Shocking Poll Resualts

Wow, I’m truly shocked by the results of this poll. It evolved slowly, and predictably, until the very end, when a surge from who knows where pushed the results in a totally unthinkable way. With all that happens in Cleveland, we surely cannot count ourselves as trend setters, rather a very health vector of wholesome restaurant patrons who can spot a trend and lift it up, or shatter someone’s dreams. I have my opinion, and from those polled I’m not lucky enough to be looking for change in the near future. A lot of different people all over the world have an idea of what pizza is, and I’m quite open minded to those opinions. I have one simple critique, or observation that a pizza is not a cracker; you should not be able to see through your pizza. Your pizza crust should not be able to cut you. A pizza, like a woman, should not be flat, overly salty, and overpriced. For some reason this is exactly what a lot of people are calling artisanal pizza here in Cleveland. I’m not gonna hold back on this one, but a single serving cracker thin pizza for $16 is just wrong, and unlike most pollsters, I’m not just predicting, but hoping this trend sinks faster than a bucket of pizza sauce, since you aren’t getting any of that moist sauce on your cracker pizza!

Sushi seems to have run its course and entrenched itself in your culinary scene. People don’t seem as fanatic about it as they did a few years back. I think there is a core group of sushi patrons that are educated enough now to differentiate from the good and the bad so quality across the board has risen and will stay there over the long haul. The novelty of eating raw fish has also diminished. Not that it is any less enjoyable now, but those people who where squeamish about it 5 years ago, have just gotten over it. Sushi is here to say, and let us all hope it doesn’t go by the way of the Chinese Take-out.

Mass market coffee is only a few well placed television spots and another shock to the economy from disappearing. Small, local, homey coffee shops will live on, but their evil corporate money eating monster of a brother will not survive. I’m seeing pictures of people in the unemployment line on the cell phone, sipping Starbucks, and I wonder which will happen first…..the coffee or the phone? As soon as CNN runs the story every half hour that describes the hundreds of dollars in coffee you spend every year, I think a lot of people are going to take notice. Not a single one of them is going to stop drinking coffee, but they will make more economically conscience decisions on where they purchase it from.

Green dining, in the height of all it’s glorying, entering the spring harvest season, with the opening of the not at all ironically named Greenhouse Tavern in Cleveland and 40% of the poll results concur that Green dining will be the first of the previously mentioned trends to hit rock bottom. Wow, this seems unthinkable, Slow food, Local Food Cleveland; we are all feeling like we just got punched in the gut. I do see where there is a reasonable argument that due to the economy the majority of restaurant patrons with be focused on value over quality. On the other hand, the ‘green’ message has been growing very fast the past few years, and the message has reached a maximum number of people. Not just our dinning choices, evidence found in the Greenhouse Tavern, and not just in restaurants, but everything from cars to toilets are going green. While due to the current economic situation green dining might have, or in the near future reached a platue, I do not see it regressing any time soon.

Fascinating Food

Sometimes, if in the right state of mind, it’s very interesting to just ponder food. Think about what we eat, why we eat it, who chose to eat that specific thing first? Surely we can all agree that on the most basic level we eat for sustenance. But there is so much more, for thousands of years we have manipulated our food. We could, if we chose to, walk out our front door and begin eating whatever green sprouts we find or furry animal we catch, but we don’t! Let me give you a few examples, and examine them with a child like mind because I can Wikipedia their history just as easy as you can. How about your pantry basics….

Flour is something we can start with. So at some point there was a person who out of the blue rubbed some wheat between two rocks transforming wheat into flour. Okay, maybe it was an accident or something, but that person stuck with it and made something with the flour that was worthy of spending energy to rub rocks together to make the flour again in the future.

Sugar has run a full course in the great culinary race and lap’d itself. We have come all the way wrapped around sugar that we no longer want all that sugar and make fake sugar! Why do we even like sweet things anyhow?

Salt…..it’s a rock, why don’t we grind up any other rocks and eat them?

Salad greens come in all shapes and sizes these days. When we get a fun batch in at the kitchen we run our hands through it, pick out the weird shapes, or bright colors and ponder, just who, where, and under what circumstances did someone pick this leaf out among all the others, put it in their mouth, and decide, “yes, this is good enough to eat again.”

Artichokes are dear to my heart as they are in season and my fingers are currently stained from cleaning them. Upon embarking on cleaning a case last night I started to wonder how desperate the person must have been who grabbed a big thorny flower bud, stripped off all the leaves only to eat the base and choke on it, get another thorny flower, strip off all the leaves, remove the choke eat the base and decide it was worth all that work?

Eggs make me wonder as well. It just doesn’t make sense to me at any point to take an egg that weights maybe 4 ounces and eat it instead of waiting 6 months for a 4 pound chicken?

There are endless examples if you look around that will make you wonder, why, who, or how when it comes to food. There is a history to all these things now, but if you can make your mind think about things before this reasonable history existed, then you will find a lot of the food we take for granted very fascinating.

New poll

When a trend is no longer a trend what is it?

Top Chef Poll Results

We all agree there are great expectations put on the Masters series of the forthcoming Top Chef saga. The idea of throwing roughly two dozen accomplished chef/personalities in the Kitchen Aid, turning it up to 10, and seeing who flies out first is oh so tantalizing. Why will we watch is a more personal question. Will we watch for a masterpiece to be created, or a faux pas, exceptional knife skill or a sliced finger, imagination run wild or re-hash of the classics…do we want to see the masters triumph or succumb to the familiar failures we find in our own kitchens so often?

What scares me is how bad this idea can run amuck. Nobody wants to watch thirty people cut apples again, especially not the pick of the litter. Please don’t send the masters off to cook cafeteria food in Beverly Hills, on a ten dollar budget with guest judge Mr. Puck. With hundreds of years, thousands of menus, maybe a million services under their accumulative belts accomplished in restaurants kitchens, please don’t take them out of there! There will be no joy in watching, nor any sense of quality competition to watch this status chef cook breakfast on a beach over a charcoal fire for example.

There is a bright side! Assuming the silly competitions are eliminated….ok, limited at least, and the product placement doesn’t carry on to any more extreme measures, the opportunity to see a little bit of these chefs’s personality is very cool. Throw out the, “I’m so mean and yell at everyone. I’m supreme leader!” fake persona that most chefs tend to convey to the masses until you find them on a bar stool half in the bag. Even a twinkle of fascination, passion, or admission of fatigue or pressure will reassure to us their humanity. What emotion or who it comes from doesn’t really matter at this point; let’s just hope it can be incorporated into the show.

I’m looking forward to the next season of Top Chef, as are most of those who responded to the poll. I really hope we get to see the best of the chefs competing. I am looking forward to seeing something great come from their kitchens. With any luck, the best chef will win.

Weekly Specials Anymore???

Specials are something that I’ve enjoyed sharing on this blog. At the Black River Café I am doing 2-3 different specials or fish preparations nightly and things are a lot less planned out than in the past. That is not to say they are not thought out, properly composed dishes, just that they tend to morph, and change daily based mostly on what vegetables I have prepped on that particular day. I’ll try to catch us up a bit with a list of what we’ve been doing the past few weeks.

Organic salmon over horseradish mashers with fresh artichoke, beets, and peas in leek vinaigrette

Shrimp and scallop pasta in a roasted mushroom cream sauce topped with crisp pork belly

Rainbow trout, kohlrabi slaw, garlic rosemary frites

Rainbow trout, fried chick-pea, roasted pepper and spinach salad, chili-almond reduction (mole)

Crispy braised chicken wings, citrus glaze, sweet potato fries

Vegan potato gnocchi from Ohio City Pasta with lemon oil, English peas, and fresh herbs

Seared scallops, cauliflower-almond puree, Breezy Hill Farms baby Swiss chard, leek vinaigrette

Spinach salad, Lake Erie Creamery goat’s milk feta, lemony onions, crisp pork belly, fried Amish egg

Herb encrusted wild stripped bass, braised salsify and young carrots, tomato-fennel confit

Slow roasted leg of lamb, lamb jus, garlic rosemary frites, braised Swiss chard

Crispy fried rabbit livers and loin, romesco sauce, pickled onion salad

Pork and Pea tasting, ham hock and pea soup, fried pork belly ‘BLT’ in a pea profiterole, ham, Swiss and pea quiche

Milk chocolate pudding with baked banana

Peanut butter parfait with fresh banana and strawberries topped with chocolate streusel

Lastly, Ben added an improved vegan entrée to the menu; crispy white bean croquettes, red pepper coulis, braised chard, and sweet potato fries.

