Lactic Solar Dust

Thank you for all the recommendations. My fiancée and I both appreciate the help from everyone. We do not know approximately where in San Diego where we might be. More or less we will know when we arrive. I think a lot of it is going to have to do with where we are going to meet up with old friends. We are both from Northwest Indiana located approximately 1 hour away from downtown Chicago. We are both very excited about the idea of being somewhere that is temporal pleasant rather than the frigid weather of the Midwest. Also, for the both of us, being immersed in the pleasure of true fresh seafood is what makes people like us break out in dance and hymn. I will write back when we get back to give my opinion about everything. Does anyone have recommendations for neat little artesian shops and "chilled" drinking establishments that would be excellent? The jazz recommendation is right up our alley. We are both big fans of old school blue, reggae, and jazz. Thank you!

Is there any chance that a network in the United States would pick up the show and broadcast it in the United States. It would be fun to watch one of the masters.

Thanks for the suggestions. We might make the trip to Orange Hill. My fiancée graduated from Chapman University and we believe that Orange Hills nearby. As I said we are big into sushi. Also, I am into anything and everything that is related to fresh food: fish, olive oil, produce, cheese, etc… For me, this trip will be about food and cuisine, whereas for my fiancée it will be about reconnecting with old friends. It is going to be fun... Oh, and we are both into booze. Any suggestions for any cool drinking establishments? Thanks,

My fiancée and I will be in Orange County and San Diego this coming February. We are looking for some really nice restaurants or cafés to dine at. We are also huge sushi enthusiasts. Does anybody have any suggestions? Thanks,

and the gates of heaven begin to open as the sound of trumpets is heard in the distance Beautiful pictures and beautiful mushrooms. It is in these sort of foodstuffs that mircales can happen. I think I am going to back to my kitchen now....

Wow! Where to start? There is so much out there to learn that it is impossible that the dogmatic structure of a culinary shcool can expose you to all of it. That is not to say that culinary school is bad thing. I think it is great and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to go, but I have defitinely learned so much more through my travels and desire to break out of my skin. Egullet is a great forum to converse with like-minded and sometimes not like-minded people about one of the world's greatest pleasures: cuisine.

or you could forget about the concept of cooking food in a pan altogether and try the sous vide method.

How about no chargers, place mats, or even plates at all? Would not a discussion on the different surfaces available to eat off of make for an interesting topic? How about no surface at all?

All of the places that I was fortunate enough to work at are my favorites. It is all about putting your head down, working hard, and learning as much as you can.

Tammy, When you begin to write your report on your recent visit to Alinea can you compare and contrast the Black Truffle Explosion that you had at Alinea with the one served at Trio. Of course, I am assuming that you actually had the Explosion during your visit to Trio. I would find it interesting to read how the Alinea team changed the dish. It is in these particularities that I find most interesting about Alinea. Their creative progressiveness is admirable. Thanks,

It is has been widely stated the lineage of great chefs that Henry has helped cultivate, but the photos featuring all of them really puts it in perspective. As far as having influence among dining in the United States I think Trio has to be considered one of the most influential restaurants that has ever existed in the United States.

Was the restaurant located in Washington Heights?

Cow tongue, pig ears, pig feet, and pig tails. That and a bottle jager! Mmmm, jager!

The menu is dated October 5th so I would think it should be in place by the time you go there. I am anxiously awaiting details.

I am curious if anyone knows if the Alinea team will be expanding on their website anytime in the near future?

I think I understand where the staff at Moto is coming from in there approach to the style of cuisine they are undertaking: pushing the envelope, setting new standards, enlightening us with new ways to cook, present, and eat our food. However, their comes a point in which you have to reevaluate what you are doing and assess if the quality of your product is suffering from your desire to search for new frontiers. I have never eaten at Moto and probably never will, but I am sure that the food tastes pretty damn good. However, with all the pictures I have seen from the people who have dined there and posted them here the food looks downright disgusting. Some dishes look so bare with a few items on a huge plate or a pile of mess smeared on a plate. I am sure I will get ripped by a lot of people because of my opinion, but to me food has to look good as well as taste good. Alinea, although some of the combinations seem a little gross to me, makes their plates look appetizing and beautiful. Moto is charging a heck of a lot of money, too much, for what looks like a pile of slop on a big white plate. I am prepared to take my lashings now,

