Fancy pants party

I am excited to cook this molecular menu tonight for Adam's birthday. We took his favorite food and drinks and turned into this all star menu. As you can see by the invitation, it should be a blast. Here is the menu for tonight

Passed apps

Mini tandori chicken skewers with sweet pea pesto and yogurt caviar

Smoked trout and apple stuffed mushroom with warm walnut mayo

Drinks

“Mai Tai”

Rum and triple sec mixed with toasted almond syrup and fresh squeezed lime juice

Served over cherry ice cubes, glass rimed with lime pop rocks

Strawberry-Banana daiquiri frozen with liquid nitrogen

with sweetened condensed milk

Small plate 1

Berebere encrusted tiger shrimp

Color changing bubbles, garlic and blue crab fried rice, pickled mango and pineapple

Small plate 2

Sous- vide pork tenderloin and bacon in beau monde and herbs

Grilled applesauce, spatzel carbonara, Worcestershire jel

Tasting of fun textures

Nitrogen frozen smore

Cheesecake ice cream with frozen caramel powder

Twizzlers space foam

Banana foster creme brulee

Rialto Underground

I will be cooking a dinner at the Rialto cafe tomorrow night with the Chef Mike Schock . I opened the Rialto over 12 years ago as the opening daytime sous chef. It will be fun to see some old friends and to get back to cooking my food. My courses include:

Passed

New Zealand lamb wrap lamb rack wrapped in a mozzarella sheet with mint pesto

(we already have a good amount mint coming up in the garden)

Salad

Sous vide organic chicken in tasmanian pepper and black lava salt with crispy bibb, housed cured bacon and blue cheese jelly

Fish

Hiramasa kingfish new style sashimi with pickled mango, white soy paper, strawberry caviar, smoked air bubbles and "fried rice"

Sorbet

House carbonated Shiraz and clover honey served over haystack mountain goat cheese sorbet made with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 103

We had a huge snowstorm come through Colorado this week. It dropped 2 and 1/2 feet of snow at our house ( this is our air conditioner in the back yard) It reminded me of mountain snow, very light and fluffy. I will spend a little time on making some snow textures with liquid nitrogen this week.

Graham cracker encrusted soft shell crab
Coconut mousse, tropical fruit, soy dippin dots

Grilled goat cheese
House made caper bread, goji berry carpaccio, tomato caviar

Berbere sous-vide pork loin
Grilled banana puree, brown sugar gelee, compressed apple salad

Lavender honey baklava
Roasted pumpkin ice cream made table side with liquid nitrogen

Tatsing menu 101

Thank you to everyone who came in to help us celebrate number 100, the support for our tasting menu has been incredible over the past couple of years. The unbelievable part to me is not how many tasting menus we have done but more so where we are. If I can pull this off in Westminster Colorado, it can be done anywhere, it is all in the approach. My advice, make people comfortable with the food, they will be more open to trying news things. Simple is the best- not to many ingredients or flavors. Use the best tool to come up with the best product. Don't make it about a label, let the food speak for itself

House made pancetta
Green beans, compressed heirloom tomato, honey-dijon jel

Dashi broth
Chinese mushrooms, lump crab, sriracha caviar

Sous-vide duck breast in hoison and orange
Celery root puree, tempura grapes, foie wonton

Sweet potato and maple ice cream with streusel
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 97

I have jury duty tomorrow, something I am not looking forward to at all. Don't they know that a crazy chef should not make any decisions pertaining to anyone else. I can barley keep my shit together as it is. Here is the menu for the next 2 weeks

Pear, apricot, plum gastrique
Poached shrimp, goat cheese marble, vanilla

Smoked trout Bruschetta
Salt water caviar, frozen tomatoes, chili threads

Sous-vide lamb chops
Peppers from the garden, Colorado corn, chayote chips

Crème brulee ice cream with burnt palm sugar
Made table side with liquid nitrogen

Tatsing menu 94

I am repeating the crepe course for a photo shoot we have for Denver magazine on Friday. We will run this menu for the next 2 weeks, I will be taking next week off. We have a few concerts planned along with some rafting and some quality time with the kids.

Heirloom tomato carpaccio
Fizzy capers, crispy silver fish, basil gelee

Lobster crepe
Black truffle caviar, mornay, salt water bubbles

Berbere and beer braised pork belly
Israeli cous cous carbonara, 148 degree egg

Flur de sel ice cream with frozen pretzel dust
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tatsing Menu 92

It has been a very hectic week at the hotel. We have been sold for rooms the past 8 days with another 7 ahead. The groups do not have many banquet functions so the restaurant is getting hit hard. I am feeling a lot more comfortable running the kitchen after my crash course the last 3 weeks. The chef is back so I can finally get some work done in the restaurant.

