"Crab"

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

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

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

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

Tasting menu 84

My wife and I did a demo at Mckinley-Thatcher elementary school yesterday. There is no doubt that I would rather cook for kids then adults. I have so much fun showing them how everyday products they buy at the store can be made at home using a little imagination. We are getting ready for Mother's day brunch next weekend. We should do around 800 for brunch and another 150 that night for early dinner. We have hired a new Executive chef for our hotel, I cannot wait for him to start. I need to learn a lot more before I become a hotel chef and he is the guy that will bring me to the next level.

Compressed Mexican papaya
Jerk shrimp, avocado pudding, parsnip

Spring ramps
Foie, tempura berries, coco nibs

Acidic yogurt space foam

Smoke bubbles
New York, jalapeno jelly, tamale pie

Pecan waffle with maple ice cream
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 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

Coffee Bubbles

Tasting menu 60

I have a competition this week at DU on Thursday. It should be pretty fun, we did it last year and had a great time. We are going through a lot of changes in the hotel. We have a new F&B director and our GM just gave notice. There seems to be a lot of tension here. It is certainly not the same hotel I started to work at 3 years ago. It has been tough for me here because I do not share the same philosophies as other managers here. It is hard to build something up only to see it fall apart when you are not there. Hopefully something will give in the next couple of months??

Mignonette Jelly
House smoked trout, caper bubbles, lavosh cream

Apple Cider Consommé
Pumpkin noodles, floating sage, chicken and bacon

Kombu space foam

Green olive braised short rib
Marinated tomato sheet, anchovy aioli, eggplant

Trick or Treat ice cream
Made table side with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 51

First day of DNC. So far it has been smooth at the hotel. I have always wanted to do a creative meatball and pasta dish. We have some amazing produce right now on the western slope of Colorado. Peaches, Rocky ford melons and Olathe corn to name a few. The cool nights and hot summers in the valley create this very rich sweet flavor in these vegetables.

Alaskan king crab
Passion fruit film, poached fruits, fennel mousse

Quail egg quiche
Black truffle, onion confit, apple syrup

Mojito space foam

Tomato sauce stuffed meatball
Mozzarella sheets, pasta puree, Goats milk parmesan

Colorado western slope peaches
Sangria syrup, mascarpone ice cream made tableside
With liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 35

Took a trip to Kansas the last couple days. Thank god my mom can cook, there is not a lot of good restaurants out that way. The best meal we had was at the Topeka airport. I guess people like to watch the plains come in while they eat. It is certainly a whole different pace from my life here. My cousin and her husband have started to raise Angus cattle. Next trip out I am going to check out the farm and see if they could support a small place if I should ever open one.

Tasting menu


Sesame snapper
Dashi, edamame noodles, cinnamon


Tandori grilled salmon
Cucumber gellee, Greek yogurt, rose pedals


Organic chicken-tenderloin steak
Hunter sauce emulsion, leek, skinned tomato


German chocolate ice cream
Coconut dippin dots, pecans, chocolate ice cream
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 34

Shit is hittinig the fan in the hotel right now. Our banquet chef is leaving to go to our competion a couple miles up the street. They are not going to replace his position so it is up to the three other chefs to pick up the slack. Needless to say I am a little worried about our banquet staff leaving with him. If they do, it will be a month of 7 days a week until we get staffing levels up. I won't be here for service this weekened. I am driving to Kansas to attend my moms master degree ceremony. Better get it in while I can

Tasting menu


Vindaloo curry
Tiger shrimp, Mexican papaya, Sweet lime emulsion


Chicken fried Cornish game hen
Grilled mashed potatoes, apple gravy, smoked pecans


Sou-vide grilled Rib Eye
Goji berries, blackened spinach, cherry balsamic



Double cream noodles, butterscotch broth, espresso ice cream
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

New menu

We have been working on a new menu this week. There is a lot to coordinate in this hotel. Tastings, Costing, Pictures, Recipes, Prep schedules, Sourcing ingredients, Training, Printing of menus ( house and room service), Menu roll out, Quality control, Basically a lot of shit. Twice as much if I was in a independent. Here menus must be costed to the penny, at a independent I usually took the price of the protein and made a educated guess about the rest. I never took pictures in a independent because I was always there when we were open. Room service is a whole different animal. 300+ rooms with no kitchens and high expectations. Anyway I have been busy. Here are some examples of some molecular techniques that we are doing on our new menu:

