RyuShihan

(The stage was over early july I only did 1 week but had planned for two. Some life issues came up and caused me to change course rather fast. Currently I am a saucier) Still day one, forgot to mention that the day began at 12 noon. I latter learned that the other stage was trying to get a job at Alenia, no idea if he ever got the job. Maybe it was just me but the first day was extreamly unconforable for me. Different kitchen and just standing around isn't my cup o tea. So I made the best of it and tried to talk to all of the Chefs in the kitchen. Chefs, that is what everyone called each other. It kinda got confusing since if they were talking to you they would still say "Hey chef can you get that?" I had to finally ask one of the guys if they called everyone Chef and they told me yes. It sorta reminded me of Ranger school because they call everyone Ranger, right from the start. It brings that little bit of respect into the situation. In fact I wouldn't mind mimicking it one day. I remember one of the guys asking "Why do we call everyone chef?" and Chef Curtis responded "Because we are all Chefs in our own way." It was a good responce. Sometime right before service started everyone would sit down for group meal. The front of the house and back of the house. I can't remember the meal so much as the rush to get done eatng so that I could get a bit of fresh air before service got rolling. Now the lucky part of this stage was I actually got to see the food I had eaten a couple months back. All but a few items were the same. Needless to say I asked every Chef at every station alot of questions to see what secret informaton I could gather. Now I am not sure how open they are to everyone but I was lucky enough to learn an abundance of great information. I was a bit gun shy talking to Achatz, I guess it reminded me of how busy kitchens I have worked in get, so out of respect I tried to stay out of his way. The other stage had a different view than me he actually asked Chef Achatz alot of questions till one point I think he got a pretty interestiig responce. Chef Achatz was definatly alot nicer than I might have been. Very passionate tho if something got messed up. One interesting thing I noticed during service was that they tried to do all of the Tours latter in the day. I thought how odd since it made service alot longer but when asked the responce made sence. If they filled up with tours early they would loose the table for such a long time they wouldn't be able to turn them. So for the kitchen it was hell but from a money point of view it made sence. I had no idea how long the day would be but after 12 hours it finaly ended. Then the kitchen was scrubbed extreamly well and polished. So if you ever see his kitchen, let me say it takes alot of elbow greese to keep it as pretty as it is.

I just wanted to shed a little light on what it is like to be a fly on the wall. Back in January I was reading up on e-gullet about this cool thing called a stage. Now prior to that I had never heard of the word before. I did some more reading and learned that some Chef would basically allow you to work in their kitchens for a little stint to learn sorta like a small internship. This all happened right as the whole copy right food problem was happening. It almost seamed like some places might become hesistant to allow anyone into their kitchens. I decided to send a few e-mails out to different Chefs and see who would let me in. Not much on feedback on alot of places and some had already turned a cold shoulder. So I was in the process of corisponding with Michael Rhulman when I told him how cool it would be to stage at Alenia and I asked him if he knew the Chef. Lo and behold he did, latter I would read his new book and learn why. In March a friend invited me to eat at Alinea and the food show was happening at the same time. So I went to eat and was blown away, not jsut the food but the idea of being entertained while eating, by the food. I was lead into the kitchen and saw Chef Achatz for the first time. Small chatter as I saw the hussel of the kitchen behind him. Oddly I was extreamly nervous, it was almost like meating a star sports figure that you idolized. Ironicly I have met a few of them in my time and none meant a thing but another person with more money than me. Yet, meeting a person who was doing what you wanted to do, now that was exciting. Michael was kind enough to have said a few kinds words and the Gm informed me to send them my resume. I thought to myself "Well that was that and assumed nothing more would actually happen." Two weeks latter I get a phone call from Chef Achatz himself, imagine my surprised. He asked me if ti was a good time to talk about the stage. I was so excited I thought he meant right that moment. I was at that time out of state taking my kiid with his nephew and nieces to the zoo. So after trying to not babble my words anymore I sputtered something about some dates and he told me to email him with confirmated dates. I did and he sent me instructions on what to expect. So in Late June an early July I went back tho Chi-town and a friend let me stay with him and I would only have to figure out how to get to Alinea. Not knowing anything about Chicago really i opted for taxi rides. In the end the money I was hoping to save i spent on Taxi rides and late night snacks. This would be part of something that would latter cut things short. On my first day I walked in not knowing what to do. I was greated by Sous chef Curtis. He got me an apron and a uniforn and up I went. I was informed that the first couple days I would just sorta watch what was goiing on. My first impression was it must be a really bad day, because no one was talking or so I thought. I would latter learn that everyone talked in a low voice. Imagine me with my loud mouth coming into a kitchen like this. It was definatly a culture shock yet at the same time calming. Everyone from the second they walked in seamed like they were already in the weeds. I would latter learn it was just the magnitude of prep that had to be done just to accomplish the daily routine. At this time another Stage was also there and we made small banter. I soon learned that the kitchen was on a constant cleaning frenzy as everyone worked with the floors constantly being swept and the tables always spotless. In fact other than my stent in the service I don't ever remember a cleaner kitchen, this one was definatly the pretiest one I had seen. This was also my first time into a kitchen with so many people working to put out each plate. Heck I remember this crab plate with a sauce that was sorta blanketed over and if you got hit with a few tables it could easily take 3-4 people just to assemble all the items on that one plate. (more to come I am off to work, sorry for any gramtical or spelling errors I am lazy and in a hurry

