chefturnedbum

for produce charlies has everything. mj meats osprey fish or mutual peterson for specialty main goods I like FSA, Merlino and Pacific food Importers I like crown imports for some specialty items like rusticella abruzzio soda - soda king

They snatched that space up quickly (Matts). I called right after it was closed for lunchbox lab and the guy said it was gone quicker than he expected.

it is nw. Has a great bay window.

Hey..my new place is old news on 15th but for the life of me does anyone know what is going into that little plumber space towards the safeway. I see restaurant stuff etc but never a guy to talk with. I hope and pray for a taqueria like the great el sabor. anyone have a clue or know who is doing it?? For me the more great restaurants the better. Also I saw a new place on 68the near goodwill call il giardino. Very hot looking house with obvious big dollars behind it. How about some scoop on that. Scott

Well I have been in the biz a long time and I know equipment very well, but if I were to hire someone to inspect I may contact restaurant appliance on roosevelt. They used to do inspections. I buy lots of stuff. Feel free to send me a message. If it were me I would look at who used it, how long it has not been used, how easy are parts and service to ascertain, and if the company is in business. If it is an antique piece I would contact a health inspector and ask him to look it over or at least give you the rundown on what is legal. If it is for home use then no problem. I myself have a common rule about any refrigerated unit. Buy that new or at least have Horeco or Wilderman check it out. With all of that in mind it should make a decision easier. Oh and also check the power source etc. Also if it is equipment for sous vide cooking or any scientific apparatus then go new.

What are you trying to achieve? Are you looking to sell or buy or what.

I remember the first review I got from them as a young chef. i was so ticked off because it was so utterly off the point of food. In the end it made me look like I was sponsored by the dairy association. In fact they may have said that. Needless to say the dairy board never chipped in any investment money. What a shame.

Yes thats it. Of course I never have really spilled all the beans on the place. And for all the people who have emailed me, I was very sick at the end of fork. My weight had risen to nearly 500 pounds and I had a massive heart attack. I spent a year in the hospital and 6 months in a coma. My weight is down. Way down with inspiration from jan birnbaum. So this is my comeback. I miss cooking for the people. For me it is one of the best motivators. I love to see you all and this place is gonnna have casual fun food but mostly lots of laughs and good times. It is the antithesis of the way the restaurant world is going. No pretentiousness. Kind of a cross between blue onion, fork, Tourondels BLT and the old Turbulent Turtle. It will be whacky good times. I look forward to seeing all of my old friends again.

15th and 73rd.... lunchbox laboratory in January.

Most chefs just dispell the stranger reviews. The problem with that rag is that even when they have a great reviewer that person can never turn around that stranger image and they have had a couple of really talented people who moved on to do better things. In fact what is a review really. As a chef and owner I try and think of "everyone" as a critic or as my mother. Food is about passion and people and not everything you may do will be a popular decision or theme but the people know and if you do everything right you will have a great chance of scoring those stars.....honestly though I have been to many a 4 star joint and then gone to an unreviewed or low star eatery and loved it way more. The hardest thing for me is what are they basing them on. How can you compare a million dollar place with one of my $50k restaurants? Even my new place is one my wife and I built on our own and of course it is gonna be way less polished than some competitors but the food....well that is for future consideration......is what should drive a place. Lots of critics forget about that.

an odd timely quote....i actually have a porkchop sandwich penciled in for the new place. Maybe i better rethink (lol). Seriously, porkchop on bread. That is some good vittles. Cannot go wrong with pork.

I keep seeing and hearing about two places. One is a guy with this vertical victorian looking grill and the other is that ball hamburger that is steamed under a cone. Also I was told there was a famous or was famous hamburger place near central park that had a guy that put on a show with the steam cones...anyone know???

hello everyone, i am looking for stories, history, recipes etc on hamburgers and the cousins. Anything you want including memories or whatever. Just go crazy. i am doing some research.... cheers, Scott Simpson

Of course Herve This is a pioneer of food science, but to say that molecular gastronomy is dead due to the popularity comes across to me as a blanketed pompous ass statement. There is so much more to be done in this field. I mean there are endless applications and even if they are eventually tapped does that mean there will be nothing new or innovative that will piggyback from the success of MG. Again what is MG but another medium of cooking. It is not as if science is a new player in the food world. Pastry and baking is pure science. Even the art of cooking breakfast comes down to science. As a young chef I always wanted to know why things happen and that really pinpoints what this whole culture is about. What can we as chefs do to manipulate and push the envelope of the natural properties of food and how can we make it better, moister more flavorful etc?? As I make my next business plan it is pure wd-50 style science and I love it. It is just so damn fascinating and the end result is a great product if done with care and passion. FORK used a lot of MG but we just did not flaunt it. I have tasted some pretty rough and tough cuts of meat that came out like butter using sous vide alone. Throughout food history things have come and gone, but technique usually holds form. Is MG dead? Seems to be a funny statement. Yes, maybe there are a lot of food people who have gravitated to using these techniques, but how few have really done it well and with great imagination. The number there is pretty low. With the way we abuse our natural resources on this planet, I would not be surprised if in the future we all had lab kitchens and cooking everything with liquid nitrogen, sous vide and anti-griddles while wearing hazmat suits. Its a new world lets embrace it. Scotty

