MattyC

I guess for me, short answer: Whatever it is you make for work normally, or at least close to it. I mean, 3 courses for 65 people, they're using your name and efforts - sounds like work. Unless you're just doing this for fun and just want a little money on the side, but even then, it's a decent amount of effort - even for friends and fun, work is work. Especially when you say this is more formal. I've done enough events with friends to realize even though it sounds fun, after a while, it's still a lot to do for free or just a few bucks.

Forgive the intrusion - generally don't comment on regional stuff outside Boston or Maine, but happened to see this, felt maybe I had 2 cents worth chiming in with. So I get your idea - I actually run a dinner club in the Boston area, partially focusing on the social and intimate parts of dining out, so i get where you're coming from. It's actually one of the reasons why I started doing it, because I felt like there was a disconnect between the food and the actual social part of going out. I like talking to guests. I like being able to have conversations with people. There are a million and a half events, and a million and a half popups around here, but everything just mimicked regular old restaurant dining, so I thought I'd bring the social love back into it. I structure everything to be at single communal tables, and try and have a lot of the food family style or share able with other people attending. It works well - people have made friends - some of them even started an alumni facebook group to help stay in touch with not just each other, but myself and the other guest industry people I bring on. So our ideas aren't far off, and now is the part where I chime in a little bit - 40 people is too much for something to be intimate. It really is. That's a full dining room for some places. I purposely keep my number counts at 15 guests or lower. I've talked with guests about that very same thing, asking if they think we should go larger, and it's been a resounding no. It gets too loud, and even if people dining get in the time to talk to myself or some of the other talent creating dishes, they also want to be able to socialize with the others there. Not to mention, you would need a bunch of staff, a bunch of people running the food, doing wine, etc - with smaller groups, the chefs can do it themselves ( or at least help out a little more), which is more face time. After 3 months of doing 3 or 4 dinners per month, everyone attending has shot down any thoughts of doing something larger, all giving the reason it would ruin the intimacy. Second - even with chefs able to do it, for most likely not a lot, if any, money - getting 3 dishes ready for their maybe 1 day off, 40 portions of each, is a good amount of work to be asking, even for something they think could be fun. For something intimate, people love when the chef talks about the dish, the food, what it involved, etc, and with 40 portions of 3 different courses in the mix, that could mean less time for the chef chatting and getting the guests involved, which sounds like part of the whole idea in the first place. I know that you mentioned that you could structure it to have one chef in the kitchen, while the other is out 'schmoozing' and eating, but unless you have a large staff, or a long delay between everything, i'd think the other chef would want to be getting things ready. Generally I'd think a chef coming out and talking after each course would be a little better, instead of coming out and starting with 'Hey, you know that fish course you ate 40 minutes ago?....'. Just a thought. Those are the first things I thought of. I hope this doesn't sound negative - I really love the idea and thought, but for something hailed to be intimate, something to get you involved and have a little more face time with a chef, this just seems a little.... too much. Sounds more like a publicity dinner, than something put together to be intimate. People want to see the chef cook, they want to have a drink with them after, they want to interact, etc. Again, just take this as 2 cents, or just write it off completely if you want. I don't get world renowned chefs, but myself, friends, and others I utilize have been written about, and are known at least with locals and those in the industry, so we do have people wanting to talk to us. I just think if you're hailing something as an intimate time with a chef or two, your idea is a little grand. Too many staff, too many diners, too many moving parts. Get gritty, get people in there and involved. Distance the event from every other chef event.

I wanted to add something, just because to me it's such a loaded question, but I think for the most part, people answered it. It's a lot of things, not just one, and it's not a simple answer. Staffing, storage, consistency - everything that's been mentioned is a factor, but also, at least with some demographics, how much $$ is left at the end of the weekend? I mean, in most cases, generally the big money spending time is during the weekend - whether it be restaurant or otherwise - so having an extra period to blow money, or in the case of normal Mondays, coming back to work along with being lighter in the wallet, influences people going out. No matter where I've worked, Monday's are the slowest. Chances are restaurants have tried it, and it just doesn't work save for a few select places. Sure, it is rough on the people who have the time and can afford it, but I know when I was in my 20's, even late 20's there wasn't always a lot left in the bank start of the week, and I wouldn't get paid until Wednesday-Friday. Why open when the majority of the people are starting their week back to work, broke, and can't stay out late due to work in the AM? Adding on the what other said, getting prep and product back up to par is a project on Mondays - even if produce delivers over the weekend, chances are proteins and dry goods don't, so early on you get that back up. And days off? There was a stretch last year I went 122 days without a day off until Thanksgiving hit - opened the restaurant at 9 AM every day, left once my staff had left at midnight, every day. Sure, lot's of people in my area looking to dine out on Thanksgiving. I know a few restaurants that made a killing. But we needed a day off. Sometimes it just comes to that, regardless of profit and customers - gotta keep staff happy, or at least semi rested. A lot of what I'm talking about is more just about the general inquiry about Mondays, but it applies to 'Holiday' Mondays as well. Changing schedules, deliveries, prep, time off - it all factors in. I guess bottom line is that if it really was worth it for the restaurant, they'd open, but in a lot of cases it's just not, despite how it looks from the outside.

