Monday, July 28, 2008

THAT GREAT BIG BURRITO IN THE SKY

The end is here. Kitchen Toro fulfilled the goal of chronicling my food adventures while attending the French Culinary Institute in SoHo. It bridged the writing gap after departing from The New York Times. Now, Kitchen Toro is eating that great big burrito in the sky.

But I'm continuing to write. From Pearl Oyster Bar's Garde Manger slot I moved to the appetizer spot at Ed's Lobster Bar and quickly to Grill. I even got Sauté experience. Ultimately there was little more I could learn at Ed's (see Bill Buford's "Heat" and the three month kitchen time period) so, I left-- to travel through Europe where I researched...that's right, street food.

I parlayed that three month European trip into almost three months of travel through South America for Rough Guides. I researched and ate my way through cow face, bake and shark, chicken hearts and mariscorda in Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil in order to write four chapters for their upcoming Budget Guide to South America (due out February '09).

While I'm currently not working in a professional kitchen and am focusing on freelance writing, both food and travel related, the Toro spirit lives on.

If this is your first time here click these links to read my first post and to find out what it was all about. You're also welcome to read about my time at The New York Times and check out my New York Times clips and profile. You can also find my restaurant reviews on the lower right hand side of the blog under "Recently Visited," my FCI final project, and my daily feature archives here (Meme Monday, Non-Alliterative Tuesday, Wednesday Wash-Down, Thursday the Long Way, and Foraging Friday)

Thanks for reading and for all your support!

FULL POST...

Saturday, December 02, 2006

KING ARTHUR, KNIGHT OF THE OYSTER COUNTENANCE

I had been getting into a pretty good oyster-shucking groove opening a few hundred a night and increasing my speed and then in a relatively quiet moment when I didn't have any dishes to make for service it happened-- the oyster knife slipped. Right. Into. My. Hand. The fleshy part of my hand at the base of my thumb.

I pressed the cut hard and went into the main kitchen to find the sous-chef, Ed McFarland who is trained as a paramedic. "Oh shit. What'd you do now?"

Beyond the gruff reaction, Ed was a model of calm and authority-- which was reassuring. He brought me downstairs to the first aid kit and warned me not to faint. It was exactly then that I felt that I was about to black out. I was really angry at myself for getting the cut breathing pretty deeply. Ed noticed and told me to calm down. I tried to relax but I couldn't feel my thumb nor could I feel the tip of my pointer finger. It was a good cut, good enough that it would leave a decent scar and deep enough that I could have gone for stitches. Perhaps I should have but I hate hospitals and the idea of waiting with the sick, injured and dying for a few stitches while abandoning my station in the second week of work didn't appeal to me. Ed offered to take me to the hospital but I opted for taking a ten minute break sitting outside on a milk crate and then returning to my station. I wasn't worried about the cut healing but I was concerned that I'd severed a nerve.

The waitresses kindly took pity on me and magically, oyster orders slowed to a trickle. I was making salads and desserts with one hand. I got through the night and the next day with some shucking help from Ed and Chef Charles. Likewise, I got through the rest of the week and the following one without regaining the feeling in my thumb though I did start to feel my pointer fingertip in the following days. I gained a resolve to beat back the oysters and to improve my shucking skills. I also gained a resolve to do all I could to prevent a similar accident. I began to quest for a proper osyter shucking glove. I made my first visit to the new Broadway Panhandler location not far from Pearl and scored my new glove, $140, profesional discounted down to $118.

It is basically chain mail. It's got some weight to it and I've had to adapt and compensate for the lack of dexterity. But what I've lost in left-handed nimbleness, I've gained in having five working digits. The wound has healed but the feeling in my thumb still hasn't fully returned.

The glove, as you may imagine, inspired some new jokes and needless to say, I've gained a few new nicknames from it in addition to the ones I already had (Clark, Fonz and most often, Cowboy). I've also regained my confidence and some dexterity. Now to hopefully keep all my digits through the rest of my stay at Garde Manger.

FULL POST...

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

OUR FCI CLASS PICTURE

Minutes after completing our final exam we entered the dining room at L'Ecole where we were given champagne glasses and our picture was taken. It was the quiet after the storm and we were all much relieved-- elated after 10 months to finally be done. It was a happy moment. In the halls of the French Culinary Institute class pictures line the walls, including one that I often saw downstairs near the kitchens, which showed Bobby Flay looking at one of his classmates, apparently laughing or goofing off. Having taken the final and gone through the schoolyear, we can understand the looks on everyones' faces a little better.