Curried grilled eggplant
Fennel foam, fried artichoke and fennel, coconut

Sweat pea and rosemary cream
Carrot caviar, grilled mussels

Basil and lemon Popsicle

Roasted leg of lamb
Mint, flexible potato, roasted garlic and onions

Peach cobbler with brown sugar ice cream
Made tableside with LN

Tasting Menu 91

My wife and I had a amazing meal at 1515 market last night. Gene the owner invited us in for some food and wine. The best plate by far was the seared scallop with huitlacoche puree. I have not seen the corn mushroom since I worked at the Rattlesnake grill about 1o years ago. It is a underutilized ingredient. Basically they leave sweet corn out in a warm environment. Eventually a mold or mushroom will grow on the outside. It has a deep sweet flavor to it that complimented the scallop dish perfectly. I would say it was one of the better meals I have had in a while.

Coconut Grouper
Watermelon pop rocks, mint from the garden, dashi gelee

Compressed heirloom tomatoes
Garlic, dandelion leaves, Tasmanian pepper caviar

Chorizo
Brioche, plantain, fried quail eggs

Tiramisu ice cream with frozen lady finger dust

Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tasting Menu 87

As you can tell by the lack of any post the past week I am very busy. We have a new chef and with his presence comes a whole new way of running this hotel. Every chef has a different way of running a operation, I am the quit type that manages through my actions. I expect my cooks to work as hard as I do in the kitchen. My new chef has the same outlook, far different from what I am used to. He will hold us all to a different level, making us better everyday. Our menu this week has some French influences sprinkled through out. We have some members of the French consultant coming in on Friday. We are also starting a promotion on our patio this week called fajitas and ritas on Friday nights. Cheap food and cold drinks, it will be packed.

Lobster crepe
Truffle caviar, mornay, salt water

Razor shaved snails
Garlic noodles, spring onions, warm mayo

Hoison braised buffalo short ribs
Pot roast vegetables, ricotta gnocchi, tarragon

Warm brandy cherries
Vanilla lavender ice cream made table side with LN

Gabby Gourmet Dinner

Sunday June 28th, 09

SOLD OUT

Gabby Gourmet Dinner
5 courses

Chorizo
Brioche roll, plantain, fried quail egg

Curried grilled eggplant
Fennel foam, fried artichoke and fennel, coconut caviar

Lemon and basil sorbet
Bloody marry popcorn in LN

Pear jell
Seared Atlantic salmon, rye gnocchi, roasted cauliflower

Chocolate caramel bread pudding
Banana foster ice cream made tableside

Tasting Menu 85

The tasting menu has been selling like hot cakes lately. 80% of the reservations last Thursday, Friday and Saturday were here for the menu.

Sweet green pea flan
Carrot cardamom caviar, pea shoots, smoked trout

Chipotle angel food cake
King crab, tequila mosaic, cilantro

San Francisco sourdough space foam

Snapper Veracruz
Flexible avocado, apricot rice taquitto, tomato
]
Hot chocolate ice cream
Shattered whip cream made table side with LN

Tasting Menu 80

I should have kept my big mouth shut about not getting any snow. Last Thursday we had a good size storm that dropped around 20 inches. The hotel was slammed, we did around 600 covers for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That is the main difference from working in a independent. If I was in my own restaurant, I wouldn't have made it off the couch that morning. I would have called it a snow day but here at the hotel we have customers that are here everyday and when it gets really cold out we get slammed. I will have a small news segment on Wednesday on channel 2 in the 9 o'clock hour promoting the cookstreet class

Grilled butter shrimp
Old bay popcorn, mint tabbouleh, rainbow caviar

Berbere rubbed pork carnitas

Sopapia, smoked grapes, fried sour cream

Ice wine sorbet

Sous-vide duck with honey and clove
Cranberry beans, warm root vegetable brulee, soy sugar

Mexican vanilla ice cream

Cinnamon tortilla, frozen caramel powder

Tasting Menu 79

Next week will start to pick up for us again. I have a wine dinner on Thursday night that is sold out. We are hosting the event along with Buil & Gine winery in Spain. Xavier Buil is personally making the trip over from Spain for the dinner. It should be a great night. I am also getting ready for April 1st. The iapc conference is here in Denver this year. They have asked me to help gather equipment and organize the event. There are some great professionals speaking at the conference including Alex and Aki from Ideas in Food, chef Andonu Luis Aduriz from http://www.mugaritz.com/ in Spain and one of my favorite chefs Michel Nischan. After helping with the conference I will be teaching a molecular class at Cookstreet that night.

