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

Tasting menu 102

Not a lot to talk about this week, things are pretty quit around here. I am just sitting back and watching the homemade kid driven space balloons fly over the hotel. The world is definitely coming to a end.

Garlic grilled New Zealand mussels
Fried dynamite, pickled vegetables, lemon grass air

Smoked Buffalo sausage
Guinness gelee, porcini, red wine glass

Sous-vide ½ lobster
Yuzu, caramel carrots, fried avocado

Smore spring roll with smoked sea salt ice cream
Served table side with liquid nitrogen

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 96

I am getting pretty nervous about my presentation at the museum of art for mixed taste next week. I have to build a keynote presentation which I have never done before. It will be hard to sum up molecular gastronomy in 20 minutes. I will rely on the two speeches I heard from Herve This and Harold McGee to explain the base premise of the movement. I will throw in some of my crazy experiences and highlight some dishes from other chefs. We will end up the evening like always, next to the nitrogen take whipping out batches of creamy sorbet. This tasting menu will run from Wednesday 8/2 through Saturday 8/12

White anchovies
Heirloom cherry tomatoes, basil paper, mozzarella sheets

Chorizo
Dirty rice puree, old bay shrimp, cashew clams

Buffalo short ribs
Pumpkin powder, pineapple gnocchi, hearts of palm

White chocolate mousse ice cream
Chocolate dipped raspberry nougat
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tasting Menu 90

What a difference a few days off makes. I had a great weekend celebrating some friends birthdays along with my daughter and I. People often ask why I live in Denver and why I don't move to more of a culinary city. My answer is quality of life. I have visited many places and lived in a few but Colorado is the place where I want to raise my kids. The quality of life here is amazing. For example we have the best concert venue in the world at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. We saw OAR along with Brett Dennon on Friday night. I feel much more creative when I am rested. We are back to our regular tasting menu rotations.

Ginger soy marinated pineapple k-bob
Chili squid, cilantro from the garden, fried yogurt

Green pea powder
Sous-vide carrots, curry jel, pita

Achiote grilled arctic char
Tomatillo, pepper crisps, pico de gallo noodles

Carbonated strawberry shortcake
Made tableside 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

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 74

I am enjoying a slower start to this week. We are getting ready for 52.80 week to start on Saturday. I have to remind myself not to put myself in situations like I had last week. When I have to much going on there is something that suffers. Last week it was my lack of time with my wife and kids. Undoubtedly the hardest part of this job is not being chef rather then being able to let it go when I leave so I can spend quality time at home. I would like to be recognized as a hard working thought full chef but in the end it is about if your family recognises you.

Curry pancakes
Tea smoked salmon, lemon grass syrup, yogurt

Crispy silver fish
Wonton noodles, toasted nori cream, roasted peppers

Floating buffalo chicken and celery

Pork belly Oscar
Puffed pearl barley caramel corn, carrots, onion

Oven baked palm sugar crepes
Cherry and vanilla ice cream made table side
Using liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 74

I have some interesting projects coming up in the next couple of weeks. I have been asked by the miracle fruit company I work with to come to New York on the 12th of February to help them at the NY Academy of Sciences. We will present the miracle fruit along with some samples of products you can take with it. I am very excited to go knowing that Harold McGee will be there. I also received a email this week from http://www.countrybobs.com/ asking if I would try and wright about their product. First of all I am a steak sauce freak. My favorite is mixing a little Heinz with A-1 and a little ketchup. I swear that Bob has nailed that flavor combo in this bottle. I don't think he had a flan in mind when he sent it to me but I will do his sauce proud. I am also getting ready for my Will Powder demo this next week

Sous-vide pork
Smoked sugar, apple, fried sour cream

Peanut butter daqoius
Grape jelly gastrique, line caught tuna, compressed watercress

Floating kampachi sashimi

Tenderloin-New York-Ribeye-Lamb chop-Sirloin steak
Country Bob’s steak sauce flan, parsnip, asparagus powder

Flexible raisins and carrot foam with cream cheese ice cream
Made table side with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 72

We have our annual bison council meeting this week along with a speech from Mr. Buffalo himself Ted Turner. I have been asked this year to do a demo on unused cuts of buffalo. It should be a great event. The cooking class on Saturday is sold out. I am doing a demo at nobel sysco on February 9Th to launch the companies affiliation with Will Powder. There will be a few other chefs demoing including Keegan Gerhard from Food Network andhttp://www.dbardesserts.com/. I am also starting work on the Miracle Fruit project. Things are starting to move again after a couple very slow weeks.

