Raw Menu from 10/2/10

Amuse Gueule

Hawaiian Hearts of Palm with Grains of Paradise

Heirloom Beet Salad with Horseradish , Walnuts and Tarragon

Salsify Linguni, with Oregon Porcini Mushrooms & Dill

Roulade of Swiss Chard with Petite Carrot& Nori

Terrine of Butternut Squash with Hickory Nuts, Pickled Mustard Seeds& Black Garlic

Mignardises

Kitchen Table Menu from 10/16/2009

Alaskan King Salmon with Mustard Seeds
Kusshi Oyster with ogo seaweed and trout roe
Blue fin tuna with Battera Kombu
Cold Poached Alaskan Black Cod with Heriloom Tomato Relish
Lemon Verbena Spoon Bread with Honey& Chervil
Loup de Mer with Matzutake Mushrooms& Braised Fennel
Swan Creek Farm Ricotta, Vidalia Onion Marmalade& Argula
Tempura of Portuguese Sardine with baby gold peach& chorizo
Japanese Hamachi with Crispy Pig tail& gooseberries
Squab breast with Fairy Tail Eggplant, Green Curry & Chanterelle Mushrooms
Mizutako with Squid Ink, Rishiri Kombu& Sesame
Crawford lamb tongue with Black mission figs & Charred Cinnamon
32-day Dry Aged Rib Eye with Umeboshi& Bonito
Pecorino di Pienza Morchiato with Cocoa Seed & Pequin Peppers
~
Elderberries with Candied Grapefruit &Elder flower jelly
Raspberries with Honey&Sage
Rubinstar Apples with Caramelized White Chocolate& Yogurt
Arbequina Olive Oil- Chocolate Chip Parfait with Fraise des Bois
Chocolate Sorbet with Cacao Fruit& Smoked Vanilla

Hot Dougs

Today I went with my buddy Mike to Hot Dougs we had both heard how great hot dogs they serve. We were in the line for about 15 minutes and then when we ordered at the counter Doug himself was the guy we ordered from. We both love Foie Gras so of course we both had to have the foie gras dog, and then I ordered the Elvis with everything and Mike ordered the Dog and we split a large fry.
The foie gras dog was great the thing that brought it together was the truffle aoili, the elvis was ok nothing special, the fries were also ok.
I want to go on a Friday or Saturday to get duck fat fries.

Chef Matthias quits Charlie Trotters

http://chicago.eater.com/archives/2010/10/08/breaking-chef-de-cuisine-matthias-merges-leaving-trotters.php

Chef Matthias Merges had worked at Charlie Trotters for 14 years and was instrumental in helping young chefs develop, the ones I can think of off the top of my head are Grahm Elliot, Homaro Cantu from Moto, Grant Achatz and so many more.

Chef Matthias was the chef I was in contact with from the start, he always treated me with respect and was willing to teach me and answer questions I had for him.

Chef Matthias was doing all the cooking while Chef Trotter was meeting customers and such. He is the one that turned Trotters into the powerhouse.

The only way I had heard he quit was thru that article, no mention of him quitting at work or a staff meeting to tell everyone. All of us speculated that he had quit when he hadn't come back after going to the California event. Plus I answer the kitchen phone at work and the chef on the other line stated that "will you guys miss chef Matthias when he leaves" I was like WTF?

Well Chef Matthias told me Saturday at the Store that he is opening up a new restaurant in the spring that will serve contemporary American classics.

Best of Luck to him!

Cincy Chili

So this past thursday for Family meal I made Cincinnati style chili. Neil and a few other people were so exicited to have some. I made four ways for the family with my fresh pasta. I showed them how to plate it up and then how to eat the chili. I had two bowls of it myself, the food was gone in 10 minutes. Everybody commented on how good it was and how full it made them it also gave me a full day of energy.

It reminded me of home and it felt great.

Saying Goodbye to kitchen family

So last night our Trotter family lost two members Neil and Mike. Neil has worked at Charlie Trotters for a year and a half and was like a big brother/mentor to me. If I had any questions I would turn to him and he would give me a straight no bullshit answer, he was there for me when Chef Trotter scowled at me for making noise when putting some dishes away. We also shared the same love for Skyline Chili and everything Cincinnati.


Mike was a stage from San Diego; we hit it off as soon as we met. He drove me home every night and it was much appreciated. He worked Amuse station and helped out on sorbet and Garde manger when it was needed. He has worked at the famed Le Bern with Eric Rippert and with a few other awesome chefs.

