Docsconz- The Blog

Three Pizzerias

I grew up with NY pizza and have always been a fan, not just of one style, but of many. I grew to adore la vera pizza Napolitana over several visits to that beautiful Italian city. I love a good crust, good tomato sauce and good cheese above all, but less traditional pizzas also beguile me, especially if done well. Pepe's clam pizzas in New Haven, CT. certainly fit that mold. With artisanal pizza undergoing a bit of a renaissance in NYC of late, I had to try a few while I was there. Though there were others I would have liked to try like Motorino, I was only able to get to three - Jim Lahey's Co., The Grandaisy and Keste.

While Keste and Co. are related stylistically, Co. and The Grandaisy are related through business and history as the owner of Co., Jim Lahey and the owner of The Grandaisy, Monica Von Thun Calderón, were once business partners in The Sullivan Street Bakery. When their partnership split, Lahey retained the Sullivan St. Bakery name, moving to W.47th St. and Von Thun Calderón kept the original bakery re-naming it in honor of her grandmother. Both retained the recipes and still produce similar products including Roman style pizzas.

Co. (pronounced "Company") was the first of the three that I visited along with my friend, Joe. We arrived late in the lunch service. The restaurant was moderately busy, but with plenty of tables available, we sat right down. The pizza oven is visible through a window, but only if one goes up to it. Once there, one can witness the baking action unfold. We ordered a couple of salads to start, including an Artichoke Salad and an Insalata di Bresaola. The artichoke salad was as wonderful as the Bresaola salad was mediocre. Containing a number of the same ingredients including shaved parmesan, arugula, olive oil and lemon, the artichoke salad, which also contained olive oil poached baby artichokes and capers meshed perfectly in texture and flavor creating one of the most sublime salads I have eaten in some time. The Insalata di bresaola essentially substituted bresaola for the artichokes and omitted the capers. Why it wasn't every bit as good as the artichoke salad has everything to do with balance and the fact that the bresaola just didn't work with its team the way the artichokes did. It lacked balance and finesse. However good or bad they may have been, this post really isn't about salads, so I will go no further with them.

 

We ordered two pizzas at Co. The first was a classic Margherita with tomato, buffalo mozzarella and basil. This was well prepared - crisp and well charred around the edges and as might be expected somewhat soft and drooping at the center. The pizza was tasty, but both Joe and I felt that it was a bit too "bready." Now if the bread happens to come from Jim Lahey, that is not necessarily a bad thing and if one really wants to concentrate on the flavor of the crust, this may very well be a favorite. Over all, though we felt that the flavor of the crust was somewhat overwhelming to the rest of the pizza.

The same could be said for the second pizza, a pizza bianca with cauliflower, chilis, bread crumbs, bechamel and a couple of different cheeses. While this pizza was supposed to have "a bite" from the chili, I didn't get any and Joe only tasted it in one bite of his. Overall the topping was surprisingly lacking in flavor and once again was dominated by the flavor of the crust. 

Despite my criticisms, the pizzas at Co. are in fact, quite good. However, they are not, in my opinion, quite good enough to justify the rather substantial price tags accompanying them. They are, in fact quite small, each pizza occupying a regular sized dinner plate. The Margherita was $13 and the "special" pie was $17. The subtotal for the two of us without drinks and before tax and tip was $48. Any reader of this site will know that I don't mind spending money for good food. While this was generally good food, I'm not sure the value is really there compared to its competitors.

Keste has a reputation for being somewhat inconsistent, but I can only report on my one experience. With prices marginally less expensive than Co., Keste has a different vibe from the get go. The restaurant is long and narrow with the pizza oven open and clearly visible in the rear. One of the fun things (to me, at least) about going to a special pizzeria, is the ability to interact and watch. Roberto Caporuscio and his skilled assistants are right out there in the open for any to watch. Unlike some other pizzerias, they are also quite affable and happy to interact with their customers, including customers with cameras. Caporuscio's skills as a master pizzaiolo are perfectly evident as he shapes and manipulates his dough before putting on the toppings and placing the pizzas in the wood-fired oven. From that point his two assistants manage the pies with one handling the oven and the other finishing the pies with grated cheese, olive oil or other non-baked in toppings like arugula and prosciutto.

