Escoffier On Line

The “Flavor of Napa” was a world class celebration of food and wine highlighting some of Napa's best-known chefs and winemakers. Events took place up and down the Napa Valley over 4 days in November and included culinary demonstrations, multi course dinners, wine tastings, and a closing brunch. Proceeds from the festival benefited the scholarship fund at the Culinary Institute of America. Participating Chefs included Thomas Keller, Bob Hurley, Christopher Kostow, Masaharu Morimoto, Tyler Florence, Michael Chiarello, Cindy Pawlcyn, Richard Blais, Todd Humphries, Jeff Jake, Christophe Geurad and dozens of others. The main purpose of my visit was to lend a hand and support the culinary team at the Dolce Silverado Resort.

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The First Annual Flavor of Napa

by Chef Len Elias

The “Flavor of Napa” was a world class celebration of food and wine highlighting some of Napa's best-known chefs and winemakers. Events took place up and down the Napa Valley over 4 days in November and included culinary demonstrations, multi course dinners, wine tastings, and a closing brunch. Proceeds from the festival benefited the scholarship fund at the Culinary Institute of America. Participating Chefs included Thomas Keller, Bob Hurley, Christopher Kostow, Masaharu Morimoto, Tyler Florence, Michael Chiarello, Cindy Pawlcyn, Richard Blais, Todd Humphries, Jeff Jake, Christophe Geurad and dozens of others. The main purpose of my visit was to lend a hand and support the culinary team at the Dolce Silverado Resort.

While I was there I did get to eat a few meals and do the tourist thing. I had lunch at Bouchons with a few other chefs and thought it to be very good, but a bit pricey for lunch. The service was less than stellar, but It was a beautiful day to sit on the patio, it may be the closest I ever get to a European vacation. I had the Duck Confit with Lentils and it was very good, worth the wait and service flaws. The other Chefs ordered a variety of dishes and a tasting and critique ensued. I was with Chefs from Barcelona, Toronto and Boston, so opinions varied and polite banter on technique and presentation went on throughout the meal.

After our meal we walked the streets of Yountville and ran into Chef Bob Hurley of “Hurley’s Restaurant”. Chef Hurley has been in the Napa Valley for 20 years and is a very friendly and outgoing Chef. He was celebrating game week at his restaurant and I had my eyes and tongue on his Wild Boar Baby Back Ribs, unfortunately I never made it back to Hurley’s, but I did run into Chef Hurley at another event and got to speak with him for a while, he is an amazing man. He did eat the appetizer I was serving and came back for more which made me very happy.

My next stop was the “Kitchen Door” located in the Oxbow Market. Chef Christophe Geurad who worked with Chef Todd Humphries at L’Espinasse in NY brought us there and I am glad he did. Melt in Your Mouth Duck Liver Mousse Flatbread, Korean Ribs, Charcuterie, Wood Fired Chicken Wings, it just kept coming, truly amazing, Chef Todd has a great restaurant, I think it’s the restaurant we all would want to eat at and own. More important than that, is that Chef Todd is another real guy, a nice man and an amazing chef. Later in the week I would get to work with Chef Todd. After that it was off to ZuZu’s Tapas and Wine Bar, a place I had written about on a previous Napa trip. This time it was a little different and proves to be a little more than I could handle. Drinking wine with a Frenchman, a Spaniard a Canadian and the owner was quite an experience for a sometimes wine drinker like me. I am more of a beer guy and paid for it the next morning, what the heck, you only live once.

The next day we all worked the opening dinner; Masaharu Morimoto prepared the first course of Pacifc Geoduck with Kinmedai Snapper. Chef Morimoto’s team of chefs worked like highly trained surgeons with few words spoken, their mission was clearly defined and 230 amazing starter courses were born. The next course was prepared by Scott Conant; Chef Conant’s team of Chefs came in earlier in the day to hand make over 2000 Rabbit Agnolottis they later returned to finish their dish with a Foie Gras Emulsion, all I can say is that it was off the charts. Chef Conant was a pleasure to work with and he stayed to assist in plating even after his course was done. The meal continued with Cindy Pawlcyn’s highly creative Bachelor’s Lamb Tagine. Chef Cindy also stuck around and was obviously happy to be there; she knew many of the Silverado staff and instantly became one of the crew. The dinner ended with the Dolce teams world class Miile Feuille. Every component of this dessert was handmade that day and was one of the best desserts I have ever seen or tasted.