sorry edit this found my answer....thank godness for search

Hey brian I know for fact you can get it from a welding supply place, I asked one next to my house...Apparently you jsut need a safe canister to put it into. The canisters can get exspensive and the smaller ones have a slow leak..So you can only play around for a little while. I have been following this thread since the begining it has been a fun one to read, latter this weak i start my first batch of stuff to order. Then hopefully I can add more input.

OMG marie Ann, ....I worked with you at the Ritz Ask Shane who I might be as for sushi if you thought wasabi was good you really should try San sui or Kenji's place I can't think of its name right now. I was also told by a friend to check out Niche, Harvest is ok, but not extrordinary. Truffles is another ok, red moon is ok... I will say tho by my standards nothing in St. Louis is really great. Alot of ok's hopefully in a few more years. Oddly Ronnie You were at alinea recently, I saw the pics.. I was also there the same night. (ps let me point out, if you can figure out were marieann works it has pretty good food, definatly a good night life. )

I will second central west end, but also add in Clayton, because I know there are 2 wine bars, one does tastings every sat and cheeses. You also have a about 14 rest in a 2 block radius. I also know there is a french bakery can't member the name but we get some pastries from them, he makes pretty good croisants. Then you have the coveted Grand street, where all the cool asian rest are on one street. Sushi, Thai, Vietnameese, Cambodian, Chineese...ect.ect

make oxtail soup frequently but i cook the tails for like 6 hours, because it takes longer for the calogen to break down. I did notice it doesn't have as meaty a flavor as using regular veal bones but roasting the vegitables and tomatoe paste helps alot. I also like to smoke my barley.

You know im wondering if that is why one of my chefs boiled his first for 30 mins. He then set it in a pan with holes and put another pan on top of it with cans for weight, he would then let it sit over night in the fridge. The next day they were more uniform in size and we would punch out circles of the kidney, then dredge it in flour and cook it like you would a liver. He then always made some sort of marmalde sauce or something sweet you would use with Foi. I am almost thinking the boiling got rid of the bad lingering tastes.

I use a mixture of neck and veal bones at the hotel I work at. I learned if I use just neck i get alot of calogen but a lighter color demi when i reduce it. Versus just using veal bones which give me a more rich darker color. So I use 50# of each, and i get a very flavorful rich stock that is between both and has more geletan.

Another idea would be to trim down your menu of less viable items and maybe adding a small 10 item Tapas menu that rotates. You can use items around the house to make stuff or bring in items and see how they sell, it keeps you from commiting to alot of product.

My favorite rest was Basils but you gatta love Thai food One of my buddies is working out at a place called Sienna in Daniels island, its supposed to be pretty good. I think the Chef was a sous chef at the Four seasons in chicago. He has also cooked at the beard house, can't be too shabby.

