New York, New Life

We got back from www.starchefs.com congress on Wednesday night. The whole experience is just amazing and completely reinvigorating.
I'm still having huge problems with my computer and have no time to fix them, I've given up on trying to fix it myself and am taking it to a shop on Monday.
One of the seminars I went to was on Food Blogging. I really want to make this site work and get some traffic through it. I've been slaking really bad over the past couple months, but I am going to work harder at this once my home computer is fixed. I even have plans to buy a better camera to help with the over aesthetics of the page.
So, stay with me a little longer and hopefully this will become a great source of information sharing, with feedback and an openness for all things food to evolve with everyone involved.

"Come To Where Fresh Is"

We hired a new PR company about three months ago. It's a good thing I'm sure. It's just hard when someone else starts making the ideas for you. It's hard to be given an idea to finish or to be redefined by someone that really doesn't know you. It's a blow to the ego. I know that's not the intention, but they don't know me and how I perceive things and how I conceive things. Ideas from my mind are hard enough to get to the bottom of and get onto a plate and into someones mouth with wondrous enjoyment.
I tend to take a lot of time, a lot of time, coming up with what I want to serve. So much time, due to research and learning about new ideas and new approaches, time to establish what could go wrong and what could go better. But, there never seems to be enough time (nor space) to get it perfect. Perfection can be so far away sometimes it hurts.
When that feeling comes on, it's really hard to get and stay motivated. It seems to be a vicious cycle I fall into, when I think that this career will kill me, drive me mad, or keep me from a life of family and time to spend with them I start looking at my options. "What else can I do?" "What else can I make a living at that will allow me the life I want?"
I always come back to cooking, it called to me at a young age and even though I'm getting older and may never reach the fame that so many people associate with it now, I still love to cook and get my ass handed to me on a busy night.
The creative aspect to it is what can drive me crazy and reward me at the same time. I walked around for a week (that's all the notice and time I was given) with a little light bulb in my pocket, looking at everything food oriented around me and trying to figure how to get it inside the bulb and how this item would stand up to being mailed out to 20 or so members of the local media. And, how to represent our new tag "Come To Where Fresh Is" in a vessel that absolutely requires a 2-3 day shelf life.

It's a marketing Ad Lib.

Basil and Banana Bubble Gum.
That's all I could come up with. Nothing else was clicking. Not that I'm unhappy with the gum, I'm just a little worried that nothing else (nothing) was coming to mind. Nothing that I thought I could complete and package within one week.

If you received this gum, I hope you enjoy it. It was fun to make and I think it taste pretty damn good. The Basil and Banana thing's been on my mind for months now.
And as far as what else I can do to make a living? I think I'm ready to start thinking about owning my own place. It's a process, one that can put me into debt for my grandchildren to pay off.
But, the Basil and Banana will have a place on the menu, I'm thinking "Smashed Banana, Basil, Bacon and Peanut Butter Paninnis".

Gas Out!

"Um....is it possible we're running out of gas?"

"Well...., actually...yes it is. We ran out of gas during a busy brunch last summer. Why do you ask?"

This turned into an interesting Saturday night.

We have a gas delivery system that is based on what any other company is based on I guess, employees. Let's say you have a bad employee that's given a job, he or she may or may not perform that job as well or as often as they should. Supposedly, the employee with the gas company that was supposed to deliver our gas last week....well, he wasn't a good employee.

Luckily we only had about 20 covers left hanging on the window. At our restaurant every entree must be out by 7:30 at the latest so the theatre can start on time. The bad news was that the 7:20 wedding for 120 some people was still in the process of being cooked.

Out come the creative ideas.

40 Filets on the neighbors grill.

15 Filets on an electric Panini press

another 20 or so on a sheet pan with 8 sternos directly underneath it.

Pan seared everything to finish up the restaurant orders., thanks to ONE butane burner.

The gas showed up later that night. But, these type of hurdles are no fun.

