming catering events as well. Multitasking at its best! But as the soup boiled, I noticed that something was missing. There was a thinness to the soup, and I was having trouble filling it. No need to worry, this is where a little touch of stock helps out every time. If you just add water to soup, it can taste, well, watery. If you add some stock though, there is a richness and depth of flavor that really helps boost the soup to the levels of fantastic that make you want to curl up in front of a fire with a good book and forget about everything else. So no problem, just reach for the stock and…
Uh oh.
For reasons that could not be explained short of a most unfortunate planet misalignment, there was no stock in the kitchen. Here I was with my first real attempt to show these people how I could cook and create on my own, and the most basic soup ingredient was missing from my arsenal.
The “oh shit” alarm began to sound itself at some very high frequencies in my brain.
“Your soup should be green! GREEN dammit!” |
Fortunately, the doctor was in, and I was doing everything I knew how to do to make the soup richer, and thicker - pureed potatoes, more salt, some cream, anything to richen the flavor, but all were just not giving it that “oomph” I needed. But the increased boiling time involved in all this doctoring now meant the greens were discoloring, and the green soup was turning quite brown. However, I could solve that one too: blanch some spinach, puree it, and add it to the soup for a boost in chlorophyll which makes everything more green. The overall doctoring process was taking so long though, I needed to do this color boost THREE times, just to keep my soup green while I stitched my soup creation together like some liquid version of Frankenstein’s monster.
I then hit upon the idea of kicking up the flavor it with some form of a bastardized stock. We were cooking some bacon (bacon makes everything better!) on the side, and so using some of the bacon fat I was able to give some sense of a front taste to the soup. But now my soup was tasting a little too “bacony” (as if there were such an ailment…). So I changed the soup’s direction in my mind. Now it was a “roasted zucchini and bacon” soup.
Yeah - it sounds weird to me too.
I needed to make the whole thing come together more. It was time to break out the garnish. I sliced some zucchini on the mandolin, roasted them in the oven, and crisped some bacon in the oven as well. I also chopped up some parsley, basically to add some green to the whole affair, which couldn’t hurt given my soup’s proclivity for turning brown on me. I finally had the soup where I wanted it. I figured it was good enough for the other cooks to taste.
Who knew these would make a great stock substitute? I will have to remember this trick… |
They liked it, but were hardly turning hand-springs over it. Quite frankly, I wasn’t either. It was still that front note that was bothering us all. It took the tastings of everyone, and the great input of Joy - one of the owners - to come up with the idea to caramelize some onions, puree and add them in with some sour cream to help fill out the front notes of the soup.
Back to work, and away I went on this. The soup was now entering it’s third hour of making, but it was now ready for service. I had a pretty garnish together, and the soup was at the place where I would be happy to have my name attached to it. I asked the servers to push it, and one of the first orders was for the soup “Roasted Zucchini Cream with Crisp Bacon” - yummy sounding, huh?…
I plated the soup myself for the first bowl - I wanted to make sure it was as good as could be for this first customer. With much anticipation, I awaited the server to return to the kitchen. She finally came back for her entree order, and I immediately asked, “So what did they think of the soup?”
“They RAVED about it,” she replied. “They want the recipe!”
Vindication. I would be able to keep my job for another week. 
The recipe would have been easy enough to provide - if I could have remembered the 12,000 steps I put into making this thing finally work. So no, I didn’t give them the recipe - not because I am mean, or because I guard my recipes like at Tirolo. Simply put, I would have been embarrassed to reveal all the miscues and changes I made along the way to actually create this soup.
I am just happy they liked it.
But back in kitchen-land, mistakes and fuck-ups like this are not forgiven quite so quickly - even if the customers like the final product. The soup I made is now hyperbolically known as “Matt’s 6-hour zucchini soup” and while they think the final product is good, they still rib me for all the time it took me to make it. I was actually able to take the ribbing in good stride though, as Jay was giving me shit about the whole ordeal and said to me:
Yeah, I wanted to keep the soup vegetarian, but who can resist the Siren song of bacon?… |
“Well Matt, I think it came out well for 6 hours of work, and maybe next month, we’ll have you make another soup.”
