chefwoody

Dessert/Pastry Book: Oriol Balaguer - Dessert Cuisine Wowie-Food Photo Books: Michel Bras and el Bulli Great Recipe/Methodology Book: French Laundry Great Home-Cookin'/Practical Cookbook: The Foods & Wines of Spain As for a good raw book: RAW by Roxanne Klein & C.T.

Great post! I am a cook and have seriously thought about trying to spend some time working in a winery. This post makes me want to do it even more. Thanks.

Indeed; in addition to the number of very high quality farms in the area (Chino, Good Faith, etc...), local mussel farms, very good Pacific lobster caught no more than a stone's throw from many San Diego beaches, and lots of great seafood brought up from Baja. I have repeated the "what gives" line over and over in my head since I moved here from Chicago last year. On top of that, there is TONS of money in the area, many biotech firms, and as Tana said, beautiful weather all the time. Why can't all of that support or attract a high-quality restaurant?

I agree with Tana. I went to culinary school in Pasadena (the L.A. area) and moved to Chicago precisely because they had more to offer (namely, Trio). If you're serious about food, which I am and it sounds like Tana's acquaintances are, what better reason to move could there be?

Yep. Good stuff. They also have something called, "Fairfax High." It's like an eggs benedict on LSD - good Hollandaise sauce, crispy bagel chips, smoked salmon, and red onions, along with some other plate garnishes which I can't remember. Good dish!

As someone who switched from computer science and web development over to cooking, hopefully I can reiterate some of the really important points that everyone has already stated: Enthusiasm, I believe, is paramount; and, where I have been, complaining and excuses are not put up with. Show to the chef and cooks that you work with that you are receptive to suggestion and criticism: it's really important that they can see that you can and want to be trained. Even if you wait until after you go to culinary school to apply somewhere, don't assume you know ANYTHING. If you go to work in a good restaurant, they will, more than likely, have better and more efficient ways of doing things than what you learned in school, so be ready to be corrected and learn. Culinary school was a great place to learn the basics and make a start, but a restaurant is a different animal. Your skills (early on) will probably the least of your worries. Restaurants will have their own ways of doing things, so observe others when you can and ask lots of questions. Keep the hierarchy of the kitchen in mind (it quickly becomes second-nature). Make sure you pay respect appropriately up the chain of command. And, enjoy your new career! There's nothing else like it!

I have also heard great things about AOC (Suzanne Goin, the chef, is also in charge at Lucques, which I have also heard great things about). I have also heard great things about Sona, which I plan to visit in the very near future (progressive Californian/Asian). I would stay away from Campanile, as I had a disappointing experience there. If he is interested in breakfast/lunch/very-late-night spots, Fred 62 is a GREAT diner in the Los Feliz area. They're open 24 hours a day, have great food, and even make their own "Punk Tarts" (Pop Tarts). It's owned by an eccentric L.A. chef, Fred Eric. Philippe's, in downtown L.A., is a landmark (opened around 1920), and has awsome French-dip sandwiches - definitely not to be missed.

I would definitely stay AWAY from A.R. Valentien and Mille Fleur. I actually staged at A.R. Valentien for a day and sampled many of the dishes and found them very disappointing. I also had a VERY mediocre experience at Mille Fleur. If you have heard of Bradley Ogden, he has a restaurant called Arterra in Del Mar, which I have heard very many good things about. I have yet to eat at any of his restaurants, but from the people I know that have dined at them, they come very well recommended. Other than that, Tana's acquaintance has it nailed - San Diego really has no great restaurants yet.

Chef Achatz and Curtis Duffy, formerly of Trio: for their deep-seated ability to genuinely think about cuisine; and the fact that I know I would get honest feedback. The avant-garde poets Frank O'Hara and John Ashbery for their genius; and the fact that I know that they would stir up quite a conversation. Alton Brown: for obvious reasons.

Thanks, George.

Thanks, gmi. I look forward to your report!

Thanks, Mike. Good information there that I hadn't seen before. However, I was looking for something a little more up-to-date. I am certain that they have matured (hopefully) over the past year, so I wanted to see if they are on a positive track.

Has anybody been to Sona recently that can either give a detailed review, or even some general impressions about the food, service, and atmosphere? Should we consider Sona a "heavy-hitter," or another hip, L.A. restaurant that will be extinct in five years? Opinions?