Simple Cornbread

Good, solid, tested recipes are hard to come by. Even more so when they need not be committed to the written page and everyone/anyone can log in to their favorite web space and leave a list of ingredients and ratios that are a recipe for nothing but disaster. Fortunately, I stumbled across this recipe online, I can’t remember where. The facts are that it is quite a nice recipe, I’ve made it twice now with great success and thought “why not pass it on.”


Cornbread
2 oz butter, melted
1 sprig of sage
¼ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup corn meal
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt

Chop sage and heat with butter until melted, add to sugar and whisk, combine egg and buttermilk. Finally add dry ingredients. Cook in a buttered dish at 350 Fahrenheit for about 30 min.

New Top Chef

The contestants of the next installment of Top Chef have been announced, and with a star studded line up of chefs the coming season has gained the "Masters Series" moniker. For a list of chefs check here. From what I can tell, Rick Bayless might be the only chef with any relation to Cleveland. What do you expect from the next season, vote in my poll.

SOS

I've had the opportunity to work some SOS events and I'm happy to promote there cause. Michael Ruhlman does too, and you can read about it here to get involved.

Poll Results, a Tie?

What a letdown, the first tie in my short polling career. I thought the ‘goes’ where going to pull through against the old timers, but in the end a few stray votes made things neck in neck. My vote…well…I guess those of you who know me, know my opinion already, but for sake of conversation I’ll leave my personal feelings out of this one. I want to examine the many ways to judge temperature of a steak.

The cheek method, where one pushed his/her finger against the steak and moving from rare to well, feels similar to pushing against ones cheek from the middle of the cheek up towards the nose. The cheek part has a lot of give, where the nose area is stiff.

The thumb web theory; here is an example of the same tactile extrapolation just starting at the inner web of the thumb and forefinger and working up toward the wrist where the wrist area is rather stiff signifying well done, and the web area rather soft and thus signaling a rare temperature.

The thermometer holds a whole new mathematical realm to the equation, where cooking something to 90 degrees is medium rare, assuming a resting period in which the heat permeates the meat. Kind of scientific, but only as good as the thermometer, and the thickness of the steak.

Lastly, and the overall best way to judge steak temperatures at any restaurant is to have a great broiler man. This person is willing to throughout his own perceptions of doneness and based on experience provide a consistent doneness based on the clienteles desires. The broiler man has a lot of pressure, every steak he cooks gets judges, and it either passes or fails, and when a steak fails it gets paraded back into the kitchen, managers poke at it, the expo gives it a nod, other cooks wince and count their blessings it isn’t one of their plates. Other areas of the brigade don’t always fall under such scrutiny. Working the broiler is no glorious job, it’s the hottest spot in the kitchen, it’s bloody, and very much underappreciated. Can a great broiler man provide a steak that is something between medium rare and medium? Absolutely. So why not ask him to do it? I can’t think of one, sorry broiler man, your job just got a little bit more difficult.

Enjoy this podcast from linecook blog, including a discussion about steak temperatures.

This weeks veggies

Kohlrabi gets its name from the German "kohl" for cabbage and the Latin "rapa" for turnip. It looks like a root, but it's actually a tuber and cruciferous like cabbage, kale, cauliflower and broccoli.

Kohlrabi should be no larger than a tennis ball, they tend to get woody, and hard the larger they are. The leaves can be used along with the base. Weather green or purple they need to be peeled and both varieties have a cream colored inside. As you might imagine from its name, both raw and cooked kohlrabi has a sweet cabbage flavor with a crisp toothsome turnip like bite.

On one occasion this week I simply diced the kohlrabi, blanched it, then sautéed it with English peas, and braised pork belly. Secondly, and in a way to maximize the flavor of the kohlrabi I made a slaw with raw kohlrabi that was shredded, a chifinade of the kohlrabi leaves, some onion, and a dressing that included a bit of ginger for spice, and caraway seeds. One very pleasant surprise about raw kohlrabi is that it doesn't oxidize, or turn brown once cut.

Salsify has something of a fleeting history and definition. What is commonly called Black Salsify in the American market has a colorful variety of names including; Spanish salsify, also known as black oyster plant, serpent root, donkey dick, viper's herb, viper's grass and that's only the beginning. A closely related genus of plants is also called ‘salsify’ and generally includes anything which we would consider a 'wild flower' of which the small roots and young shoots are edible.

So, enough of the confusion. Black Salsify originates from southeastern Europe, but by 1600 was grown through Europe cherished for its hardiness in cooler climates. This salify plant has a taproot that can grow up to a meter long, but most available are about a foot long and one inch diameter. They have a dark brown skin that needs to be peeled revealing an astonishingly ivory white inside. Unfortunately peeled salsify quickly oxidizes so if a white product is desired the peeled root should be submerged in acidulated water. Salsify is described as having the flavor of oyster, but I don't taste it. I get a rather earthy, sweet, nutty flavor that reminds me more of artichoke and potato skin.

Salsify is commonly turned into a soup, which is nice. I like to caramelize batons of salsify in butter and serve them as a starch. I've also used them raw, cut very thinly and marinated with sherry vinegar and a touch of vanilla. This week I made salsify-potato latke. I used about twice as much salsify as potato, an egg, a touch of flower, some nutmeg and sautéed them in butter. They came out very nice, the nutty flavor came through nicely and there was a perfect amount of starch to hold things together.

Food Processor Poll Results

So, you haven’t used that food processor since the day it came out of the box. All the pieces, the cord, the lack of counter space means it gets shoved into a cupboard and as infrequently as it gets used only a few weeks down the road it’s pressed to the back wall with 12 or so more important things in front of it. Sound familiar to me. In the restaurant the food processor is a very useful piece of equipment that helps us blaze through prep, keeps other areas of the kitchen clean, and creates uniform cuts, chops, shreds, or purees. My plan of attack with the food processor, even at work, is to group 2 or more things together that require the equipment so I’m not pulling out and putting away all the pieces multiple times. This would make even more sense at home. I’ve gone ahead and looked at two other ways to make our time in the kitchen more pleasant.

The top-rated Bosch SHX98M09UC dishwasher might not have an easy name to remember, but it is the best option on the market right now according to consumer search website. At a cool $1,500, it truly is a luxury, but boosts to be the quietest, and most energy efficient model available. No more, “clank, clank, clank” of the dishwasher. You’re not going to save money on the energy efficiency since you’ll be buying the more expensive earth friendly soap, but rest assured the environment thanks you.

The first wireless powering system to market is an inductive device. It looks like a mouse pad and can send power through the air, over a distance of up to a few inches. A powered coil inside that pad creates a magnetic field, which induces current to flow through a small secondary coil that's built into any portable device, like a food processor. No cord! Just pull that lug out of the cabinet and set it somewhere on the counter where there is a wireless delivery system installed. This technology is really fascinating, and I’m sure you can find better information about it here.

So with these three ‘small’ adjustments to the kitchen environment our food processor problem has all but solved itself. We have the best dishwasher to clean all those parts, and a wireless power system means no cords, since we group projects together the food processor becomes less of a burden thus living closer to the cabinet door making it even easier to access. Problem…problem solved.

Quick Pics

We had a whole hog slaughtered and butchered. A light 210 pound live weight animal who was raised organicly on a pasture. We had the hams smoked along with the hocks. Pictured is a dish made from the chops cut from the back end of the loin, a rib-eye is you will. Topped with a crispy braised belly. A nice creamy polenta is underneath along with a medly of English peas, brussel sprouts and carrots all finished with a chili-almond reduction aka. mole sauce made with the braising liquid.

This simple dish has done astonishingly well. Seared rainbow trout over roast root vegetables with a morel mushroom cream garnsihed with pickled red onions. Dried morells bring alot of flavor to the table, I'm glad to have come across some.

