Tasting menu 93

I sure needed the last couple of days off. You really don't know what you are capable of doing until you are right in the middle of it. We have a lot of people out the last couple of weeks. I found myself running a omelet station in a banquet room at 6 am one morning. I have not worked omelets for awhile, my first couple really sucked. I will have to schedule my self for a few more breakfast shift to get the skills back.

Chicken and apple sausage
Compressed peppers, grilled onion jel, tomato bubbles

Bone marrow
Garlic Bruschetta, crimini


Sous-vide tiger shrimp in olive oil and herbs
Crab roll, dashi tempura, peach salad


Watermelon brulee
Watermelon textures made table side with LN

Tatsing Menu 81

If you have children or will in the near future you will get my take on fruit salad. A friend brought a Wiggles tape in for me and my wife after we had our first girl Taylor. She would play this video over and over. Anyway one of the songs is called Fruit Salad Yummy Yummy. Unfortunately the song has been burned into my psyche and now I cannot say the word without singing the song. We have this little Mexican taco fast food place by our house that serves a horchata drink on ice. I am having a few of the cooks help me with making the recipe but apparently you soak rice for a day, not cooking it at all. You take the remaining liquid and add sugar and vanilla. Some variations also have nuts in it. We will make the ice cream and then roll it in croquant, a puffed sweet rice.

Fruit salad “yummy yummy”
Lavender legos, yogurt crisps, mint

Southern grit French fries
Buttermilk aioli, greens, fried chicken

Pina Colada space foam

Smoked corn powder encrusted halibut
Lobster gnocchi, papaya pipette, coconut blanket

Horchata ice cream
Croquant, agave
Made tableside with LN

Tasting menu 77

It looks like it should finally calm down a little this week. I have been so caught up with keeping prep levels up that I have had no time to play or work on anything new. I am finalizing a class that I will be teaching at Cookstreet in Denver. It looks like we are shooting for a April 1st class. The weather has been nothing short of bizarre this year. It has been 70 degrees in Denver for the past 3 days. We have had no snow fall this year. Cold weather reminds us to cook in different ways. It's hard to be in the mood for a good casoulet when it is so hot out.

Carbonated grapefruit
Palm sugar cured line caught tuna, tarragon, taro

Duck prosciutto
Fried risotto, black olive jell, black trumpet mushrooms

Passion fruit and sage sorbet
Poached grapes, blue champagne

Spicy shrimp blanket
Artichoke dirt, corn gnocchi, shallot

Mexican vanilla ice cream with frozen caramel apple crunch
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tasting Menu 75

This is probably suicide but we are going to do a tasting menu this week. I will bring in a few extra chefs this weekend to help with service. We only have 1 restaurant in this hotel so we must have a little something for everyone. If I need someone to help that night I can pull from banquets. That is the best part about working in a hotel, we can flex people from other departments when you need it. There is always someone that can help. The short rib dish is inspired by Grant's short rib at Alinea.

Smoked oyster sheet
Warm shitake foam, compressed soba, crispy red bean paste

Coconut poached vegetables
Tomato cloud, yuzu, frozen puffed wheat

Buffalo short rib manicotti
Beet, housemaid ricotta, green bean “casserole”

Peanut butter sorbet
White chocolate-strawberry jelly mousse

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

Tasting menu 48

I am going to revisit cooking food in the earth this week. We will dig a pit at the hotel and roast the salmon in the ground. The white cherry tomatoes came from my garden this week. We had a micro burst at the house yesterday that took out a huge chunk of a tree in our back yard. It was about 6 feet from taking out the garden. I will be working on a new way to document my experiments this week. Writing recipes like a math formula allows you to come up with new combinations of cooking techniques that you normally would not think of.

Tasting menu


Yogurt paper
White cherry tomatoes, olive soil, red pepper jel

Pit roasted salmon
Orzo, whipped lemon, cucumber

Porcini amber
Manchero, bison, smoked grapes

Girl Scout samoas ice cream
Thin mint dippin dots made table side
With liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 25

I am running the same courses that we have on our wine dinner tomorrow night. We are sitting at 45 covers right now that we will cut off at 50. I have been working on a web presentation here at the hotel. The president of the Westin brand has asked me to do a demonstration for all Westin properties around the world. It will be a great opportunity to learn from chefs in different markets.