It was a great read for anyone who has no idea whats happening behind the minds of some of the greats in chefdom as well as media. It shows the internal struggle between a dream and a goal and the sacrifices or change of decisions people make as time and goals change. It really hits home for any aspiring great chef to be. Definatly worth the read.

You know but the show has stayed true to the fact that you had to perform what ever challenge was. You had to do every dish. On Iron Chef if you forget a dish you lose a ton of points, as well as any ACF sanctioned tournament and even Chaine Competitions. Like one poster said he coulda made toast and won. If you could always use the cop-out of only send out great food, then their would be no need for a time limit to make things harder and more stressed out. With more time couldn't anyone put out better quality?

This would definatly be something worth reading about. To the second guy David where in Indiana are you opening up if you don't mind me asking?

TY nath for that collection of comments, that actually helped put some of the issues into a perspective my weee brain can understand. I can pretty much agree to most of what you said. I hope those who do invent cool new things get their just reward because they deserve it and it moves culinarians forward to better life styles and a bigger feel for proffesionalism. Not to mention the pretty little plates are nice to look at. To bad more of the public can not afford to eat such great things on a less rare occasion. Its hard for anyone who has a pre-conception to change their minds about an idea like copywriting food, I am not sure I would say I am sold on the idea but I am not intending to say its a bad idea either. Just some loopholes that I don't think can be filled easily, like what if a Chef stole his ideas from some country he visited and got the copyright stuff out and the place he stole them from was a small unknown and the Chef could care less about such ideas, then the man with the plan gets all the credit....(Conspiracy theories about Albert Einstein and working at the patent office made me think of that)

More talking out loud than knowing the answer, but couldn't this also hurt the culinary industry to forward thinking? Let me explain my thought, lets take examples like freeze dried food, flash frozen foods and what’s that stuff used to make proteins glue together. Weren't all these items actually made for a different purpose but are now being used by culinarians, if they were patented for a process, which if certain laws were in place they could be, that would stop allot of chefs from being allowed to use such new technology. My fear would be that if laws were put in place, in the end big companies with already fat wallets would hire the best and brightest chefs just to try and invent stuff for the mass culinary market and then it would just cost more money to invent new dishes because they would monopolies over something for 10 years or so. I know it’s easy to think the wheel is being re-invented but in truth don't you think chefs in the past thought the same thing about their food? “Wow look at this new way of making a cake, or how I cook my Ribs." By the public being allowed to see, touch, taste and copy, that’s how those ideas moved forward to the next generation, to once again re-invent the wheel. Now, don't get me wrong I do feel the pains of inventing something only to have an idea stolen, hell look at Microsoft but it was those patent laws that gave Mr. Gates the ability to steal ideas and nothing could be done about it. Now how many years latter and Microsoft still has a strong control over Operating systems as a whole. Do we really want a culinary society that ends up where one company controls the new ideas and just buys out all new small ideas, because that’s what laws do to creativity. Just my humble opinion (of course if a middle ground of laws were worked out that seamed fair and reasonable that would both help creativity and safeguard the thinking man I would be all for it. but current laws don't seam reasonable)

So how long till a menu becomes public knowledge and anyone can duplicate it?

Wow, this is fascinating. As a young culinarian I knew I could get in trouble for copy and paste during culinary school. In fact I did, but proved I had cited properly and the teacher didn't know it was allowed with citations. What I didn't know was that such ramifications could enter into my culinary career. In fact what surprises me most is that I thought most of the food I made WAS a copy, of what others before me had made. Anyone can easily see that taking somone elses ideas and taking credit for them is just bad, but shouldn't it be a thing for Karma to sort out....Versus paying the already rich lawyers? I would think it would make Chefs feal great to know their ideas are being passed around and Globalised. That a new concept was becoming the new trend, that they will eventually go down in the hostory book immortalised as a for-runner of something great. Those who copied might get some credit but wasn't it also that copying that causes a movement to move forward? Isn't the bad press nothing more than fuel to the evolution of an idea? I have studied Martial Arts for many years now and have studied many different styles. So many times I have seen a reverse punch called many different names. By many different Masters of their craft. I have seen countless Martial artist claim they have invented the new style that incorperates all other styles. In the end all they do is make the next generation start, and further push the Arts to the next generation. When somone is a student of another Martial artist and then opens their own studio with a new name to the style but it is 100% the same, should he be sued? Should he even really be scrutinized? Yet, somone invented the word legal and now money and lawyers destroy the ability to copy anything. The worst part I see is making money off of another persons idea....sitting down and taking it could be worst to others, but isn't that nothing more than an opinion and which side of the fence you are on? I really hope cooking doesn't become and endless supply of patents and copyrights to declair who can cook what and how. Like martial arts its a trade and an art, its pure. Once the purity is gone, how much fun will it be?