The Race is On

With the rainy forecast, and the last few nights dipping into the 30’s it’s only a matter of time before springtime is in our rear view mirror. I’m finding my yearly desire for spring somewhat controllable this season. I’m racing to find ways to get that last hearty comfort food dish on the menu before the hats and scarves give way to flippy flops and tank tops. I guess there are those few strictly local seasonal items like ramps, or morels, but with the ever expanding global agriculture the list of ‘seasonal’ items has almost disappeared. Increasingly over the past 5 years, seasonal has lost the part of its definition that ascribes it the notion of limited availability. Even taking ramps and morels as an example, they have a growing season that lasts maybe a single month in northeast Ohio, but they will be available through my produce company for at least a month longer. Looking at a broader picture and we see that things like stone fruit, grapes, apples, berries, and tomatoes have become completely season less.

So what is a chef to do with the seasons? Well, the desire to buy local and in turn buy higher quality product drives a lot of what keeps a menu seasonal. I think the idea to present something that is historically connected with a season is obvious. Finally, seasonal is no longer about what’s available, but how we cook that changes. Everyone can appreciate a good braise, or stew after a trek through the snow, but after a day at the beach the same meal just seems inappropriate. This drives the seasons now. And I’m currently trying to squeeze every last day out of the winter season before turning the page.

Brining

I’ve never had good experiences with brining, until now. In the past I’ve brined whole chickens, and pork chops in bourbon-molasses brine that either separated, or caused the pork to char far too easily when cooking. I got some very nice local organic pork last week; in fact we bought a whole pig and went through with the butcher how we wanted things. In an effort to keep the pork chop as simple as possible brining came to mind, but with my past experiences I hesitated, then decided to keep going with the ‘as simple as possible’. I found my copy of “Charcuterie” by Polcyn and Ruhlman, and went from there with their basic brine recipe that went something like this:

1 gallon water to 1 cup salt and 1 tablespoon sugar
Aromatics

The aromatics I used consisted of rosemary, thyme, lemon, ginger, peppercorns, cloves, coriander, and cinnamon.

I cut the loin into individual chops, and then brined them for 24 hours. The chops where thick, at least 2 inches. The end product was very succulent, and juicy though out. There was a wholesome, fullness of flavor from the aromatics, but nothing was overly pungent. I instinctively salt and peppered them which was perfect for my taste, but my sidekick chef thought it was a little too much, so we held back the salt from there forward.

I would highly suggest a simple brine if you are cooking pork at home. If you get the normal thin cut chops from the grocery they would take less time to brine, 8-10 hours. Also, you wouldn’t need a full gallon of brine; 2-4 cups would be an easy batch to put together at home. Good luck, I hope your chops turn out as tasty as mine did.

Weekly Specials

This week we tweaked a few sides on our standard menu. We added smashed English peas and truffle-soy vinaigrette to the scallop app, and cauliflower with the chicken. Lastly we introduced a baked meatball dish in place of a braised beef item. I saw Daniel Boulud prepare what he called, “Danish Meatballs” and was inspired to try the combinations myself. The meatballs are all locally raised organic beef with a heavy hand of nutmeg and onion. We set them in a bad of buttermilk whipped potatoes, top everything with caramelized onions that are cooked down to a semi-liquefied state, and finally bake the whole thing topped with gouda cheese. The response has been very good.

As for our chalk board specials;

Appetizer: Creamy parmesan herb polenta with English peas, truffle oil, and aged balsamic

Fish: Seared Rainbow trout, roasted root vegetables, morel mushroom cream.

Entrée: Caramelized Diver Scallops, wild rice, creamed Brussels sprouts with pine nuts.

Entrée 2: Grilled Pork chop cut from local, organic, pasture raised pork with sweet potato fried, Swiss chard, and tomato-fennel confit.

English Peas

I got in my first case of English peas for the season. I know it’s too early to be local, but they are nice, plump, and clean. It is one of my favorite tasks, shucking English peas. It is so very mindless, trivial, monotonous work. Fortunately, there are no knives or heat involved which means you can just stare at the wall and think about absolutely nothing and shuck for hours in this weird culinary meditation.

In the past after the peas are shucked I’ve found myself wanting to puree them, or mold them, or in some way twist them from the perfect green spherical shape they are happy to be in. I’ve learned my lessons. I’m looking to take a more mature approach this year and stick with blanching, butter, and sel gris.

Market Research

I went shopping at a neighborhood grocery store that is unfortunately going out of business in the very near future and they offered what was left on the shelves at a massive %50 price reduction. I understand this has been the situation for the past few days, and I was warned not to expect much left. I was able to find some deals for myself, and the restaurant. Fortunate for me there were some weird pasta shapes, dried morel mushrooms, artisanal sodas, and European butter all instantly made affordable, yet hidden in plain sight to the average shopper. What I found even more interesting than how bare the shelves had been picked is what exactly was left behind. Either it was not at all wanted, or still over priced at %50 off! So, what was left after I skimmed the last of the gourmet items from the shelves?

Those fancy looking jams, jellies, chutney, mustards and marinades that cost no less than $7 a piece…still overpriced!

Chitterlings, pig intestines for those who don’t know, 5 tubs left, the only thing in the freezer.

Pumpkin Pie, a variety of brands, but I guess we buy one pumpkin pie a year, during the third week in November, coat it with ‘whipped topping’ and decide it’s not worth having again until next year.

Dried spices were plentiful. If they aren’t overpriced, then they are over rated, either way, they are still sitting on the shelf.

Fresh vegetables; there was a case of beautiful Belgian endive; a generous amount of kohlrabi, and a few bunches of parsley root.

So what does this say? I guess if you own a grocery store these are the items you should immediately stop ordering and pray that you actually sell the stock before you close too. On the other hand we can get a nice winter meal of spiced and marinated pig intestines over braised endive, a kohlrabi slaw, and a pumpkin pie for dessert! Or not.

Poll results

I can't agree more with how the poll results turned out. The top four I can completely agree on. I am suprised no a single vote for Hosea who is fresh on our minds, but even more so we bored of him only weeks after his triumph. On the same note, last seasons winner Stephanie pulled little attention. I have to say I really enjoyed Marcel and Miguel on the show, and would visit each of their restaurants respectivly soley based on their personality on Top Chef, where the top four of the poll I would, and I'm assuming those who voted would enjoy those restaurants for the chef's vision and passion.

I took the time to link the top four chefs, enjoy.

Richard Blais has Home in Atlanta.




Harold head Perilla in New York.



Fabio has his hands full at Cafe Firenze in California.



Faithfull Judge Tom is busy these day, but is still grounded at Craft in New York.

Weekly Specials

It's been a long time since a "weekly specials" post, and I didn't intend to do one tonight, but we must have sold 50% specials this friday night. I thought such a thing must interest some people so I'll have to post it. Things went so well, and prep is so deplenished that things will be different tomorrow so no photo is available, we will have to use our imagination.

Artic Char served over fennel-oliver mashers with carmalized cippollini onions, brusssel sprouts in a broken lemon-balsamic vinagrette topped with fried leeks

Creamy Seafood pasta; Cavatelli pasta served with shrimp, scallops, smoked salmon, de-shelled mussels, fennel, and vegetables braised in cream with spinach and diced tomato.

I'm pretty sure tomorrow will have Artic Char over cavatelli pasta with cippollini onions, tomatoes, anchovies and chili flakes topped with pickled onion.

Poll Results, the cod story

Cod is well suited for modern man’s consumption. The lean flesh is rich in proteins and has a low fat content. In the old times it was praised because it can easily be preserved as dried or salted. Cod was probably a favorite dish ever since people inhabited northern Europe and learned to fish. Cod remains have been found among other food trash in a stone-age settlement on Gotland Island in the Baltic. The settlement was dated to 3000 years BC.

It’s no wonder then that Atlantic Cod, specifically those cod populations from North American waters have been drastically overfished and it’s estimated we are now consuming the last 10% of this cod population. Some Canadian cod stocks are so low as to be listed as endangered or threatened. Strict measured have been implemented on both sides of the Atlantic to curtail the decline of the cod populations, but some experts speculate it’s too little too late.