Well as a going away gift the kitchen decided to say goodbye in kitchen fashion. Mike was in the back scrubbing coppers when James told me to get a large cambro of ice and I did, James filled it up with water and when mike was scrubbing coppers James and everybody went to the back and drenched him with the water, it was too funny, and mike took it great. For Neil what they did was he was scrubbing the copper pipes under the back sink and that’s when it happened, James got tahini paste and egg whites and radishes in duck fat and a few other things and poured it all over him along with a lot of butter. It was so funny and Neil took it in stride and got the hose and sprayed all of us down.

After work on Saturday night the entire kitchen crew and some servers go to the bar right around the block called the Store. We were all there to celebrate with the two leaving, while Neil was drinking his beer all of us went out and got paper plates and filled them with shaving cream and just doused him all over his face and body, he fell down and then people kept squirting shaving cream on him and sang he’s a jolly good fellow and then we all helped him up.

James and a few people said to me “this is nothing like what we will do to you”

In all the other kitchens I have worked in I have never seen anything like this, usually when a person leaves you go out for a beer afterward and say thanks and such. I wonder what they have planned for me.

New Dessert at Charlie Trotter's

This week we started a new dessert. It is Sweet Potato Mousse with Milk Chocolate and Graham cracker. It is a take on a smore, I really like the presentation and have not taken a picture yet, but as soon as I do, I will post it.

The Girl and the Goat

The girl and the goat is Chicago's new hot spot. The chef is Stephanie Izzard winner of Top Chef season 4. The menu is tapas style, there are three sections Vegetable, Fish, Meat plus a small menu with the bread and specials. To start off we ordered Shaved Squash and Kohlrabi with fennel, evalon, toasted almonds and ginger dressing. This was a great start, the squash was raw and provided that nice crisp crunch and the ginger dressing was also a great compliment to the salad.

Next was the Goat Belly Confit with Quince and fried lentils even though the food runner said capers. The Goat belly was devine, it was perfect matched with the quince.

The next dish was pan roasted Barramundi with black beans, butternut squash, chicken of the wood mushrooms.

Our next dish was Grilled beef short ribs with edamame and scallion vinaigrette. The beef broth was the standout of the dish, we even used the spoon to sip the rest of the sauce.

For dessert we ordered cocoa nib donuts-pomegranate ganache, brut sabayon, smoked pear, and pine nut brittle. Wow, the server when dropping off the dish commented that they are more like dumplings.

Our next dessert dish was bourbon apples-cranberry, miso marcona almond, and maple fat gelato. This was amazing, the maple fat gelato at the bottom was described by the server as the best thing he has ever eaten.

Had a great time with great company with my dad and my sister came up to visit.

This Week.

This week at work I got to do a few things that I haven't yet.
Tuesday- Prepped Garde Manger stations and helped out a few other stations. We had 40 covers and it went smooth.
Wednesday- The entire kitchen staff were summoned to the garden by Chef Trotter, he was wearing a baseball cap, and a track suit. He was letting us know a few things about the excellence program (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAK_j2PuKxU) He was telling us what to expect and how we should approach presenting to the group. Chef then picked out a few people to present a course and tell the group what excellence is to us and such. Chef Trotter said "Bill is going to present the Poularde Course" When service started the poularde course was number 3 for the group, I helped plate it up and got ready to present to the group of 20. A few of the questions from the group were " What is your favorite food?, How long have you know you wanted to be a chef, Why did you come to Charlie Trotters" and a few more questions like that. It went good.
We had a few guest chefs this week, Michael was our guest chef on Friday and he really helped me out. He also gave me a few good suggestions for eating out, if I ever have the time. As a guest chef you help the kitchen team with a little prep and also get to try a few courses with wine pairings.
Saturday- In addition to rolling out my pasta dough I made the night before and making ravioli's, Helped HeeJew with Garde Manger set up and helped pastry and amuse with prep. The kitchen table was booked both for the early seating and late seating. During service James told me there was a kid dining and I needed to make pasta on the fly. I had the dough made in about 4 minutes. I then cut it and put in boiling water and after about 2-3 minutes had the olive oil and freshly grated parm and chives and tossed it and plated it. The server said the kid loved it. We also left around 1:30, which is nice and early on a saturday night.

Pigtail Ravioli Course

So this is bascially my course. I make the pasta dough for it, I sear the pigtails and cyrovac them with pork stock, shred the meat and peel apples and use a melon baller to get perfect apple balls. It has really complex flavors and everything comes out perfect.

What is it?

We got these in the other day, reminds me of an airhead. Anybody know what these are?