Grilled Nori Cream

This has become a favorite pasta sauce when we want a little Asian influence. It is a basic Alfredo recipe with the addition of grilled nori and sesame oil.

Recipe

5 sheets Gori grilled for 30 seconds

2 cups white wine

2 tbl. garlic roasted

1 tbl. sesame oil

1.5 qts heavy cream

10 oz asiago cheese

1 tbl. salt

2 tbl. roux

Place nori, garlic and white wine in a sauce pan. Reduce wine by 1/2. Add heavy cream and reduce for 5 minutes. Add the cheese, salt and roux. Cook for 2 minutes and puree in a blender

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

Tatsing Menu 86

Sesame monkfish
Green tea noodles, carbonated tobiko, white soy

Curry hibiscious vinaigrette sheet
First herbs from the garden, baby vegetables, fried asadaro

Blackened Ribeye
BBQ gelee, malted potatoes, black vinegar

Pineapple raisin carrot cake
Cream cheese ice cream made tableside with LN

Musuem of Contemporary Art Mixed Taste

I am very excited about this event coming up on August 7th. 2 speakers are invited to give a presentation on 2 totally random topics. After the presentation the audience asks questions about how the 2 subjects relate with each other. I will be presenting molecular cooking and Nancy Wadsworth will talk about Machiavelli. Tickets go on sale May7th
http://www.mcadenver.org/index.php/programs/calendar/8/7/206

Garden

I just planted this herb, tomato and pepper garden on the patio outside the restaurant

Gabby Gourmet

Pat invited us and a few other restaurants to channel 7 today to do a segment for Mother's day brunch coming up. I ran into Gene Tang of 1515 restaurant in lower downtown. I have not seen Gene since Ben Alandt worked there around 8 years ago. Seing Gene reminded me of Ben and all the great times we had together. I wonder if Ben is looking down on me lauphing his ass off. I was the chef that told him not to be to crazy when he worked for me at Indigo. Now I am that crazy chef, I miss you Ben.

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

TV Show Idea

Two words Chef Swap. Take a fry cook and put him on the line at the French Laundry or put Thomas Keller in a Elementary school cafeteria for the day. That would be good TV

ColoradoBiz

Here is the 2nd segment of 3. Here we demonstrate our floating plate using superconductivity.
http://www.cobizmag.com/videos/view/nitrogen-chef-demonstrates-superconductivity/

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

Denver Restaurant Examiner

Jake came in last week for a tasting menu. He is a good friend that has given our restaurant a lot of support. http://www.examiner.com/x-2954-Denver-Restaurant-Examiner~y2009m4d24-molecular-gastronomy-denver-westminster-os-ian-klienman

My First Mixology Gig

I had a local entertainment company call me a few months ago about doing a mixolgy demo for a party. I have never bartended, in fact I hate alcohol. I will have a occasional beer but I like to stay away from the ruff stuff. We had a liquid nitrogen tank delivered to the Curtis and we hand carried all of our other props, pumps and ingredients in. We had 3 drinks last night.

First was a carbonated blueberry vodka martini. My sister Rachael took this station and it was a good thing. She added the finishing elements to the drink.

My wife dished out the whiskey caviar and cream. This was the most popular drink of the evening. We counted 10 shots for one guy.

The final drink was coconut ice cream with rum, compressed pineapple and pineapple bubbles. We had a absolute blast doing the event. It was nice being in the front for a night, less sweat and swearing.

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

Herve This Building A Meal

Ever since my wife and I went to San Francisco to see Herve speak, I have been fascinated with his passion and his ability to come up with new concepts. The other day I was contacted by Philip Leventhal from Columbia University Press. He wanted to see if I was interested in obtaining a copy of Herve's new book along with a invitation to interview him. Of course I would I said, I have a few crazy theories I want to run pass him. My book arrived yesterday in a horrible spring storm. While I was waiting for it I exchanged some interesting emails with Herve. Here is Herve's take on the term molecular gastronomy and molecular cooking.

"Indeed, the confusion between the two terms will be soon over, as chefs don't want any longer the term molecular cooking (they are probably afraid of some reactionary media that attack them for using "additives"). On the contrary, I shall never drop the term "molecular gastronomy" for science, because it's entirely legitimate.
And when all chefs will have new tools, ingredients, methods in their kitchen, the job of molecular cooking will be over, and, as I long to have for decades, we can move to something newest... such as "note by note cooking".