Pacific Cod on the other had is a healthy sustainable fishery. Hook-and line, or trap caught Pacific cod from the U.S. Bering Sea and Aleutian Island areas are considered the consumers most responsible choice.

Man cannot live of cod alone I say. While Lake Whitefish might be a favorite snack of those residing in upper Michigan, it’s mostly a regional delicacy, if you will. Mackerel is a very powerfully flavored fish that doesn’t translate well to the current American’s palette. Both of these fish are perfect in certain instances, but lack broad appeal as the poll shows.

Farmed Sturgeon on the other hand is my personal favorite. While it may be difficult to find at the neighborhood grocery store it is almost always available from my purveyors. The blight of Caspian Sturgeon and the near universal ban on Caspian Caviar makes most people cringe when they hear, “sturgeon.” Fortunately fish farms in California have done an exceptional job creating an eco-responsible product.

For those who have not had sturgeon I greatly encourage you to as soon as possible. The flavor is mild yet satisfying. The texture is rather dense similar to swordfish, but less likely to dry out. I’ve likened a thick hunk of sturgeon to a veal chop. One of my favorite dishes all time is seared sturgeon over truffled black lentils, creamy leeks, and caramelized cippollini onions. I had a dish similar to this at Lola way back when it was in Tremont, and enjoyed it so much that I’ve resurrected it a few times as a special.

Top Chef Final, over and out.

I came across this quote about Top Chef and found it so enlightening I just had so share,

“Once you turn a competition into an entertainment, in other words, you have to leave in the possibility that the wrong guy will win sometime. Rewarding people on sheerly the basis of their ability, and making sure that the most deserving come out on top all the time—that's what the rest of life is for.” Time

I watched an exit interview from Fabio of all places on my Sprint phone, but the content was generally that he was not bitter, yet rejoiceful in the fact he was able to compete and do so well in and of it. It was not necessarily all that humble, but that was the point. While we quibble over whose food we thought was best, or who lacked personality, or who kissed who, we all keep on watching which is what makes the show a success. I’ve always thought my cooking would compete with those chefs, but my personality wouldn’t provide much entertainment. Statements like those in Time just reassure me, I’m working on ‘the rest of life’ part not the T.V. show part of life.

So what do I think? I like the choice of Hosea. The producers decided to portray Stefan in such a poor light that it became difficult to root for him. He did do a really good job over the whole of the show, but what does that mean? Carla was difficult for me to like from the beginning. She laid in waiting until the last few episodes than came out all gang busters near the end almost the exact opposite of Stefan. If you ask me Stefan wanted to win every competition, but Carla was happy to move on to the next day. Or at least that is how things came across to me on the TV. So what about Hosea? Fabio and Stefan lead the pack for the most of the season. Hosea had good competition throughout the season just with them and the daily grind off camera. Did Hosea impress me? No, his food did not impress me, but his ability to stick to his guns, work hard and through diversity was impressive. Like I’ve told many people, “being a chef is only a little bit about cooking,” and this is a good example of my statement.

So as a pre screening for my next poll question, which top chef’s restaurant, would you most like to visit? Theoretically, weather they have a restaurant or not, and assuming travel is not an issue.

Cooking with wine and life

You know when you are adding wine to a pot and sometimes you just turn the bottle upside down and let it glop out, 'glop' then air in 'glop' then air in, and it takes like 30 seconds for the wine to come out but you don't care. Then other times you just swirl the bottle a little and a vortex forms and all the wine rushes out of the bottle in like 3 seconds. Life is like that sometimes.

Headcheese, part two the finale

The final dish looked like this; a slice of chilled country style pork pate, mustard, cornichone, and toasted bread. Of course those are pickled red onion up front.

This cross section of the headcheese loaf gives a good look at what was previously pictured in the bowl. I pressed the mixture into small loaf molds overnight. I'm really glad I went through this technique because I found the texture and flavor of this headcheese far better than the pork pate I've made in the past. The texture of this was pleasantly soft and palatable; the favor was subtle, yet adequate. Where I can get the aroma of cinnamon and clove in the headcheese, I was smashed in the face with it like when I made the pate previously. The texture of the pork pate was hard, tough, and greasy tasting where this headcheese was very meaty yet soft, almost melt in your mouth. I lucked out for a first try and let the aspic reduce perfectly, not chewy, yet firm, what can I say, "Sometimes you get lucky."

This was a special scallop entree for the night; seared diver scallops over celery root puree with Swiss chard and carrots topped with a truffle hollandaise. A very good looking, well composed, tasty dish that didn't perform. I have a bad feeling the front of the house falls behind on the weekends because ironically I sell less specials when we do twice as many covers.

Our cheese plate had alot of thought and tasting put into it. The final, at least the current rendition is pictured here. Warm Lake Erie Creamy Chevre is in the cup, around the clock we have, a hard raw sheep's milk cheddar, Blooma a soft rind aged goat cheese from Lake Erie Creamery, and a grass-fed cow's milk Swiss with apples, nuts and almonds to round out the plate.

Sustainable Seafood

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has put together a very nice resource for anyone who purchases seafood with an eco-friendly conscience. The Seafood Watch program informs us on what to avoid most importantly, along with best choices and a middle of the road alternatives category. The information can be accessed here. At the Black River Café we use these guidelines in purchasing our seafood, and in line with the Restaurant Program do our very best to not use anything in the ‘avoid’ category.

Headcheese, part one

This is my little story about making headcheese. This kinda thing always raises eyebrows in the kitchen; whats the pig head for, where is that on the menu, or that's disgusting are all responses we know so well. I've come across different versions of headcheese recently by way of Cory and Daniel on hulu. It was time for me to give it a try. I already had a cow tongue in the freezer for some added bulk, and a skinless pig head cost us only $9 from the butcher. Shoot, the parsley to finish it cost almost that much. Pictured here is the cooked pig's head. As you can tell the bottom jaw bone comes away from the rest, while the cheek meat is rather plump and stands out as the prize. I say this in spite of the fact the tongue will make up a good percentage of the total take of meat off the head.


This the the head picked clean. I'm sure I sorted the meat from the fat far better than need be, but I really wanted a dense meaty end product. Since the head was skinned when we recieved it there was no snout, but the eyes did hide a nice little treasure chest of meaty goodness.

This was our take of the meat off the head. The large tongue on the right is the calfs tongue from the freezer I added for bulk. The meat is all very succulent and moist at this point. I started the head in about 3 gallons of water, mire poix, and a sachet of cloves, cinnamon, allspice, and black peppercorns. After removing everyhing I reduced that liquid down to about one quart.

Here is our final product pre-molding. I chopped the tongue into a nice 1/4 inch dice, and minced the rest up rather fine. This blend was annointed with about a cup of very rich stock, parsley, sherry vinager, salt, and a heavy hand of black pepper.

Soupy Poll Results

So it’s a smooth, velvety, and creamy soup that is most desired on restaurant menus. There are two pieces of equipment that make this happen, and I’m not sure they can be found in many home kitchens. A Vita-Prep blender is the muscle that can turn almost anything into a puree. It’s a rather pricey machine with a narrow range of uses at home, but in the restaurant kitchen it can get a really good work out even on a slow day. The other thing necessary for a smooth and velvety textured soup is a chinois. This is the finest strainer in strainer family, anything finer and you’re looking for some cheesecloth. With a little pushing, the effort is well worth the results. So many of the soups I’ve made in many different restaurants has culminated in me standing in front of the Vita-prep ladling hot soup into the top, buzzing it for a minute or so, then pouring it into a chinois and using a ladle to push the soup through into a bucket and discarding the solids left in the bottom of the strainer. I’ve done this hundreds of times. I’m not at all surprised it’s in high demand.

What I am surprised by is the lack of votes for the classics. It’s true, they are the classics for a reason, and they are very popular. Any day of the week, any time of the day, any kind of weather and Lobster Bisque will sell! Creamy tomato with blue cheese….you better have made a large batch, French onion….no, you probably didn’t slice enough onions, and Asparagus soup….in Cleveland, in December, ohhh who cares!