I saw the egg go out to many other tables, but we did not receive it. I am certain that this was intentional; I am guessing to prevent repeating an egg dish, as the tripe with the slow-cooked egg, depending on how one looks at it, could be all about the egg (although the tripe with it was FANTASTIC - as I said in the review but I think it's worth another mention). Chef, I hope that if you are reading this, that you offer up any corrections or feelings that you might have on my descriptions of the experience, relating to techniques, ingredients, and flavor profiles used, and any goals that you had with the dishes that maybe I missed or overlooked.

My new bride and I had a wonderful meal here on June 30th. As a little time has elapsed, and since our following week in the Napa Valley was spent bathing in wretched excess, I choose to simply list the menu, point out the highlights, and discuss some overall feelings about the experience. The menu: Overall a very good menu, I thought. I personally would have changed the order of several of the courses, as my wife and I experienced a couple of times some monotonous textures. However, in defense, I would probably overlook that because it seems like chef really put the spurs to our table and sent out everything he had. If you are reading this chef, thank you for that. Your efforts were greatly appreciated. Strawberry Gazpacho Petits Fours "Beet-Black Olive" Taro Chips with Curry Corn Croquettes Ciccoli with Mustard Crab Beggar's Purses Melon Soup, Lightly Cooked, Almond Tofu Anchovy Beignets Citrus and Jasmine Tea Gelee Corn and Tomato Salad with Dungeness Crab Fried "Torahaze" with Smoked Bacon and Shiso Sea Urchin and Saffron Soup with Orange Japanese Butterfish and Geoduck with Olive Oil and Chives Stimpson Clam on the Plancha with Fried Avocado Scallops with Porcini and Arugula Horse Mackerel with Squash Blossoms and Morels Saddle of Rabbit "Prune-Lemon," Bulghur and Vegetables Trip with Slow-Cooked Egg Suckling Pig "Foot-Belly-Rack" with Rice Crepinettes Apricot Compote with Yogurt and Apricot Sorbets Fig and Raspberry Crisp, Honey Mascarpone Nectarine Frappe with Hibiscus Chocolate Marquis, Almond Toffee Ice Cream "Bunuelos" I believe the major strength of the meal sat in the amuses. The flavors felt very controlled: intense and purposeful. Flavorwise, I don't think there were any major misses; most things came down to personal preference (such as in the beet jelly, I prefer the taste of roasted beet, whereas my wife really enjoyed the jelly, as it tasted almost like a raw beet. I found the earthiness a little overpowering. I also wished that the jellies were smaller; it was a pretty big bite of 100% jelly). I really enjoyed the corn croquettes, but really wish that they were shaped and fabricated without the use of gelatin since the use of it would turn out to be quite frequent throughout the meal. The strawberry gazpacho had a great savory aspect to it which I enjoyed a lot. Good black olive madelines. Excellent crab beggars purses, which were served on a lime slice - good reinforcement of flavor components. Very nice, fresh flavor. The more complex dishes were also very good. Very nice flavors in the uni and saffron soup. This "orange dish" harmonized very well, and once again came down to personal preference: I prefer uni raw, but my wife liked the slightly more firm texture of that used in the dish - very lightly cooked. The butterfish and geoduck was very good as well: good flavors and textures, with an overall lightness about the dish. I think the big winner was the trip with slow-cooked egg. I found the egg to be a little large in porportion to the amount of tripe, like maybe extra small eggs should have been used, but the texture of the egg put next to the texture, flavor, and preparation of the tripe was outstanding. The exact flavor profile of the dish is not completely clear in my mind now, but I keep thinking pimenton when I think about the sauce, as it made me think of my time in Spain. The suckling pig dish was very good as well, but my palate was starting to exhaust itself by the time it arrived. Overall, I found the desserts to be quite refreshing, waking up my wife's and my tired palates. The bunuelos were a very tasty end, although both mine and my wife's had a glob of cold chocolate in the very center of the molten poppers. I don't know if that was intentional; I just found it rather strange. Service: the service was comfortable: formal without being stuffy, and relaxed without being common. The service staff seemed generally concerned about the guests and wanted to put on the best performance they could to enhance the dining experience. Just a few hiccups. A couple of the amuses arrived not only before the last had been cleared, but almost as we were taking a bite; plates changing hands with our mouths full of food, unable to thank the runners. In addition, most of my questions about basic components of the dishes were met with "I don't know," or "let me ask the chef." I don't know if the dishes I asked questions about were new, so that's a possible reason for the confusion, but still, nothing makes me happier than knowing a wealth of information about the restaurant and the cuisine, enthusiastic and energetic, is serving me my meal. We got the wine pairing with the meal also, the wines of which I remember being well-matched. The two of us were out the door for $500, which I didn't bat an eye paying. I thought that to be a great price for the meal, and with the amount of below-average meals we experienced in Napa (Terra and La Toque), a bargain and a pleasure on top of that. It's definitely a place I would go back to, and I get the feeling that both the chef and restaurant are rapidly evolving and improving, with clear goals set out ahead on the horizon. Cheers.