At Keste, we did not order anything but a couple of pizzas. Instead of a basic Margherita, we had the Regina with fresh grape tomatoes in addition to the usual Margherita triumvirate for $3 more. we also ordered another tomato based pizza, the Keste, which in addition to the buffalo mozzarella and tomato sauce, included arugula, prosciutto di parma and something called "gran cru", which I have no idea what it is. Both pizzas were superb. The crusts were well cooked, thin and did not overpower the toppings, though it was able to stand up to them. These may have been the best Neapolitan style pizzas I have had in the US.

The pizzas at The Grandaisy are altogether different from those at Co. and Keste, which at least bear a stylistic similarity. They are not, however, different than Jim Lahey's Roman style pizzas at Sullivan Street Bakery. That similarity is because the have the same provenance. Though Lahey does not make the pizzas at The Grandaisy, he developed them at Sullivan Street and still makes them there. Though I have never had them from Sullivan St., I would expect that they are very similar to their cousins at The Grandaisy. If so, they would share in their utter deliciousness. These rectangular, thin cruste pizzas are topped across their surface with a thin, but flavorful layer of topping. Both varieties that I tried, the "Funghi" or mushroom pizza and the "Cavolfiore" or cauliflower pizza, were full flavored and simply delicious with great balanced flavor to go along with textural contrasts of a crisp crust and soft toppings. While the mushroom with cremini mushrooms, onions, thyme, olive oil and sea salt was excellent, the cauliflower was extraordinary, something I could eat anywhere at any time. There are a number of other varieties, including seasonal ones, that I would love to try.

Co. and Keste are both full featured restaurants, something The Grandaisy is not. In fact, the Grandaisy, or at least the one on W. 72nd St, that I went to, tends to sell their pizzas by the slice at around $3.50/slice and is primarily designed for takeout. Hot or cold, the pizzas are delicious. Ultimately, if one concedes an equivalent 4 Grandaisy slices to a pizza from Keste or Co., the price is slightly less at The Grandaisy. 

All three places make excellent pizza as well as other things. The bottom line comes down to what style one might prefer. If a good bread driven crust is one's highest priority then Co. would likely be the favorite. For a classic Neapolitan style pizza, it would be Keste. For something more unusual, cheaper and perhaps more convenient, The Grandaisy (or Sullivan St.)would be the choice. I'm happy that all of these exist and that there is a choice. I am even happier that every day there seems to be even more choices for great pizza in NYC.

Yuzu

Carrots #1

My Claim to Fame - Skoal!

Cooking Issues

Le Fooding N.Y.

I do love Paris. I do love NYC. Paris in NYC? With the Le Fooding D'Amour at P.S. 1 Contemporary Arts Center in Long Island City this past weekend, I had the opportunity to find out. The whole process started with a particularly obtuse way of having to secure tickets. One had to keep an eye on affiliated websites and when they posted a code one could take that code to the Le Fooding website. For each posting there were only so many tickets allotted and of those only a very few $60 VIP tickets that would allow for early admission and unlimited Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Champagne for that additional hour.

Just as I was about to give up and say to hell with it, I was alerted that a code was available. Once I retrieved it, I entered it and lo and behold there were still tickets available, although only the regular $30 variety. I bought a couple for the Friday night and my friend Joe managed to get a couple for the Saturday event.

At the beginning of the week, I received an unexpected email from Action Against Hunger, the organization that was the principal beneficiary of the event, offering a time sensitive upgrade opportunity for my Friday evening tickets. Though it cost an extra $30/ticket, it turned out that I had one a lottery of sorts. It was money very well spent.

Friday evening was cool and crisp, perfect for an outdoor event if one had a sweater or a jacket. I did. I arrived about 15 minutes before the scheduled 6PM opening and met my friend Joe. There were separate lines for the VIPs entering at 6 and the regulars who would enter around 7PM. We were surprisingly towards the front of the VIP line, which surprisingly never really got that long. It took a little while to check id's against a guest list, but the doors finally opened around 6:15 allowing the line of VIP's to stream in.

The courtyard of the Arts Center was filled with what looked like mohair covered tents that reminded me of a combination of Mongolian yurts and an oversized egg crate. The setting was pretty cool. For that initial hour we were free to roam through the space with minimal food lines and plenty of champagne to wash the food down. As an added bonus the champagne was served in cool, high quality plastic flutes that were quite collectible.