Today our FCI class picture arrived. While I don't miss dreading the final, I do miss the thrice-weekly ritual of going to school and being with my classmates. We were a good group.


Names put to faces on the jump...

From left to right, front row: Dan Haar, Pat Kerrigan, Jung-Min Kim, Philip Clary, Zoe Brickley.
From left to right, second row: Me, Chad Hapshe, Time Klin, Lisandra, Sampurna Satpathy, Christine, Kenny Hubschman, Bora Yoon.
From left to right, third row: Jessica Moore, Meg Griffin, Alex Rosende, Sarah Blair, Tiasha Ballard, Jane Crocker, Marguerite Sharkey, Gary Comstock.
Fourth row: the judges.
From left to right, back row: Chef Greg Bear, Chef Roger Powell, Chef Janet, Chef Alain, Chef Nick, and Chef Candy.

I'll have to return to school to see where our picture is.

FULL POST...

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

A NEW JOB: PEARL OYSTER BAR

Back in early August I applied for a job at Pearl Oyster Bar. I didn't hear back and shortly after that I joined my classmate Tim Kline where he was working in the pastry department at the Water Club. I completed a 200-hour unpaid internship at the Water Club. A few weeks ago I got an email from Pearl saying that a position opened in the Garde Manger station at the restaurant and that they would be interested in having me come in and trail.

More on my new job on the jump...

My responsibilities at Pearl are to man the Garde Manger station. Someone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong, but technically, in French, Garde Manger means, the guard of eating! Actually, Garde Manger is the station in the restaurant where the cold buffet dishes are prepared.

I man the restaurant's raw bar, shucking and plating little-neck clams and Malpec oysters on the half shell. Garde Manger responsibilities entail prepping combination appetizers (clams, oysters, lobster tail, claw, and shrimp with cocktail sauce), shrimp cocktails (also known in The Times as five firm fellows) and half chilled Maine lobster. This is also where salads are made, a caesar and a mixed greens with Fourme D'ambert (a traditional, French blue cheese). Some other dishes which are finished in the kitchen are also started on this station: the crab cake and salt-crusted shrimp plates. In addition, I prepare the desserts: chocolate mousse, apple pie, butterscotch praline parfait and ice cream sundae.

I alternate working days and nights every week, switching off with my Garde Manger colleague, Jorge. A week working day shifts start at 8 a.m. and end at about 3:30 or 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, but include working a Saturday night. During weeks that I work nights I come in at 3:30 p.m. and depending on late stragglers, get out anywhere from 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. During these weeks I don't work on the weekend (that's a great perk in this business).

The morning person works lunch which while busy isn't anywhere as crazy as the night-side, so he's also largely responsible for prepping the station for the night shift. So you've heard what dishes I prepare but what do I actually make? Well, I don't make the pies or the mousse-- nor do I make the caesar dressing (which is held secret). But I do make the tartar sauce, celeriac root slaw, vinaigrette and crab cakes from scratch. We also make the cocktail sauce, the green bean salad for the salty plate and the mignognette.

For someone like me with little front of house experience, the great thing about working the Garde Manger station at Pearl is it's placement in the restaurant. While unfortunately I don't get to see food getting cooked in the main kitchen, there are other perks. Garde Manger is situated so that I don't see customers enter but I do have a view of part of the bar and almost all of the tables in the restaurant. I get to see the customers get seated, the waitstaff take their orders, relay them to the kitchen, see how orders are expedited by the chef (then of course I help prepare the food!), and then see the food taken out to the tables. It's a good opportunity for me to understand the building blocks of how a restaurant works that are second nature to experienced waitstaff and cooks: how tables are numbered, customers are served, tables are turned. I also get to see customers reacting to food, waitstaff reacting to tips, chefs interacting with kitchen staff, waitstaff and customers, human sacrifice, dogs and cats, living together...mass hysteria!

There are no tickets with orders written down for me to easily check on so I've got to remember the list of things being ordered or ask the expediter what I owe "all day," if I lose track. When the second turn comes, desserts are going out for the first turn at the same time that I'm making salads and shucking oysters. On a Friday or Saturday things can get a little hairy, but depending on who is wokring and how they're gabbing, even under pressure with six things to make and trying to keep the station clean as customers walk by, it's definately a lot more fun than staring at a computer screen all day.

I can only imagine what the summer is like when the cold weather that inspires people to order chowder, steamers and mussles, is turned on it's head and doezens of oysters are going out one after another!