Thanks pim for the thoughtful write-up. Sounds like Chef really threw down for your group. I am always pleasantly surprised when I hear of restaurants taking extra steps, such as doing some homework on their guests or doing more than the average hello, here's your food, here's your check, thanks for coming. I look forward to my meal at the end of the month even more. Quick question/discussion topic: does Passard make his egg with maple syrup and whipped cream also? (If it is, then disregard the following rant) If he doesn't, is it fair to call Chef Kinch's egg a copy, or anything more than a dish inspired by Passard? What aspect of the dish would allow us to make this distinction? Are there similarities beyond the obvious fact that an egg dish is served in its own shell (If so, I could site MANY other chefs that have served spectacular egg dishes using the shell as the vessel, Keller being one of them)? Once again, as I may have done already in previous posts in this thread, I don't want to come off as a ranting crank, but as a young cook, I find the related subjects of creativity, inspiration, and plagiarism very interesting; subjects that I have started to think a lot about. Thoughts, everybody?

Be prepared for disappointment. I don't think San Diego has, yet, really made it to attract great chefs and top-tier fine dining restaurants. I have heard great things about George's at the Cove. Mille Fleur, which I believe is rated even higher than George's, is terrible. I had a very disappointing meal there after hearing so many positive things about it. However, if you don't mind settling for a really good French bistro, Tapenade in La Jolla is very good. That's probably the one really good meal I have had in the area. Steer clear of A.R. Valentien, Aqua, and the Sky Room. They are also rated very highly but are not of high quality.

Definitely a great idea for agar agar, buzz it in a spice grinder before you add it to liquid to reduce the "fish-eyes." And, if the recipe has any sugar in it, combine the agar agar with the sugar before adding it to the liquid to further help dispersion. Chef Sean is on the right track: when you're working with stuff like agar, work in grams, not Tablespoons. Even ounces will give you a quite variable result. Experiment! Start with Sean's ratio, and if it is too firm or too soft, adjust up or down. Then you can establish reliable baselines for future use.

Chef, It's finally happening: doubtless, a large step down the path towards something great. I can't wait to see Alinea establish itself as a new hub for American progressive cuisine. Wish I could be there. Cheers and congratulations.

elfin, Thanks for the spelling correct. I haven't been there in a while and couldn't remember how they spell it. There are few restaurants that I highly recommend people visit, but this is one of them. You won't be disappointed... And if you are, then you are from Mars. On top of that, it's pretty cheap and you will most certainly go home with food (the plates are enormous and piled high). Don't forget to get the Pad Thai to go with your egg rolls (Can I give you my address so you can FedEx me a couple?

I would bet the farm on the Egg Rolls from River Qwae (elfin: A friend got me hip to this place while I was living in Chicago). They are among the best things I have ever eaten. They have an AMAZING Pad Thai, also. The place is open from 11pm to 6AM, and be prepared to wait, as there are only 5 or 6 tables.

Could anyone give a report (long or short) on La Toque? I will be there the end of June, and since they don't update their website regularly, would like some up-to-date information.

Oh, and my apologies for not stopping in on this thread sooner. I don't always have the best timing.

STOP!!!!! Hopefully you haven't chopped up that meat, yet. I think that cap of beef on the outside of the ribeye is the best piece of meat on the whole cow. One word: RARE! I would throw this on a really hot grill for not more than a couple of minutes on each side. It will probably be the best steak you will ever have.

I heard the following from someone at the Terra Spice Company: Never put vanilla in the fridge or freezer (just like coffee, condensation dilutes and kills essential oils and aromas), and keep it WELL sealed (if you have a vacuum sealer, use that. At a kitchen in which I worked, we kept ours in our wine room (cool, but not cold) and relatively dark.