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I've seen some nice stuff in this post, and I've learned, too. I will post some of my comments in a little while, but first I want to post a few pictures that I took from the time I worked at Wish South Beach, Fl, over a year ago. They are not my idea, but they are my arangements and plating. What do you all think? seared foie with cascabel infused bananas, brioche and pea shoots cachaça marinated tuna, with quina salad, seared watermelon and avocado "hollandaise" melting chocolate cake with coconut ice cream my photographer skills aren't the best, but they at least look in focus

My granmpa used to do this, and, althugh I don't do it anymore, I did it when I was younger, and I kinda liked it! Butter your bread (stright out of the oven) and dunk it in your Cafe con Leche. Yeah, it's weird, but it tastes good. I also can´t imagine Rissotto without butter, or any sauce, which I monté with butter.

Sorry I took so long to read your post. I'm, indeed, interested in Argentina as well. I had just planned to begin my research in Peru, because I'm particularly attracted to their cuisine (causas, ceviches, tacu tacus, picarones, ajies, etc). But I might travel to Buenos Aires in May of this year to visit a good friend, so I can star tmy research there. If you know about places to go and people to meet, I will be grateful. It will even be an excuse to stay a few extra days in that city I love so much. BTW, you are in Buenos Aires, correct? Are you Argentino? Because we can have this conversation in spanish, if you prefer. Thanks fot the offer!

These chefs use both ajis quite a lot: Douglas Rodriguez, Norman Van Aken, Nobu, Allen Susser, Charlie Trotten and even Thomas Keller, but I'm not sure if the pastes are used in their cookbooks. Still, worth checking out. In any case, Causa and Aji de Pollo (peruvian style) both use Aji Amarillo. You can check those recipes online. I found many of them on google. Good luck and keep experimenting!

Hi everybody, I'm planning for the future (maybe in a year or so) to take a trip around Latin America to learn traditional recipes to help me when I open a restaurant, and to hopefully write a book on what I've seen. My first two goals are Mexico and Peru, and I will probably go to the latter first. So I was wondering if anybody in the forum has any ideas on where could I go to accomplish my goal. I would aslo like to know if there's any particular people I should meet while I'm there. I don't want to go blind to Peru. I would like to know there's somebody there to show me the real Peruvian Cuisine. Thanks

Robyn, I hope it's not too late to reply to this message!. I know you posted it a few months ago. Sorry, I've been really busy and never checked the Santiago section of e-gullet. In fact, this is the first time I check the new design! As for your question, it really depends on when are you going to be in Chile. If you're going from November or December on, then I recommend going south. There are beautiful little towns there, but they can be fully enjoyed only during those months (it's summer there, you know?) Frutillar and Pucon would be the places to go, but the whole south of shile is full of gorgeous forests. On the other hand, if you like dry, sunny weather, then go to the north. San Pedro de Atacama is a popular destination. Sort of a hippy-ish town in the middle of the dessert. La Serena has a nice beach, althoug, in myh opinion, the water is too cold to go in. Around Santiago, you can visit the many vinyards that surround the city, and Valparaiso is only about 1 and a half hours away. It also has a few beaches, and it's a pintoresque town. Well worth a visit. You can aslo go to Maipo valley and have a meal there or to Laguna de Aculeo, just to relax. I hope this message didn't come too late!

I forgot to add something about the Rocco and Mama thing at the CIA! It's impossible that commencement was going on at the same time he was supposed to be at the restaurant. The scenes at the restaurants are during service, and graduation takes place every three weeks (usually on fridays) at around 9am. So, yes, there was some tricky editing there....

I know, horrible! at least he didn't say anything! I'm also dissapointed with the editing last night. The whole CIA thing was managed by his PR group. For instance, Rocco goes into the Colavita center to see his "mentor", except that the chef in question doesn't even work in the CIA anymore. And what was President Ryan doing honoring Mama? I mean, sure she is respectable, and she seems to be the real hard worker at Rocco's (even when she seems to have no idea that his son is screwing up soooo bad! - My Mom would have set me straight long before things got this bad), but that was obviously a PR move between Rocco's people and the CIA PR group And I don't care if Rocco was at the CIA at the same time he was supposed to meet with JC. The fact is that he seemed to have missed yet another meeting. Or at least JC said that he thought Rocco said he was gonna be there or something like that. Once again, Rocco is shown to be really iresponsible. I'm amazed this restaurant is still there. I wonder, for how long?