Although, I couldn't help but laugh. When things are completely out of my control and shouldn't happen, what else can you do?

And yet still, one person in particular thinks that this should be on the list of things to keep an eye on.

Pizza

Right now, in the background, the Travel Channel is on doing a special on Pizzas called "Pizza Paradise". What's funny (and kinda pathetic) is that Foodnetwork is doing a competition on Pizza at the same exact time. Food Network seems to do this a lot.
(side note) Anytime there's a Bizarre Foods or a No Reservations marathon on Travel channel, for some reason the Food Network seems to think that 8 hours of Rachel Ray will really compete. The Travel Channel has succeeded at something Food Network started out as, they have shows about food that actual chefs want to watch. They've combined entertainment with education. ...........And on top of that, Travel Channel has the chick from
Cash and Treasures

Back to Pizza.

The show titled Pizza Paradise gives credit to the very first pizza joint in the country!!!!! Lombardi's is and has earned the crown of the "First Pizza" in America. They also claim to be "The best pizza in America". I'll give them the "First", that should be enough.
I ate there several months ago. One: the service was not that great, OK it's a pizza joint! But it also claims to be the "Best Pizza" joint, Two: the pizza wasn't that good. It was good, but I've had better. And, yes I am a fan of PapaJohns and yes I use the and love the Garlic "butter".
But, I am not born and bread on it. I was lucky enough to have a little family loved pizza hole in the wall called Vic's. Vic's is no longer around. I was very sad to find this out, after moving back into an hour driving distance from it. Vic's Pizza had thin crust, great toppings and these huge bubbles that ran circles around the crust that added a pillow of hot moisture on top of chewy well flavored end to a pizza, well seasoned on a well seasoned cast iron gas oven.
BUT!, Aside from that. I was lucky enough, again, to have a damn gem of a pizza joint in Charleston. Andolini's by far crushes any pizza I've ever had. When I visit Charleston, it's on the list of places to eat. It's on my "pros and cons" list of reasons to move back the Charleston!
I am simply stating, in my opinion, the best pizza in New York, the first pizza in the country is not as good as pizza made by a 40 something(???) New Yorker in the south.
The Shaved meatballs, the sausage, the cheese, the fresh garlic rub, the Ice Cold Cream Soda the lunch special, the common and pleasant staff, normal kids from the local areas of Charleston that know that pride comes from proper work.....they care because they want to.
All I want to do right now is sit back and leaf through a Charleston City Paper to see what bands aren't coming to town, see who's cooking what poorly, what bars are running specials, who's hiring and why? and enjoy a couple slices at a community table inside or under and Andolini's spot.

Crepes

I've been running "BBQ Chicken Crepes" on the menu for a couple months now. I am yet to be happy with the final dish though. Every tweak brings me closer.

the addition of a goat cheese cracker has helped, but to be honest with you it was supposed to be a goat cheese puff. It's close, I can tell it wants to puff but.....it won't.

My patience has never been a virtue though.

The BBQ sauce is an Asian BBQ sauce that I was taught when I was 17 and it's something I'll never forget. It's a great sauce that can fit in almost anywhere and It was taught to me at a time when I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I still remember the day it was taught to me. I tasted the final outcome of it and realized how incredible cooking was. How (what seemed to be) random ingredients treated with appropriate care and love and technique could be combined to make amazing things. I also had a girlfriend that actually knew the name and number of the only Chinese place in our "Mon valley" and she knew to order General Tso's. It was an opening to a new world to me. And this sauce reminds me of that. I still use the same approach to it, kinda, the technique looking back on it doesn't really make sense, but it still works.

Matt Baer had a great idea though, (concerning crepes) I'm gonna wait until we can work on it, but it will be new and unique...as far as we know. You'll probably be the firsts to find out.

