Alinea ***

On Sunday December 5th 2010, Ric, a fellow intern from Charlie Trotter's and I went embarked on what is called the best restaurant in the United States- Alinea.

I had called a month and a half in advance, I knew I had wanted to go there as soon I as I got to Chicago. I told them I worked at Trotters and got the hookup. We got a few extra courses and some Champagne and some wine on the house.

Pictured are the Edible drinks which are:

Passion Fruit-Flor de cana 4year, matusalem clasico, sailor jerry

Lemon-Luxardo bitter, luxardo amaro, grapefruit

Apple-Laird's apple brandy, grenadine, thyme

Squash-Cynar, carpano antica, flor de cana 7 year

Kumquat- rittenhouse rye, peychaud's, demerara

Next was Chao Tom- Sugar Cane, Shrimp, Mint

Next was Bass-Black Pepper, Vanilla, Lemon

The next picture is- Canard a la cussy from Escoffier

The first picture is of the famous Chocolate Dessert- it's plated on the table with red wine soaked blueberrys, honey and peanut.

It was an amazing meal!!! There were a few misses, but overall it was totally worth it.

Update

So, its been a few weeks since I have posted a new entry, I am still alive and doing great. I recently had a stage(unpaid day of work) at the Palace downtown and I have one lined up for this friday at another great restaurant downtown. Meanwhile I have been calling a lot of people from the Research Chefs Association(RCA) trying to find an internship/co-op for the spring qtr. I have had some luck getting names of companies that are accepting internships and such and my instructor at school this past week even set me up with a company down in Florida and I talked to the research chef last night for forty five minutes and it seems like a great fit, the company is growing and they need a bright culinary mind like myself.
Also I went and visited my sister, brother in law and nephew up in Brooklyn over the mlk holiday, what a great time had by all. I enjoyed spending so much time with family, and my nephew is getting huge, and he eats everything. I know when I was 19 months I probably wasn't eating a fourth of the foods he is. While visiting, we all got the chance to go to eatly by mario batali, what a great concept. We were all amazed by the space, so many different Italian restaurants and plus meat counter, fish section, pasta section, gelato section, dessert section. It is a spot for everybody to check out, I can not do justice just writing about it.

Vie Restaurant- 1 Michelin Star

So I was asked by my fellow co-workers Anistar and HeeJu to go to dinner with them before I left Chicago. I agreed and they selected the restaurant Vie (http://www.vierestaurant.com/) The restaurant is described as seasonal, contemporary American cuisine. The chef is Paul Virant, he has worked at such Chicago restaurants as Charlie Trotters, Black Bird, Everest.
The restaurant is in Western Springs, IL so we took the bus down to union station and then took the Metra to Western Springs. A note about the restaurant, Mondays are half off bottles of wine.
We decided to get the eight course tasting menu.
Amuse-wood-grilled laughing bird shrimp, dill vinaigrette, hard cooked egg.
first-Pan roasted diver sea scallops, caramelized salsify, thyme, royal trumpet mushrooms, preserved lemon butter.
Second- House smoked and seared black cod, spanish olived oil potato puree, grilled fennel and pickled snow peas.
Third- Caveny farm "American buff" goose pate, perigold truffle, semolina bread, pear butter, goose cracklings, swiss chard.
Fourth- Crispy anson mills rice flour gnocchi, creamy celery root, pea shoots, perigold truffle.
Fifth-Butter roasted turbot, crispy bone marrow dumpling, roasted parsnips, baby leeks, baby leeks, bordelaise sauce.
Sixth- Mint creek farm goat bolognese: slow cooked goat and house made sausage, cavatelli, perserved tomato sauce, hend of the woods mushrooms, kale, prairie fruits farm kaskaskia.
Seventh- Wood grilled dry aged ribeye and braised burgundy snails, fried vie toast, wilted spinach, garlic and parsley butter, candied hillside orchard chestnuts.
Eighth- prairie fruits farm "Little bloom on the prairie", cranberry jam, cornmeal crackers.
Sorbet- Lemon lavender sorbet
To finish- Moist chestnut cake, dark chocolate mousse, coffee caramel, chestnut sable cookie, chocolate coffee ice cream sandwich.

Wow where to begin, our server was great made great recommendations for wines. The restaurant really took care of us also, we got a glass of Champagne when we sat down on the house. After the dinner we met chef Paul and everybody from the kitchen when we took a tour and even got a nice little parting gift from the sous chef. The owner then gave us cocktails at the bar and beers to take on the train ride home.
The food was great, the only thing we agreed on was the snails were sweet with the ribeye and it brought the dish down a little. The fish was cooked perfectly with every dish. I can see why they got a star.

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.

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