Since pretty much every year I was that poor sap cooking for everyone on Valentine's - I was lucky last year, I ran a 'rock ballad' themed Valentine menu at the restaurant I was at, just to have fun, and poke at the overpriced oyster and chocolate menus. It was a blast, went over well. This year I'm just doing a fun popup for people at a host spot. I absolutely hate the standard restaurant v-day stuff. It's boring, overpriced, and very rarely ever goes well - It's a ditch effort for a lot of places to pack it in, and most times they don't know how to handle it, over over book the reservations - I could just keep going. If the wife and I were to actually have the day off, and do something, it would be either NOT eat on the 14th, or just cook at home. Much happier that way, and no other diners can ruin your night either. I just can't figure out how people go from 'Showing a loved one you care', to 'let's go eat overpriced food, in a restaurant just like everyone else, eat the same thing, to show we love each other'. I know that while people are coming in to essentially give me money, I'd rather be closed and make people cook dinner at home for each other, actually mean something.

I think for sure that I see it less than less these days. When I was younger, I worked for the kind of chef that would throw cast iron pans at me, and promote an environment where it was ok for the staff to destroy your things, ridicule you, etc. This was more common, at least for me, 10-12 years ago? I've still worked with a few chefs over the more recent years who essentially said that if I wasn't a dick, that if I wasn't an asshat to the younger guys, that they wouldn't toughen up without bullying - I've never been a believer in that, and these days I never run my kitchens that way. And luckily, I don't see that as much either with other places- people have been opting for more team building environments from what I've seen - I mean, food generally should taste better and things will run more smoothly if the person cooking or running the kitchen is happy, right?

I mean, answer is sorta both? I've had great regulars, as well as terrible ones. People are going to be people, regular or not. The last kitchen I ran, I had one regular in particular who would come in all the time to try the specials, would write about the new dishes on her blog, would give me feedback via email or twitter, good or bad - always made sure to bring people who would spend money and not expect free shit, would always pass word around about the restaurant - was just an all around great contact to have with feedback. Then there was another couple, who would only come in for brunch, yet would complain, moan, write nasty things *every* week, and I mean every week. No matter what they ate or drank, they were intent on complaining in attempts to get free things. Even going so far as to say they wanted their whole check comped because their poached eggs were 'still runny' on their benedict. Another time was that their bloody mary was 'a bit too heavy handed with the tomato' and that it 'shouldn't have bacon in it', even though I believe it was listed as having such right on the menu.. You deal with good and bad, I don't think it's one way or the other.

As much as I feel like I should cheer on someone from Portland Maine where i'm from, gotta go with placing my bets on Maws down here in Boston. Love O Ya as well, but still think Maws is going to take it over at Craigie. I do somewhat have to agree with johnyd though, I think out of anyone from ME on the list, Krista would be the one to get it, just don't see the ME crew taking it this year. So I guess if either Maws, Cushman, or Desjarlais took it, i'd be pretty happy for a NE winner.

Every day before starting my shift at work, steel and strop on balsa wood w/chromium oxide. Sharpen on 1k/6k then move to steel/strop when needed, usually every 3 weeks or so?

Pre-ordered mine, got it last Tuesday when it came out. Got through the whole thing pretty quick. Great book, although if you've been following 'Ideas in food' for years, you'll find a few things in the book fine-tunings of previous ideas they have talked about - which isn't to say that's a bad thing, not at all, just some things may look familiar. It does very much convey the curiosity and spirit of Aki and Alex, so even if you've experienced some of the recipes and ideas they toss around in the book, it's just as thought provoking as anything else they have contributed to, and for that alone, is more than enough I would think for anyone to buy the book. Already made a few people order the book, as I think this is one of those 'everyone needs to have' kind of books.