FULL POST...

Sunday, November 05, 2006

END OF MY INTERNSHIP AT THE WATER CLUB

In August I joined my friend Tim Kline, taking an internship at The Water Club, a two-floor restaurant and banquet hall off the FDR Drive at about 33rd Street. Tim had been suggesting I join him for about a month but I initially resisted...

There were a few reasons. For one, I'd recently left my job at The Times and for once in 5 years I was enjoying not going to work! I also had my hands full with school and knew I'd be gearing up for my final project and my final and didn't want to overextend myself (at left, cheesecake ready for service at the pastry station as demonstrated to me when I first arrived in August).

I also had reservations about taking a job with friends. Another classmate, Jane Crocker, also worked there and unfortunately, we hadn't been getting along at the time. The idea of working for free wasn't endearing but there were some gaping holes on my resume where restaurant experience should have been. I felt I would have more confidence after graduating if I'd gotten some other work experience. Previous to FCI I'd worked at Burger King the summer after my senior year in high school and years later I'd made cappucinos, cut cakes and waited tables at a dessert cafe in Rockville Center during time off from Georgetown). I still had some cash from unused vacation pay from The Times so I still had a little money to get by (above right, strawberry shortcake).

Ultimately, it seemed wise to take a 200-hour unpaid internship at The Water Club in order to get some restaurant experience outside my school restuarant, L'Ecole. From August 11th through October 3rd I worked on average three nights a week, most often Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, from 2 p.m. to midnight. Most often I worked at the pastry station at the front of the restaurant. Thursdays and Saturdays were my busiest nights, with anywhere from 100 to 235 covers a night (creme brule, right).

The Water Club is a two floor restaurant with a roof-top bar and outside dining. Part of the restaurant is a large boat and during bad weather you can feel the barge move slightly underneath. You wouldn't just walk by The Water Club and decide to stop in for dinner. You could, technically, because it's right on the water along a sidewalk that follows the river where people go running, but it's unlikely. The restaurant practically has it's own exit on the FDR drive. It's also next to a helipad and isn't terribly far from the water taxi dock. One of the bartenders at the restaurant claims that one of the scenes in Cocktail was filmed at the Water Club's decently long bar. There's a lot of bridge and tunnel, weddings and a lot of corporate parties. The restaurant is owned by "Buzzy" O'Keefe, who also owns the River Cafe and the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. I heard a few rumors about The Water Club, none of which I can verify of course, about it's heyday and how it was originally started, one quasi-involving JFK-- "do you see any other restaurants like it on the waterfront?" one employee explained to me.

Across from the coffee station near the swinging doors into the dining room, I learned how to increase my efficiency and improve my timing while quickly plating the hot and cold desserts shown in this post. I plated cheesecakes, berry bowls, sorbets, ice creams, chocolate layer cake, ice cream sundaes, banana financier, molten chocolate cake (right) while making raspberry, hazelnut and almond tuiles, biscuits and cornbread for service. The molten chocolate cake, while very tasty took 8 minutes to cook and could be a real tense pain. It had to be cooked at 400 degrees and could break if not made and then handled the right way.

My initial reservations quickly became a thing of the past and I settled in quickly. I rarely worked at the same time as Tim but the idea of it being a bad idea to work with friends became moot by working hard and becoming friendly with just about everyone who worked at the restaurant, even some waiters (at right, Eddie)!

Of course, I didn't become a pastry chef in two months but I did get good basic pastry experience from making things like buttercreams, tarts, ganache (despite some initial setbacks), assembling cakes, tiramisu, brulee base. I learned how to time and plate desserts for weddings and banquets for 250 people, how to mass produce, how to keep up on inventory, and other important things about how a large restaurant works.

After my first month I sometimes felt like I was gaining weight just from inhaling the scent of caramel sauce and buttermilk biscuits and soon, spinning sorbet, making tuile, baking biscuits, turning out cornbread from the iron molds, and managing six tickets with a 20-top on a Saturday night while trading kitchen barbs and talking about women, sparring about the Red Sox with "Big Papi" (at left) and Sindu (on the right), gave me the familiar rush of adrenaline and joy that I remember from my best moments as a journalist. There were many interesting people that worked at the restaurant from the hostesses (one, a nurse-in-training on the lookout for a rich husband) and the Polish banquet waiters and waitresses I could swear were from my neighborhood, Greenpoint, to two charm-gilded gravelly voiced bartenders who worked the busy nights and had intriguing views on the opposite sex.