Plantain
Avocado, blue crab, strawberry caviar

Risotto
Bone marrow, blueberry sphere, lobster mushroom

Vietnamese spring roll
Cilantro wrapper, shrimp and pork, salty peanut ice cream

Honeydew consommé
Mascarpone noodles, plum ice

Tasting menu 71

The restaurant is going to be going through some major changes this month. We have lost our GM of 6 years to some unfortunate circumstances. I had a good relationship with him but we did not agree on a lot of service issues. One being that he refused to have a expediter. The food would sit for 5 maybe 6 minutes before it was run. A lot of our molecular presentations must be run right away or we lose the textures we worked so hard to create. I had to take some items of our last menu because of the timing issues. With a new GM comes new ideas and a wiliness to work with each other to improve our guest experiences. I know I have been pulling this place in so many directions, hopefully we can settle it down and have fun and create

Poussin
Caul fat, goji berries, red pepper

Buffalo short ribs
Shitake wonton, mint, pickled watermelon

Tomato Brushetta Space Foam

Maine lobster tail
Chipolte, corn gnocchi, Cilantro tapioca

Banana foster ice cream sandwich
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 69

I have been getting some emails lately about how crazy my food is and that I am doing some kind of disservice to the culinary world. Why would you ever float food or why did you put a inedible garnish on a plate they ask? My answer is why not. As long as the garnish if functional like the chap stick compound butter. I would rather challenge my guest with new flavors or presentations then throw out the same shit year after year. Look, I was the chef 2 years ago looking into this crazy world and wondering if it had a place. After a few years of burning my hands in LN or making soda or even making Lego's my answer is yes. I am having a blast and the people that try our tasting menus do to. I know my customers will remember their meal, will yours??

Quail eggs
Chorizo, black vinegar, blackberry

Compressed watermelon
Olive salad. Snow crab, whipped feta

Line caught tuna and prosciutto terrine
Parsnip pudding, curry sphere, zucchini

White chocolate macadamia nut brownie
With coffee ice cream made tableside
With liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 68

I am working on changing all of the menus in the restaurant this week. We are going to make some changes to help with our business levels in 09. One thing we will do is not to offer a breakfast buffet Monday through Saturday. We will be able to control food cost better and with one less cook. We are going to have to take a look at all of our operations to make sure we are running a tight ship next year. New Years eve should be very interesting this year. Rumor has it that Wide Spread Panic will play in our ball room after their concert in Denver. Merry Christmas to everyone and have a creative 09.

Smoked tempura cranberries
Rainbow trout, dried Japanese cucumbers, apple gastrique

Parsnip fries
Bresola, caper aioli, red pepper textures

Frankincense space foam

Sou-vide Colorado lamb chops
Chanterelle, blue cheese marbles, chestnut powder

Peppermint ice cream rolled in gingerbread crumbs
Made table side with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 55

I am posting the menu early this week because I am going to take a few extra days off. I will be here for service on Thursday. It is football time again which means a lot of pro and college teams in the hotel. I can't believe how much food these guys pack away. We had a offensive line guy that put away 8 full omelette's one morning. Has anyone used alum powder? Ratios, recipes?

Heirloom cherry tomatoes
Basil taco shell, yogurt powder, blue cheese jelly

Smoked salmon caviar
Potato latkes, hot sour cream ice cream, pear salad

Minted earl grey sorbet
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Chimichurri sheet
Berbere pork, baby corn, red pepper

Miracle fruit pill
Citrus segments, mascarpone, soy bubbles

Tatsing menu 53

We have a few chefs coming up this week to hang out and check out some techniques. It looks like I will be teaching a demo at The Cooking School of the Rockies on November 2. I will post more information when I get a final date.

Tasting menu

Confit organic chicken
Colorado corn waffle, shattered jalapeño whipped cream, maple air

Watermelon consommé
Sou-vide shrimp, black garlic dumpling, scallion pearls

Chicken skin wrapped tenderloin
Béarnaise blanket, beets, flexible asparagus

Chocolate éclair
Crispy choux paste, pastry cream dippin dots
Ganache ice cream made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 46

It was good to have a break from work but it is time to get going again. I have a lot of questions about where I will be in the future. All I know is that I need a change. I got my miracle fruit powder in. It will be transformed into gum this week.

Tasting menu

Candied fennel
Grapefruit gelee, blue crab, watercress caviar

Sou-vide pork
Smoked shallot powder, cream corn, asadero relleno

Stone fruit
Buttered lobster,83c yam, macadamia nut air

Brandied strawberiies
Panna cotta ice cream made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Miracle fruit bubble gum with sours

Tasting menu 45

I received my miracle fruit tree in the mail a few days ago. It is only about 7 inches tall but it has some new growth. The total price was around 60$ so I am hoping that it grows. We also ordered some miracle fruit tablets fromhttp://www.miraclefruitworld.com/index.html. I tried them with my wife and sister the other night. Lemons were my favorite with a syrupy sweet quality. Next time I will try them at work where I have 100's of things to try. I have ordered some more and will feature it on a tasting in a few weeks

Tasting menu

Dragon fruit
Yucca, shrimp ceviche, avocado caviar

Fried egg consommé
Pork belly cubes, macaroni, potato


Colorado lamb loin
Spearmint from the garden, grilled cherry peppers, parsnip


Pineapple upside down cake
Kahlua ice cram made table side
With liquid nitrogen

http://denver.metromix.com/restaurants/photogallery/chemistry-in-the-kitchen/553467/content?photo=9