Just got back from 13 hours of cooking at work, for about 500+ people. I worked one of the apps, and the turkey entree from part of the 4 course dinner we were doing. Everyone and their mother ordered the damn turkey as the third course choice. So yes, i'm a little tired. If I even see another damn turkey in the near future i'm going to vomit.

I've noticed a pretty big difference going from my old setup to stones + paste stropping. Really nice mirror edge, and crazy sharp. Can only imagine how great that will be with the Takada :-p Pastes are fairly cheap and last awhile too, which is great. I know my little squirt bottle of chromium is only like 15 bucks, and lasts months.

Very nice man, huge fan of the Takada's, but since other than novelty, I haven't been able to justify laying down the $$ for it - already using my custom 10" chefs and chan chi kee cleaver for basically everything, so at this point in time don't really need anything else :-\ Concerning the paste though, since you are going to baby the crap out of that knife, maybe get more than one paste? I tend to rock chromium oxide paste, which is fantastic, but I know a few people that move up in stropping pastes like you do with actual stones so maybe something like chromium or a boron + a diamond?. Haven't heard that legal pad thing, I just use a piece of leather or balsa wood for my pastes - keep stropping until the paste has taken on too much metallic particles (which takes a while) , clean it, reapply paste - easy. Again though, awesome choice on the knife, little jealous :-p

We have people come help out in the restaurant on occasion - just people in their 20's and 30's who just want to learn things, or decide if it's something they like and want to pursue a path down that road. I definitely say just go on in or call, ask the chef, see if that's something they wouldn't mind letting you do. Most of the time, in my experience, they don't mind having someone come in who wants to learn.

I think it's fun. I mean, others have pointed out, people have been having fun with word play for a while (i.e. tomato sashimi, watermelon carpaccio, etc, to name one or two). Sure, there are times when it's WAY too far of a stretch, but I think this works, and like Andrew said, these actually sound pretty good - I would try it for sure if I sat down and saw that.

Nothing super fancy, really, as we are just playing things pretty simply this year for all of this. Basically just brining the turkey in a fairly standard salt/sugar brine, roast as normal, then when it's done and it's pulled out to rest for a few, cover it with plastic wrap or a big bag or something, and cold smoke it with some rosemary and let it sit for a few. Just a finish for the turkey, too much smoke and of course it gets to be a bit much, but i've found it to be a nice hint as long as you just do it long enough while it rests. I agree with you on the beer thing as well. I actually have a few big bottles of the Dogfish 'Theobroma' kicking around i'm going to bust out. Good stuff, part of their ancient ale series - it's based on some 500 year old alcohol, or so they say. It's good though, made with cocoa nibs, aztec cocoa powder, honey, and chilis.

Ah, personally i'm a little sad about this year. At work we are doing a coursed dinner on Thanksgiving itself, so I won't be having dinner with the family this year, and since they all live a few hours away and all have it planned to have it on the day itself, as opposed to last year, when we had it the weekend after. Still, i'm trying to get a little something together with a few friends where I am the weekend before. We have a few ideas rolling around right now, and I think the plan is to pretty much just make it a giant meat-filled and gluttonous holiday meal. So far, it's as follows: -Salad of sorrel, radicchio , and crispy pigs ear -Roasted bone marrow, parsley, capers -Pork belly confit, trio of homemade mustards -Fois gras stuffed trotters -Rosemary smoked turkey, cast iron roasted brussels, spiced macomber turnip puree Just an early set of ideas, although in all likeliness will just be adding to that list, rather that subtracting and/or changing.

It's scaring me how much I want that Takeda. Early birthday present for myself i'm thinking? I second a vote on that guy over the blazen though. I've used a blazen and that same size hattori - would put the blazen over the hattori, personally I liked it but would go for the blazen over the hattori any day, just felt better. But that takeda is damn sexy...

Kinda funny, I think i'm quite the opposite. Back in the day I swore by my 8", couldn't see myself ever going bigger. Now that i'm in higher end places, i'm a lot happier with my custom 10" for pretty much everything. I actually can't stand lighter knives, I tend to like something with a good amount of heft. Seems to work out well enough though, even my precision cuts all tend to be better than people I tend to work with flaunting their 210mm's. Not to say I don't use my smaller chefs, but it's rare these days.