The event was a picnic. While none of the food absolutely wowed me, the reality was that most of it was quite good and for those of us lucky enough to score VIP tickets, the event was quite a bargain. It was cool to be served the Bo Ssam directly from David Chang, who commented on how simple they were to prepare. They must have been because they had no problem staying ahead of a line despite their popularity. simple or not, they were quite tasty.

Even at that early point of the evening, some of the other stands could not avoid developing a line. Christophe Pelé of Bigarrade in Paris served barbecued sirloin steak with some fish in a novel attempt at surf and turf, but it took him and his stuff enough time to put the dish together so that a relatively slow-moving line formed fairly quickly.

Wylie Dufresne offered "grilled chicken necks, yuzu marmalade, delfino," a somewhat messy, but delicious dish that rewarded those with enogh patience to gnaw the meat off the complex vertebral structure. Wylie enjoyed doing something completely different from what he would serve in the restaurant, doing so without a single modern flourish other than the combination of ingredients.

In the same courtyard as Dufresne, William Ledeuil of Paris' Ze Kitchen Gallerie made palate dancing "grilled marinated pork ribs, “Teriyaki Pineapple” lemon grass" with eggplant puree that proved to be one of my two favorite dishes of the evening. The pace of production was such that the supply matched the demand with ribs arriving hot and fresh off the grill before a quick finish by the chef. They were truly delicious.

The last stand in that courtyard belonged to Sean Rembold of Brooklyn's Diner who prepared the amazingly delicious "fried corn with scallop butter" using fresh corn from long Island. The corn received a quick dip in the deep fryer before being slathered with the scallop laden butter and some greens. The lines here were quite short early, but grew quickly once word got out.

My only real disappointment of the night was Yves Camdeborde's "Mini Henry IV casserole with creamed cow’s cheese," a soup that while decent, really was not that much better than a decent canned soup (decent and canned not ordinarily uttered in the same breath by me) I found the dish to be lacking in depth and flavor and was the only one that I did not return to for seconds. That this would come from the legendary Camdeborde, former chef of the groundbreaking Regelade and currently of Le Comptoir du Relais, was something I did not expect.

The vibe changed considerably once the floodgates opened and the rest of the crowd entered. No longer was access to the chefs, food or champagne so easy and in the case of the champagne, so cheap. Alcoholic beverages were now sold with a bargain of three drinks (a glass of wine, a glass of champagne and a cocktail) available for $30. Individually, each drink was now $12. Despite the crowd, the event maintained a sophisticated vibe with great tunes playing and hidden spots to sit, eat, drink and talk available for discovery.

As good a time as we had, it was apparent to Joe and I, that we would be unlikely to have as good a time the following night without the upgraded VIP access, so we were able to transfer our entry to a charming young blogger we met and chatted with for part of the evening.

As for Paris in New York, the event incorporated some of the more hip features of contemporary Paris as well as contemporary N.Y. to result in a unique and fun evening. Of course, it doesn't replace a real trip to paris, but then one wouldn't have the NYC blend. I went into the evening thinking that it would likely be great or a disaster. It certainly was not the latter. While I would hesitate to bestow the word "great", it was fun, unusual and a worthy way to donate $60 to a worthwhile charity.

Autumn = Pumpkins

Does any one agricultural item shout autumn more than a pumpkin? These were photographed this past Saturday at The Union Square Greenmarket in NYC.

Starchefs ICC 2009 - PerSe-nal Highlights

The first three Starchefs ICC's left me with a slew of memories. ICC #4 was no less memorable than the others. Seeing old friends, meeting new ones and finally meeting "virtual" friends in person is always special and so it was with this Congress. Of the latter group, it was particularly fun to meet some fellow bloggers, facebook, eGullet and Twitter friends and be able to put a face with those names and to be able to interact the old fashioned way. I will not name names here, as I would hate to inadvertently omit someone I shouldn't. In any case, you know who you are and I very much enjoyed seeing you and meeting you in person.