Note by Note cooking is a new concept that Herve is exploring. From what I can gather before I completely read the book is it is a way of adding notes or ingredients to obtain new and precise flavors. You can check out this site under the question and answer page for his comments.http://www.agroparistech.fr/mmip/tice/agrovideo/this/ Our menu still says molecular tasting menu but I cannot wait for the day where we all are looking for the best technique, not the best label. I will have a full review after I get through my copy. Thanks Herve

The Coldest Beer in the World

We will be starting a mixology program here at the hotel in the next couple of weeks. This is a Corona super cooled with LN with lime juice powder sprinkled on the frozen foam. There is nothing better then a super-cooled beer

Colorado BizMagazine

Mike the editor came up and did a little video and article about how we like to use nitrogen in our kichen. This is the first part of the video with more segments to come. http://www.cobizmag.com/articles/nitrogen-chef-puts-cuisine-in-the-deep-freeze/

Westword and eGullet

Jason called and interviewed Steven from eGullet about his meal he had with us a couple of weeks ago. Jason makes a very interesting point at the end of the article. Sometimes geography can be your biggest enemy. There are restaurants all over the world that get looked over because of where they are at. Would this be a better restaurant if It was in New York, maybe, maybe not. I am proud to live in Colorado and I want people to know that there are great meals anywhere you go. http://www.westword.com/2009-04-16/restaurants/ian-kleinman-and-o-s-get-a-rave-from-egullet/
http://blogs.westword.com/cafesociety/2009/04/just_a_little_bit_more_love_so.php

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

CO2 Machine 2.0

We can now carbonate 2 different beverages at the same time

Are You A Supertaster

I first heard about this when I did the miracle fruit demo at the New York Academy of Science. The premise is simple, some people have more taste buds then other people. It is believed that 20% of the population are super tasters, 60% are regular tasters and another 20% are non tasters. I have really never thought about the fact that a customer might not have the biological make up to enjoy a meal. Super tasters are believed to be attracted to the food industry either working in it or being a foodie. It would be interesting experiment to take a picture of all of the great chefs tongues to see if the theory is correct. My other thought would be to have a scanner at the host stand when the guest walks in. A kind of molecular finger print to determine someones taste profile.

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

eGullet

Steven A. Shaw Founder and Director of eGullet was in town for the IACP awards. He was gracious enough to make the drive from Denver to try us out.
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=123222

8th Continent Demo

I did a extended demo in banquets last night that was attended by some very interesting people. As I started my demo I could tell that everyone in the room was familiar with using liquid nitrogen. I found myself surrounded by astrophysicists and engineers from different firms around the area. I started talking to Rainer Kunz, founder and president of ColdQuanta in Boulder. Come to find out that his company makes Bose-Einstein condensates. This is a type of matter that happens before absolute zero where it is not a gas, solid or liquid. It is a new matter that behaves in ways that we can't quite comprehend. I have had a theory about being able to combine flavor atoms using a condensate. As of today they are only able to produce the condensate using non edible atoms. Maybe some day in the near future we can use this theory in the culinary world to make new flavors on a cellular level. He has invited me down to the lab to talk about some of the theories that I have. http://8cproject.com/

Cookstreet

We had a great class at Cookstreet the other night. We demoed everything from a A-1 sphere to the coconut air freshener. I have learned that it is very hard to pull off a class when I am not here at the hotel. The amount of equipment and prep I need to take is insane. Thanks to my wife for coming and assisting me again.

Channel 2

http://www.2thedeuce.com/news/daybreak/

The Secret Session to Change "Molecular Gastronomy"

I just received an email from a chef friend in Spain. He told me of a secret session in Costa Brava with some of the most influential people in the molecular movement. The premise of the meeting is to find another term besides molecular gastronomy to describe the movement of this radical cuisine. The argument is that we need to change the term or it will destroy movement. The consensus seems to be leaning towards the word ORGASMIC, an acronym for ORganoleptics, Gastronomy, Art, & Science Meet Cuisine. A final vote is scheduled for tomorrow morning with a press conference to follow. They will announce the final name by creating giant edible alphabet letters that will be suspended by hot air balloons. As they move across the country side in Spain, they will drop to form the new term for "Molecular Gastronomy" After the letters have been used, they will go to feed some lucky school children in Spain.

Going Nuts

I am a little pissed off today. I woke up this morning to hear of another recall, this time its pistachios. What is going on in these plants. At our hotel we have 2 kinds of health inspections, one is done on the state level that happens a few times a year. The other inspection is done by a company that our corporate office hires to come in. This inspection is like the states inspection on steroids. The inspector is ruthless, which he should be as he goes through our property. Even if my temperatures are off by 2 degrees, it is a violation. My question to the health department is, how are we suppose to protect our customers when the raw ingredients are contaminated? Are these products being tested before they leave the factory. If someone knowingly distributes unsafe product, they should be jailed. Its murder playing with people's lives like this.