Dolce’s Silverado Resort was the host hotel and I had the opportunity to work side by side with many of these chefs and actually headlined my own table at the CIA Greystone during the Appellation Trail tasting event.

I had lost a lot of sleep thinking about how my dish would be received at this world class event. As a longtime resident of Georgia, my plan was to elevate BBQ to new heights and show what could be done with a little imagination. After weeks of trial and error: Barbequed Duck Confit with Creamy Stone Ground Grits, Pickled Collard Greens and Honey Mustard Foam was born. I would cure 60 pounds of Duck legs, confit them and serve with Southern Stone Ground Grits. It turned out better than I could have ever imagined and was well received by the guests; I served over 500 portions in about 2 hours.

One of my favorite events was the closing brunch with some amazingly creative dishes prepared by Chef Todd Humphries of the “Kitchen Door Restaurant”. I loved his food once again and felt lucky to be part of this.

More to come……..

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I must sound like a broken record by now, but I only know what I know and feel how I feel. At 50 years old it’s been a great run for me. Living the “Chefs Life” has been everything and then some. Before it was cool and trendy to be a Chef, I cooked because I loved to cook. Kitchens were my sanctuary from life; it was the place that I felt the most comfortable. Despite the sometimes extreme conditions, long hours and relatively low pay, I knew it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. 12-14 hour days would and do still fly by at the speed of light, a sure sign that I am doing what I should be doing. 30 years later I am still as much in love with the industry as the first day that I walked into a kitchen. I really don’t think it could have turned out any better than this. I have enjoyed the food, my friends, and travel and, of course, being able to make people happy through my cooking.

That being said I will say that it’s very disturbing to me that most cooks and chefs don’t ever feel the way I feel. They feel no joy coming into work and have never have come to terms with their career choice; resentment runs deep about working off-hours for mediocre wages and prime time spent away from family. Few are willing to pay the price and make the sacrifices necessary to climb the culinary ladder. Their future in the industry is questionable. As much as they may say that they love kitchen work, the truth is, it doesn’t come naturally to them.

If you want to live the “Chefs Life”, do what you do best. It doesn’t matter what type of kitchen you work in, four stars or fast-food, it's all about the passion and commitment to excellence that you put into it. There is a market for all types of food, chefs and service. You have to pick your venue and make it the best it can be. If you’re any good, money and prestige will follow. If it doesn’t and you are doing it for the right reason, who cares?

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Most of my days are filled with a series of emotional highs and lows. One moment I can experience the exhilaration associated with executing near perfection, only to be deflated moments later when something does not reach my standards. You don’t have to be a Four Star Chef at a high end restaurant to feel this way. Passion and pride are not exclusive to any single segment of the industry, ethnicity, gender or age; you either feel this way or you don’t.

I beat myself up pretty good when things don’t work out as planned. Sleepless nights followed by stress filled days are common occurrences. Those days are lost forever! What a waste of my most precious resource, time. I know that during these challenging times, many of my fellow Chefs are feeling the same strain. We are all on edge. Uncertain of what tomorrow will bring and how our daily performance will influence our futures, we sweat it out through the end of each month, hoping and praying we hit our numbers and live to cook another month.

A little extra planning, a few more hours committed to the job, and a backup plan for most everything will allow you to better enjoy your down time. You may actually have a little less down time, but it will be higher quality down time and definitely worth considering. Remember that even the worst day will come to an end, try to brush yourself off, learn from it and set yourself up for future success.

Here are a few stress buster suggestions.

* Answer all emails, return all phone calls, and read all change logs  and daily reports before you go home. Ignorance is bliss until you're called on it. Know the answer; that’s what they pay you for.

* Read and know upcoming menus for at least a week in advance; run scenarios; think them through to identify and solve potential challenges.

* Plan your daily 5 minute staff standup meeting to provide the most useful and pertinent information, such as specials, prep lists and anything out of the ordinary.

* If you don’t have people you can trust to purchase, properly receive and store food. You need to oversee it. I can't tell you how many nights I counted steaks, not sheep, running scenario after scenario through my mind. Did we get that? Is it enough? This is not the way to recharge your batteries.

* Know your numbers before they're official. Run a daily food, labor and line item cost through a spread sheet.