“Next month?” I replied. “Shit, I better get started now!”
He found that really funny, as did I, and thankfully the soup continues to sell well. But I knew it would. As I have always said - bacon makes everything better!
Matt
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12.14.06
Posted in The Story at 11:22 am by Chef Matt
The hour of my arrival at work keeps getting earlier and earlier. Mind you, I am not complaining… Sure, I have to miss all the great daytime TV shows that I used to enjoy when I went in closer to 2 or 3 PM, but it is simply that time of year when we all have to pitch in extra-hard to make sure all the parties get their orders and all the patrons of the restaurant leave satisfied and happy. Simply put though, there don’t seem to be enough hours in the day to do this.
I am now going in to work at 11 AM, and I usually end my day around 11 PM or so. The resulting 12 hour shifts with 12 hour breathers are tough, but as I mentioned before, the hardest part of it all is that I am working solid, with pretty much no breaks for that entire time.
Reggiano Parmesan.
Il re dei formaggi |
Which is what made my break yesterday such a welcome surprise. We have two rooms of storage, one of which has a fridge and freezer in it to store things for catering parties mainly, and I went in there to get some extra Reggiano parmesan cheese. Things were a bit slow on the line for this brief moment, so I thought I would take advantage of the lull to get some other prep work done. (Never a dull moment!)
Cheese in hand, I was walking out of the room when Jay came walking in. He knew I was getting the cheese, so it is not like he “caught” me doing anything I shouldn’t, I was just surprised to see him not on the line as well.
“Hey Matt, have a seat, take a break!” he said to me as he sat down himself (he works even more than I do, so it is understandable that he would be exhausted as well.
“Really?” I asked. In addition to how odd the concept of taking a break was to me, Jay is also a master bullshitter. I figured he must be kidding since:
- I never take breaks.
- This would mean there were two of us off the line in the middle of dinner.
But it was pretty slow at that time as I mentioned before, so I guess I could understand if he was seriously inviting me to take a little breather.
So I sat down, and he and I talked about this and that for a few minutes. Our commutes, co-workers, his dog, just a little bit of this and that. After about 5 or 10 minutes I knew it was time for us to get back to it, and he did as well, so we got back up and headed back to the kitchen.
I had three dessert orders and one salad order waiting for me, but they were pretty new, and David was helping me out with them. So even though I turned my back on it all for a second, nothing fell apart, the restaurant didn’t grind to a halt, and life carried on as normal.
I think this was a valuable lesson to keep things in perspective while being a chef. Yes, there are people waiting on you to make them food, and they should get it both quickly, and in the best form you can deliver it. But at the same time, there is always a minute or two to take a little break. To let yourself recharge - even if in the most modest of ways. I think I may have to look to things like this in the coming weeks as I plug away 12+ hour shifts to make sure everyone has a Merry Christmas (party).
Plinko, the game that proves that people can’t figure out that if you want the chip to land in the middle, drop it in the middle. |
Though I am upset about the fact that coming in at 11 AM means I have to miss The Price is Right.
Matt
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12.11.06
Posted in Reviews at 10:40 am by Chef Matt
OK, I know there are a lot of you out there who are saying to yourselves, “Hey Matt, this blog is great, and I have really appreciated all you have done to shed light on what it is to become a chef. What can I possibly do to return the favor?” Well, you need not fear any more people, as you can always get me the gift of food or kitchen gadgetry. Just swing on by to egourmetchef.com and check out their gourmet gifts for a really great selection of things to get me! There is also a whole section devoted to kitchen tools (though I HATE it when sites refer to “expresso machines”!)
It’s not every photo that makes me drool… but for ham, I make an exception. |
And best of all, the section on Italian food has a WHOLE Prosciutto di Parma leg! Yes folks, if you want me to love you forever, just send me a ham. I promise I will not forget you in my will when I die of a massive heart attack.
But man, will it have been worth it.