Between leaving The Times, going to school and working at the restaurant I felt as though I was starring in my own version of Quantum Leap, landing in new situations in different places, inhabiting different aspects of my personality that I hadn't enjoyed for years. Aside from Chef Victoria Love, left, most of my pastry coworkers were almost a decade younger than me.

In fact, Katie, my direct superior (left, prepping Sunday's brunch dessert table) didn't turn 21 until Aug. 26th! Katie was hard-driving, brash, skilled, loud, brilliant at creating improbably tasty quick snack combinations (mashed potatoes, bread and tabasco?) and didn't suffer fools-- she'd kill me for saying this but underneath it all she's a big softy. All the girls, Katie, Sandra and MC, were alot of fun to work with. And amidst the work and the pressure of production and service there was a lot of razzing and a lot of laughing. I was also indoctrinated into the tradition of post-shift drinks, industry discounts and quickly learned what life would have been like had I not returned to finish school.

With Jack FM blaring in the pastry kitchen and Journey's "Wheel in The Sky" a staple of the two-month soundtrack I felt at times like I was living someone else's life, with consequences both good and bad. I learned alot at The Water Club among other things that there's a chemistry to a good kitchen staff. I also gained some personal insight, the best being that I'd made the right choice to leave the golden handcuffs at the paper and that I could have fun again in the workplace, something I'd largely lost towards the end of my time at The Times.

At left, the pastry staff during the end of the summer when I worked there, from left to right: Tim Kline, Chef Victoria Love, me, Katie Backlund, MC, and Sandra. There were still many things I knew I could come away learning at The Water Club but there weren't enough opporunities to work on the production side and at my age, I need to be continuously learning.

When I graduated from school and got the call from Pearl Oyster Bar about an opening I knew it was time to move on to another place, a smaller though very successful restaurant where I could learn something new about the business. I'm sad to leave-- I'll miss the friends I made there but it's time for another leap, into a new adventure.

FULL POST...

Thursday, October 26, 2006

GRADUATION

After a long but celebratory weekend which we began as soon as our final came to an end, we all gathered back at school on Tuesday afternoon for our graduation ceremony with parents, siblings and significant others.

More raising of champagne glasses on the jump...

There wasn't much in the way of advance notice the previous week as to the details of how the ceremony would work and how many people you could bring. But my parents and my sister were able to come to the ceremony as well as my girlfriend, Anna (left), and fortunately, everyone was able to sit together. After all the support I'd been given from Anna and my family it was really nice to have them all there. Anna put up with my late hours, grumpy mornings and cooking frenzies for months and I don't exactly know how she did it (though the good food may have helped!).

We were given chef's toques to wear (we'd sized them to our heads and written our names on them last week) and we sat down at the front of the "Culinary Theater," the place where I'd seen Thomas Keller interviewed for a television series with Dorothy Hamilton, founder of the French Culinary Institute. Each chef said a few words about our class and about the culinary world we'd be heading out into and then we lined up against the wall to the left of the chefs. Our names were called out, we were handed our diplomas and we got hearty hugs and warm handshakes from our chefs before returning to our seats. It was a nice juxtaposition to the chiding (as helpful or necessary as it may have been) which we often experienced in the kitchen!

Next, two awards were given out, best GPA and best final project. I thought I might have a chance at best GPA given the fact that my attendance was nearly perfect and that I'd done well on most of my tests. But I didn't do as well on my final as I'd thought I had (58/75). I got slammed because the hazelnuts in the clam sauce were overtoasted and it was a little too salty and because my duxelles were accompanied by a little too much lemon juice. I finished up my time at FCI with an overall grade of 90/100.

I've made headway with my fetish for salt and lemon but apparently not enough for some people! When I open up my restaurant, it will probably be called, Lemon and Salt! Ah well. It would have been nice to win the award but it wasn't something that was terribly important to me. My friend Zoe Brickley (left) won the award and received a new knife.

Best GPA is nice but it wasn't that important to me-- what I was focused on was creative recognition, best final project. I'd worked on it in every spare second I had in the two months before it was due. I'd put everything I had into it, made cheeses and beer from scratch, done more than double the required number of dishes within a creative theme, all packaged in a professionally-bound book. I thought I'd come up with some pretty creative things. Before the ceremony we'd had a chance to look through our projects at the back of the culinary theater and while there were certainly some interesting themes I thought I had a pretty good chance of coming away with the award.