Since the Congress is about food and cooking with some of the very best chefs in the world cooking, it makes sense that there would be plenty of amazing food. Some highlights of food tasted or smelled include:

1. The Ika jime sea bass and tuna vertebral disk jelly from Dave Arnold and Nils Noren, I have already described here. It was simply sensational
2. Sean Brock's Shrimp and Grits prepared during his workshop was an example of using modern technique to truly enhance an already wonderful dish. The depth and quality of flavor was truly extraordinary. I could eat this any time.
3. While I did not get to actually eat any of it, the aroma that arose from Rohini Dey's and Maneet Chauhan's grilled marinated beef was absolutely intoxicating. Though I had previously been familiar with their Vermilion restaurants located in NY and Chicago, just on the basis of that aroma, I must eat at one.
4. Even though there was plenty of very good food prepared by the sponsors during the event, my son and I tried a beef baoguette that was available for purchase. It was every bit as good as its reputation.
5. The Rising Stars Review dishes were all excellent. My favorite was the buckwheat soba noodles and quail egg from Asiate.
6. The opening night Cocktail Party at Le Cirque was a lot of fun with plenty of very good food. The Rougie foie gras prepared by Le Cirque's Craig Hopson was flowing like water and going down just as easily.
7. To have cocktails prepared by Audrey Saunders, John Deragon, Junior Merino and others all in the same place and at the same time is the dream of any cocktail enthusiast. Monday evening's cocktail party at the Armory was one sweet dream. If I didn't have a dinner reservation, that would also have been one very dangerous dream.
8. While just a sauce, the hollandaise prepared sous vide by Daniel Humm for his workshop was as good as any I have tasted.
9. Richard Blais prepared a breakfast using contemporary techniques that was not only clever and fun - it was also quite tasty.
10. The caraway aquavit used for Arnold and Noren's mass skoal! went down quite easily.

Juan Mari Arzak, David Breeden & Paco Torreblanca in the Per Se Kitchen

As great as the experiences mentioned above, the various workshops and demos and so many other things were, my single biggest personal highlight came after the end of the Rising Stars Review. I was planning on heading down to the After-Party at Abe & Arthur's and had exited the party onto Columbus Circle along with Juan Mari Arzak, Paco Torreblanca and their sous chefs, all of whom had been planning on going to the After-Party too. Chef Arzak turned to me and asked if there was a place nearby where they could relax for a few minutes and have some coffee. I turned around to see the Time-Warner Center and immediately told him, "Per Se," a suggestion to which both he and Torreblanca took an immediate warming. They invited me to join them and I led the way. Once in the restaurant around 10:15PM, we stopped at the host stand. The first person to greet us, did not immediately recognize either of the great chefs, but a moment later someone did and the maitre d', Chloe Genovart, who spoke a very good Spanish, came and invited us in. They insisted on seating the five of us in the dining room and immediately offered and began to pour what appeared to be a bottomless bottle of champagne. Despite the fact that we said that we did not want food, the staff began bringing some nibbles anyway including gougeres, Thomas Keller's signature salmon cornets and oyster and pearls and indeed would have brought out an entire dinner had Arzak and Torreblanca not insisted that they stop. With a quick dessert and some coffee, our repast ended, followed by a visit to the kitchen, where Chef David Breeden was running the show that evening. Fortunately I had my camera and a fresh battery (another had run out of juice while I was up at The Rising Stars Review) and was able to take a few photos in the kitchen. Shortly after, we left the restaurant. Indefatigable, the Spaniards left for the After-Party. Not wanting to jumble the evening I decided that I would end it on this high note.

Taste of the Week - September 20-26

With so many great restaurants and tastes experienced over the past week, it has been nearly impossible to choose a single Taste of the Week. However, there was one taste that was so seminal and unusual (not to mention very, very good) and so unlikely to ever have again, that it must get my nod. That would be the tuna vertebral disk jelly prepared and served by Dave Arnold and Nils Noren during their demonstration at the Starchefs ICC this past Tuesday. The flavor was distinctly of the sea and fresh, though it wasn't particularly salty or fishy. It was unlike anything I had ever had before. A close runner up would be the black sea bass sashimi served by Arnold, Noren and finished by Asbel Reyes from the same presentation. The texture of that fish, firm and actually somewhat crunchy was unlike any other fish I had ever had. The only thing that put the disk jelly was that the likelihood of having something similar again is significantly higher for the sashimi than for the jelly. What allowed for the sashimi texture was the absolutely stressless way the fish was dispatched and dissected. Arnold used a food-safe fish anesthetic derived from clove oil and poured into a large seawater filled holding tank, to make the fish senseless, then quickly killed it with the relatively stress-free Japanese technique of Ika Jime, essentially eliminating a stress response and delaying the start of decomposition. The result was truly remarkable.