Oh yeah, and next time you get a hold of some prosciutto, be sure to wrap it around cantaloupe melon for one of the best taste combinations known to man.
So get on over there, and start sending me stuff people! Or you can just get the stuff for people you actually know and love…. either way…
Matt
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Posted in The Story at 1:30 am by Chef Matt
Well December is finally upon us, and that means only one thing for an establishment that is involved in catering: LOTS of work. But we have another thing working “against” us. The great review in the Post means that the restaurant is busy as well. We are getting business from both ends, which is fabulous for the business. And I am thrilled because it means more experience for me, more hours to work, and basically that the business that I work for is in good financial stead. What’s not to love?
Well, after a 12 hour shift on Friday, I was able to sneak in a 12 hour rest and then back to work on Saturday for another 12 hour shift. Simply put, the work is hard, fast, and non-stop. It is not for everyone, since some people like to sit down every now and again while working, or perhaps the need for “mental breaks” is essential to a productive day. No such luxuries here. Just full-tilt work from the moment you walk in the door to the moment you finish mopping the floor at night.
No comment needed, picture says it all. |
Saturday, I strolled in the back door and was greeted by a list of parties that were to be delivered that night. The two main ones were for over 100 people each. It was noon, and these parties had to be out the door by 5 PM. My name was next to a number of dishes on the menus, so it was time to get the food together, decorated, wrapped, and ready to roll. No holding my hand to show me how to do everything, no recipes, just git ‘er done.
It was like culinary school on crack. Teams working hard to put out products in a limited amount of time while staying clean and making sure the product met quality standards. The difference being, we were cooking for about 10 times as many people, and we were working on “teams” of 1. Chicken skewers, beef skewers, hummus, baba ganouj, tapenade, bruschetta, crab dip, and more all had to be made and ready to go by me. It was intense, and the whole kitchen was working full tilt. Jay, the head chef was holding his own, and keeping things calm, but I could hear his nerves starting to betray him in the way he was breathing. I know that sound well, because I was doing it too - only with a lot more panic.
4:30 rolled around, and we were bringing the dishwashers over to help us with some plating. It was madness. We had to make sure it was all ready to go out the door, and the clock was ticking down. I still don’t know how we did it - it is all too much of a blur, but with only a few minutes to spare, we had all the orders together, and the teams loaded up their vans and headed out the door to their respective parties.
This is the time when most people would take a break, slap each other on the back and say, “Well done!” to one another. But we had a whole new problem facing us. It was Saturday night, and we had already booked every open seat in the house to reservations thanks to the review in the Post from last week.
And we opened our doors in less than an hour.
The set-up and prep work that we usually do over the course of 2 hours we now had to be done in less than 50 minutes, and we were already running low on energy - both caloric and mental. It was time for a second jolt of adrenaline to take us through to dinner service, because that is all we had left in us.
Preparing salad dressings, slicing lemons, roasting beets, plating cheese trays, shucking 4 dozen oysters, baking croutons, making candied walnuts, and so much more - all at full speed, just to get ready for what was guaranteed to be a hellishly busy night.
Can’t make up your mind? Good!
Take. Your. Time! |
Thankfully, the reality of the deadline for prepping for dinner service is not as rock-solid as for a catering party. With catering, when the van leaves, either your food is on it, or it is not. (If it is not, you are in a LOT of trouble.) With dinner service, when people walk in the door, they get their seat, peruse the wine list, look over the menu, have some bread, think things over, keep chatting with each other and so on. Little do they know, in the back there is a furious series of last-minute tasks going on, and all we are begging is that they take their sweet time making up their minds as to what to order.
The tickets started to come in - first at a trickle, then a full-flush torrent, and the next three hours are an indecipherable mess of salads and desserts in my mind, but when the smoke cleared, we all think we did OK once again. (I hope all our patrons all had a good experience as well!) Tired to the bone, I began to pack up my station and get everything stored for the weekend.
As I shuffled into the walk-in fridge with a tray of food for the speed rack, I had to get by Jay. He looked at me, and as always (he is a nice guy) he said, “Good job today Matt.”
