"Coffee"

Tasting Menu 98

Luck has it that I was selected to sit on a jury last week. It gave me an appreciation for our justice system. The gentleman was found guilty of 3rd and 1st degree assault on a person of risk. Sometimes I wonder if I could have had the patients to be a lawyer or a judge. Instead I chose a profession where I am constantly judged.

Lobster popcorn fritter
Tempura seaweed, yuzu jel, bok choy

Buttermilk fried tarragon chicken
Corn flan, sous-vide ranch potatoes, coconut gravy

Berbere grille New York
Smoked plum puree, compressed portabella, cheddar bacon risotto

Blackberry ice cream with hazelnut cream
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

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 83

This is Jacob Williams. He is working with us for his day on the job project through Stanley Lake High School. What do I tell these young culinarians about my business. Don't do it unless you really love it. The hours are horrible, the stress levels are sometimes unbearable and if your looking to get rich, look somewhere else. I have a school demo coming up this week. The kids at Mckinley-Thatcher have challenged me with homemade root beer, should be fun to learn how to make it.

Sage derby cheese
Roasted cauliflower, pear jel, shaved bread

Hamachi carpaccio
Togarashi aioli, fennel, “fried rice”

Mustard braised pork belly
Israeli cous cous carbonara, black truffle sheet, spinach

Pineapple crème brulee tart
Coconut ice cream made table side with LN

Tasting menu 82

I have a mixology gig coming up that I am getting ready for. I am not a bartender by any stretch but I am going to lean on my experiences with flavor to execute the menu. We are doing coconut sorbet with spiced rum and pineapple bubbles, whiskey caviar and cream, carbonated blueberry vodka with compressed apples. The event is at the Curtis downtown and it should be a good time. We have some media friends coming up in the next couple weeks to play in the kitchen with us.

Oregano grilled clams
Potato confit, pancetta foam, nitro mirapoix

Carbonated cantaloupe consommé
Scallop ceviche, roasted apples

Black truffle popcorn

Sous-vide pork and goji berries
45 second parsnip cake, date power, garlic honey

Caramel banana bread pudding
Barley malt ice cream made 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

Tasting Menu 67

I hate December. Most people like it because they get to spend time off with their families. Chefs get to spend 20% more time at their jobs handling holiday parties and special request. This week marks the end of our major Christmas parties. I will take all of the business I can get, who knows what the first quarter of next year will bring. I am looking forward to spending some time on some ideas I have had floating around my head. I am still playing with my superconductor like a little boy on Christmas morning

Grilled Hama Hama oysters
Buddha’s hand, garlic jel, fried bread

Popcorn soup
Butter lattice, Siracha caramel corn

Maine Lobster
Ginger mosaic, corn sorbet, avocado cream

Fresh baked blueberry muffin
Yuzu cream cheese ice cream
made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 65

We are getting into the start of our Holiday party season. We have a lot of parties on the weekend so if you are coming for the tasting menu please make a reservation so we can be sure to save you a table. After some plumbing work at my house I am going to play around with silver sauter. I want to make a plate for someone table side. I would bring out the torch and melt a silver plate for you in the dinning room. That's my problem, even when I am working on something that is not food related, my brain is still thinking of how I flip it into a dish.

Blackened Colorado trout
BBQ onions, smoked grapes, whipped yogurt

Bacon consommé
Sweet corn, tempura clams, potato foam

Forrest mushroom sheet
Prime rib, hollandaise, broken baby vegetables in soy

Peanut butter frangipane tart with strawberry ice cream
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tasting Menu 64

We had a really messed up Saturday night last week. Not only did we sell over 30 tasting menus, we had a group in house called LA Dance. This is a group of 8-12 year old boys and girls that have a dance competition here at the hotel. Imagine slamming out tasting menus with 150 orders of chicken fingers along with our regular menu. Nights like Saturday make me realise that I try to do to much sometimes. We are almost sold out for Thanksgiving brunch here at the Westin. I have volunteered to help cook thanksgiving dinner for St. Matthews Baptist church this year. I will be here all night at the hotel cooking turkeys along with all the fixens. We will not serve the tasting menu on Thanksgiving. We will have it Friday and Saturday night.