At the Market - September 26th, 2009

These seedless Jupiter grapes from Buzzard Crest Vineyards sold at the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC are the most delicious eating grapes that I have had in some time. Their other varieties are also wonderful. At $4.50/lb they aren't cheap, but they are so worth it!

Starchefs ICC 2009 Day Three - An Overview

Following a lovely and late dinner at Gramercy Tavern, it wasn't any easier to get out of bed for the 9AM start of Day Three, the finale of this year's Congress, especially as my able assistant and note taker extraordinaire, my son L.J., would not be with me as he had to return to college. Nevertheless, I was determined to plod on and once there it was clear that as tired as I was and as tiring as the day would be, it would also, once again, be very exciting and full of incredible people and demonstrations.

I was tempted to come late, but with Daniel Humm doing a workshop on cooking sous vide, that was not a viable idea. Humm's session explored uses of sous vide beyond proteins. He prepared a Hollandaise Sauce  and sent samples around the audience. The sauce was bright, vibrant and quite delicious. He finished his presentation with a video showing sous vide techniques used in his kitchen at Eleven Madison Park. The video featured the preparation of an intricate and beautiful dish of sea bass with zucchini scales that  reminded me of Paul Bocuse's famous and delicious Rouget Barbet en Écailles de Pommes de Terre Croustillantes.

While I very much wished to attend Chef Yoshihiro Murata's Lessons From a Kaiseki King or Marcus Samuelsson's Anatomy of a Fish demos, I was even more curious about a Business panel that included Chefs Norman van Aken, Akhtar Nawab, Joe Isidori, Josh DeChellis and Paul Liebrandt and moderated by Antoinette Bruno, entitled "When to Walk Away From a Deal." This fascinating and enlightening discussion explored the experiences of each of the panelists, who have been in and out of a variety of deals over their careers in an effort to find pearls that might help other chefs of lesser experience as they begin to explore their own deals. One consensus opinion was that it is vitally important to know and have a good relationship with one's prospective business partners. Examples of both good and bad experiences were cited. Josh deChellis offered his experience at the ill-fated Barfry, as a positive experience in that because of their good relationship, he and his partners were able to cut their losses and move on to   better and more successful ventures.

The first presentation of the day on the main stage belonged to one of my culinary idols, the father of modern Spanish gastronomy, Juan Mari Arzak. Arzak opened speaking about the history of his restaurant as well as the passage of the mantel to his daughter Elena. Following that, Arzak's assistant Igor Zalakain, prepared a number of dishes featuring techniques from the vast Arzak arsenal.

Charles Phan of San Francisco's seminal Slanted Door restaurant demonstrated his attempt at "Putting Vietnamese Street Food on the American Map."

After lunch, the focus shifted back to Spain and one of the world's greated pastry masters, Paco Torreblanca from Alicante. Torreblanca demonstrated a number of his techniques including a more detailed approach to the "oyster" he showed in his Monday workshop.Particularly beautiful to watch was his deft technique used in creating "flowers" from white chocolate. There had been rumors of a very unusual and special presentation on the part of the ever-surprising and playful Torreblanca, however, he only offered a brief verbal description of a dessert utilizing marijuana smoke as an essential element.

Sean Brock did a full demonstration of his Shrimp and Grits, crafting a dish as beautiful as it was delicious and as innovative as it was traditional. Brock highlighted artisanal heirloom ingredients while also using cutting edge techniques like liquid nitrogen and centrifugation, never losing site of the primacy of flavor and imploring his audience to continue to innovate while also honoring the nation's traditional foodstuffs.

In demonstrating his dish, Lavender Lamb Loin with Toasted Almond Espuma and Chocolate-Red Wine Sauce, Rick Tramonto of Chicago's Tru provided an insight into his very personal approach to American cuisine based upon his upbringing and 31 years of culinary experience.