"No Reservations"

This isn't a posting about how bad I hate walk-ins, especially in the slow season when you can't prepare for what may not happen at all.
No, this is about the tv show: Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations. The episode name is "Into the Fire". It was by far the best representation of what it's like to be in a busy, real, kitchen.
A couple months ago I had lunch at Les Halles and it was so amazing sitting in a restaurant that the book "Kitchen Confidential" was written in, and then being able to see how things happen in the kitchen via the "Into the Fire" episode.
If you missed it, the show schedule can be seen here .
This episode hit home, a lot. I have nightmares (literally) about work a lot, and one of the reoccurring ones involves streams of tickets coming in that I can't read. This episode was like watching one of my own nightmares. I had waves of anxiety flowing over me just watching someone else go through it.
This episode has it all. "A day in the life of..." type of event. Feel what it's really like. Things like:
The Calm before the storm, prepping while tickets are coming in, what mise en place you need and how much of it, the feeling of a "full board", hitting a wall, the dance with your fellow workers with knives, the use of alcohol as a driving force and why, the other chefs in the "kitchens of make believe" with two or more line cooks per station, owners, being the FNG, the feeling of "holy shit" is this really happening, family meal, feeling your pulse in your temples through your hat (why I don't wear one), acting like a little kid after doing something you do everyday, feeling like you just battled for you life, "The board is clear", treating the covers as a personal score, relaxing near the garbage, and how friendships can withstand these type of days. Day after day.
If you want to know what it's really like to work in a real kitchen, this is the episode to watch.. Look it up and set up a reminder.
I watched it twice in a row.

Foo Fighters / LA story

I didn't meet them or anything. Someone, I'm not sure how to get a hold of, made a couple copies for me and I can't stop listening to them.
Thank You.
So, we traveled up the 101 (well, eventually) through Santa Barbara, Los Olivos, Solvang and then on to Lompoc. This is what makes up most of the third and forth days. We ended up on the "Sideways" tour at times and a little lost at times. I slept in the car for the most part.

At one point we went out to eat and I had an Epiphany...the food sucked!
"Does my food suck?" I asked myself.
After all, we were enjoying foods I've made before in professional career. You know: Chicken, Filet, Lamb Chops, salmon maybe? this wonderful plate of calamari.....this shitty plate of calamari. No flavor, no love, no respect for what it is what sauces go with it (a freaking lemon wedge?! Come on! My Lamb was plated in the modern day approach of linking all the bones together in the center over a slob of roasted garlic mashed potatoes with a sprig of Rosemary sticking out of it....oh wait....that's how it's been done for the past 70(?) years minus the mint jelly.
As much as I try, I know I don't hit it on the nose every time and I always always wish I could do better, but I feel a little better at night knowing I tried. I don't ever want to rest on my laurels, or laurels from years past. Food can't progress as long as millions of customers are willing to pay too much for mediocre food. It bothers me when time is running out and I end up serving something I'm not completely satisfied with, yet the customer loved it. It doesn't make me feel any better.


We did make it to the Pacific Ocean, and drove on the beach (you can do that on Pismo Beach), it was pretty damn cold but awesome to see the hillsides so close to the shore.

I also ran into a little Agar Agar in it's natural state.
Very cool.

Back from LA

Pardon my lack of enthusiasm, the trip to LA was really a great experience, but riddled with bad turns. I will not and do not want to go into detail, but it started as soon as I landed. A phone call that caused excruciating worry that led to hope that, three days later led to an end. And with all that worry and stress came sickness and other feelings.

Still, as I write, I'm running a fever and this is the most I've done all day.

The only other thing I want to say on the matter is that, I hope guilt doesn't make life long decisions.


On to the trip.


So, after getting some Thai food the first night and drinking my stomach into a state of settled-ness, we went for burgers.
That's right, burgers. Many of you have probably heard of the In and Out Burgers like I have but never had a chance to try one do to the fact that they just don't come out this way.
I used to work with this guy from California, Sam Perry, he said the In and Out Burgers were worth being flown out to SC when he needed a fix.
I gotta say, they are damn tasty. Freshly made, fresh cut fries, a super-burger staff that is more professional than most "High End" places. All they did was focus on the product. Which there are three. A hamburger, a cheeseburger or a double double. Unless you know the secret menu.