* Don’t serve what you shouldn’t. I would rather 86 something than serve inferior or poorly prepared foods. In a preplanned banquet setting, you don’t always have this option. Proper planning and execution are crucial. Don’t be cheap; buy quality ingredients, and have a backup plan. You won't regret it.

* You're not running a test kitchen; cook what you know. Your customers expect a quality product for their hard earned money. Specials and new items must be researched, practiced and perfected before rolling them out.

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Creating Japanese / Chinese dishes gives me a certain happiness since it's my vision and dreams of cooking this dishes and it gives me satisfaction when i did it correctly although I am just a neophyte chef  Dreams of opening my own Japanese / Chinese / Continental Cafe. Maybe few more years time, But I'm looking forward having 1 only. hahahhahahahah SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Update- How to Evaluate a Culinary Arts Program

I have updated and added to my article on How to Evaluate a Culinary Arts Program.  When I wrote it back in 2007 there were “only” about 250 Culinary Arts Programs around the world.  Today there are over 500. I feel that this is good and bad.  

The good is that there is a lot of competition out there for your tuition dollars, so most of the programs offer a good basic culinary education.  A big advantage of getting a degree in Culinary Arts is that you actually learn how to do something, cook. (Hopefully ;<))  You can’t say that about a degree in liberal arts or most other undergraduate degrees.

 

The bad is that there are so many schools out there competing to fill all the seats that some schools have gone to some “extraordinary” (more on this in a later blog) measures to lure in students.  Unfortunately many students are paying their hard earned and limited tuition dollars and getting themselves into tens of thousands of dollars in debt to find out on graduation that they can earn little more than minimum wage, and that life in a pro kitchen ain’t what you see on Top Chef.

Don’t get me wrong, many grads end up in great careers and love our industry.  However folks that believed all the hype they saw in the TV spots and other ads are very disillusioned after experiencing the reality of low entry level pay, long hours, repetitive tasks, working when everyone else is having fun and missing those special family moments.

Over an above the level of cooking education offered by the different schools the biggest distinction between schools is whether the college credits you earn are transferable to another college degree.  If you get a degree in Culinary Arts and are able to transfer most those credits to a bachelors or graduate degree you are way ahead of the curve.  Heck if you change your mind about working in the kitchen and decide to further your education not only will you be able to get your next degree sooner and cheaper but your actually be able to cook for your friends and family.

Don’t be confused by the claims that many schools make that they are accredited.  All accreditations are not equal.  This is discussed in depth in the new article.

So what do you think?  Has any admissions staff been less that honest with you?  Have and good stories on dealing them?  

 

Cheers,

G

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What is up at Le Parker Meridien NY? 

I was looking for a fun place to eat on the cheep (after buying theater tickets I didn’t have much to spend on food) in the West 50’s for a Valentines weekend NYC get away and found the Le Parker Meridien NY  “Burger Joint”.  Tripadvisor rated “#35 of 6,859 restaurants in New York City” this was a no brainier for me.  As far as I'm concerned a perfectly done cheeseburger is one of the best eats in the world.  Just gonna tell the wife we're going the the Le Parker Meriden for dinner,  she'll be excited.  ;<)  If we end up going there I’ll do a review and post some pix after the weekend.

But that’s not what this is about.   While looking at the LPM NY website I happened on their area promoting their catering facilities, as a caterer and a web guy I like to see what’s out there, and came across this on their  “party”   page

 

Bris? Less painful here.
Bar/Bat Mitzvah? We’ll make a Mensch of  you yet.
Sweet 16? You’ll feel like you’re 21.
Graduation? Graduate you will...
Nuptials? Done here, they’re permanent.
Baby Shower? Enjoy the party while you can.
Birthday? You won’t feel younger, but you will feel better (if you can feel at all).
Retirement? We’ll get you started on the world’s longest coffee break!
Wake? You bring the stiff, we've got the sauce.

Then browsing a little more I came across this on their “meet”  page 

Want rubber chicken? Go somewhere else.
Spread over acres? Not here.
Tiresome talk? Hey, that’s not our fault.
Views? Only if you’re lucky enough to book the Penthouse.
Love technology? So do we.
Frumpy? Ha ha ha.

Are they goofing or what?  I loved it!  By far my favorite was- “Wake? You bring the stiff, we've got the sauce.”

I always thought of LPM as a frumpy kind of place, guess I’m wrong. (Ha Ha Ha) Are clients in the high end market for catering this hip or is this over the top?  What do you think?

Cheers,

G

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