The Congress finished with an impressive demonstration by French Culinary Institute Professors Dave Arnold and Nils Noren. With Arnold doing most of the narrating and Noren much of the food preparation with occasional turnabouts, the duo demonstrated their technique for  "Wood-Grained Fish", a dish based upon the Japanese metal working technique of Mokume-Gane using the impressive Hobart 3000 slicer. They moved on to an eagerly awaited demonstration of the Japanese technique of quick killing, tissue integrity preserving, Ike Jime using live, but anesthetized black sea bass. The fish had been anesthetized with a clove oil derivative from New Zealand called Aqui-S fish anestheticbefore being efficiently dispatched by Chef Arnold. Along with their other preparations, the sea bass was left for the audience at the end of the presentation. The flesh was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. The raw fish was, in fact, crunchy! The preparation, finished by StarChefs chef Asbel Reyes was simply marvelous. But Arnold and Noren were not finished. They also prepared a dish using the intervertabral disk jelly from a tuna. This was also a revelation with a fresh clean, ocean taste and texture. The culmination of the demonstration and of the entire Congress was a massive group Skoal with a specially flavored Aquavit.

As always the Congress ended with the Rising Stars Review held this year at Asiate in The Mandarin Oriental. This year's honorees included :

• 2009 New York Rising Stars
  Jamison Blankenship of Morimoto
  Patrick Connolly of Bobo
  George Mendes of Aldea
  Jason Neroni of 10 Downing
  Damian Sansonetti of Bar Boulud
  Isao Yamada of Upstairs at Bouley
  Sustainability Award Winner Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy
  Restaurant Concept Winner Angelo Sosa of Xie Xie
  Community Award Winner Harold Dieterle of Perilla
  Restaurateur Colin Devlin of Dressler, DuMont, DuMont Burger
  Pastry Chef Brooks Headley of Del Posto
  Pastry Chef Robert Truitt of Corton
  Mixologist Maxwell Britten of Freemans
  Mixologist Orson Salicetti of Apothéke
  Sommelier Claire Paparazzo of Blue Hill

The 2009 Starchefs ICC was another success incorporating education, networking and plenty of great food and drink to produce another superbly memorable experience.

Please returnto the blog as I provide more detailed recaps and plenty more photos over the coming months.

Starchefs ICC 2009 Day Two - An Overview

Gavin Kaysen watches David Bouley eat his salmon

Day two started with a lot of bleary eyes including my own, as I was still tired from the evening before when I attended a Star Chefs Dinner held at Le Cirque. That cocktail dinner featured items from chefs around the country including Le Cirque host chef Craig Hopson, who served Roasted Duck Breasts with Pluots and Chocolate-Peppercorn Vinaigrette and Rougie Foie Gras Torchon with Tri-Star Strawberries, Redondo Serrano Ham and Aged Balsamic; Cafe Boulud's Gavin Kaysen who served House Cured New Zealand King Salmon, Rye Guiness Puree, Dill, Lemon Confit; Dante DeMagistris of Restaurant Dante in Boston, who offered "Tongue & Cheek" Grilled Lamb Tongue, Guanciale, Buckwheat Orzotto, Porcini Crema, and Grappa Grapes; Mourad Lahlou from Aziza in San Francisco, who prepared Pickled and Grilled Spanish Mackeral with Leaves, Marble Potatoes and vadouvan; Dana Cree from Seattle's Poppy who created Nutter Butters and "New York Cheesecake" Blueberries, Perilla, Pinenuts - paired with Hoegaarden Beer; Pierre Poulin from Le Cirque who made Chocolate-Hazelnut Spheres and a variety of Chocolate Bonbons; and cocktails from Albert Trummer from NYC's Apothéke. The food and drink was all excellent. The space itself was quite impressive, perhaps even more than its predecessor, Le Cirque 2000.

Despite being tired, I made a point of getting to the Congress for the 9AM start, since I very much wanted to see one of the world's greatest pastry chefs, Paco Torreblanca do his workshop. It was a testament to Torreblanca and the other workshops starting at that hour that they were fully attended. Chef Torreblanca demonstrated his technique for creating realistic looking oysters, shell, body and all as well as a few other techniques.

At the same time as Torreblanca, Ruben Garcia and Dr. Cesar Vega from Jose Andres' ThinkFoodGroup in Washington, D.C. gave a workshop on handling and using liquid nitrogen. One of the techniques they showed was how to use a spoon to shape liquid chocolate by dipping it into the ultra-cold nitrogen.