I've been reading the posts with interest, because it brings a very delicate situation: customers may want the dessert menu with the main menu. The problem is that for a restaurant, it might be better not to. It's all stuff you learn in marketing and psychology. You don't want to give the customer a chance to mentally add up how much the whole dinner experience will cost before they even start eating. That would possibly make them order all the cheaper items on the menu, no what you want to sell them. A little dirty move, then? yes, a little. But also a valid one. Also, it helps the whole experience. A careful chef plans the meal so that the customer will never be too full to have dessert. That way, with creative and atractive desserts, the servers bring a new menu just after the table is cleared, and smiling he tells the customers to sample some of the most creative work of the restaurant. The menu has the name of the pastry chef printed in it, and all the desserts look great when they are read. If the customer is not full, he will likelly feel attracted to taste something sweet (I know my meal doesn't feel complete without something sweet to finish it). It's all building drama to make the experience enjoyable. But it has to be done with subtlety Also, if the customer wants to see the dessert menu after the meal, you don't want to bring him the whole menu (too big) it always looks better to have something smaller, easiert to handle. So, you might need to print one anyway, and that's extra cost (not easy to justify printing the same menu in two different places) As for ordering desserts before the meal, it's only for time consuming desserts (like souffles) because when the meal is done, the customer is less likelly to want to wait 20 minutes for the sweets. If they order it beforehand. It can be in the table within five minutes of the table being cleared. So they only do it to make the customer's experience more enjoyable. Not all desserts should be encouraged to be ordered before the meal, but if a souffle is to be ordered after the entrees, the customer has to be willing to wait. Unfortunately, a lot of customeres seem to be always in a hurry. And they complaint (or feel dissatisfied) if they have to wait more than 10 minutes to get any dish.

I think they don't need to be professional cooks. They don't even need to be great cooks at home. But they should understand the craft enough to talk about it. Not that they should go to cooking schools, but at least do research. If they want to write about the byaldi they got at a restaurant they should know what it is. Also, if they see byaldi at a restaurant, they should know what it is before they order it. Moreover, if the Chef doesn't give thm byaldi when they get the plate, they should be able to warn the readers about truth in menu. Yes, they should know enough about cooking to make educated comments, but being a great cook is not a requisite

A lot has been said about comprising 3 weeks of filming to three hours. You can easily portrait a good dedicated waited to look like a slacker, and you can also make a good chef look like somebody that doesn't even care about the business. However, and I understand this is only a TV show (and the reality is very very far away from what we see here), however, then, I think that during those three weeks at least, service was less than efficient. As I also believe that Rocco has proved uncapable of handling the finances at Rocco's (and maybe NBC has something to do with this). However, as much as I want to see Rocco out of the show, I know we won't wee that, maybe not even next season. I'm pretty sure Rocco will never make himself look that bad. Maybe we will see Super Rocco again by the end of this seanon.

I like the idea, except that they seem the be shorthanded in Europe. Will that change in the US? I just hope they follow the same standards as they do in France. Maybe it would a good thing for US gastronomy..., then again, maybe not

AMEN!!!!!! You can also use the same idea with a cool twich. Render some cubed pancetta. When it's cooked, take it out. Sear the Scallops in the fat and take them out. There should still be some fat in the pan. If not, add your favorite fat (clarified butter works great) Add some cubed potatoes, or sliced fingerlin potatoes (cooked; just sautee in the fat) add, maybe, some spinach and the cooked pancetta. Delicious!!!

You can find a lot of creative uses for panca in the Nobu cookbook. Aji amarillo is, indeed, used for anything! Aji de Pollo is probably my favorite dish with it!

OOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Nutella Ice Cream!!!!!! Iven better if served with a Dulce de Leche hot sauce and oven a sugar cone! I also like nutella over bread with bananas, which seems to be a favorite!

My grandpa used to do this one, and I soon followed, only to learn later that it's very common in Argentina: A Croissant finished with a simple syrup glaze, with some butter and dunking it in my latte! I know it might sound wird, but it's sooooo good!