Lol, I know I ate a lot of the grapes that I screwed up on which of there were many. I do not know if this is the correct forum to tell my experiences while I was staging at Trio, but if it is not I am sure that Ronnie will be quick to say so. What stood out the most to me was how much Chef Grant was really involved in the day-to-day tasks that the kitchen had. He would sweep, mop, wipe down work areas, set his own station at the passe, work the line on occasions, butcher meat and fish, among many other things. This is a rarity among the high-end kitchens that Trio is comparable to. While I worked at NoMi I never saw Chef Gamba once do anything other than office-type work. He would always wear a chef uniform, but I never understood why, because he never worked in the kitchen. I also had the same encounter while I staged at Tru, Rick Tramanto was always in the office, never dressed in his uniform, although I did see Gale Gand work in her pastry kitchen with her fellow pastry cooks. As a young cook seeing a chef of the calibur as Chef Grant sweeping and mopping until the floor is perfectly clean, working as neatly as possible, takjing great care in the minimal tasks, it makes you want to be the same way, and understand that it if you seek perfection and enjoyment in the day-to-day tasks then you have the passion that it takes to rise to the top. Another thing that stood while I was there was the relentless pursuit of perfection and to settle for nothing less. And this ideal is not only taken on by Chef Grant, but by every Chef that works there. Be it sweeping and mopping, chopping parsley, or pan-roasting a filet of lamb everything is done how it should be to the very slightest detail, no compromises whatsoever. You have to be dedictaed to work there, also. The chefs arrive at 10 in the morning everyday and are on there feet for 16 hours. After service they have a meeting that goes over and hour, around 1 or 2 in the morning, in which they discuss what went right and what went wrong in that nights service, new ideas, and orders that need to be faxed for tomorrow's day. All the chefs there are so dedicated and they don't make much money at all which is the norm among high-end restaurant kitchens. And one last thing that stood out was Chef Grant's humbleness. He is a part of the team, not like many other super-star chefs in which they are the CHEF with a bunch of lowly cooks below them doing all the real work, whiel the supposedly superstar chef recieves all the acolodades. This is a very special quality that Chef Grant which endears him top many young cooks who want to go far in the buisness. While I was there he actually referred to me as"Chef". Everyone is referred to as Chef there. It was a defintely a rewarding expeirence. I havenothing but the utmost respect for what the people at Alinea are doing right now.

I staged at Trio during the summer of 2003 while Grant Achatz was still the chef there. One of the tasks that one of the other chefs gave me was to peel grapes for one of the preperations that were on the menu. This was the first time that I ever had to peel grapes so I found the task just a tad tedious, but not too difficult. However, if you damaged the flesh of the grape in any way, even in the slightest, you were instructed to throw it away. Only the perfectly peeled grape was accepted. Mind you, these grapes were not on the stem. I would think that if you had a smal llbushel of 5 or 6 grapes to do and peeled the first 5 grapes fine, but messed up on the last it would be pretty frustrating.

The style of cuisine that Alinea is doing has actually been going on for the past 20 years at El Bulli in Madrid, Spain. Although, I am not taking anything away from what the people at Alinea are doing, I just think it is fair to note that Alinea is not as groundbreaking as you claim it to be. ← Probably more like 10 years. ← Adria has been doing it since 1982.

The style of cuisine that Alinea is doing has actually been going on for the past 20 years at El Bulli in Madrid, Spain. Although, I am not taking anything away from what the people at Alinea are doing, I just think it is fair to note that Alinea is not as groundbreaking as you claim it to be.

Another cool salmon prepration that I just recently learned is as follows: Grate or finely chop some garlic, shallot, and fennel and sweat all of them in a pan with a little good extra virgin olive oil. After the veggies has sweated a bit place two fillets in the pan, add a little white wine, butter, and a littlefish stock or water to the pan. Season with salt and pepper, turn the heat down low, and cover. Cook until the salmon is just done. Meanwhile, cook some linguine. When the salmon is done, add the cooked linguine to the pan, and mash up the salmon, stir the pasta around, season, add some tomatoes, dill, and plate. Make sure before you plate that the water in the pan has evoprated. It should be kind of a oil and garlic sauce

But is the color dark? ← Very

The method in which I make onion confit calls for an equal amount of red onion and yellow onion sliced very thin. Put them in a cold pan with some good olive oil, a dab of butter, salt & pepper, and some water. Cover and set on a very low heat for a hour and a half. After the suggested time remove the cover, turn the heat on high, and stir unitil all the moisture is reduced. It makes for a very sweet onion marmalade and excellent when tossed with spaghetti and a little parmesean.

I coat both sides of my salmon filets in granulated sugar and saute' them in a hot pan with an impartial oil ( canola or vegetable). After the salmon is carmelized on both sides I pop the pan in a 425 oven for 5 minutes or until slighlty pink in the middle. Serve it on top of a spicy cold northern bean relish and you have your self a great summer/spring dish.

I remember reading a story in which a young Achatz, after notifying Trotter that he was quitting, was told by Trotter that he better not put his name on his resume for reference. Reason being, that Trotter believed that if you did not work at his restaurant for at least a year then you did not work there at all. I guess they patched things up.