Irishgirl

^In Lumiere's kitchen no less....an authentic pic of Charlie's first time in Lumiere. Who's holding out now????

Bad restaurant concept. Bad location. Unrealistic expectations of revenue. Mediocre menu. Too threatening menu. Bad business practises...case in point...Coco Pazzo. Change of prices.....(usually higher, because the owner is panicking or is greedy) Unhappy employees=unhappy customers. Bad news travels fast...case in point...Watermark. (Had a lot more written here...but hit CLEAR by accident....couldn't bear writing this again.)

Don't know the Chandler dance, so I am picturing you doing the Snoopy dance! (How can you tell that I have been cooking for too long? Don't get the pop-culture reference!) I really hope you guys have fun in this class. The charcuterie stuff sounds great, and i agree with Arne, a boning knife will help you immensely! Bench scrapers are cheap...boning knives...find one that fits comfortably in your hand so that you aren't afraid of the blade. Only way to go. They are SO useful! And you thought making pasta was fun!

^ it's not that they have a problem with special diets...it's that this woman deliberately enforced her philosophy of food on them, changing a recipe that was set out for her, and not letting anyone know that she had done so. AND never intending to eat the thing herself!!!!! I find that ridiculous. She was not their mother. She should have just followed the recipe.

I would infuse the dairy with the SMOKIEST, least fatty bacon that you can find. I would replace the sugar with maple syrup and then when the stuff is just finishing churning, I would add some crisped and drained bacon morsels. Not that that is a recipe....just a contingency plan.

Benriner's are pretty standard in the industry. They are cheaper, sharper, easier to use, and last a fair amount of time. I just bought a new one down at Granville Island, South China Seas for a decent price...and i had looked at the price at Ming wo, and thought "No Way". These are useful tools and definitely do NOT fall under the "CHEAPLY MADE" category that the above people are implying. I just bought a fish scaler from Benriner. I had been looking for it for 8 years...was the best one i ever tried....found it at Ming Wo in China Town. $9 DEAL!

Abra Enjoying the blog. Nice to see someone with such a zest for life! With the Chard...I would go with lobster (Classic) with something vanilla...Sauce....mayonnaise? With the Cab....Lamb...or dry aged beef....something that will stand up to all that wood...With roasted garlic? my 2 cents Great Photos!!!!!!! Wish it looked as nice here in Vancouver. Today it is grey....Grrrr.

You have just summarized the beginning of Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential". He does mention his addictive sensation-seeking attitude in the first part of his career. He is also a known avid smoker. At the same time....I am not a smoker....and my mother is not either (she used to work graveyard shifts all the time). I am a chef, and have found that most chefs that smoke do it to handle their stress. It also depends on if you are an addictive personality to begin with. People handle stress in many ways....smoking is just one of them. And yes...it is a stressful job. I encourage my crew not to smoke....I am biased though....my grandfather died a horrible death of Lung Cancer. He suffered for two dreadful years. The doctors, when they opened him up to remove the tumour, took one look and then closed him back up again. IT WAS THAT BAD. Anyway, smoking never actually gets rid of your stress, it just distracts you from thinking about it. Me, I just deal with every situation as it comes. Then a have a drink at the end of the night

It sounds like Chef Tony forgot to tell you the most important rule of souffle making: You wait for a souffle: A souffle does not wait for you. You guys should have eaten them fresh from the oven. I certainly would not have been able to wait.

We arrived between 7:30 and 8. There were three dueces (including us) when we started. Three more tables arrived during our stay.....2 dueces and a 4 top. It also looked like someone from the neighbourhood came for takeout. We had Heather's sister as a server. Very sweet. She was very concerned about how long the souffle was taking....which we were perfectly prepared to wait for. I think that they were nervous because i was turned around in my seat quite often, as i was trying to read the rest of the board. (The wine entries were written in a blue or green chalk which was hard to make out...and I was playing a guessing game at what they were) Plus my husband had a hard time reading it as well....and kept asking questions. We were happy with the results, and they were so concerned about the souffle, that they sent out two soufflees and two cheesecake.....whoa. Double the dessert, double the pleasure.

This occurance is all too common with about 99% of restaurants in the world. The front of house staff always make more money than the back of house staff. It seems to be the law of restaurants The reason for this is that the consumer demands certain price points. If one charged $15 for a slice of lemon meringue pie, the public just would NOT go there. The higher priced menu items that are offered, usually use higher priced/higher quality ingredients. The front of house staff do a have a certain amount of risk in their wages. Sometimes people do not tip well. FOH staff never know how much they are going home with at the end of the night. A slow night with bad tippers could be significant in wage decrease. The BOH staff usually have a certain amount of stability in that their wage will stay stable.....but like everyone in the industry knows...you really have to love your work, or else you just won't think that it is worth it. (I have a few staff right now who are questioning whether they are in the right industry) Long hours, no weekends with friends or family, no benefits (usually at restaurant level) and little acknowledgement of a job well done by the customer leads to a fairly ungratifying job. And that's not including the pay. It is a very different way of life. You learn who your friends really are. I am always careful when i interview new employees (especially those straight out of culinary school) to see how realistic their view of the industry is. To give an example: Out of the 35 people who graduated in my class at culinary school, only 2 of us are still in the industry 13 years later. Hope you find what you are looking for.

There were three of us sitting there tonight. My husband and I were sitting between you and Jamie. Schnitzel, Corn chowder, Perogies (we will go back for these alone), Souffle and Cheesecake. Loved the music selection. Lots of Ella Fitzgerald and Etta James.