We can't really compare both establishments. Sure, he is the chef at both, but they have very different concepts. And this is the funny part, Union Pacific is his high class establishment, which should bring him less money, especially in NYC (This is why Boloud has Restaurant Daniel, catering, DB Bistro and Cafe Boloud: Daniel is just not profitable enough) and the money should be comming from Rocco's, which, btw, is exactly the kind of restaurant he wanted to open. You're right, with that menu the kitchen should run without him actually being in there (if anything he should spend most of his time at Union Pacific) However, if the kitchen a mess, then he better be there to make the necessary adjustments. After all, like somebody else said, he's the boss and therefore he's expected to lead the team. Then maybe you should introduce me I happen to think she's beautiful, and I was dissapointed to see the way she was behaving! Good for her!

Ah, the business of TV entertainment is rarelly about the die hards. So sad. I do agree that she will only make changes to meet demographics. Not their demographics but theis sponsors. Think about it, most products are delivered to busy mothers and Atkins diet followers. Not really for foodies However I do hope that they stay away from reality shows or game shows or -yes- Dweezil and Lisa. Whay can't they have a shol like The Best Chefs of the World? or even Charlie Trotter's Kithen Sessions? Argentina has a food channel the gourmet channel, and they have programs on wine and restaurants. One show was all about restaurants in NYC, and often presented specials on chefs like Albert Adria (Ferran Adria's brother, and the pastry chef for El Bulli) and Daniel Boloud. They also had a show where a chef visits Relais et Chateaux properties around the world. That's the kind of stuff I want to see!

I love it when things add up! This is exactly whay "restaurants are supposed to loose money in the first months" They are not, but cooks and floor managers rearelly know enough about P&L statements or, like Katie said: I can't think of a good reason why Rocco would never care enough about the finances of his restaurant to ask to see the statements. I mean, how is the food costing done? However, it does make sence that nobody ever saw the numbers..., how else can we justify the stupin spendings in business cards, knifes never to be used and flowers!

Good point. You always taste the food! But we must also remember that the glove law is effective in New York State. It pretty much says that everytime we touch ready to eat food we must do so with gloves on! Rocco, are you breaking the law now?

Because he's an idiot I agree with the posts, JC is a total dirtbag, a comic book bad guy right out of Star Wars. Then, why can't I help but siding with him on this one? Well, maybe because Rocco claims to never have seen financial statements (because he's too busy flirting with every girl at book signings). Because he's never there (JC is there more than he is.... hell, Drew was there more than he was) Pretty much because he's an idiot. Only Drew was more of an idiot, so I was glad Rocco threw him out! And then Chodorow threw him out too That's it kid, your career is over. You disrespected everybody and kept talking about them respecting you. No, you're 20! You're the Intern Your nobody! Me: Ask me who Drew is? Somebody from the forum: Who is Drew? Me: Drew is NOBODY All in all, I'm very entertained by the show (I'm ashamed to admit to this) but without all the comments here, I probably won't even be watching the show! Thanks y'all!

The pest part of cereal is drinking (slurping) the milf alfer you're done, right?

Me too!!!! I would love to work with all that stuff! New toys! If he knew about the other judges, I can't blame him. The guy from The Sopranos didn't even like raw food like sushi (yet he is a culinary judge?) They also had that guy from friends who seemed not to know much about food. I don't know...., the show was ok, but the judging was horrible, I thought. As for the show itself, they kept enough similarities with the japanese version to make it enjoyable. But I do agree with everybody else. I would have liked some audience (not a very noisy one) and a sidekick to Alton Brown. My overall opinion of the show is that it was good enough for a remake, but the judging made me not like it at all

Mmmmmmm! It's the best part of Osso Bucco. After you cleared the meat and cleaned the sauce with your polenta, you take the marrow out and let your mouth reach heaven. Also, in most rice preparations, such as Paella, the crust that's left in the pan is often requested by customers. I know I like to eat it. In Ecuador they call the crust of any rice Cocolon. You can get any kind of stew with rice and cocolon. Soooo good!

I agree! And I was going to say something like "they do deserve each other, but the customers don't deserve the crappy food and service at Rocco's" but then again, they all know it's a TV show, and they only go there because they might be on TV. Same reason why this good looking girls show up at Rocco's book signings. So they deserva that, too. If they wanted good food, NYC has plenty of better options. I just feel bad because the restaurant business is poorly depicted in this show. It makes us look anything but serious. Sure, there will be no show without all the drama, and my friends an I watch the show because we think it's just funny, but Rocco just makes us look bad!