farewell coco latida

When the doctor told me the game was up I put fork on the ,arket and had scads of offers. Then Sue came knocking. In my mind she is not only a tremendous talent but a really neat lady as well. I wanted her to have something good in this space and to keep it fork would be silly because it would take away from her great name. Her place is gonna rock. Thank you to all the folks for support and laughs. It has been a good long run in this business since I was 11 at mom and pops joint. Now i hang up my guns. If anybody needs a consultant let me know. As I said in the paper that if I get better I want to have a cheesesteak place like back home in Philly. Adios amigos

Thank you all for the great comments. We will try and get better each day for our friends. Also the credit for the Pot au Feu should go to one of my chefs, Tyler Moritz, who is quite an amazing fellow when it comes to food. Jared Stoneberg also is a key force for us at FORK and equally has that magic when it comes to taking raw ingredients and turning them into works of art. Both of them are top notch culinarians and much of the success rests squarely on their shoulders..

do not miss Crush. Right now they are firing on all cylinders. I truly believe Jason Wilson has put together one of Seattles top 5 venues at this point. If you enjoy sweetbreads I highly recommend them and their chocolate assortment is smashing the rosemary sea salt cordial is amazing.

Actually we ordered right off the regular menu and I wanted to love the place. I had huge expectations and the plates were absolutely from CB because I picked it up and looked on the bottom. It just was not me at the table who felt it was very poor. This was a four top of chefs who all have over 20 years experience. Maybe sometimes they are fantastic but on this Friday it was not and as a chef and restaurant owner I know that consistency is the key. Hopefully it will be 100% all the time but there are so many other amazing venues that really stand above veil at this point. Again I went there to love it and walked out scratching my head in disbelief. If 90% of the appetizers are mediocre then why would I want to risk it by ordering entrees. It has to be all around because otherwise it is not worth it. Sorry for the disappointing critique but that is how I felt. At this point I cannot jump on the veil bandwagon. I wish them luck in getting it to that point of supreme consistency and quality.

The other night I had the pleasure of doing a restaurant hop with some good friends. Stopped by a few places including Volterra, Crush and Veil. Volterra was great and Crush is mighty good (maybe my favorite place in Seattle) and then we got to Veil. I was so excited to eat and drink there. When we arrived it was fairly busy. We ordered a slew of Apps and Drinks and I have to say with much dissapointment that I really felt it was not that great. The drinks were like rocket fuel and had no balance and the apps were mediocre if not downright awful. I like experimental cuisine and such but many of the flavors did not meld. The foie gras which I had heard a lot about was sold out (how can you sell out of your big dish on a Friday). The atmosphere is so sterile and the plates were from (I blush) crate and barrel (I looked). Overall I hope it gets better because otherwise it will be devoured by the hype monster. Made me kind of sad.

I will try and wear my kilt in the traditional style. Of course if you wear a kilt I will be obligated to check authenticity of all clients. Also the pants rule does not apply when speaking with the chef (lol).

LOL. We are looking for a soft mid december open date with a possibility of January if we hit snags. The location is directly across from Harvard Exit theater in the Bacchus space. It will be a very interesting different place. Kind of a laboratory of things we feel like cooking with no real genre. Elegant and romantic will all the bells and whistles but will also have a very shabby, hidden gem feel and of course will be laced with my dark humor. Kind of a parody of places like Cascadia etc. The only rule is that you wear pants and also no ten gallon hats. Some things may be chic and some may be comfort. A place for every man or woman. Various price points and also a fast cheap meal section. Later on we will ad wine flights, tasting menus, late night, lunch and a series of calendar dinners with guest chefs similar to the gypsy dinners. A dinner where a chef will come in and take over the place and serve whatver he feels like no matter if it sticks with his style or is an homage to Escoffier or even his Aunt Myrtle. I have longed to do much finer and more technical dining and this will be my chance. At BOB I was pigeonholed into sticking with that formula. This place will just be one of breaking rules. We will also have a nice wines list with great cheap treasures and expensive grape, with hard booze and all arisan and microbrews. Fellow egulleter Jared Stoneberg will be my co-chef and we will try and create something special together.

The penny space is interesting and Ballard is getting red hot. I hope something really slick like a small bistro goes in there.

Villa Cosenza in Bothell is now just Villa. The food and concept has changed. The owner gave the place to his young kid and he has made it a bit more hip and oustered Gianfranco Bafaro r maybe he left on his own. One of the states great venues which sadly never amounted to much since its heyday. I have heard pretty good things but maybe soon it will disappear forever. Meditteranean cuisine. In Snohomish I like Teddy Bear BBQ, Sailfish I used to love Bush House which is rumored to be renovating and reopening.

Which space did unico take and do they have a website?