Michelin Guide Chicago

So Last week the Michelin Guide came to Chicago for the first time ever, there was talk amongst the kitchen how many stars the restaurant was going to get, the consensus was two stars, which is a high honor.

Here is what every star means :

Overall in the United States there are only nine 3 star restaurants, that is pretty great company. We recieved two michelin stars, Chef Trotter called a meeting to declare " WE WAS ROBBED" and " I HAVE HALF A MIND TO SEND THE STARS BACK"

I am thrilled about working at a two michelin star restaurant, sure it would be even better to get three, but I will take two and add that to my resume.

Menus from Last week

Vegetable Menu

Hawaiian Hearts of Palm with Compressed Pineapple & Grains of Paradise

Terrine of Heirloom Beets with Petite Parnsips& Tarragon

Delicata Squash Soup with Smoked Paprika, Maple & Sourdough Tuile

Spencer Farm Polenta with Radicchio di Treviso, Cipollini Onions & One year old Parmesan

Grilled Silken Tofu with Matzutake Mushrooms, Pine Nuts & Tsuba Mame Miso

Black Misson Fig Sorbet with Lemon& Smoked Eggplant

Thai Curry Ice Cream with Thumbelina Carrots & Ginger

Brandied Bartlett Pears with Claudia Corallo Gelato & Black Pepper

Grand Menu

Sashimi Japanese Hamachi with Watermelon Radish & Preserved Daikon

Steamed Columbia River Sturgeon with Cauliflower, Crispy Buckwheat & Ostera Caviar

Bobwhite Quail Breast with Toasted Farro & Red Russian Kale

Muscovy Duck Breast with Swiss Chard, Grilled Unagi & Kombu

South Dakota Bison Tenderloin with Candied Expresso & Salsify

Plum Sorbet with Sake Granite & Toasted Seasame

Sweet Potato Mousse with Toasted Marshmallow& Graham Cracker

Poached Quince with Coca Nibs & Ennis Hazelnut Praline Ice Cream

Giving a Tour of the Kitchen

When the diners are done eating in the restaurant they are asked if they would like a tour of the kitchen and studio kitchen and the wine cellar, most customers want to, so myself being the most outgoing person in the kitchen, I have been given the responsibility of giving kitchen tours and I love it.
The server introduces me to the customers and then I show them the kitchen table and explain how Charlie Trotters was the first restaurant in the US to have a kitchen table and I give them the whole tour and introduce them to everyone in the kitchen. I point out various stats about every cook and the equipment we use.

I have been told by Chef and even last night at the bar by everyone in the kitchen that I am the best at giving tours.

One day I will have to record the tour and put it on youtube and this blog.

Week Recap

This week we started a few new menu items at the restaurant, gone are the pig tail raviolis, rabbit, turbot, mussel, and trout dishes. We have replaced them and as soon as I get the menu I will post it.
Also this past week, I started to work the amuse station with Sean, I was plating everything up while Sean was slicing the fish. Chef Michael came up to me Saturday and told me I did a great job on Friday and to keep up the great job. Saturday I didn't disappoint either, Sean and I noticed that the second seating of the kitchen table two of the people couldn't eat fish, so we had to come up with another course. Bam it hit us Sunchoke Ravioli's with a sunchoke foam. I made the pasta dough since I am the pasta man and also made the filling with some sage. Before service we gave Chef Michael one and he just looked at us and smiled and said " wow". I was telling Sean that should be our new vegetable amuse dish. We got great reviews from everyone that had them.
Also I made the family meal on Friday, I made Bison Burgers with sunny side up egg and roasted garlic aioli while Eric made breakfast potatoes and Lindsey made caramelized onions and the dessert was fig pie. Everybody raved about the seasoning of the burgers and even a purveyor said it was the best burger he had in Chicago.
This week I realized that Eric and I have so much in common, this past weeks convo's have been about Pogs, Green Days first album, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Moby, Fat tire beer, Darrius Rucker, and so much more.
That is all!

Week Recap

This past week was a week of ups and downs. I had to go in this past Monday to prep for the Las Vegas event, while the prepping wasn't bad it was just brunoise a bunch of shallots and apples it was time consuming and since it was my usual day off I was kind of groggy. I only worked 3.5 hours and then got home and cooked a dinner party for my flatmate Paul and his friends. It seemed like everyone loved the Pork roast, roasted beets and butternut squash.
Tuesday,Wednesday, Thursday were all busy days at work prepping for the Vegas event and also then prepping for the Campbells soup dinner while working my station.
Friday morning Chef Trotter left with a few people to work the Vegas event with such chefs as Wolfgang Puck, Batali, Emeril, and Todd English. One of the cooks that went said it was painful to work that event because Chef Trotter doesn't allow squeeze bottles of any kind for saucing so they had to use spoons and the other cooks didn't know how to do that.
Saturday was a fun day, I got to come with a kids menu for a wedding that was happening on the patio of the restaurant. The menu for the kids was Angel Hair Pasta I had just made with fresh pasta and chives and butter. The next item for the kids was Poularde Chicken tenders with a honey mustard and ketchup I made. The final kids menu item was Wood grilled pizza topped with acorn squash puree, caramelized onions and fresh bail and goat cheese. The kids loved everything. Saturday I was also the sous chef for a 50th wedding anniversary party. The party was for a family of 7 and it was in there huge house. The kitchen had a viking range top and everything was state of the art. We did 8 courses and everybody was just so nice and gracious for having us in there house.
Sunday- Got to sleep in till around 11 and then head into work and get things packed for campbells dinner, we all took taxi's down to the Chicago Theatre and set up the event, the tables the theatre gave us were so low they were hitting my knees which to some people are fine, but to me I had to keep on bending down. Since it was a huge event we had to hire out servers and cooks to help with keeping things nice and tight. After the lobster course plate up we were cleaning up the table when a cook was sitting down on the chair and chef Trotter saw that and just flipped out on this guy and threw stuff at him and told him to f off. Chef Trotter was in rare form, while I was saucing a plate he came up to me and said " Bill why didn't you ask what I was going to be for Halloween?" He said it such a serious condescending voice, so then I asked him and he said " I am a chef" and just laughed and put his hand on my shoulder. The entire event went great and the menu was executed to perfection by us.
After working seven days last week I had over 100 hours and I am so exhausted and tired.