Sweet corn pipette
pickled red jalapeno, butter roasted lobster

House smoked salmon

Lavosh powder, fried capers, cream cheese gnocchi

Black truffle quiche

Grilled escargot, elephant garlic, chive

Honeycomb candy

Panna cotta ice cream made table side with liquid nitrogen

Tatsing menu 15

Had a huge new years eve. It was a little sketchy doing so much molecular at ounce. We are used to doing 4 dishes and this was around 25. A good lesson I will use when I write a menu for my next large event. I got a camera so I won't be using my camera phone anymore (hopefully an improvement)

Tasting menu 15


Avocado Noodles
Scallop ceviche, tomatillo, piped tomato

English Pea Soup
Carrot caviar, shaved toast

Buffalo Short Rib
Elephant garlic jam, corn, blackberry

Honey Lavender Baklava
Curry coconut ice cream made with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 12

Very busy with parties in banquets this week. Hotel restaurant life has been truly opposite then independent. December has always been my money month but here it is one of the slowest. We are getting a nice local following though keeping the tasting menu busy. We will use our circulator a lot this menu.

Tasting menu 11

148.8 degree egg
Mushroom ravioli, pine nut glass, tarragon pesto

Green Beans
Pancetta oil, Cippolini skins, Whipped maple

Truffle Sou-vide Scallop
Edamame Gnocchi, Burnt vegetables, Foie gras Hollandaise

Liquid Nitrogen
Almonds, yogurt, honey, olive oil cake

Curry Bubble Gum

Tasting Menu 8

It has been a very difficult week for me. With Ben passing on, a visit from Starwoods president and a ass kicking on Thanksgiving. I am starting to feel creative again and can't wait to get going again. I have a couple of photo shoots this week for Dinning out and Wine Country so I should be busy. We will utilize some Organic pork belly that I got from Snake River Farms.

Tasting menu 11/23/07


Fizzy Fruit Cocktail with a
Sweet Tomato Sabayon


Smoked Blue Marlin Sashimi with Liquid Nitrogen
Wasabi Oil and Pickled Ginger Jelly

Apple, Beer Vinegar, and Mustard Oil Sou-vide
Organic Pork Belly with Horseradish Powder
And Earth Cooked Potatoes


Agave Prickly Pear Ice Cream made Table side
With Liquid Nitrogen with as Grape Sugar Rolled Sopapia

Tasting menu 7

We have a board meeting this week for our new management company so I am starting production early. We had a Robert hall wine dinner last night. Everything went great except the sou-vide ribeye. We do not have a circulator yet so we tried to check temperature and stir the product every half hour or so. We had to many temperature fluctuations and the meat went bad. We had to start over again. We then cooked the ribeye sou-vide at a hotter temputure then what I would have liked. It was just ok. I will not try any more sou-vide until I get a circulator.

Tasting menu 11-12-07


Fried baby artichokes with Warm Parmesan mayo
And elephant garlic chips

Smoked goulda consommé with sour cream noodles
And Roasted Colorado potatoes


Salmon wrapped scallops with edamame gnocchi
And a burnt onion cream


Yuzu quince pound cake with blueberry
Carmel ice cream made table side with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 6

We are prepping our tasting menu this week with our Robert Hall wine dinner tomorrow in mind. It is the same menu with an addition of our peanut butter grape cheese coarse. The shrimp and scallop noodles are a technique I picked up from WD-50. No flour or fillers. Pure meat with activa, cayenne and salt. The mixture is put through a tami and piped into water that is at 137 degrees.

Tasting menu
11/08/07

Shrimp and scallop noodles with fried
Artichokes, sou-vide peas, and burnt onion cream

Liquid nitrogen dipped fruits
Mango, Grapefruit, Cantaloupe

48 hour Ribeye hollandaise wrapped
with smoked blueberries and coffee powder


Yuzu-Pineapple ice cream made table side with liquid nitrogen
With grilled baby bananas and Beet marshmallow

Peppermint Bubble gum