I got a double double animal style.....filthy.


Then we headed up the coast.....on the wrong highway for several hours. It's OK, saw a lot of great scenery, gives the mind time to wonder.
We ended up in Solvang , a Danish town close to several wineries.

The road to Montevina

I have to point out one thing first, It's seems too weird sometimes when I find something, wether a website or an ingredient or a product that I've never seen before and then I read aobut it two days later on someone elses blog or in the news or somewhere. I don't think (in any way) that I'm beating someone to the punch of marking new ground, I just think it's extremely coincidental sometimes. I would put a link to http://www.ideasinfood.com/ and thier rescent post about Dublin Dr. Pepper but my link code won't work on this page anymore. But, I to ran into Dublin Dr. Pepper apon entering the Montevina wine tasting room. I was so sick of tasting wine at this point, I walked up to the little reach-in cooler they had to see what esle was there to drink and there it was....A "new" Dr. Pepper, to me at least. Go here, http://www.dublindrpepper.com/history.aspx?odrd=true&setuser= to get the history of this Dr. Pepper offspring. Anyone that knows me, knows I love Dr.Pepper. I often kid (seriously-like) that I will someday make a meal based on "my favorite ingredients" Dr. Pepper, Cool Ranch Doritos and a Kit-Kat bar.

Back to the trip. On this day we arrived at Montevina winery in Amador County. We had the privelage of taking the tour, which ended up being almost 4 hours...well spent. We were given the tour by the VP and former Wine maker, Jeff is his name and he pulled no punches with us. We spent 30 minutes looking in great detail the finer points of the 1/2 a million dollar machine that bottles the Montevina juice. And it was awesome. Any question, he was all over it, anything you wanted to see or taste, he was cool with it. No holds barred. We felt like we were boring him at some points.

But then it was on to the tasting room. 17 Different wines. We took our time.


On top of all of this was the house itself, Villa D'toro. Huge. Only four bedrooms, but the last thing you did there was sleep. It was for pure entertainment puposes only. Game room, pool (too cold for), garage with ping pong and darts, living room, dining room, brunch room, sun room, TV rooms, basically if you needed a room for anything it was there.

Dinner was prepared for us the fisrt night by the onstaff chef and server. The second night?.....I really liked the kitchen. Two reach-ins says a lot.

Back from Cali

I have a feeling this will be the first in a series of many postings concerning my recent trip to Napa and Amador Valley's. ( I was wrong in previous post about hitting Sonoma)

First off, I need to state (or re-state) that I've never been any further West then Ohio, so this trip was especially exciting to me.

The pictures and the comments may get a little boring to some, and I'll try to include as much "Food" for others. Including the price of Whoppers in Vegas.

The only time spent in Vegas was in the airport, we were treated to a grand entrance via the runway next to the Strip. I never knew how close everything was to the airport, and how little it is really. Just a random pyramid and a sky needle surrounded by lots of pre-fab homes.

I did triple my spendings on the return lay-over.

We then arrived in San Fran and drove up to Napa Valley. We hit our first winery around 3ish, I can't remember the name of it, but it was the only place to skimp on the tasting portions. Every place else was extremely generous and friendly.

We stayed at the http://www.sutterhome.com/> actual Sutter Home which most people know for their White Zinfandel, and as well you should, they produce in great volume mainly for banquet restaurants and the common wine buyer. They take care of the majority. I bet you didn't know that they are owned by someone else though. A family of Italian immigrants that also own, produce, grow and bottle a lot of great wines. The Trinchero'>http://www.tfewines.com/">Trinchero Family who also produce Terra d'oro, Folie a deux, Menage a Trios, and Montevina to name a few. (There will be great times at Villa D'oro at Montevina to come)

As predicted, we didn't make it to The French Laundry not to Bouchon. It's ok. I will someday. This trip was not a trip for just me, it was for everyone and everyone was focused on wine. But, we did however find some really great food while we where there. The first night was decided over an in room list of restaurants and menus. This one looked the most interesting and we already were recommended to "Go Fish" the next night. http://www.blogger.com/>Cindy's Backstreet
was such a surprise to all of us. It was, however, my unknowingness of where every single chef in the world has put up shop. I realized the as we were leaving that we just had an incredible meal because this was a http://www.blogger.com/>Cindy Pawlcyn joint. And everything was top notch.