But it wasn't to be. While I received top marks for the project, a score of 15/15, again, my friend Zoe won the award. She created a good menu but it was largely French, featured cheeses (she works at Murray's) and noted the importance of fresh produce. I'll take this opporunity to do two things, first congratulate her, congratulations Zo!

Second, I'll have my sour grapes moment and say that as nice as her project was, there wasn't anything about it that I would say was very innovative. I thought my project was better!

The one criticism I'll make about the school regarding our final projects, there weren't any written commentaries or critiques about what we did. After all that work it would have been nice to get some feedback (I may have to return to talk to some of the chefs and get some details about what they thought, what could have been improved upon, etc.) But I got a lot out of working on the project-- I learned how to make cheeses, beer and kimchi and I had the opportunity to create my own menu. Something which I had trouble imagining at the beginning of January when I started school. And I'd be interested in continuing to come up with variations on other comfort dishes from around the world.

En0ugh, time for pictures. At left, me with Chef Janet who was an instructor with us during much of Level One and Level Two. Chef Janet makes some great dressings for family meal which we benefitted from every night.

Chef Bobby (left) was a favorite chef of most of us. While he wouldn't hesitate to let us know we were doing something wrong and to better instruct us and he could certainly cut you down quickly he didn't need to and he was very chill.


And thus, class is dismissed. We're all heading out into the culinary world in different directions on unknown adventures. Who knows where we'll all end up! After 10 months of cooking, sweating and bleeding together, it's difficult to think of not seeing my FCI friends three times a week. It was a really great experience and one that I'm glad I shared with the classmates with which I was placed. Cheers all.

FULL POST...

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

CELEBRATING THE END

Having finished our final exams (three hours of cooking various combinations of two dishes) our time at FCI was finally, but suddenly ending. After the last student finished cooking we were lead into the dining room for a group picture and a champagne toast. Then we were introduced to the judges who scored our dishes. It wasn't long before we were back up in the changing rooms celebrating our accomplishments (left, Chad celebrating).

We'd built up some considerable anxiety over the past ten months in anticipation of the "terrors" of the final and now that the exam was over, we were all relieved, confident and even dare I say it, a little cocky. Smiles spread easily (at right, me, with Jane).

What had we been worried about afterall? We'd been training to do this for ten months and by now we'd done our own prep and cooked for service in the school's restaurant, L'Ecole more times than we could even remember, cooking fish, steaks, desserts, salads, soups, both dishes that we'd practiced and those we'd never seen before only a few hours in advance of paying customers sitting down in front of hour handiwork (at right, Tim allowing himself to smile after the exam).

"That wasn't so bad!"
"Man, sorry about snapping at you but I couldn't believe my lamb just disappeared and I didn't want anyone touching my shit!"
"That was fun!"
"Dude, where are we going for drinks?"

After meeting with the judges, joking around, laughing with our chef instructors, and taking some more pictures we all got changed in the locker rooms, left most of our belongings, our tools, and knives in soon to be emptied lockers and headed out into the night, ready for an epic night of enjoying ourselves (at right, Christine with Sampurna).

Some of us spilled into subways, some piled into cabs and a few students even had to brave automobile meltdowns but we all made our way to the lounge in Herald Square's Koreatown where our fellow classmate, Jung Min worked. Called Third Floor, it's a great space above an optical shop, a Korean lounge on the third floor of a corner building you'd never knew housed it (at right, Jessica and Marguerite celebrating at Third Floor).

With fruit-flavored sho-chus, great Korean lounge food, large windows, attractive Korean waitstaff, Third Floor is removed from the hustle of the streets and was a great place to celebrate (at left, Tim in green, and to the left of him, Dan).

Even though the lounge was packed, not 10 minutes after we arrived Jung Min managed to kindly sequester a huge table big enough to seat about 20 of us (at left, center, Jane, right Sarah).

The Stanley Cup-like kegs of beer appeared with Grey Goose vodka bottles, fresh fruit platters, sho-chu, followed by Korean fries and spicy food all pounced upon by students who had not yet tired of recapping the almost spills, the disappearing lamb, the burned nuts, and the over-reduced vinegar sauces of the past three hours (at left, me with Lisandra).

Because we started our final at 5 p.m., didn't finish it until about 11 p.m. and didn't arrive at Jung Min's lounge until about midnight, the celebration started late and carried on into the night. I'm sure most of us assumed it would be the last time many of us would see each other all together and so even though a few of us, including me had to work the next day (a 2 p.m. start for me) it didn't prevent us from playing until long past when we should have headed home.

FULL POST...