Fried baby artichokes
Caper dirt, warm walnut mayo, garlic sugar

Smoked herring brandade
Onion taffy, dried corn, red pepper crisps

Beet Space Foam

Molasses painted quail
Smoked chicken hash, fennel, apple textures

“Red” noodles with miso ice cream
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Hot Soy Cold Soy

To make this texture I first took coconut milk, coconut powder and honey and gelled it with agar. We then made a mixture of white soy, sake, mirin and yuzu and reduced it by 1/2. I then added a .45% ratio of hydrated Gellan F. We then flash froze the coconut cubes in liquid nitrogen. The gellan soy mixture is served in a craft on the side. The guest takes the craft of hot soy and pours it over the frozen coconut cubes. The gellan in the soy changes the consistency of the sauce to loose jelly.

Tasting menu 63

I have been talking to scientist all over the world about superconductivity this week. Will it work for my application? I ordered my materials in and I am going to give it a shot. I am still waiting on my vacuum sealer from Le Santuaire. I have had some problems the last month getting the right products from them. The other exciting event this week will be some serious playing around. As I was reading some research about liquid nitrogen I came across this very interesting fact. If you freeze a container of shaving cream in LN you can peel the metal away leaving a frozen foam cylinder. You then put the cylinder in someones car. As the temperature raises the foam will expand. Apparently you only need two canisters to fill a car. We will see!!

144 degree egg yolk
Fall vegetables, cranberry, smoked shrimp

Roasted apple consommé
Beet and carrot meringue, red wine rocks

Hibiscious sorbet with tarragon
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Slow butter poached monkfish
Grapefruit, hot soy-cold soy, coconut milk

Coffee sphere filled with tiramisu foam
And frozen lady finger powder

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 58

We have a very busy week ahead. I am doing a demo on Fox news in the morning. We have the legacy foundation event here at the hotel on Friday. We have a separate 125 person dinner that we are handling in a banquet room on Saturday. I also have the passed app course at Strings for Project pave on Sunday. We are beginning to work on some Fall menus this week.

Smoked olive oil poached line caught tuna
Black garlic pesto, macadamia nuts, pea shoots

Roasted plum vinaigrette sheet
Portabella, dry corn powder, mache

NY wrapped tenderloin
Blueberry, pumpkin au gratin, chocolate

Sugar poached egg on French toast
Lucky charms ice cream
Made table side with liquid nitrogen

Coconut bubble gum

Tasting Menu 57

I am finally ordering my commercial vacuum sealer. It only took 15 months of constant harassment to our controller. It is a 4000$ piece of equipment so I understand why it took so long. I had to show him that it was not a toy for me to play with but a necessary piece of equipment to extend shelf like of products. I made the case and my sealer should be here (to play with) in a couple of weeks. We went to the Shamrock food show today. I go to check out any cool new products. The only thing I saw was a berry that taste just like a kiwi. It was amazing, I will get some in for the tasting next week. It blows my mind that it is the same crap every year. They just add another flavor and put the same product in a different box.

Kampachi sashimi
Tobiko noodles, rice wine foam, soy dippin dots

Compressed ratatouille vegetables
Spicy octopus, fried olives, yogurt aioli

Blood orange space foam

Sou-vide truffle honey and organic chicken
Artichoke macaroni, brussel sprouts, tarragon air

Coffee crepe filled with amaretto mousse
Served with brown sugar ice cream
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Key Lime Pie

Baked key lime foam wrapper, graham cracker ice cream,

cream cheese mousse, dehydrated tropical fruits, coconut powder, mint gel

Tobiko and White Soy Noodles

Tasting Menu 56

We are doing a course to honor Paul Newman's passing this week. I had the chance to meet him ounce when I was a young kid. I will always remember how nice he was. On those same lines my wife and I were talking about some things we can do to give back. First I am going to start making the rounds at some local schools. I think it is a great way to get kids involved in the arts. If you know of any class that might be interested in a molecular demo please email me. The next way is to utilize all of our 1/2 acre property at our house next year by growing as much produce as we can. We then plan to make soups and hand them out at the mission downtown. We will freeze most of what we make so we can give during the really cold months. It was nice to be able to bring some produce in for my specials but it will be even better to hand out a warm bowl of soup to someone that really needs it.

Smoked Tasmanian pepper sausage
Homemade ricotta, onion jelly, Guinness reduced romas

New Mexico hatch chili’s
Dover sole, Spanish rice flan, avocado jel

Newman’s own popcorn space foam

Warm foie gras mayo
Crispy crab, shitake, zucchini

Goat’s milk and Mexican vanilla ice cream
Rolled in crispy tortilla with frozen caramel powder
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