Personally, I’m not very fond of eating soup. I almost never order it when I go out to eat. I do stop off at the Souper Market sometimes, and I almost always get something chunky, something that’s more stew than soup. As for making soups in the restaurant I try to think of soup as a liquid appetizer, that doesn’t necessarily stop with what’s liquid and goes in the bowl. I’m interested in pairing a soup with something else, on the side, for instance a petite sandwich. This seems very approachable, and has worked well in the past. Most recently at the Black River Café we did a creamy chicken soup juxtaposed with crispy chicken skin served alongside. The possibilities are endless; the combinations are what make soup interesting to me.

Top Chef, finally a good episode

What a missed opportunity this season of Top Chef in NYC has been. Casting is the most glaring problem. They didn’t start with a full line up of contestants who could possibly win. Flat out they picked some people who wouldn’t deserve a job in my kitchen. With a line of qualified, proven, tested chefs the TC crew picks a kid just out of CIA for example. What a waste of a spot for someone who might have been a contender. We have had to wait until this week, with only 4 chefs left, for an episode lacking some obviously stupid or otherwise glaring shortcoming. Still nothing stunning, nothing unique, but this is part cast, part challenge. Some of the recent challenges have eliminated creativity (something this cast completely lacks) in favor of imitation. From the trip to Le Bernardin, to the last meal, to Creole cooking this week, no allowing for creativity. The cast as a whole is a boring lot that played into stereotypes and fallowed party lines, just like their food. The show would be much more entertaining if a group of qualified cooks competed against each other with a stricter more orderly system for judging was in place. Five seasons in and I can’t figure out what the judges are looking for. They seem to concentrate on a single event one week and eliminate a chef, then the next week glance over the same situation. It must be doubly aggravating for the chefs.

The wrong man was sent home! Fabio was robbed by his slacker euro trash buddy. Although Stephan has done a great job in the past, the attitude and food included in this week episode was rather disturbing. Prepared sausage, standard food, crappy arrogant attitude all are things we’ve seen other chefs get dismissed for. Fabio baked bread, and made pasta from scratch, in five hours! Assuming their food was equally tasty, the technique, and range Fabio showed far exceeded what was portrayed as a sloppy Stephan taking smoke breaks and patting himself on the back.

While I’m willing to stay a fan of TC, there are a good number of ways they can improve the show overall. The casting, judging and the challenges could all use an update. I’m hoping next season brings something new to the table because if I want to watch a bunch of un-inspired cooks wallow away at the ovens, I’ll just go to work.

Breakfast Hot Spot Black River Cafe Opens for Dinner

Our first press over the Black River Cafe's new dinner offerings has been inked and is the hands of the Oberlin Community. The Oberlin Review article can be found here. A very honest, straightforward, un-opinionated piece that sets the tone for what's to come.

Music and Dining

The verdict is in, and that is an overwhelming desire to hear Jazz music while dining out. I’m not at all surprised that the great musical traditions of Jazz are welcomed to be a part of our dining experience. I do wonder how many of those pollsters who chose Jazz are listeners outside of the dining room? Jazz seems like such an easy choice. With roots that go back almost 100 years to modern interpretations the variety of styles and emotional states is almost never ending. While I’m sure Jazz can be appreciated even if it’s the first time someone has listened, I wonder how many jazz votes might have been, “something, but I won’t remember,” just as easily. It’s nothing offensive toward Jazz or the voters, just an observation that my own vote would go for that which I wouldn’t remember, and for the most part, 3 hours of Jazz that I find in the moment very pleasant during a meal, completely forgettable the next day.

I’ve learned the best way to enjoy the music of those around you is to be as open as possible, and never get attached. I’ve responded many times in the past as to my musical tastes, “it is all good unless I don’t like it.” That is how I feel about music in the dining room. As long as I don’t hear something and say to myself, “wow, I don’t like this music,” then I’m perfectly happy. I’m perfectly happy in my completely ambiguous, vague, self serving definition of what I find acceptable that it can only be defined by its opposite. Simply and boldly states 80’s pop and/or country makes my skin crawl.

Fresh Pics From Black River Cafe

This was our daily bread select, from front to back; baguette, gougeres, foccocia, and brioche.

This is our Braised Pork Shoulder with butter braised cabbage and herb spatzle in the back.

Our chicken is served as a half boneless chicken in a lemon-thyme marinate with boc choy, and roasted root vegetables consisting of carrots, parsnips, celariac, and rutabega.

A little twist on the classic, Steak Frites, but we use sweet potato fries, with swiss chard, and pictured is a rib-eye.

One of our more popular dishes so far, mushroom risotto. We cook the rice in a rich vegetarian stock with porcini mushrooms, then finish the dish with butter and parmasean. On top we put spinach and whole mushrooms, in this case oyster and shitake. Truffle oil, parmasean and black pepper finish the dish.

The daily fish was Rainbow Trout, pan seared over sweet and sour cabbage topped with ricotta gnocchi and almond brown butter.

R.I.P

We went to 2for1 burger night at The Drink in Lakewood tonight. Of all th places you thought the menu would never change, this was one of them. So when our favorite tender handed us newly pressed, laminated, and bound copies of the menu, my heart skipped a beat. No longer can we feast on the pork potstickers or the western burger, they are gone, long gone but not forgoten. We tried some new burgers, and they are still good. You can't go wrong with quality meat cooked to temp on a soft bun with fresh veggies and generous toppings. I had the bacon&gouda. It was good, the sweet potato fries are unchanged which is good. The beer as always is cold and the service is supberb. Every Monday night at The Drink in Lakewood!

A moving target

I’ve pleased myself happy with my ability to control my emotions through the opening of the BRC dinner scene. I’ve taken everything in stride. I’ve been able to laugh off a lot of things that would have drove me mad in the past. There was a rose bush, and I stopped to smell it. I’ve been able to relish in the apperant chaos around me. There have been ups and downs, inside and out, those that involved me and those that haven’t, but it’s been a fun coaster to ride. Unlike some of my collegues and some of my own thoughts recently… I can wait until things get back to normal. The un-normality of things has been a good time.

Unfortunately, soon enough things will get bogged down and repetitious. My new goal is to rejuvenate myself in times of monotony with memories of how much got accomplished during these times of un-ease. In the future, when the days turn into weeks, and every day is another groundhog day, I hope to push myself though the drudgery by ways of harder work, and a dedication to excellence. I’ve found myself in the recent past telling myself, “this is fun,” and I hope to keep it that way for as long as possible.

BRC opens for dinner

The Black River Café opened for dinner service tonight promptly at 5:30pm. Our first printed menus arrived promptly at 6:04, and made for an interesting 15 minutes or so that as a few of our early reservations arrived. We started with roughly 40 reso’s and I can’t imagine we did less than 70 covers. The few times I was able to peek out at the dining room, every table was occupied.

The kitchen rocked out for a first night, with new pans on new flames with a new tempatured grill and new surroundings. What’s great is the lunch crew had a rough morning and they walked out laughing that we would be caught off guard and get crushed. Ha ha ha, who is having the last laugh, me, now, because we did a great job. Not a single viable complaint. And prep for tomorrow…we are looking fairly good. We will have to braise something new next week for sure.

So what happened? Well, the rabbit and short ribs where the best sellers, with the mac&cheese a second along with the risotto app. Not many salads ordered at all, yet a lot of people opted for half portions. I was very surprised by how well the rabbit did, maybe that’s because Kari cries everything she sees it on the menu. I ordered them on the phone the other day with her in the car and she was sobbing so hard, I kind of felt bad, but not for the rabbits.

We are baking our own bread. Tonight we featured foccocia, brioche, baguettes, and sesame rolls. It was the best looking bread baskets I’ve ever seen go out at any restaurant in Cleveland. We cut the bread and rest it in an aluminum basket lightly crimped and heat up exactly as much as we need. This is just a great way to do it that I’ve never done before. Why cook whole pieces of 4 different kinds of bread? I’m happy with bread service as long as we can find a way to keep track of who gets what. Not impossible, just have to force it on the FOH.