Snowshoe Pics

First off, we're up on the mountain, just got there, driving around looking at what's what. We're split up into three vehicles, certain people coming from certain places. Three of us in one vehicle all look at our cell phones and realize we have no service (thanks Verizon) we actually drive around holding our phones in the air like we might hit some random strand of radio wave that will let us send a text. Or better off, let us get a hold of the other two vehicles somewhere driving up the eastern side of the country.
Well, it turned out that not having cell phone use was pretty sweet actually. And, it turned out that there was some kind of satellite telescope on the mountain that blocked all radio waves. It was tough not being able to talked to loved ones (and confusing to them as to why you won't return there calls or texts) or being able to communicate with work and organize orders and such. But, then you realize....I'm on vacation. They're gonna have to suck it up and make things happen for themselves.


Grand Marnier made the trip with us. Along with three or four handles (maybe five) of bourbon, four bottles of vodka, two bottles of gin, two large Jaggers, three or four bottles of wine(come on it's for a week for ten people), one case of red bull, one case of Gatorade, and not enough water, but many of memories and good times. Along with enough food to keep us healthy and happy.

We went out to eat at a place called Ember, the fine dining restaurant on the mountain. It was pretty cool. The food was a
little cold at times, under seasoned, techniques and ideas missed and just not used properly, but enjoying each others company more than made up for any misguided salt block attempts.


Every morning the deer would be looking into the large kitchen window like they were watching TV, knowing all the previous humans would through food out to them, we were an expected source of nourishment. If they only ate proteins they would be the best fed deer on earth. Instead they got bread (9grain) and
frozen waffles (come on, where else are there deer eating waffles?)
and some peanuts. I realized why we eat these little creatures instead of using them as pets or to heard cattle, the are not bright at all....and they taste good. Don't worry, we didn't eat any of our new breakfast friends. Although it was talked about.

Throughout the week we would entertain ourselves by reading the "welcome to our house" books that the owners leave out for guest to fill in with their experiences and good times. Most of them were
complaints, which are well justified, but it seemed to defeat the

purpose of what the owners were looking for, at least that's what I think, I really hope it's a nice old couple that enjoy sharing their home with strangers as if they were grandparents taking in their grandchildren and their friends.

Snowshoe

Vacation!
It's been several several years since I've been on vacation.
Two, maybe, in my life.....well, adult life.
One really great time when I was about 19 with my friend Mandy, driving south and sleeping where we could. Really, someone should have told us that you have to be 21 to rent a hotel room.
The second one about 4 years ago with an ex. Stressful do to money more than anything. Hard to just relax.

This one though....This is what movies are made about. Or should be.
Friends, family and friends that feel like family all gathered for a week in the mountains of West Virginia. Snow Shoe Mountains. (My links still aren't working)OK, West Virginia is completely unimportant to this gathering.
But, think about it....10 or so people in the same house. Chefs, bartenders, servers....all breeds bred of the f&b industry. We're all bringing coolers full of food, bottles of booze (that I'm sure are mostly opened before we get there), wine, music, movies, and all the stories we have of the good times we've all spent together in the past.
We will cook, eat, drink, relax.....some may venture outside for skiing or something like that. I'm going to relax and enjoy this.
The only thing I'm worried about is what the kitchen is stocked with. Equipment, plates, silverware....salt?
I'm bringing salt. You can't live without salt.
I'll take many pictures and get back in a week.
Enjoy yours, I'll enjoy mine.