My next stop was Sean Brock's Workshop on a subject regular readers of my blog will know is near and dear to me: Bringing Back American Heirloom Ingredients. Brock featured an heirloom corn and local just-in-season South Carolina brown shrimp to make a classic Carolina Low Country dish of Shrimp and Grits. Of course he happened to use a few cutting edge techniques along the way like liquid nitrogen and the CVap oven.

After Brock, it was over to the main stage for a pastry extravaganza with Johnny Iuzzini, Sam Mason and Alex Stupac sharing the stage. Originally conceived as "Three Men and a Dessert," Iuzzini explained that trying to all work together on one dish was too difficult. Instead, they approached it as "Three Men and Three Desserts" with each re-interpreting an American classic: Iuzzini did a "Dirt Pie", Mason did "Jello Shots" and Stupak did "Apple Pie" none of which our grandmothers would have recognized by sight, though they likely would have enjoyed them nevertheless.

The inimitable and indefatigable Jose Andres followed with Ruben Garcia acting as his assistant and straight man. Always entertaining, Andres nonetheless puts out food that is seriously good. Following the lead of Iuzzini, Mason and Stupak, for this presentation, he and Garcia produced classic minibar dishes based on American classics such as New England Clam Chowder, Corn on the Cob, Ham and Eggs and a Tom Collins Cocktail. Each of these dishes was re-imagined and reinterpreted using modern techniques to enhance the dish and the experience of eating them. The idea is to please the mind as well as the  palate.

After a break for lunch and networking, Masaharu Morimoto returned to the Starchefs' stage. His dissection and preparation of an entire large monkfish on stage was an all-ICC classic. This time, he applied the treatment to a variety of smaller fish including a live fluke, a needlefish, a live eel and a few others. While providing good theater - there is no better culinary showman than Morimoto, the aim of the demo was to teach quick and humane ways for dispatching, safe and proper ways of butchering them fish as well as different ways of using their various parts. Morimoto was accompanied by 2009 Starchefs NYC Rising Star and his Chef de Cuisine at Morimoto, Jamison Blankenship.

With Morimoto a difficult act to follow, Rohini Dey and Maneet Chauhan of the dual-citied Vermilion Restaurant managed quite creditably as they addressed a unique style of Indian-Latin fusion cooking. Their grilled marinated beef was certainly one of the most intoxicating aromas I smelled throughout the Congress.

Cocktail greats Audrey Saunders and Tony Conigliaro demonstrated ways that aroma could be used to enhance the cocktail experience including placing scented sugar cubes at the bottom of a straight sided champagne flute and misting various cocktail elements with scented atomized sprays.

The day's concluded with a conversation between Grant Achatz, Pierre Gagnaire and Daniel Boulud connecting the generations of fine dining.

Peachy

At this time of year the best peaches are generally behind us. I just tasted what may have been the best peach I tasted all summer. My wife brought it and a few pounds back with her from Hilton Head, S.C. where the grower said that they have had their best peach season in years. They were all excellent, but this last one was extra special -perhaps because it was the last? I cut it into small bites to pan-grill with a little butter to serve my son, who loves peaches, but can't eat them unless they are cooked because he has an oral allergy syndrome.

So You Want Good Fried Chicken?

It seems that from Momofuku Noodle Bar to Locanda Verde and beyond, fried chicken is the new rediscovered dish of the moment. I must admit that I haven't yet had the pleasure of their versions, but the best I have had in quite some time was in a little corner stand at The Trenton Farmers Market in Trenton, N.J. belonging to King Foods, the business of an Amish family from Manheim, PA. I had a thigh, which was absolutely perfect - hot, crisp, grease-less and most of all delicious. I ate every morsel from that piece of chicken that I possibly could. The fried boneless chicken breast strips were good too, but lacked the decadent succulence of the thigh. Aside from the fried chicken, which had been recommended to us, by Aki and Alex, the stand does a brisk business in rotisserie barbecued chickens, pot roast, turkeys and other hearty fare. 

In addition to the savories, they also sell freshly made soft pretzels and ice cream. The soft pretzel, hot from the oven and freshly dipped in butter and coated with just enough salt, was as good a one as I have ever had, superior in my memory even to those in Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market. 

The other standout taste we had was a blueberry malted milk shake. The young woman who made it for us, confessed that she had never tried that combination nor even made one before. Perhaps it was beginner's luck, but the combination was superb. She had added fresh blueberries, malt and soft vanilla ice cream to a blender and whipped away - marvelous!