The BRC still runs with hand written tickets. Not a totally bad things, it’s easy to amend items, or substitutions, or special arrangements. On the other hand, in the kitchen we can’t decipher each different server’s personal language. We decided on a procedure, that some of the FOH adopted, other decided to make it their own. This will change. We decided that every course will be given to us on a different chit. Well, to me that means even if two of the seven top is getting a salad, it get’s its own chit, not circled on the entrée ticket. I’m sure it’s easier for the server, but I’m not here, nor is the BRC here to make their life’s easier. So follow directions!!! Same story, different people.

The 40 minute drive home was very pleasant tonight; a feeling of accomplishment accompanied me on the ride.

After much anticipation......

Black River Cafe
Dinner menu for winter 2009


Appetizers

Cheese Plate 8
An assortment of local cheeses with bread, apples, toasted nuts, and olives

Seared Scallops 9
Seared diver scallops with a bacon cream sauce

Fried Calamari 8
Corn-dusted Point Judith calamari with marinara

Artichoke Crock 6
Artichoke hearts baked with cheeses and herbs with focaccia tuilles

Soup of the Day cup 5 / bowl 6
Always different; always good

House Salad 5
mixed greens with vegetables in a balsamic dressing

Cress Salad 7
Watercress and napa with goat chevre, almonds, and dried cranberries, thyme vinaigrette

Grilled Caesar Salad 8 / with grilled chicken breast 11
Grilled heart of romaine with white anchovies, parmesan cheese, and lemon caesar dressing



Entreés

Zuppa di Pesce 22
Mussels, scallops, squid, cod and lobster in a tomato-lobster broth

Rib Eye Steak Frites 22
Grilled 14-oz. local rib-eye steak with sweet potato fries and swiss chard

Braised Pork Shoulder 14 (half 7)
Braised local pork shoulder with butter-braised cabbage and herb spätzle

Mushroom Risotto 14 (half 7)
Classic parmesan risotto with porcini, button, oyster, and shiitake mushrooms

Lemon-Thyme Chicken 16
Half of a boneless Organic chicken marinated and sauteéd, with root vegetables and bok choy

Braised Short Ribs 18 (half 9)
Local beef short ribs braised in red wine, with roasted root vegetables and swiss chard

Rabbit Ragoût 20 (half 10)
Ragoût of locally farmed rabbit over Ohio City Pasta parpadelle, with herbed ricotta

Macaroni and Cheese 8
Macaroni baked with cheddar, gouda, and parmesan cheeses

Tofu Frites 12
Soy-glazed seared tofu slab with sweet potato fries and swiss chard

Music.....in this kitchen?

Music in the kitchen? It’s an interesting question. Do people in other professions get to listen to music often, at all? I wonder. I guess there is something of an artistic bridge between cooking and music, as well as the motivation music often provides, a’ la the audible red bull. Some people have strong preferences toward music-less working environment. I’ve not worked in such an intensely pure environment, but I have worked in quiet kitchens.

There are some valid reasons a kitchen would be quiet, all involve being polite to your neighbors, whether they are the next door neighbors, or the cook next to you. When the type of music becomes more of a distraction than a mental escape, it needs to be eliminated. Fortunately, when everyone can agree to not disagree on the music, it’s a very pleasant way to work the day away.

At somewhere like the Baracelli Inn, there is enough traffic that music would be a distraction. Yet, at Fahrenheit we played music all day. We turned the radio on…then the cooking equipment. We rode a wave of music up to a hysteric crescendo right before service began, then cut off the music and got elbow deep in the nitty gritty. On the other hand, no matter what would have been played someone would have been offended at Blue Point Grille. Jazz ruled at the Wonder Bar, shoot, it was the theme, and music played all the time, loud as could be. Nemo Grille was a big music kitchen too, swapping iPods and Pandora for commercial radio after the Sirius radio busted of which we enjoyed the comedy and sports channels thoroughly. I’ve not figured out the music ratio at BRC yet. Sometimes it’s seriously loud, yet last night the dishwasher had theatrical compositions playing, while the FOH had Rage Against the Machine blasting loud as could go. Weird!

My favorite work tunes go something like this…..

1. Classic Rock
2. Punk, because it gets to people eventually
3. Any song relating to the state of the ‘working man’
4. 80’s music…to make fun of

Steaks and Chops, Part 2

Well, we pretty much got what I expected. There is a huge, 30 pound boneless rump roast, wow, I’m gonna have to go to work on that things some time soon. We have some nice looking inch think cut shanks. I figure those should braise up nice. Each tenderloin is just under 5 pounds. Some cuts like the flank steak are trimmed up beautifully; others like the strip loin have a huge fat cap. I guess you can always trim, but you can’t glue it back on.

I understand that this cow was considered a ‘fat’ cow, not necessarily meaning a well marbled cow, just one with huge deposits of snow white fat. A few of the short ribs the butcher cut where too fatty and we had to supplement our single cow with some other short ribs to make it worthwhile to but on the menu for some time. The end product of the short ribs I am not a huge fan of. They taste greasy to me, even when all visible fat is trimmed or rendered?

Taking on a whole cow is a huge commitment. I did not think the sheer volume of the butchered beef would be so much. I’m sure taking whole primal saved us space on top of it. For a family, seems like a commitment centered more on ethics than economics, and that much I can appreciate.

What do you do with a beef heart? Cat food perhaps? Any suggestions?

Ricotta cakes

These little guys take a little bit of work, but if you enjoy ricotta, and can find a quality product you will be very happy with this preperation.

What you need:

1 cup ricotta, I like Leone whole milk ricotta
2 egg yolks
1 tblsp grated parmasean
1 tblsp bread crumbs
1 tsp each thyme, corriander, roasted garlic paste, and siracha or other hot sauce
1/2 tsp sherry vinager, unless you use tabasco, then skip
salt

breadcrumbs to coat.

Mix everything and let sit for 10 minutes or so. The mix should hold its shape as a 2 inch diameter ball, but just barely. Coat the sized balls you desire in breadcrumbs and form into thick patties. Squeeze the breadcrumbs into the mixture at the ball stage so the end result holds. Sautee in butter untill golden and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

I've served these as a starch under fish, but would also go great with a nice tomato sauce. If the egg offends you leave it out and add more breadcrumbs, no problem.

Steaks and chops. part one

I’m having the rather pleasant experience of control over how my locally grown steer will be butchered in the coming days. I’ve done some research online, and found little more advice than, “trust your trusted butcher,” This is no advice for an untrusting man like myself. The best knowledge I came across was my experience with Fresh Fork Market, and knowing what cuts they prepped to sell after they fell a few heads in the past. My straight forward, but ignorant advice went like this;

“we want whole primal cuts, but cleaned well since you will grind it.
whole tenderloins, strip loins, boneless rib-eye, hanger steaks, skirt steaks,
and as far as roasts go, brisket, short ribs, and the chuck for us then keep up
with what the Burrito Bar needs,” Top rounds and other roasted as pre-arranged,

” and that leaves plenty for burgers. We can find a use for the tail and tongue, but I'm not a fan of the liver or heart. If we can get clean cut pipe bones aka marrow bones, reserved out of the stock bones that would be great roasted marrow bones! Also, sirloin steaks, I see
them on a lot of menus, I'm not sure how to butcher them from a primal cut, but
if we ask the butcher for 6oz sirloin steaks and he obliges that is really cool.”

In retrospect I think the only cut I forgot was the Flank, and I’m not so unsure that this cut isn’t part of the brisket? So this is where we stand. I will get things delivered in the next few days and we will see how things turn out. While at the restaurant we can utilize a lot more ground beef and roasts than a family would like to go through, but on the other hand, those steak cuts are much more lucrative for us, so we want to maximize their usage.

I’ll be back soon to let you know what I find out. If you have any questions, let me know, and I promise you an honest answer. I will say that I’m not looking to critique the butcher or the farmer, and since they have been part of the Black River Café in the past I consider them trust worthy purveyors.