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

A Little Greener

We just purchased this water filtration/carbonation system for the restaurant. We now can bottle our own water in reusable glass containers. I am anxious to play around with the machine to see how I can implement it into our molecular work.http://www.naturawater.com/

Westword Best of 09

Westword gave us the top really American menu. Thanks Jason, Patrica and the whole staff at Westword. http://www.westword.com/bestof/2009/award/best-really-american-menu-1053570/

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

Floating Caprese

Molecular Class

I will be teaching a class on molecular techniques at Cook Street in Denver on April 1st. The cost is $175 and we will be covering liquid nitrogen, compression, safety and sourcing, pectin, spherification and activa. I am bringing the big tank, should be a fun night. http://www.cookstreet.com/index.php?option=com_classesmgr&Itemid=62&cid=443

Chive Rocks

This has become my favorite garnish for consomme. They actually look like little rocks sitting in the bottom of a pond. I use the cold oil method to make them. 1# of chives are blanched and shocked. They are then placed in a blender with a little water, honey and salt. I add a small amount of xantham to help keep the mixture emulsified. I then use a ration of .45% agar to the the weight of the puree. I then cook the mixture until it comes to a boil

We then place a bowl of oil over a bowl of liquid nitrogen. This will get the oil cold enough to set the shape of the rocks

The chive puree gets dropped into the frozen oil using a squeeze bottle with most of the top removed. I let the puree sit for about 30 seconds. I will then gently push the side of the bowl giving me a rock like shape instead of a sphere. The rocks keep the flavor and color for up to 5 days when they are submerged in oil. They will be rinsed in hot water before being place in the consomme bowl

Tasting menu 78

It has become increasing difficult to keep up with my blog lately. Being a GM requires a lot of time and patients. You have to be like Switzerland, remaining neutral when talking and dealing with employees. When I was independent I was able to dismiss people when they were not doing their job. Being in a corporation is much different. We must document the behavior of the employee no less then three times before we are able to act. I believe that it protects the employee and gives them another chance to perform. This is a good thing but lets face it, some employees just don't get it no matter how many chances you give.

Lemon grass salmon
Blue crab rice, wasabi pop rocks, watercress

Foie Gras Consommé
Grilled lobster, chive rocks

Floating caprese salad

Smoked brown sugar cured pork
BBQ pudding, garlic blossoms, pineapple augratin

Chocolate covered almond marshmallows
Raspberry ice cream made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Sage Confrence

We hosted our parent companies awards gala here at the hotel last Monday night. The banquet room was transformed into this amazing set. I was asked to give a sorbet/floating food demo on the main stage as we served the final course. The next day I took a team down to the Curtis hotel to make our ulitimate wonton with soy bubbles for a reception for all of the Sage executives in town. For the most part it was a boring event except for a ballon animal artist and a guy walking around on stilts. I finagled the ballon man to make me a flower arrangement for my wife. The stilt guy was hillarious, he always had a joke about his height as he walked buy. "This is why I am so skinny" he yelled down to me. "I can never reach the food"I should have tackled him at the knee caps before I left but I had to be on my best behavior

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

Food Allergies

Michael Natkin from herbivoracious.com sent this interesting post to me that he did on food allergies. We have all kinds of food allergies coming through this hotel everyday. It is something we take very seriously here.http://www.herbivoracious.com/2009/02/understanding-deadly-food-allergies-this-post-could-save-a-life.html

Hilarious, She Ment No Clams

RIP Berkinstock Clogs #18

You were better then #8 but not as good as #12

Tasting menu 76

I enjoyed a extra day off this past week to recover from restaurant week. Whenever I take a extra day off something inevitably goes wrong. This week it was a horrible headache that I could not control. I had a small bump develop around my ear this past month. I thought I had brain cancer or something along those lines. Come to find out that I am starting to get severe migraines. I got some medication that I can take when I feel a attack coming on. No doubt that it was caused by stress. DAMN YOU RESTAURANT WEEK

Grilled scallops
Yuzu curd, Fennel pollen, Treviso jelly

Watermelon powder
Oregano nuggets, Tomato, Fried feta

Guacamole space foam

Sous-vide black lime and all natural pork
Chimichurri, Sour cream rice, Compressed tomatillo salsa

Chocolate filled doughnut holes with espresso ice cream
Made table side with liquid nitrogen

