The Bristol

Last sunday I got a call from two friends from work Kyle and Ric the other intern, kyle had been talking about going to the bristol and I looked at the menu online and it sounded good.
We arrived around 815 and were seated promptly at the communal table. The restaurant was still really busy for a sunday night. Kyle had been there before he said atleast six times so he knew what to order, for the appetizers we got duck fat fries served with house made ketchup and garlic aioli; and roasted bone marrow with shallot jam and toast. The shallot jam was just amazing, we were told when people stage at the restaurant, that's the recipe they ask for, but the chef won't give out the recipe.
Moving on to pasta selections we chose the raviolo stuffed with ricotta, egg yolk and surrounded by brown butter and the other pasta dish we chose was the daily special for the night. Both were really good, for the next course we wanted scallops, but those were gone for the day so we decided on quail, the quail was over seasoned and also over cooked, the squash that accompanied the quail though was great.
For dessert we chose the apple basque cake, chocolate sabyigon, and panna cotta, the basque cake was so moist, it might have been the best cake I have had at a restaurant, the chocolate dish was served with house made nutter butters, the chocolate we guessed was 85% cocoa was seasoned with sea salt. The panna cotta was what rick really wanted to order it was OK, nothing special.
Overall I can see why the Bristol didn't get a Michelin star.

Thanksgiving and More

So this was my first ever thanksgiving not surrounded by family, instead I was surrounded by Trotter's family. I got invited to Thanksgiving dinner by Kayleigh and was told there was going to be around 8 of us there. When I arrived, the girls didn't want anything to do with the turkey so I dove in head first to tackle the turkey assignment. I got out the spices they had it was a very limited selection that included ground pepper, garlic salt, dried thyme, sage leaves and cloves. I just seasoned the turkey with the garlic salt and ground pepper and massaged the legs and thighs. I put the turkey in a 400 degree oven to get a nice crisp skin and then turned the oven down to let the turkey cook. While the turkey was in the oven everyone else showed up, we played apples to apples, and I won both times. The turkey and the sides were great, everyone remarked how it was the best turkey they have had, I was happy with those comments as I am my harshest critic.
The week prior to thanksgiving Chef Michael gave myself and ric the other intern the responsibility of prepping all the sides for Trotters to go, we were prepping the entire week and cut over 100 pounds of carrots, cleaned 3 cases of brussel sprouts, cut 16 cases of haricot verts, and also cut over 50 loaves of bread for stuffing. I also did a few other things for thanksgiving at Trotters to go.

Overall it was a good thanksgiving.