actually while working on a sushi bar i have gotten octopus that wasn't the most pleasnt smell, all you had to do was boil it in salt water and it was great. On the opposite note tho from a different company the octopus was always perfect and had no smell at all. (It seamed as tho they pre-boiled and froze it before shipping it out tho.) As for the show, I try and watch it with an open mind...of course their is some drama shananigans but look at some of the plates they are putting out. While not every single one looks great I have gained a few ideas from a couple. In the end, entertainment and knowledge is about all you can really ask for in any TV show....Verus mindless folly

I wish I knew more places in the area you area looking to hang out in but sadly I don't. Laclede is goiing to be packed anywhere you go on Patties day but this is a link to SAuce magazine and if you look at 2005 best picks it cna give you an idea at least what people in the area voted for as good palces. Some of the picks I agree with but some of the places I personally would go to might either be pricy or out of the way. You can use their cool search engine and narrow down what you want to at least. ( by cuisine, location, ect ect..) If you don't mind puting the cash down i have heard eleven eleven is a good place to eat and the Red Moon Cafe. Not Downtown area tho. In fact alot of the good palces are closer to Central West end. or Clayton. but you can if you must eat downtown try the Ole spaghetti factory, or drink at the morgan street brewery or Hannegans. My friend likes Giovannis on the Hill and I have heard good things about Trattoria Marcella.

That was a great battle to watch and truthfully it braught alot of insight on different ways to use aduile. That had to be one of the few times I think Mario has ever looked winded. I sorta think he knew Besh was bringing alot to the table. Which is great that he would step up his game in either respect, or the desire to win. I missed the begining so I didn't notice the chalenger choicing the IC. I wonder if the IC know ahead of time or if its trufully a chooice from the begining. In the OLD IC I noticed sometimes it looked as if way ahead of time every one knew which IC was ebing picked, sorta like the Ota faction ( i think thats the name) versus Morimoto. I also wonder when we are gonna start seeing a faction form in ICA. Or when we will get to see somone eventually beat 2-3 iron chefs and become an honarary iron chef or some other coool tittle.

whast wrong with the big E...He did alot in his culinary time coming up. You see him praised by the likes of Todd English, Norman Van akin and Charlie Trotter. At least I see his name in all their books. during the thank you and appreciation parts. Not to mention his work at the commanders place.

But some of us lowly peons don't have the money for a establishment and competition is a good way to get such cash, or get known so that people with such cash can let us attempt to be as great as we wanna be. Not to mention competition is a great way to learn new things and meet great people who are like minded and want to excell. Otherwise all sports would be useless.

my idea wasn't so much the flavors so much as, each persons opinion of good food is very different, I have known people in my life who live off of macaroonie and cheese and hamburgers and would place a meal that came out of a box higher than fresh ingriedients. Of course everyone on this website is at least a foodie so trying to think that crappy food can be good is a hard idea to pass along but in a society where a hamburger can cost $5 it shouldn't.

You know I swear in the last 4 states i have lived in i keep running into them red-hat ladies, I am almost convinced they are a cult They are just a bunch of ladies who have to much free time on their hands , and maybe money. I have seen them frequent many establishment that have Tea time or public areas so as to be seen. Not to be missed by their gawdy big red hats purchased at hallmark.