Craigslist.com

This add http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/fbh/506335905.html was posted to Craigslist almost a month ago and we've heard nothing back.
Just goes to show.... a lot I guess. No help coming this way, maybe there is none?
Anyway, I figured I'd repost it here, no harm in trying.
Maybe someone interested in the food found on this blog will find this link especially interesting.
I've been hanging on to the spare set of Sous Chef keys for over ten months now.

Prime Rib Poached NY Strip

One of the most anticipated things in my life was Prime Rib at the revolving dining room in the sky at age 8 on a family vacation to Niagra Falls.

The way I remember it, there was more build up to "prime rib" from my Dad then there was to the falls....I was not disappointed. The Prime Rib I had that night set forth a craving for slow roasted fatty laden proteins smothered in Horseradish that would last forever.

Whenever we cook off a prime rib for a banquet, I still gorge myself on the lip. The tender, filthy, salt collected, disgustingly eye rolling back in the head, fat absorbing, stringy pieces of meat at the bottom of a roasted prime rib that (usually) gets trimmed off due to excess fat surrounding it, and usually makes the whole cut to big for the plate.

I don't like NY Strip or Filet Mignon. Two over priced pieces of a cow that I will gladly cover with A1 sauce or let the rest of society pay more for to keep the price of ribeye down.

But what to do with all those drippings (fat) from the prime rib? Smell so good, so unhealthy though, smells so good, smells like a slow roasted-herb-salt-pepper-horseradish smothered piece of ribeye should smell after some time in a slow oven. "Save it, I really want to use it for something." I've been saving all fats lately.

This one is gold though.

Feast Or Famine

I don't imagine that I have many followers on this Blog. I pretty much put this together for two reasons.
1. I wanted my parents to be able to see what my life is like in a kitchen. To see what kind of food I enjoy making and why I spend so much time working. To try and let them (and others) understand why I love what I do for a living.
2. For my own personal collection of "Ideas, thoughts, mis-hearings and random spouts of my brain." Something I can direct others to, wether employers, employees, family members, or the curious.

I've been slacking on producing anything of any intrest lately. I realize that. And in some disturbingly sad way, I've actually worried about it.
In the sense that....I haven't been inspired. Inspiration comes and inspiration goes.
After ten months without the two sous chef positions I had filled when I moved here, after three months with only two line cooks (both in thier teens), after a summer/theatre/into fall season doing everyone in 4... thirty minute increments twice a day, as banquets/ordering/blah blah blah everything work/working saute shit goes on..........Now we're pretty much dead.
Sure, the one or two "big" Christmas parties a week are happening, but it's not enough. Not here. Not what it could be. Nothing is ever what it could be.
I find myself taking as much time off as possible. Not really a bad thing....but when you love to work and your work is your love, it has an effect on you. On top of that, still having to be at work when nothing is going on. The only person in the kitchen. No reservations, maybe just driving in to do ordering....KILLS motivation. Being the guy that takes gas money (I was gonna say rent money, but everyone of my employees lives with thier parents, except one and her son works for me to) from them with no hours.
In addition to my excuses, my camera has been broken. BUT, I just got it back yesterday. Thanks to two friends that helped me out. (It's hard to get packages delivered to your house when your never there).
SO! On with new pictures and posts.
Look above.

MY KITCHEN?

I neither have the patience nor the time to go back and see if I've....,,,,sorry .., nor the memory, of whether or not I've posted the past year of construction. Never ending...construction...but, by my own ideas for the most part. Recently, it was brought to my attention that there was a large cooler up for auction....we acquired it.

It sat in the very back doorway to the place. In the dry storage room, for several days.

Very hard to move around back there.

Wouldntjano? The cooler doesn't fit through any doorways into the kitchen.

Ratchet Man, Jimmy. Just cuts this place to shreds whenever. He's been maintaining for his entire life I'm sure. Who am I to interject?