Current State of Emotions

I’m beginning to get very excited about the opening of the Black River Café. That’s not to say I was less motivated in the past, just that I’m a man who rarely will display dramatic emotional outbursts. For some reason people around me think less of me because I have very guarded emotions, too bad for them is what I’ve got to say, because if you stick with me, and get to know me, I’m actually quite confident and secure. I just can’t help myself this week-end though. We are siting on our hands waiting for a fryer to be installed, then we are ready to go. I’ll need 2 days until I’m ready to go full boar. I cooked for everyone the other day and everything came out at least satisfactory. When chicken sits for 15 minutes and the critique is that it’s dry, I’m cool with that. If less than half the people trying anything suggest it’s salty, then it’s fine, at least in a statistical sense. You will never please everybody, unless some of those people are prepared to lie.

I was reminiscing a bit earlier today about my time at Nemo’s and how peaceful that time was, even when I was itching through my skin to take on tasks and assignments that where in reality, quite imaginary for that specific position. An air of positive complacency seems to hang over Nemo’s. I have always used complacency in a negative connotation, as in "ok, this is cool, I’m not gonna try any harder," but at Nemo’s it was more like, "ok, this is cool, I’m happy with this, it’s working, let’s stop and smell the roses." It has been my nature in the past to turf the rose bush and go full speed ahead chasing an aspiration or goal that was, and still is undefined for me. Reminds me of a song, a good only Country Joe tune, but I’ve changed the words, "1,2,3, what are we striving for, don’t know and don’t give a damn, just a number in the un-employment line.....1,2,3, what are we working for, don’t know and don’t give a damn, just want to pay for that 6 foot deep hole in the ground"

So what have I learned, and what do these two paragraphs of introspection have to do with food. Well, I’ve learned that stopping to smell the roses is not a bad thing. Also, that it’s more important to be happy with what you have than to strive for those mostly unattainable things you don’t have. This outlook will help me be the best chef I can be in the moment, without putting unnecessary attention toward unattainable trophies. Yes I’ll have goals to work toward, and they will revolve around cooking, kitchens, restaurants and food, but they will not neglect the driver of the buss...the man who chooses exactly which roses to stop and smell.

Black River Cafe Menu, pre-opening

Black River Café
Dinner Menu, Winter 2009

Starters

Sauteed Main Scallops, bacon cream, wild rice. $9
Crispy fried Judith Point Calamari, Gribiche sauce. $6
Baked Artichoke crock, toasted breads and raw veggies. $6
Artisianal Cheese plate, toasted nuts, olives, jam, toasted breads. $8
Killbruck Farms Mushroom crepe, fried egg, spinach, truffle oil. $7

Soup/Salad

Daily soup presentation $5

House Salad with carrots, tomatoes, peppers & onions. balsamic vinaigrette. $5

Watercress and goat cheese salad, napa cabbage, toasted almonds, sun-dried cranberries.$7

Grilled Caesar with white anchovies, pickled red onion, foccocia tuille, parmesan cheese, lemon-Caesar vinaigrette. $8

Entrees

Baked Mac&Cheese, cheddar-parmesan cream, caramelized onions, roasted peppers. $12

Lemon-Thyme marinated Organic Chicken, half a chicken served boneless, starch, veg, roasted chicken jus. $16

Grilled Local Beef Steak, 14 oz rib-eye, starch, veg. $20

Braised Local Beef Short ribs, red wine jus, starch, veg. $18

Falafel encrusted Tofu, fried chic-pea salad, tahini. $14

Ohio City Pasta fresh black pepper parpadelle, local rabbit ragout, herb ricotta. $18

Seafood stew, scallops, squid, cod, and lobster in a lobster saffron broth. $19

Braised Local Pork Shoulder, butter braised cabbage, herb spatzle. $18

Endings
Classic Vanilla Creme Brulee. $4
Chocolate Lava Cake. $5
Tiramisu. $6
Woo-city Ice Cream $3

This is something of a solid first draft. We tasted over half of the dishes today and made some headway on a final edit. Of note: some dishes here say, "starch, veg" because it's our intention to change these offerings frequently and will re-print the menu accordingly. Also, we intend to bake our own bread including a white dinner roll, a multi-grain bread, foccocia and gougeres.

Snow drift, I don't care about no stinken snow drift!

Finally, I’ve made it to the Bistro on Lincoln Park. Forest and I arrived just as the snow storm ended on this lonely Tuesday night in the restaurant business. Between the two of us we knew everyone there, shoot even the couple that sat at the bar next to us was friendly enough to be considered part of the family. We only ordered two happy hour dishes, both of which where very well executed. The croque monsieur was exceptional. The fennel on that dish was very well prepared, succulent, yet firm. Very well done. The lamb sliders where very hardy, and a filling dish for $5. Our new friends at the bar where close to orgasmic over the black bean cake and the polenta! We enjoyed an amuse bouche of salmon in savoy cabbage topped with horseradish cream and cucumber. The flavors of this single bite lead me to believe great things are ready to come out of this kitchen. It’s inspiring to see the menu has stayed as ambitious as when the doors first opened, and to hear from Pete that making ketchup, and baking bread are things the kitchen has been able to perfect beyond what is available off a semi-truck is very encouraging. I’m very much looking forward to my next BLP experience.

I'll take mine on the rocks, even in the snow.

I'm suprised so see that such a large percentage of people enjoy warm alcoholic drinks. I'm sure the 8 inches of snow make the ideas of a warm beverage and a stiff cocktail equally desirable. Personally, I can't stand to drink, or even smell so much as a Baily's and Coffee drink. I have the upleasant experience at work to heat up cognac for customers an a regular basis. It reminds of of pumping gasoline on a very hot and humid summer day. It's as though I can feel the vapors snake into the pit of my stomach. A small sip of a coffee drink makes me think of an oil slick, or a burning river. I find the smell of a fresh sharpie, or some modeling glue more enjoyable. So be it then, I'm glad to be in the minority on this opinionated poll. Feel safe leaving your warm drinks around me, I'm not gonna touch it! other than to move it a little further away.

Welcome to 2009

In the new year a fresh opportunity.

I’m moving on from my post at Nemo Grille. It’s a bitter sweet move as I’ve come to really appreciate what NG has to offer me. My next opportunity will be to open the Black River Café for dinner service. The Black River Café is in Oberlin, Ohio. The restaurant has been open for 10 years, and is enjoying great success serving breakfast and lunch. The BRC prides itself on it’s dedication to local purveyors and farmers, looking for organic and sustainable products as much as possible. This is something I’ve become more and more interested in and it will be a great opportunity to work for someone with the same aspirations. The idea is to keep things simple, affordable, and comforting. A menu is in the works. We hope to be fully open and operational for dinner by January 27.

2008 Year in Review

Only because I’ve done it the past 3 years, I’ll do it again, but I’d rather not re-hash the instances of the past year. While pocked with low spots and depressing imagery, there where some signs of life, some uplifting, hope filled times.

Nemo Grille has been good to me. It’s been somewhat of a roller coaster ride, at least my personal feelings have peaked and slumped over the past 10 months. Nemo’s is a very wholesome working environment. Rarely does anyone get very angry, and for the most part a little common sense is all that’s needed to get the job done right. This is the first restaurant I’ve worked at where the word ‘zen’ comes to mind. Things tend to get done, and for the most part timely and properly. There is a lack of bickering, badgering, yelling, fighting, jealous hate full people and moments. It took the better part of the past 10 months to realize this, and now, most likely my time at Nemo is limited. I hope I learned something, that elusive something that makes Nemo run without all the crap that accumulates in most places.

Little catering events makes me happy. I was lucky enough to be the Chef at two modest catered events for some friends. I was definitely the Chef, not the caterer because there was a lot of set-up and work done by the host that I didn’t have to worry about, and for this I’m very thankful. Early in the summer Forest and I worked a great little plated dinner for eight. Six beautiful, seasonal courses that peaked the interest of both the guest and myself. It’s really a great feeling to be appreciated for doing something your passionate about. It’s equally fulfilling to know that all the thought, passion, and craftsmanship you put into a dish is being appreciated at the table, and in a forum like this dinner party it’s a win-win situation for everyone. This little event was definitely the highlight of my year.

The second event was an awesome clam bake for the same hosts. The number of guests raised dramatically, but the quality of the food was still high, and I was given a little wiggle room for creativity. I’d never been to a clam bake, let alone cooked one before this, so I was very thankful for all the help I got on this particular day. Kristen was the best assistant on this night, as I got caught up in a passionate conversation just as the food started to be done. She didn’t miss a beat and took care of things better than if I was meddling around the kitchen myself. It was a brisk night, and everyone ate well. I actually ate! And the shiitake-panchetta cream corn was my personal favorite.