Purple yam éclair
Tobiko fondant, scallop scramble, coco nibs

Smoked pecan waffle
Mushrooms, corn, goat cheese bubbles

Loaded baked potato gnocchi
Buffalo sirloin, dandelion, cayenne

Hot chocolate ice cream with broken whipped cream
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

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 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

The Sausage Experiment

I have not done a lot of charcuterie since culinary school. I wanted to make a sausage using some new ingredients that I have been playing with. In this recipe dry milk has been replaced with butter powder. Eggs have been replaced with methocel and I am using Tasmanian peppercorns to achieve a earthy spicy quality. These sausages will cure for 48 hours and then we will smoke them in Cherry wood.

Recipe

2 lb Lean beef trimmings ground

1.5 lb Lean pork ground

1.5 lb Pork trimmings ground

1.4 oz Salt

2 oz Butter powder

1 oz Sugar

.05 oz Nutmeg

.3 oz Tasmanian black pepper ground

.05 oz Cardamon ground

2 oz Elephant garlic roasted and pureed

100 g Water

12 g Methocel SGA7C

1/16 tsp Sodium nitrite

3/4 tsp Sodium nitrate

Sheep casings

Heat the water and add the methocel. Pulse with a buerre mixer for 3 minutes. Let it stand for 5 minutes and pulse again. Add all ingredients in a mixer and mix on low speed for 3 minutes. Place in a bowl over another bowl of ice to keep mixture cold. Fill the casings and leave them to cure in the walk-in for 2 days. To finish, poach the sausages for 20 minutes and then cold smoke them for 1 hour

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 52

Hopefully I will have a few days this week to get my head back on. DNC was pretty much a bust for food and beverage. We captured some breakfast and late night business and that was about it. We had a lot of secret service in the hotel for some foreign guest. Overall it was a great week for the city, no major incidents happened. This menu marks 1 year of tasting menus. We are averaging 31 menus per week with 80% of customers ordering wine with their menus.

Tasting menu

148 degree egg
Greek yogurt spaghetti, grilled spinach, feta fritter


Carbonated cantaloupe jelly
Sou-vide New York, smoke, pickled jalapeño


Pomegranate space foam

Coconut fried grouper
Stir fry gelee, edamame air, roasted seaweeds

Warm banana in crispy durian paper
Green bamboo rice pudding ice cream
Made tableside 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

Tatsing menu 40

I have not done a post in a few days. I am trying to get my packet ready to send into Bocuse. I feel that I have some strong dishes. The only problem is that I heard of it last week so putting together a art full presentation might be a stretch. I will put in a entry no matter what. This opportunity does not come along everyday. It has been very crazy in the hotel. We have been very busy with the recent press. I have decided to keep my shit together rather then blog. We had 8 GM's from different properties for a VIP dinner. I also had Mike Long, a really good chef come up and have a tasting menu. I have known mike for a while, he is a strange guy, that's why we get along. It is nice to have other chefs come in and critique your work. He is honest. He makes me a better chef with his criticism. He did not have a lot to say this time. I guess that is a good thing.

Tasting menu

Berbere encrusted pork bellyc
Fermented black garlic, sour cream folded basmati, poached egg

Sou-vide dill salmon
Carbonated lyches, bing cherry noodles, sweet corn butter


Grapefruit and spearmint space foam

May ploy incrusted buffalo meatloaf
Blue cheese air, bok choy from Ian’s garden, shitake gnocchi


Chambord marshmallow
Toasted on graham cracker and dark chocolate ice cream
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Grilled mashed potaoes

We served these with a chicken fried Cornish game hen a few weeks ago. We wanted a crisp texture on the outside and a creamy mashed potato on the inside. We made little pucks and grilled them for 45 seconds on each side

Recipe

700 g riced potato half russet half Yukon

200 g caramelized white onions in Madeira

300 g heavy cream

100 g butter soft

6 g salt

3 g pepper

225 g water

20 g methocel sga7c

7 g gelatin bloomed in water

Place the water in a saucepan and boil. Remove and add the methocel and bloomed gelatin. Mix for 1 minute. Place all other ingredients in a bowl with the methocel. Mix until very well combined. Place bowl over a ice bath until mixture is very cold to the touch