I looked up at him and wanted to say, “Thanks so much Jay, I really appreciate both the support you all give me and the trust you put in me to deliver the high quality food of this establishment to your customers,” but my tiredness got the better of me.
“Murph,” was all I could muster instead.
“You like this job? You having fun with this?”
This time I was slightly more articulate, but only barely. “I love it Jay. I really love this job.”
“Are you being sarcastic?” It was late, and I was tired - perhaps I didn’t sound all that convincing even though I really meant it. His not understanding me was understandable on his part. So I decided to illuminate what I was trying to say.
“Jay, I gave up a lucrative marketing career in a field I love and took over a 60% pay cut just so I can do this. And I’m here to tell you, I f—ing love this s–t.”
“Yeah, I can tell you do.”
I dropped off my tray, and walked over to the mop sink. It was late, and even though I love the job, I really wanted to finish up so I could go home and get some sleep.
Matt
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12.07.06
Posted in The Story at 11:45 am by Chef Matt
Last night started out much the same as any other night. The kitchen greeted me with the usual hellos and sounds of frantic preparation. There was a catering order that was about to go out the door, and the last-minute hustle to make sure that there was enough food for everyone, that all the dishes had been made and that nothing was being left behind as the van was loaded up is just part of the job. I was quickly plunged head-first into the mad preparation for this order, but as always, we got it all out on time.
After that first bout of craziness, I settled down to prepare my station for the dinner schedule ahead of me. Things had somewhat returned to normalcy on Tuesday night from the hectic ravages of Saturday night, but it was still busy at times. I went about preparing food expecting a “busier than average” Wednesday night since everything is now a little bit heavier than normal thanks to the review.
Here’s us settling down to family meal There’s the chicken, next comes the rice. |
Only this time, there was something added to my list of preparation. I was asked to make the “family meal” for the first time.
Family meal is the food that is prepared for the staff each night before service begins. We don’t have time to eat while we are serving the customers, so at about 5:15 or so, there is food made up for everyone so that we are not all working on empty stomachs until 11 or so… Usually the meal involves some form of chicken and rice - cheap, fast and not too many complaints, except when it has been done too many times in a row.
At first I took it as an honor that they would ask me to do this - that I was trusted enough in my cooking skills to feed everyone there - but I had no idea what I was going to do. You can ask my wife, I usually like to scan through tons of cookbooks and magazines looking for the perfect recipe or inspiration before I get started cooking something. The thought process I put into food prep is usually a long and thorough undertaking. I know I will have to get better at this “on the fly” style of cooking as my career evolves, but as it is, that is how I come up with ideas. Lots of thought and consideration goes into what I make.
Of course I was going to go with a variant of chicken and rice, since I didn’t know what else we had available to us. I came up with idea for chicken cutlets that I could flour and pan-fry and then top with something (the plan was still developing in my head) when I realized I had limited stove top space. My boss then offered that I try something a little less ambitious, as there was limited time. I began asking what ingredients we had that were available to use (since I didn’t want to use up a supply of something we desperately needed) and I was surprised by how little I had to work with. In the end though I whipped up some chicken with a vegetable sauce that I pureed and reduced, and even though it needed a little extra salt, most people seemed to think it was pretty good.
How could they not love THESE?… |
Today though, I have advance warning. If I have time before hand, I’m gonna try to make grilled cheese sandwiches. YUM!
Matt
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12.03.06
Posted in The Story at 2:39 am by Chef Matt
This will be short, I don’t have the strength to write much more. Yes, it is past 1AM. Yes, I am posting to my blog after an 11 hour dinner shift. Someone once wrote about my blog that it was proof as to why chefs didn’t write too many blogs. Yes, this is why.
Simply put, people saw the review, and they came in droves. If I am not mistaken, we think we had more people come in for dinner tonight than any other night before.
Damn.
It was hardcore. I am so thankful to my time at Tirolo for teaching me how to handle the heavy loads, and how to deal with the pressure of so many tickets flying at you for orderes from all sections of the kitchen. It was invaluable training for which I will be eternally grateful. But still, no matter how you slice it, a busy night is a busy night, and I spent hours prepping for a catering party as well as tonight’s shift, and I still had to refill most every single part of station at least once during tonight’s rush.