Everyone is effected by the economy. Of the two huge topics that gauged the year of 2008, politics and economics, I have little interest and/or understanding of either of them. These things are out of my hands, uncontrollable forces that as I’ve found recently can play huge roll in your daily existence. In February, I traded in my trusty yet tiny 2 door coup that lasted me 5 strong years for a good old Explorer, a man’s man vehicle, store things in it, or tow things, or just drive. It didn’t seem possible to me that 5 months down the road there would be stress in my life over the fact it cost $80 a week in gas just to get to and from work. This didn’t make sense to me, it was unreal. What had I done in purchasing this monstrous truck? Who is to blame for these mind boggling gas prices? Shoot, I still don’t really know.

The scope of the economic downturn reared it’s vengeful head last month when my very job was put on the chopping block. Saved only by drastic cut backs and restructed pay scale, I’m still going to work every day. For the past 8 years I’ve been a salary kitchen worker. This means when the times are slow, I had to send hourly workers home and I worked more, but now, all of a sudden I’m on the short arm of that symbiotic relationship, and hope for every day to be a busy one. Unfortunately this is not likely to be the case. I’ve been in contact with a vast majority of Chefs around town, and everyone is crying the same song. Business at Cleveland indie restaurants is down 20-40 percent across the board from my estimates. Everybody! Ten year old establishments to places where you can still smell the paint. Weather it’s steak and chops or fish and chips, beer or wine, tablecloth or sans, everyone is being effected. Personally the most frustrating thing about the situation is that neither I, nor the owner of Nemo, or any of these restaurants did anything wrong to be punished in such a way. Nobody violated health or building code, nobody made bad business decisions, nobody got caught doing anything illegal or immoral. Just a reared back, open handed slap in the face leaves you seeing stars and in the corner an old bearded man playing the fiddle over a shallow grave.

Breath of new life. This new life does not necessarily indicate a bettor or more prosperous life, just a new one. The facts are out there, there is no hiding it. Small businesses will be falling out of the sky like clay pigeons. High paying salary positions might be a thing of the past. So what are we gonna do? Kill the fiddler, steal his money and pawn the fiddle? Or trip into that lazy hole he calls a grave? I plan to keep working hard and on the look out for that rare and ever more elusive opportunity. I plan on widening my horizons as far as work opportunities. For 9 years I’ve been stubborn and steadfast in my desire to work in smaller, unique indie restaurants, perhaps this is a fault. There is a growing list of jobs that fall under the culinary category and one that is of interest to me is the farmers market, local food chain, sustainable agriculture realm. This is something I can be equally passionate about as cooking. At the other end of the spectrum, those 4 years at OWU with my nose in chemistry books might make my resume look appealing to someone more interested in molecular gastronomy, or the packaged food industry. We will have to live the life to see what happens.

On this happy blog I’ve been active enough to have 260 post over the past 3 years, and since I’ve installed the site meter, I’m working on roughly 20,000 hits this past year. I’m very gratefull for those of you who return, and are interested in what I do, and/or my few of the world. I want to take this occasion to open a forum with anyone willing to make suggestions, pose questions, or comment in a constructive manner. Thank you.

December Poll Results

First off I would like to thank everyone who participated in the poll, it’s the most answered poll to date. I’m very pleased to see how the poll progressed. It was interesting to watch the numbers add up because the first few answers where of the frequent flyer category, and since I’ve not even been to an airport in over 11 years it was somewhat foreign to me that people might actually jump on a plane for a good bit to eat. In the end things became much more rounded. I"m still impressed with the percentage of people willing to take up to or more than a single day to seek out a dining experience. Personally, I’m a 20-30 minute kinda guy. I feel like with in that radius there is enough to keep my happy. While that isn’t necessarily the right take on the question, I suppose I’d drive up to an hour for something unique. Anything over an hour each way I would rather just turn into an overnighter. Better safe than sorry when it comes to intoxicatingly good food lubricated with a few martinis and a bottle of wine.

Late December Photos

Here is a glimpse of the multi grain pilaf set under a filet of Salmon topped with pistachio beurre blanc. The pilaf and sauce really came together nicely.

Here is a wonderful shot of a Plesant Home Cattle Company hanger steak. There are spiced sweet potatoes under there along with satueed spinach with bacon and onions, drizzled with a fig vincatto. I purchased whole hangers from Fresh Fork Market. The roughly six pound pieces needed considerable butchering, luckily it only took me one piece figure things out.

I'm a fool for long shots with alot of objects in focus. This pic looks alot more interesting if you click on it to enlarge.

These two guys are the rocks of the Nemo kitchen. Like the two wheels in a bicycle, these two guys work together better than Abott and Costello. James, on the left, is the brick from which all things sanation wise come from, but he is also trained to toss all our salads, and not limited to cold food, James also is an excellant baker. His co-worker Shean is our big time pantry man, master desert maker, from scratch dressings and bacon are his specialty. This man is a rare find in this business because he actually cares, and that goes a long, long way. If I'm correct at the time of this picture they were discussing the Maillard Reaction or was is weather the Fahrenheit tempeture scale or Celsius is best to gauge the doneness of their creme brulees, or was it who was gonna salt the driveway? Anyhow, they do an exeptional job, and are greatly appreciated.

Recipe de jour

Something new for your holiday buffet?

I was standing in dry storage at the restaurant the other day brainstorming side dishes for our daily salmon presentation and the first three items I found that interested me were almost empty. There were barely any black lentils, only a handful of wild rice, and a quart container of white beans. Then I decided on a what we’ve been calling a ‘multi-grain pilaf’ and the end product is quite tasty. After adding white rice and red quinoa to the mix there was a good balance of heft and fluff, of bite and chew, and an earthy character that no single ingredient posses alone.

At the restaurant this procedure is easy. I grab five pots, put a cup of each in the pots, top with water, throw them on five burners, and as each finishes it gets dumped into a bowl that goes into the walk-in cooler for proper cooling. This does seem quite unpractical for the home cook so I’ve adapted the following recipe to make this great tasting dish a little easier. I do suggest sharing this as it’s difficult to not make a large batch.

From the grocery:
1 8-10 oz can cooked white beans, drained
1 cup each wild rice, white rice, black lentils and quinoa
water, divided
1 large yellow onion diced
4 cloves garlic
2 red bell peppers diced
1/4 pound butter

Using only two pots, in one pot add lentils and about 4 cups water, once this comes to a boil add the wild rice and cover cooking on low until tender, about 20 min. In another slightly larger pot Sauteed onion, garlic, and peppers in butter until beginning to caramelize then add white rice and 4 cups of water, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 10 min, then add quina and cook another 10 minutes until tender. Finally mix everything together with the canned beans, season with salt and pepper. On a note about the liquid, some of the water can be switched out with chicken stock. Also, if either pot needs more water that is perfect since it’s easier to add than to take away.

Poll results.

Well, there is little hope left for the foodie this holiday season as the latest poll triumphs Thanksgiving as the most highly exhaulted for those with a culinary mind set. I hope I can get some christmas cookies before they stale, and some chocolates before they melt, and I hope you can find whatever holiday culinary treat you desire both available and affordable in the coming weeks.

Newly Found Show

I happened upon this very well put together show on hulu.com. It is the perfect blend of cooking and food, personalities, great views of famous restuarant kitchens and dining rooms, with interesting conversations. Daniel Bouloud comes off as very human and honest which make the shows all that more appreciatable. There are three seasons available, so I'm currently working my way through them. You can find them here. They are worth it.

Classifieds anyone?

The recent economic downturn has currently made my high paying salary disposable resulting in a downsizing of my income level. With the mutual respect of Nemo Grille I'm currently seeking a position as chef, sous chef, or heck even line cook if it comes to that. I've done my best to keep this blog as an accessory to my resume so if you, or anyone you know might be seeking to fill a position in their kitchen please direct them to me, and don't bother searching for an e-mail, here it is: mikey031@cox.net.