inventolux

Where would a chilled Japanese Spruce soda with hot Wasabi Milk and Wasabi Ice Cubes be categorized?

Im working on my own restaurant due to open sometime this fall. www.motorestaurant.com

whats your name?

I was his sous chef. The only reliable source for information is to either speak with charlie himself or talk to a guy named Mark Signorio. Dont believe everthing you hear.........examples of other charlie trotter openings: London.....gone Vegas......gone Sonoma....gone San Francisco......gone NYC........gone Charlie has told me personally that we (the restaurant) will open another Charlie Trotters when we get this one (chicago) right. That day in his mind will never come. Thats why he will always have on of the top 10 restaurants in the world. He builds the anticipation to open another restaurant to make the one he already has even more exclusive. Its brilliant marketing and high standards put to the true test. He is in his restaurant almost every night for service doing everything from looking for crumbs on the hotline during service to making sure the guest restrooms are cleaned after each use. There is NO WAY he will ever relinquish that control because he upholds it on a minute by minute basis from the office to the dining room to the kitchen to the garbage can in the alley.

I worked for Charlie Trotter for four years and I can tell you from personal experience there will not be a Charlie Trotters NYC. (My last day was in January of this year)

I grew up watching Jaques on PBS and was always impressed with his knife skills. Knife skills are a trademark of a skilled chef. I have met Jaques on 6 occasions and each time he has remembered my name.........impressive.

I was attending the James Beard awards and Chef Samuelsson invited our staff over for lunch before the awards ceremony. It was easily the best lunch I have ever had........15 courses in all. The most memorable one being Texas Kobe Beef in green tea broth.

There are 2 ways I approach Flayism, first its OK to never be present at your restaurant as long as those in charge are worthy to uphold the highest standards. Anyone eat at Mcdonalds lately? Did you meet the chef? Who cares? It was what you were looking for. Second, the american dream...democracy...politics will always bind the fabric of our society. Its best to create a system in a restaurant that can produce an experience that can be duplicated so more people can enjoy it. As a former starving chef I would have loved the chance to eat at a place like Daniel or Charlie Trotters. Its people like flay who are bringing the costs down so more of the population can have access to it. One must respect that even if one hates it. There will always be "top tier" restaurants, if a chef can perfect the art of stamping out a four star restaurant in New York and bring the same or better experience to Chicago, then we have truly evolved. If we can create a chicken mcnugget(which has 77 ingredients by the way) that is exactly the same from Zimbabwe to the lower east side of Manhattan, then we can perfect 4 star chain restaurants that WILL BE CONSISTENT from city to city and state to state with the highest standards in mind. Flay may have not executed this dream yet, but his vision for the future of fine dining is in the right direction. Nobody gets it perfect on the first attempt or the first thousand attempts.

Spencer..........do you work as a chef?

slow down, concentrate and develop some calluses "do you know what your hands are for? they so you can burn them" - Gordon Ramsey

its not how you look its how you cook - paul bocuse

the evolution of the foam definitely has its place, however one must move beyond inert recipes within the foam its self. We forget that time and temperature alter shapes and sizes over very short periods of time. Using a ramedial example: ice cream melts on plates at room temperature. To speed this process up with a foam is well.............something you will have to wait and see, its very exciting.

Popped Corn, there in lies the key to this brilliant discussion

Its not how you look its how you cook

In order to create new food ideas we must begin to create new cooking tools. However if cooking is the transfer of heat and the presence of energy what tools are needed for a purpose without energy and what should the design of these tools stem from

try carbonated solids, there in lies true fun