Chef/Writer Spencer
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Posts posted by Chef/Writer Spencer
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I have yet to eat a meal in a restaurant that I felt was worth the money I paid for it, I find everything ridicuously over priced.
Kristin, this is usually true.
I'd rather pay Thomas Keller $400 to roam freely in his kitchen for a day than pay for a meal.
Suzanne, Kristin is the new shogun-regent of the Japan board.
Why, when he does that for free anyhow. 505.00 is worth the experience I had. I don't eat out a lot at these type places, as I'm usually the one behind the stoves. It was all last minute, exciting stuff. I got the reservation through Thomas two weeks out. The minute I got confirmation from his republican guard via e-mail I called VISA and had my limit extended from 4700.00 to 11,000. I'm still paying the thing off but don't regret a moment. Someday soon I'll get to travel around and have others pay my way....
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Ah mais oui, tu es correct mon amis.....It is raspberry....
Merci, Spencer, merci!! I'm going nuts -- just call me La Reine du Crazy.
you can call me "le roi de merde"
you can call me le roi de merde....
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Gremolata with tangerine instead of lemon,
with a sauce made with caramel, chambord, veal demi, a nug of butter and garnished with nice raspberries
Spencer -
what's chambord? The Larousse says something about a method for braising whole fish in red wine. What's the secret?
If I may answer for Spencer (Chef/Bard, forgive me for jumping in ahead of you!
), Chambord is a French-made berry liqueur -- and I'm suddenly brain-dead because I don't remember the type of berry!! Raspberries? No, that's Framboise. Fraise des bois?? I don't even have a bottle around so I can check! Somebody help me out, please!! 
Ah mais oui, tu es correct mon amis.....It is raspberry....
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Spencer, your's was for two, right? So, $505 each?
I'm interested in seeing what the meals would have cost without the wine.
Anyone?
That is correct.
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If we're including wine and we're including business dinners, I've done around $2k (US) per person on a few occasions -- and not even at great restaurants; I'm talking steakhouses. On my own dime, my max was probably about $400 per at Ducasse.
Man, do I feel taken.
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It's illegal to ship Helen Turley here. Just another thing I've got to be bitter about.
i find that if you gag and tie up people, and put them in your trunk, you'll have little problem getting them over just about any state line. he said, inanely.
Understood Mr. Tommy. And if I would have driven out to Yountville I would have maxed out my cards with illegal purchases. But with the security at airports heightened I wasn't about to stick that stuff in my suitcase. And in general, without going to Atlanta or Chicago (8 hours), you can't get these kinds of wines anywhere. It sucks. We've tried to work around the system. Shields Hood, a master sommelier, high end wine distributor in town and a good friend can't even get the stuff. And if he can't get it then it's ungettable.
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About $400 at the Inn at Little Washington. French Laundry was in the $300 range.
Oh damn...please don't let what I paid deter you potentials from frequenting the laundry. I asked for every upsell available and let Stuckey choose our wines--within reason. Jana did request that we try at least one of Helen Turley's products so we went for the Marcassin Pinot (315 bottle). I can see two people on a budget getting out of there under 400 easy.
I have Turley's shipped to my house so I don't have to pay big bucks at a restaurant!
Yeah, sure but in Memphis there's a law that only allows us to get certain wines. It's illegal to ship Helen Turley here. Just another thing I've got to be bitter about.
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yeah unless you're some kind of stephen hawkin meets thomas keller meets J.D. Rockefeller you'd do better to use your hard earned money as kindling. it takes intellect, vigilance and an uncanny knack for PR to sustain a restaurant let alone make any kind of meaningful profit.
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Just a few random Rendezvous ( R ) comments
Can't attest to any other methods in Memphis, but ( R ) cooks their ribs without any seasoning. Prior to serving they mop the ribs with hot mixture of 50% water and 50% vinegar. Then they shake on the dry rub and serve.
Been there three times, guest of Memphis residents. Being famous and sought out by tourists does not make food good or bad.
Third visit was with my wife. Went to the cooking area and asked if there was MSG in the rub. They said no. Wife is allergic to MSG. Kicks off migraine. Before the meal was over I had to rush her to the hotel room. Gave her an Imitrex shot in the keester and put her to bed. Boy was I pissed.
Bought a jar of their rub and took home. MSG is an ingredient. Poured it out on counter and separated the parts. Used what I could discern and added my own thoughts and made my own blend, sans MSG and a little hotter than ( R )s.
Viejo
Hey, welcome to my town amigo. Smoke and mirrors and lots of bad food.
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About $400 at the Inn at Little Washington. French Laundry was in the $300 range.
Oh damn...please don't let what I paid deter you potentials from frequenting the laundry. I asked for every upsell available and let Stuckey choose our wines--within reason. Jana did request that we try at least one of Helen Turley's products so we went for the Marcassin Pinot (315 bottle). I can see two people on a budget getting out of there under 400 easy.