I actually watched the whole season - and you know what, it wasn't all that bad, especially when compared to Top Chef this season and the gripes I had with that. Now, yes, it is a Ramsey show, so it's chock full of overplayed drama, bad acting, and Ramsey still trying to act like the cock on the wall. But you know what, I actually liked a good amount of the contestants, and thought the person that won, was actually someone who should have. I was rooting for her the whole time (how could you not?), and was happy to see the outcome. Not the best show in the world, but in a cute way, I was entertained. And congrats to the cute southern girl, I agree.

I liked it. Johnny is awesome, and I feel he was probably the best pick for head judge, so no problems there. Seems like all of the contestants know their stuff for the most part - although one of my few gripes was that the contestants were a little on the... annoying side. Could they not find any party chefs who weren't queens? If every episode is going to involve crying, both in the top three and bottom three, it's going to annoy me. With that said, my only other problem with it so far is that Gail seems a little.... forced with her lines. Not a huge problem, I think she still did a decent job as the host this time around. All in all, I like it so far, good addition to the 'Top Chef' family. It's about time.

I'm actually a little shocked that you are shocked. I mean, the time I wake up is usually one of the more hectic times of my day, and the sad truth is that it's that way for a lot of adults, especially those who work in the food industry, and that little extra sleep is usually far more needed than taking time to make breakfast. To me, working a 15 hour day, getting home in time enough to get 6 hours of sleep, only to get up and do it all again, is about utilizing my time for sleep. Granted, not all of my days are like that, but those that I don't have to get up right away, that extra sleep is far more needed as well. To me, the whole kid issue is completely different. Kids don't have the pressing issues adult life drags you down with, and have the time to wake up, get things together, eat breakfast, etc. And of course, most parents always try and make sure they can do for their kids they can't do for themselves. Kind of a different story. So would I make sure my kids had breakfast before school? Of course. Also, I do have to admit, personally I care even less for breakfast just do the fact I usually feel great and do well without it, so why bother. Yes, I know it's technically important, but my math teachers in highschool years ago also said I would need all of those equations in everday life. I work on my feet all day long in a kitchen, and I always feel cheerful my health is always good. So for me, it works.

Well, for starters i'm not awake in time for 'breakfast'. I work dinner shift, which means I get home between 11:30 and sometime after midnight. I need to shower and eat dinner, so i'm usually up pretty late, so chances of me waking up unless I have to are slim. when I do wake up, it's pretty much toss on clothes + grab knives = time to head to work. I actually don't know a whole lot of people that actually have time to make a real, full fledged breakfast. Nobody I know actually eats it other than a coffee or a red bull. I still function fairly well.

Glad you had a good time, I keep reminding myself I need to head on over there, it's been a while since i've been there, and you would think I would since I live right here in cambridge. Still, my fav here (not counting where I work, obviously) is craigie on main. Always have awesome stuff over there.

I second what Edward says exactly. I do this for a living, anywhere from 7 to 15 hours a day 6 days a week, and 99% of the time, I'm only using my paring knife, serrated bread knife, and my 10" chefs, along with my trusty fish spat, and maybe a pair of long kitchen tweezers. I have worked with many people who have spent $$ on full sets - anything from cheap knives, to really nice japanese knives, only to maybe use one or two of them at best - it's just not needed. I would research into a few knives for a bit. Look into your price range, maybe try and see how well their steel holds up, etc - also keep in mind, just because the steel is super hard, doesn't mean it's the best choice either. Being able to keep up with and maintain your knife is just as important, a lot of the super hard steels are a bit more annoying for general upkeep purposes - a really nice knife that doesn't have a good edge, isn't going to be much use to you. Once you have an idea of a decent knifes in your price range, then see if you can feel them out, see if they are comfy. Some decent knife stores will also sometimes let you test them out - let you bring in a cutting board and some potatoes and see how you like them. And since this is for school, again I have to agree with Edward - you don't want to risk anything great there. Get something good but somewhat on the cheapside for a workhorse at school, but if you are getting a nice one, leave it for personal use at home.

More of an agreement to what Elizabeth said, as I haven't had a chance to hit up Hungry Mother in a while, I can say that i've heard really good things about both the chicken and the the shrimp and grits as well - wish I could add more, but from what I know most everything there should be pretty decent, and I always hear the chicken is a standout, as odd as that is.