I don't see us hitting the Trenton Farmer's market too frequently just because of where it is. While they do sell some excellent produce, the main reason I would go out of my way to return is the King Foods stand. I don't think that I will have just one piece of fried chicken either.

Starchefs ICC 2009 Day One - An Overview

The fourth annual Starchefs International Chefs Congress has arrived and is already through one jampacked day. While I will come back and go through the various demos and presentations, I will do my best to present a quick synopsis in words and photos.

The morning, sunny and beautiful, made for a day that would ordinarily be meant to spend outside. Fortunately, the activity inside at the ICC, made me forget the beautiful early autumn day that we passed up.

With most people shaking off their early morning cobwebs, Nils Noren and Dave Arnold played with some of their favorite toys and techniques, showing off a Roto-Vap, centrifuge and agar filtration to come up with a variety of very cool dishes.

More techno wizardry was provided by Richard Blais, who highlighted the Isi whipper amongst other toys to create a thoroughly modern rendition of a classic breakfast.

After the traditional welcome and trends report from StarCefs editor-in-chief, Antoinette Bruno, brothers Matt & Ted Lee gave a keynote address tlaking about what makes American food special. They were also the emcees for the day.

The opening presentation featured 4 heavyweights of the industry with Clark Wolf moderating a discussion with Norman Van Aken, Charlie Trotter and Emeril Lagasse delving more deeply into their individual views of what American cuisine is.

David Bouley followed with a demo displaying the influence of Japanese ingredients and technique on his own cooking.

Lunch was followed by more Japanese cooking as Kaiseki master, Yoshihiro Murata, showed why his cooking and style are so respected as well as how non-Japanese cooking has and is influencing his cooking.

Dr. Nathan Myhvold and Chris Young next wowed the audience with a demo derived from their upcoming blockbuster of a book showing the science behind cooking as well as detailed techniques for using the modern chef's technological arsenal as well as some more traditional techniques.

Reminiscent of Morimoto's epic dissection of a monkfish at last year's ICC, April Bloomfield took apart a special 50 pound milk-fed piglet from Quebec in a tour-de-force demonstration using the belly to create her dish.

The official day finished with Pierre Gagnaire using American ingredients to prepare dishes a la minute.

Garlic #2

Retro Photos - Starchefs ICC - The First Three Years

I have had the great good fortune to have been at all of the Starchefs International Chefs Congresses since the inception in 2006, then a two day event. Since that time, it has moved uptown and morphed into three jam-packed days filled with many of the finest minds in food including people like Grant Achatz, Albert Adria, Andoni Luis Aduriz, Jose Andres, Dave Arnold, Sergi Arola, Alex Atala, Elena Arzak et al. It has been a great place to learn, share, eat and meet. Now with the 4th Annual ICC starting today, this slide show presents a sampling of my photos from those first three Starchefs ICC's.

This year's line-up is just as exciting.

Chocolate Pepper

Waning Summer

With two sons off to college, we recently had the opportunity (our last of the summer) to get together with good friends for an evening picnic on one of Lake George's beautiful islands. The weather was beautiful with the air and the water still warm enough for a swim.

 

With a taste of wine, in this case 1995 Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl from Zind Humbrecht, and some good food prepared by ourselves and our friends, Amy and Tom, the evening could not have been sweeter.

 

The food was lovely throughout. Amongst the other delights, I enjoyed Tom's lobster salad sandwiches, my wife's Asian chicken salad and Amy's  beef with horseradish sauce. We had some chocolates from The Chocolate Mill, while watching The Lac du Saint Sacrement steam past.

 

With the sunset approaching we packed, cleaned up and left the island behind.

 

 

Amy and Tom

 

We had Lake George nearly to ourselves, sharing it with a few sailboats as the sun set...

 

...on the evening and the summer.

Avocado #2

Adriano DiMario's Seafood Fra Diavolo - A Video Presentation

I enjoyed the seafood fra diavolo at Cafe Lazio in Queensbury, N.Y., I asked Chef Adriano DiMario if he would mind if I filmed him preparing the dish. He graciously agreed and here is the result. This is my first video for this site. Though far from perfect, I believe it captures the essence of Chef DiMario's dish. I hope that you agree!