Goodbye Rocky Mountain News

It is truly a sad day in Colorado today. The Rocky Mountain News, a celebrated newspaper shut it's doors just a few days prior to their 150th birthday. I grew up with the Rocky, I used to read it every morning on the bus on the way to school. After I moved down to Denver I became enthralled with the food reviewer John Lendorff. He always explained everything with such passion and insight. I have a few funny stories about John. I use to work for this crazy owner ( who am I kidding all owners are crazy) that would sit outside a local radio station and snap pictures of the food reviewers as they came out from doing special programs with Gabby Gourmet. We had a whole wall of profile shots and makes and models of the cars they drove. Pretty crazy right? Well I never had a picture of John, all I new was that he was a heavier set gentlemen. John slipped into the restaurant with out anyone knowing it one night. Instead of posting his review, he called me the next day to tell me about his experience. How was the duck?"It was very good but the taro cake was horrible. How was the steak pizza? " It was OK, the blue cheese flavors did not go with the rest of the dish." I was so taken back that John would call me up and speak to me as a friend first. He still wrote about how bad the taro was and the pizza flavors but he cared enough about me to call and have a conversation. I finally got to meet John the other night. He looks nothing like what I thought he would. I gave him a giant hug and thanked him for all of his support over the years. He gave a glowing review to the James Beard House to get my father and I in the first time 8 years ago. I will miss reading his stories and his passion for gastronomy. I will also miss Penny Parker's column. She was the gossip columnist for the Rocky. I was one of Penny's spies letting her know about different events or people coming through Denver. You could not go a morning with out reading her buzz. I will truly miss their dedication to journalism. I hope they find homes doing something that they are passionate about. We will miss you Rocky

Congrats Hosea

I did not have a chance to catch the episode last night but my wife called right after to tell me Hosea took it. I have heard a lot of shit talking about Hosea but in the end he was the chef that came through. Hosea, looks like lunch is on you next time

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

Dear Restaurant Week

I am writing this letter to tell you how much I hate you. In theory you seem like a good thing, a chance for people to try restaurants that they have not before. This is where your fun stops. Your days are long with prep and nights are full of ass kicking. Your friends are very demanding and seem like they only like to be your pal during this week. Let them know that when the dinning room gets busy that it will generally be loud. If your friends are looking for a romantic dinner, restaurant week may not be the time. Also if you could mention that we are doing some molecular techniques on the menu. If they want floating islands or miracle fruit gum, we offer our menu on Thursday, Friday's or Saturday's. I would like to be everything for you but lets be realistic. In closing thanks for back dooring me for another week. I look forward to all of our time together.
P.S
My wife would like to thank you for letting me spend so much time with you
Thanks again
Chef Ian Kleinman

NYAS Podcast

http://www.nyas.org/snc/podcasts.asp

Manhattan in 14 hours, Miracle Fruit and Harlod Mcgee

It is 3 days after my quick trip to New York and I still can't believe that I made it. The Miracle Fruit Manhttp://www.miraclefruitman.com/ asked me to come to the New York Academy of Science and help them present the miracle fruithttp://www.nyas.org/events/eventDetail.asp?eventID=12759&date=2/12/2009%206:30:00%20PM. How could I say no after I found out that Harold McGee was going to be one of the speakers. I was asked to come up with the snacks for 300 people to try after they sampled the miracle fruit. They also asked if I would speak about my experiences with the fruit. I settled on a menu of some sliced citrus fruits, balsamic caviar, compressed balsamic apples, rice wine yogurt meringue and a yuzu ginger elixir. I treated it like a Beard House event. I would make all my textures here at the hotel and ship them to the event. The day before I left I packed my serving bowls, knives, cutting boards and the textures and overnighted them to the NYAS.

On Thursday I woke up early and made my way to the airport. I was on a very tight schedule, I had my trip planned to the minute. As I walked down to my gate I noticed that my departure time was not right. They announced heavy winds in Newark and a 1 hour delay. I thought that if this was the worst thing that was going to happen I could handle it. We all waited and after the delay began boarding the plane. As I walked up to the line I saw a guy falling backwards out of the corner of my eye. As I turned my head I saw his head smack against the pavement. I rushed over to see if he was ok. It turns out he was drunk off his ass (literally) He mumbled something about Dramamine. A short ambulance bus arrived and picked him up. I got on the plane and took a seat. I am not a great flyer to begin with, I have a week stomach. So the landing in Newark was one of the worst experiences of my life. I thought I was going to die on 3 different occasions. I felt sick and dizzy and my day had just begun.