Click on the pictures to understand what needed to be done just to get a cooler into the kitchen. It was taken in through the banquet entrance then through two dinning rooms, some railings and walls had to be removed...then the rest of the doors where cut off..along with some wall and a support beam.

These pictures go through a year of movements.

Understand, this was a house that was forced to be a sandwich shack 80 some years ago and is now being "used" as a fine dining experience in Pennsylvania. We make do, and I'm proud of what it's been turning into. It may not have the latest cooking equipment, it may not have the latest cooking equipment by 1980's standards, but trust me, a lot of cooking happens here. And the challenge in that alone would stop most people.

Tristan Cam

A former employee of mine, that knows how much I love and miss Charleston sent me this link
http://tristandining.com/introNEW.htm
I've never eaten at Tristan, but I worked at least two blocks away from it for years.
A former employee worked there doing pastries for a while, her brother told me about the "Veal Sorbet" he had while he was there, and an old friend was the bar manager there....may still be.

I've talked for years (literally) about a web cam in the kitchen.
Pros: 1.The so called "Reality" TV shows about kitchens are bullshit, a real kitchen cam would prove way more entertaining.
2. The entertainment value is untapped.
3. The spin-offs would be unstoppable.
4. The expressions of true love and passion concerning food might actually be understood by the rest of the world, not passed off as a learned "trade skill".
5. The home cook can put away his or her dreams of owning and operating their own Restaurant, once they see what it takes to work in one.
6. Ideas and techniques can be shared properly with great detail.
7. Want to talk about Drama? Try ER meets Passions. (I've never seen "Passions" but I think it's a soap opera and that's a lot like a kitchen at times.) (Any soap opera will do.)
8. I've already got the T-Shirts in mind. $$$$$$
Cons: 1. The general population will know what goes on in a restaurant kitchen, possibly YOUR restaurant kitchen.
2. The amount of money it would take to pay someone to work the "Bleep" button would put you way over on labor costs. So, he would be fired. And Sailors watching everywhere would blush.
3. Who knew the twisted things you can re-in act with chicken carcasses?
4. The recorded story of the "Potato People Vs. Baked Potato Bar-Man", may or may not be a success story.
5. You'd get to meet someone like John W. Grube, neither pro nor con I guess.
6. And, maybe no one wants to know. What it takes out of the people that feed you.

We just say "Enjoy".
And that's all we want. Is for You to enjoy what we put together for you....and for us. We enjoy when you do.

Mr. Wilson / Levendi Wine Dinner

Jon Wilson.

In 2000, I believe, My brother was the Chef at The Bistro on Kiawah Island, The Bistro was to be closed and turned into offices. There was a brand new restaurant being built down the island a few miles. Turtle Point Grille. The staff from The Bistro would now be living here with my brother in command of the kitchen. With him was his Sous Chef Ed, newly hired Exec. Sous Chef (Me), a collection of familiar servers and a kitchen crew that would impact my life probably forever. Coco, whom you've read about in http://thechefsoffice.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html A Charleston Wedding , John W. Grube whom is a book waiting to happen and of course, Mr. Wilson.

After Randy left Turtle Point Grille, I took over for a time and made Wilson my Sous Chef. The year and a half that we cooked together was very easy. Kiawah was a hard company to work for but Wilson is one of those cooks that you just click with creatively and work ethic wise. And a lot of those people from that kitchen are still big parts of my life.

Wilson flew in from NY, where he lives with his wife Shelly (Turtle alumni) and their dog Stella, to pitch in on our Levendi Estates wine dinner.

After trying the wines and making notes and emailing back and forth. About and hour before the dinner started the menu was finished. I tend to hesitate. I like to get all kinks worked out before committing to anything.

The next postings will include doubles of the featured items do to my flash not working and Wilson emailing me his copies.

Here is Jon's: Seared Scallop, Banana-Apple Bread, Butternut-Maple Jus, Chestnut Foam

The Butternut-Maple jus was amazing.