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Gremolata with tangerine instead of lemon,
with a sauce made with caramel, chambord, veal demi, a nug of butter and garnished with nice raspberries (ratio of caramel to veal demi 2 to 10, the caramel shouldn't make the thing like a dessert sauce but instead act as a foil for the chambord) it shouldn't be cloying,
making a nice risotto, pull the meat off and mix with the risotto at the end of cooking, a little reggiano...
make savory crepes, maybe some green onion, fresh corn in the mix...fill with confited meat, Tallegio, serve with a nice blood orange "salad", blood orange demi,
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Those of you sick of hearng about my French Laundry meal bear with me....
And this will cross reference the whole tipping thing in Dark Tales From the Recession.....
French Laundry, total bill after wine and 18% grat. ( a service charge added to the bill), 944. I added, or tried to add the 56 extra to make it a perfect 1000.00. But as Thomas Keller was making his way to my table to meet me I slipped up when doing the addition and added 66. They ran my card based on my over-pay and the final bill ended up costing 1010.00--a nomial expense compared to the experience I'm left remembering.
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I'd love to concur and expound but if I have to eat another goddamned Frito chip I think that's curtains for me. Bad, bad experience as a kid. Waterchestnuts too...like chewing on stryofoam. Other than that, and certain varieties of fish that are just wrong to serve in the center of the country when it takes four days to receive I'm with you--oh and gulf oysters. Ah, you better nevermind me.
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arrogant chef.
Redundant!
We couldn't have it any other way....
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I guess, in retrospect, I did answer that question like an arrogant chef.
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Put all of the ingredients together in a bowl, wisk vigorously together and set aside. Wok fried the meat and vegetables to your liking then pour a fair amount of your liquid over it. The heat will cause the cornstarch to thicken the sauce to a glaze. Continue to stir fry on a slightly lower temp to cook the cornstarch's offensive texture out and boom...it's real simple.
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I believe in karma, in every aspect of your life. This untrustworthy lout should be shaken down for the tip, made to personally call the customer and inquire (in front of management) about the intentions of the extra bump, and/or be dismissed based on the findings. The last thing you need as a restaurateur is a lone gun waitron unit squirreling away undeserved funds from paying customers. There's enough dishonesty going on anyways without dicking the people that are paying your bills. I was a waiter once, and partook of such backhanded behavior on a regular basis--that was back when I was losing my wallet every other day and getting held up at gun point in front of my own abode. Paybacks are a bitch.
And hey, you can PR the fuck out of yourself as an owner if you try to amend a situation like that. Swindlers never win.
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Duck was on sale a few weeks ago (99 cents a pound "some pieces may be missing") and I roasted most of them for that Fabulous Fat.
We've done comfit duck legs. Chicken legs too. There's still lots of succulent fat. The flavour's even better.
Can I just boil it up, freeze it, and carry on indefinitely? Or should I simply fry everything I can think of in it, add it to mashed potatoes, and wait for ducks to go on sale ?
We meet again. Duck fat has a longer half-life than a pile of fossil crusted nuclear waste. It's like shortening. That fat'll still be usable long after your desire to use it has expired. Keep it refridgerated and you should be golden for at least a couple of years. Fuck Emeril, Duck Fat Rules.....
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You know, I've been thinkin' (always a half empty proposition)....I don't think Escoffier rhymes with anything. Not a word. Nothing's close.
"Soup of the day"?
I want your job Lex.
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If the CIA were investigating classical French cuisine, wouldn't they have an Escoffier Dossier?
Maybe that doens't rhyme all that well but it popped into my head as I sit here blowing off work.
Uh sure, my friend. Now, GET BACK TO WORK, STAT.
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but they may return at some point down the line. everything else is retro these days, so why not Escoffier classics?
what does soupe du jour mean, then? the original meaning that is...
my knowledge of French is quite lacking
Soba
Soupe du jour is soup of the day in menu Franglais.
Actually if you go back to the original Escoffier, rather than the later Grand Hotel Cuisine, his recipes are remarkably fresh and modern. More often than not the sauces are relevant and often reductions, the garnishes apropriate.
You know, I've been thinkin' (always a half empty proposition)....I don't think Escoffier rhymes with anything. Not a word. Nothing's close.
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OK, at the risk of sounding post-hyper-forward thinking-modern
boil parsnips, run through food mill, add cream and beurre noisette (brown butter) and a light pinch of raw minced garlic
and serve with a nice white flaky fish. I did it with Barrimundi (spelling?)--which they are also calling Australian Seabass-- last week for a tasting menu with just a little more beurre noisette on top of the fish acting as a sauce. Delicate, fragrant, made for each other. Substitute striped bass, halibut (which is back in season), or a particularly nice brown trout. It works best in small portions.
Most you have ever paid for a restaurant meal
in Restaurant Life
Posted
Mention my name and you're sure to get---"That stalker guy from Memphis?"