Have you tried Jeffrey Steingarten's recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies? He takes the Nestle Toll house Recipe and tweaks it. He calls it the best Chocolate Chip Cookie So Far....he's still working on it. 2 C AP Flour 1 tsp Salt 1 tsp Baking Soda 1/2 lb Unsalted Butter 3/4 C Light brown sugar, firmly packed 1/4 C Dark Brown Sugar, firmly Packed 3/4 C granulated white sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 tbsp water 1 egg 1 1/2 C chopped chocolate (your favourite) 375F oven Bake approx 10 mins. Let me know...as I have never tried this recipe and only make cookies at Christmas.

Brian, doesn't the Arborio rice that you use come in a green plastic bag? That one got the okay from Chef Tony. Chef did call for Arborio rice in his recipe. He mentioned Carnaroli in class, saying that it's the "in" thing now in Italy and that it does take longer to cook than Arborio rice does. I believe that is available in town but am not sure where. Cioffi's might be a good bet. Perhaps Renzullo's or La Grotta del Formaggio. ← Yes you can get all three types of rice at La Grotta Del Formaggio on Commercial. These guys are a family run business and know their stuff. Ask Fortunato which is his favorite. I personally think however, that Arborio is the best. I also think that if you ask an Italian person, it would depend on where they come from in Italy that would influence their preference. Italy is very regional and every region is very proud of their food.

I'm sorry bryan if my post came off as a personal attack...which it wasn't. It was an explanation for WHY you're upset. The reason you are not upset about people in general cooking less, is that you have no use for men who cook less. That is why your focus is on women, which is as far as I am concerned, unjust and inaccurate. 1) The same can be said for men. 2) Yes, and the same for men. 3) Is this correct, or just stereotypical? 4) Do you like people who cook, or just women? Because you only SEEM upset about women. 5) Do you have less respect for people who can't cook, or those people who choose NOT to cook? Perhaps they don't enjoy cooking as much as you do. And respecting people's personal choices is what western society is all about...is it not? My husband HATES cooking. It's not that he can't...he can, and fairly well....But he does not enjoy it. Does it make me respect him less? No. I learned a long time ago that judging people by your own personal standards, will only serve to frustrate you and make you miserable. I learned to keep my standards for myself. You will find that on the internet, people will nitpick about anything and everything in order to understand better what it is you mean. I don't think that this is immature or unproductive. To end: this is yet again, not a personal attack, just a different perspective.

^ah but Deborah, these men are upset that women are doing it less. They are upset because of the stereotype. Women are supposed to stay home and learn how to cook....so they can be useful to their men. And being judgemental is one thing, but hating people is another. I am annoyed by people that don't use their brain. It doesn't mean i hate them.

Poor guy! I wonder what he would do if he found some Demeyer? Now THOSE are nice pans!

I really don't know. I haven't heard from her in a number of years. I only found out she was working for him because her last boss (who is good friends with my chef) let me know that that is where she is. He and I both had the same reaction: God help them both!

I think I said something like:"Actually, I work here. I made the such and such...did you enjoy it?" To which he had no audible answer. I am no hero. Let's just say that I didn't think that my chef would be impressed with me telling off his guest chef for the evening.

For those of you who have been trying to fax Lumiere with your nominations for young chefs to go to the dinner - without success...the number is 604 739 8139. Cate posted the reservation line.

^I was so astounded at the time.....It was the '90's for god's sake....I thought that those kinds of sentiments were long dead. Guess I was naive. Anyway, I have an acquaintance working for him now. I think that they will both have their hands full. She is full of spit and vinegar.

Having met the aforementioned Mr Ramsay, let me just say that: I have been cooking for myself and others since I was 5. My mother was a single mom with three kids and could not afford to take us out to McD or Wendy's or whatever on a regular basis. She worked graveyards shifts so that she could be home when we got home from school. Then she would get up, and cook dinner for us. I always felt bad because her "breakfast" was our dinner! Needless to say, my interest in food was started at a very young age. We canned fruits and vegetables in the summer. We had a garden. I learned to make my own breakfasts because my mother got caught in traffic a lot on her way home from work....I learned that there was a difference between the quality of food that was made "by mom" or came from a box, eg: Kraft Dinner, which my brother relied on heavily. I therefore learned quite early that food could be a wonderful thing. My mother was dismayed more than once when she woke up to all the neighborhood children in the house eating the pretzels that i had made. Dismayed, but proud, because she knew that she would never have to worry about me in regards to food. I have now been in the cooking industry for 13 years. When I met Mr Ramsay, it was a number of years ago. He was in town promoting one of his books, and the restaurant that I worked at did a Ramsay dinner. We cooked items from his new book, and he was in the dining room explaining to the guests what his inspiration for said items was. At the end of the night, he came back into the kitchen to thank us for the good job we had done on his food. We were cleaned up by then, and I had actually gotten changed before I realized that he was actually going to come and visit with the staff. I was the only female in the kitchen that night...highly unusual. He took one look at me and said: "So who's wife are you?" I have never been so offended in my life! The man is a pig as far as i am concerned. And I agree with many of the statements here...I feel sorry for his wife and children. He certainly isn't doing anything to help the "problem".

This is the problem that I have....People who aren't honest in the restaurant (which is why the question "How is your meal" is asked in the first place...) and then coming on line and trashing a place. If the restaurant doesn't know that there IS a problem, how are they suppossed to fix it? There are a lot of restaurants out there who don't know about eGullet, and I don't think that this is fair to them. So technically, this puts you in the "most Dangerous" category as far as I am concerned. That is why I don't do "reviews".

The thing is that most of the places that i know are Wholesalers, and don't supply the public, whereas Ravensburgen has a store that you can actually go get stuff at. If you want a wholesaler, you can try places like Lentia and Qzina....or Dominic Jarry.

That is the only one that I know