Sou-vide salmon with edamame flan and curry carrots

123 degrees for 40 minutes with yuzu dill butter. Sear in hot oil to order

Colorado trout with beans, pancetta and whipped maple 7 oz pure maple, 1 oz molasses, 1/4 cup apple juice, 1/4 tsp xantham, 1 tbl. virsawhip 600

Fried baby artichokes with warm walnut mayo, cotija cheese, elephant garlic chips
6 eggs, 6 egg yolks, 1 cup walnut oil, 1 1/2 cup oil blend, 2 tbl Dijon, 2 tbl. Sherry1 tbl. salt, 1/2 cup parm grated fine, 1 Co2 charge, place in water bath of 120 degrees

Mojo jelly side sauce with oysters2 cups fresh lime juice, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup corn syrup, 8 sheets gelitan, 4 tsp. agar, 1/2 cup fresh mint chopped. Bloom gelitan, boil sugar, syrup, agar 2 minutes. Add gelitanand cool. Place in blender. Whip for 10 seconds. Remove and add mint

Southern peach sorbet made table side with liquid nitrogen with Merlot caviar and frozen thyme. 150 grams Merlot syrup, 50 grams water, 2 grams aliginate, 2.5 grams calcium chloride, 500 grams water. Place syrup, alginate and water in quart container and mix with hand blender. Place in a squeeze bottle. Put second water and calcium chloride in a different court container. Blend with hand blender. Drop small balls of Merlot syrup in calcium water. Remove after 2 minutes and rinse. Marinate in Merlot syrup.

Tasting menu 32

I am planting a big garden this year in my back yard. Hopefully we will yield enough to do some nice tasting menu items. Colorado is warming up. I can't wait for the farmer's markets to open.

Tasting menu


Curried escargot
Pea puree, crispy carrots, pea sprouts

Shrimp Lasagna
Charred tomato, whipped corn, ricotta


Apricot sou-vide organic chicken
Jalapeño rice, smoked crimini, apple butter


Villa Mandori dark balsamic
Cherry Ice cream made tableside
With liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 24

We just gone done with a really busy 3 weeks. It is going to slow down a little so we should have a chance to experiment. I am going to a demo at Johnson and Whales tomorrow for Thomas Keller. He is going to help open the new demonstration kitchen at the school. I have been playing with ioata and kappa the last couple of days giving me this wonderful flexible chocolate for the dessert. I took 100 grams of white chocolate with 100 grams of water. I mixed in 1 gram each of the carrageenan and cooked them in a pan untill the mixture boiled for 20 seconds. I set them in some flexible pyrex molds. Here is our menu this week.

Tasting menu


Buffalo tar-tar
Tomato syrup, asparagus, bernaise ice cream


Tempura crab claw
Apple, miso, radish


Chicken stuffed quail
Marshmallow root, celery, green summer squash


Flexible warm white chocolate
Raspberry rose ice cream made table side with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu

This week we decided to go down to 4 courses to see if it will sell a little better. We are moving into fall now and are seeing some great produce. We got some pomegranates and pineapple quince in.

We did a yellow tomato gazpacho sphere on top of the heirloom tomato tart. The sphere melts as it goes to the table into a nice cold soup. We put a puree of yellow tomato and olive oil thickened up with xanthan for the cold soup.

After we make the spheres we set them up on these foam egg cartons to help them keep their shape and not break. Originally I wanted to do a roasted cauliflower sorbet with the liquid nitrogen course. It turned out like shit so we are going with the pumpkin and beet.

The venison course came out perfect. Smoke, blueberries, pickled plablano.

The dessert course utilizes that great fall produce. A slice of pomegranate with the seeds roasted on the lychee mousse.

Tasting menu week 2

Camembert tart with gazpacho sphere and pine nuts


Roasted beet and pumpkin sorbet with curried seeds prepared
Tableside with liquid nitrogen


Grilled venison with smoked blueberries, pickled plablano
and sweet corn pancetta cream


Chocolate cone with lychee white chocolate mousse
and pineapple quince gelee