Here is everything I can remember that I had to restock while serving:
I will need all the lettuce you have for tonight.
And your neighbor’s crop as well… |
- Spring Mix Salad
- Baby Arugula
- Blue Cheese
- Grape Tomatoes
- Pears (3 times!)
- Romaine Hearts
- Dried Cranberries
- Pine Nuts
- Grated Parmesan
- Kale Leaves
- Lemon Slices
- Candied Walnuts
- Cranberry Vinaigrette
- Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- Caesar Salad Dressing
That is all I can remember at this point. It is not that I don’t know how to plan out my station, it is just that I never expected us to be so busy. I mean, isn’t that the case will all record breaking nights? For example, an average Saturday night has me making 7 or 8 pear salads. Tonight, I made 22. Caesar salads are usually around 6 or so. Tonight I went though 13. Desserts that our pastry chef told me we had “lots of” - we ran out of.
It was something I had never seen before at Vero, but you know what?…
I hope it happens again! I really do love this stuff!
Anyway, time for sleep - it is late, and I have to admit, I am pretty damn tired.
Matt
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12.02.06
Posted in The Story at 2:36 pm by Chef Matt
We were pretty sure that a Washington Post review was coming our way, and it is finally in. This weekend’s Washington Post Magazine has a very nice review of Restaurant Vero, and we are very happy with how it portrays the restaurant. I will not re-print the whole review here, but of course you should all read it when you can.
I want to be clear about this review though. I claim absolutely ZERO credit for this glowing review. All of his visits occured before I was an employee, so there is no way my additions for the past two and a half weeks had anything to do with what Mr. Nicholls experienced at Vero. Sure, he does mention the salads and desserts especially, but I wasn’t making the salads then, and all I ever do is plate the desserts anyway. (We have a pastry chef on staff who is both excellent, and fully deserving of any praise laid upon the dessert menu.)
My only hope is to be a part of the team that earned such high praise, and to keep the level of quality up where it is now. The bar has been set high, so again, I have to rise to the challenge. Fortunately, I feel up to it this time as well!
“Remember us?… We’re coming to see you at Vero!” |
The other challenge that will approach us is the fact that a good review means a huge influx of traffic to the restaurant. Back at Tirolo, there was a review that came out back in 2000 for them in the Post’s weekend section. The result was business like they had never seen before, and never saw since. The huge vats of tomato sauce that I used to make every other day had to be made for every meal period! That’s right, lunch and dinner each used close to 50 lbs of tomato sauce! From what I was told, it was madness.
And now we have a glowing review in the Post as well. I am not expecting it to be quite so crazy simply because we are a sit-down restaurant, and not a cafe, but all the same, the volume increase will most likely be quite noticeable. So I am guessing that I will be seeing even less of my wife for quite some time to come…
And if I may take issue with one comment in the review. The reviewer is complaining about how spicy some of the dishes are, and says: “Take a starter of “grilled polenta with duck ragu” with no mention of spices. Two wedges of nice-enough, grill-striped cornmeal mush come topped with a scoop of nuclear stew that sears my tongue.” Let me just say first of all that the duck is the best of the appetizers we offer in my opinion. Like a NC-style BBQ, it has rich flavor, nice heat and yet the full-bodied flavor of the duck meat is not lost, but rather warmly accented. To call it “nuclear stew” is just crazy - it is just not that hot…
Second of all, what restaurant reviewer can’t stand a little spice?…
Oh well, that’s just my opinion. It’s a great review, and well deserved by my fellow co-workers. Now it is time to go to work today. I just hope I’m ready for it.
Matt
P.S. If you want to come to Restaurant Vero - and you all should - you can make a reservation on OpenTable.
P.P.S. Thanks to “Culture Kills…Wait, I mean Cutlery” for giving me an honorable mention for this week’s Pageant of the Transmundane contest for my post on Season Shot.
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