After landing I ran to catch a cab. I was not going directly to the event rather then a detour stop on 38th at the W Tuscany. Mike Wurster the executive chef had bought some dry ice for me for the event. I called him and asked if he could hand off the ice while I drove past. Thanks Mike. I then had the cab driver take me to the hotel next to the event at 7 world trade center. To my surprise I could not pay the cabbie with a credit card. Instead he watched my bag like a hawk as I ran up and down the street looking for a ATM. 90 dollars later I was at my hotel

I met up with Curtis and Fernando and we headed down to the event. The building was amazing, it had a open glass lobby with little cubes that lit up like the water cube in China. We went up to the 40th floor where the NYAS is located. I found my package which had been dropped many times. It did not even look like a box anymore. I opened it to find that my meringue textures were broken but the cold items were still cold. I began to organize and gather my prep. Where is the fruit that was suppose to be delivered at 3:00? After I got set up I walked this amazing space and stared at the view. As the event grew closer I ran my speech through my head. Where the fuck is the fruit?

Out of the corner of my eye I see Mr. Harold McGee walk in. This man has inspired me on many different levels. First and foremost he has made me ask why and if I don't have a answer to try to find one. I wanted to walk up and have a conversation but I still needed to cut my fruit. Lots of people began to arrive and fill the auditorium. In the end the fruit showed up with about 20 minutes to spare. We cut it as fast as we could and we were ready for the flavor tripping party. Towards the end of the lecture I got up and talked about how I like to use the fruit. It was pretty amazing looking down at this scientific community and relating my experiences. After I was done everyone came into the lobby and experimented. It was a great event. After it was over I got to talk to Harold about a few therioes that I have. It was nice that he did not lauph in my face rather talked through my therioes with me. It was a plesure meeting him and Linda.

As I walked out of World Trade Center 7 all I wanted was my pizza fix. It was 11:00 and not a pizza place in sight. I settled for a banana, a snapple and retreated to my hotel. I only had to call the police ounce that night on the couple beating each other up in the room next to me. I got my 45 minutes and was back up at 6. I would like to say that my plane ride out the next day was better. A plane had gone down the night before out of Newark so everyone was a little on edge. It made for great flying. As I landed back home I could not believe what I had just done.

There is podcast of the event coming out on Friday that I will post

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

Yellow Scene Magazine

Yellow scene came out with their top 25 dishes we love. Our tasting menu was featured as the #1 dish. They gave us a great wright up and they were the first to take a picture of our floating plate. For the article we did a floating white chocolate macadamia nut brownie with coffee ice cream and peanut butter ganache. It is a small portion that can be picked off the floating plate and eaten in one bight.http://yellowscene.com/2009/02/07/our-favorite-dishes/

The busiest week of my life

I am going to attempt to get caught up on some post today. This past week seems like a dream or a funny story I would laugh at if someone told me. Here are a few thoughts from this past week: I am going to die on this airplane today. Will 6 ice packs and 1 pound of dry ice keep my items cold until I open it 3 days later? Am I really standing here asking Harold McGee my theory of combining flavors using absolute zero? Is that right, we sold 110 tasting menus this week? I am glad I do not drive a cab. I hope I can sleep tonight. Are my global serving tongs going to make it through security? Holly shit, my tongs made it through security, what else are people getting on the plane? Am I going to see my wife on Valentines day. This is what I do with my vacation days? I am in New York and I did not get my pizza fix

Newtenderlambsirloinribeye steak

We have had some great success using activa. We have made a zebra steak in the past that was organic chicken glued to tenderloin. This time we wanted to use all of the cuts of meat that we feature on our menu. I first trimmed all of the steaks and then seasoned them. They were then tosses in a 3% mixture of activa to water. I then placed them in a vacuum bag being careful to layer them so there was no gaps in the meat. I then sealed it 0n a setting 0f 10 and placed a weight over it. We let the steak set for 12 hours. The next day I put it in the freezer for 2 hours so the outside will freeze and it will be easier to cut.

52.80 Week

The last week and February and first week in March we will be featuring this menu for 52.80 per couple. It is a great deal and a chance to get out and support your local restaurants

1st
Lumb crab cake with avocado relish, watercress and siracha caviar
148 degree egg with grilled tomato, prosciutto and cherry balsamic
Apple tarragon puree with smoked bacon wrapped mushrooms
Mixed greens with compressed apples, beets, goat cheese vinaigrette

2nd
O’s roasted prime rib with baby Yukon potatoes and onion jus
Sou-vide Dijon chicken with pastrami hash and rosemary air
Grilled salmon with shitake, asparagus and hoison brulee
Root vegetable pot pie with curry and green pea paper

3rd
Vanilla custard with peach air and tapioca pearls
Hawaiian doughnuts with white chocolate mac nut dipping sauce
Liquid nitrogen whipped blueberry ice cream with grilled yuzu # cake and caramel

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