Monday, October 23, 2006

FINAL RECAP

There were nerves, anticipation, muttering and memorizing. There were last second gasps and prayers and fumbles. The students who had complained the loudest about the most technically difficult desserts being on the final when we'd only been given one opportunity to make them for class ended up getting the dish for the final (completely by chance). Lamb went in the garbage by accident minutes before it was supposed to be plated. There was too little time and too much time (I ended up having too much time on my hands). Nuts were burned and consomme rafts bound.

But in the end we all made it, we all passed. Final reviews were given by the judges, criticisms were taken (over toasted and salted nuts brought my total score down) and I finally acknowledged that if I were ever to open a restaurant it would probably benefit from warning customers by naming it "Lemon and Salt."

What a wonderful experience...and now, a deep sigh of relief.

FULL POST...

Friday, October 20, 2006

THE FINAL, FINALLY

Well, here it is...the final. The past 10 months of work comes down to this evening.

I have to be there for a 5 p.m. start and don't expect to be updating until well afterwards. Wish me luck!

FULL POST...

Monday, October 16, 2006

STUDY AID: POSTS & PICTURES!

For ease and convenience of studying (for me and anyone else from class which this might help), here are all the dishes we need to know for the final on Friday. Mostly this is to present all the pictures of the dishes as I've fallen behind on updating the posts themselves...just too little time and too much going on getting ready for the final on Friday. This is a "study break" as it is!

We'll each either have to make two dishes in three hours. We'll either get a dish from Garde Manger and a dish from Poissonier (an appetizer and a fish dish) or a dish from Saucier and a dish from Patissier (a meat dish and a dessert).

Check out the pictures with links on the jump.

GARDE MANGER

Tomato Soup With Basil and Garlic-Sauteéd Scallops, Soupe De Tomates Au Basilic Et Saint-Jacques Sautées À L'Ail

LINK



&

Steamed Clams With Roasted Red Pepper, Almonds, And Ham, Casserole De Palourdes À La Catalane

LINK





Purée of Carrot Soup With Leeks, Sorrel, And Dill, Potage Crécy Auc Poireaux, Oseille, Et Aneth

LINK



&

Ricotta Gnocchi With Braised Greens, Mushrooms, and Prosciutto, Gnocchi De Lait Caillé Et Vergure Braisée, Champignons, Et Jambon De Parme

LINK


Sauteed Shrimp With Avocado Mousse And Tomato Coulis, Mousse D'Avocats Aux Crevettes Et Coulis De Tomates

LINK


&

Clarified Beef Broth With Essence of Celery and Mushrooms, Consommé À L'Essence De Céleri Et Cèpes

LINK





FISH

Sautéed Fillet of Bass in a Fennel and Tomato Broth, Filet De Bar Sauté Au Jus De Fenouil Et Tomate

LINK





Fish Stew Marseilles-Style, Bouillabaisse à La Marseillaise

LINK




&

Filet De Tilapia Cuit Poêlé, Sauce Au Porto, Tilapia With Wild Mushrooms In A Port Wine Reduction

LINK





Rare Pan-Seared Tuna With Gazpacho Vinaigrette And Black Olive Couscous (Nouvelle France), Tournedos De Thon A La Vinaigrette De Gazpacho, Couscous Aux Olives Noires

LINK



MEAT

Lamb Stew With Autumn Flavors, Casserole D'Agneau Automnale

LINK BUT NO PIX-- CLASS WAS CANCELLED

Sautéed Duck Breast and Braised Duck Leg With Peaches, Suprême De Canard Sauté Et Cuisse Braisée Aux Pêches

LINK





Roast fillet of Beef With Braised Lettuce, Stuffed Vegetables, and Roasted Potatoes, Filet De Boeuf Rôti Richelieu

LINK





PASTRY

Tropical Fruit Mousse and Macaroon Cake, Gâteau Aux Fruits Exotiques

LINK



&

Blueberry Financier, Citrus Sorbet, Financier Aux Myrtilles, Sorbet Au Agrumes

PIX TK

LINK

Melon With Anise And Mint & Cherry Ice Cream, Melon À L'Anise Et Menthe, Glace Aux Cerises

PIX TK

LINK

&

Crepes Flamed With Grand Marnier, Crêpes Suzette

PIX TK

LINK

Peach and Champagne Sabayon Gratin, Gratin De Pêches Au Sabayon De Champagne

LINK


&


Jacques Torres Fountain, Fontaine Jacques Torres

LINK

FULL POST...