Red Inside

Organic intolerance

2009-08-08T15:58:00.002-04:00

Lately there is being a lot of noise after Dr Alan Dangour, a nutritionist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine declared that his studies showed that organic food doesn't have any more benefit than regular grown food.
The veracity's of his studies is obviously under scrutiny, and although i share SOME of the beliefs he professed in his paper, that's not what really makes me take his side in the matter.
The reaction of some eco-terrorist (yes, if you threaten somebody because of his point of view is different than yours you ARE a terrorist.) had is if not unexpected, definitely unacceptable.
He is been bombarded by hate mail in the last few days from people who profess their love for mother earth eating only 9 dollars a pound zucchine and funny looking roots. If they are the lovers, mother nature is pretty FU.

Roll out of place?

2009-07-12T10:09:00.003-04:00

I recently visited the brand new Studio Square beer garden in Astoria and i have to say that it blows away the competition (Bohemian beer hall are you eavesdropping?) in decor, location, execution and most important beer and food selection and quality.

My only doubt, and i know I'm not the only one, is the choice of serving sushi.

Sushi.

Sushi?

Sushi!

I love sushi and I'm not debating about the quality of that served at S2, but it just sound wrong to serve it at a beer garden. It instantly made me think about the commercial featuring a chef awkwardly looking around within a steel factory, while an autistic steel worker felt perfectly in place nearby. The message was that doesn't matter what you do or who you are, if you don't find the right place to do it you will be out of place.

Need to say more S2?

Allez enfant de l'entrecote

2009-06-26T09:31:00.002-04:00

For once the frenchies didn't surrender, actually they did the opposite, they conquered.

At least they conquered my culinary respect with their new restaurant in New York City: Le Relais de Venise - L'Entrecote.

I didn't have the chance to dine there yet, but i definitely plan to. The thing that really get my attention is the concept. They serve one dish: entrecote (strip steak) with, well, you know, french fries!

Even better no bullshit orders, the meat can be ordered rare, medium, well and black and blue.

No "between medium red and medium, but pinkish, no blood, you know, but not dry...because...". No ketchup or steak sauce, only mustard si vous plais. There is no actual need for any, thought, since the steak come already with their secret sauce, and everybody loves secret sauces, even more if they are said to contains organs of other animals, mmmmhhh yummy!!

Nice old world service by waitresses dressed like waitresses and not aspiring actresses between jobs waiting for their big break in movie making.

So kudos for purity of concept and (i hope) delivering. Now, they better make those steaks worth the buzz, because otherwise it would be like wearing your best suit and than stay home because you have nowhere to go.

Let's wait and see cousins!!

Under construction

2009-06-25T12:33:00.002-04:00

Didn't post in a while since a lot of meat has been placed on my charcoal grill.
Besides being in training as a papi with my 9 months old, which is like trying to learn french cuisine in Peru', i quit my job as chef at Borgo Antico to be full time on the site of the new restaurant I'm opening with my partners. Constructions are well under way, and luckily for me my partners are in that business, so besides taking care of the actual demolishing and building, they see that any complaining neighbor is going to be part of the finished restaurant, maybe in the main column or the foundation, we'll see.
So, no cooking for me until September which is very hard to endure. I've got my hands full thought, since we need to set up every single house account with basically all the companies involved in the running of the place, from vendors and suppliers, down to utility and obviously personnel, which is going to be a LOT of fun.
The place is going to be called Testaccio (from the archaeologically rich and fashionable neighborhood in Rome) and will feature modern roman cuisine.
I'll post more information and some material later this week.
Meanwhile I'm learning a lot about the other side of restaurant business, from planning and constructing every single aspect of the place, to dealing with companies and people that usually i didn't have much to do with (POS, Security, designers and PR's).
It's very interesting, although i would trade my old craft with any of those!!

Green way to hell.

2009-05-04T21:08:00.002-04:00

That's it. They've really done it. I've never been a fan of the Green Market in Usq. but with this last piece of news they really achieved the looting position in my personal list.

According to the NY post article, not published in the web site, Ruth Ades-Laurent the daughter of the iconic potato peeler's power seller Joe Ades, has been booted from the Green Market area because they "put up with her father long enough and are not putting up with her anymore".

If you live in NY you surely have seen Joe pitching the peelers around the city over the years. He was a magic man, a man with a charisma seldom seen in much bigger and more famous business men. Since his death in February, his daughter Ruth took up his "rounds" of shows (because they are that entertaining!) attracting always a big crowd and painting many smiles on otherwise grouchy new yorkers. But the green market management thought that maybe all the attention would be withdrew from the amazing 20 dollars a pound cheeses and the "green" smelling farmers with their oh-so-delicious-I'm-turning-vegan produce.

Instead of booting a nice lady that is part of the new york culture and take the space of a stool and a bucket of potatoes, why don't you send packing all the gas guzzling big ass 1986 trucks that, parked bumber to bumber, make impossible for anybody emerging from the subway station to go to their lives without zig zagging through the maze of stands peddling organic sub par delicacies with a Tiffany price tag and the throng of fake hippies who have never ventured outside the city limits, but now recite their part in the great "let's go back to the farm life" spectacle.

Green Market bosses, you'll go to hell and burn, probably producing pollution on your way down.

Good food gone bad.

2009-05-04T09:22:00.003-04:00

I've never been a detractor of fast food, and with some moderation and discerning ability i could also say that I'm a gourmet junk food aficionado. Trough the years the big chain such McD and Burger King not forgetting White Castle produced some good tasting morsels. Not healthy at all and surely pretty bad for your shape, but tasty nonetheless! How many can argue about the flavor of a Big Mac, a Whopper or McD's unfathomably long lasting french fries?BUT there are some inventions that really belong more to the realm of frankenfood than junk food.

The latest i think is the Domino's Pasta Bread Bowls.

My first question was: if i wanted to eat pasta WITH bread i would have done so without actually putting the pasta IN the bread. Otherwise i would have made a spaghetti sandwich!!!!

It brings back the memory of Pizza Hut P'zone: a pound of "stuff" inside a pizza shell, or even the more ignominious baconnaise.

So, if you feel the urge for a junk food "fix" once in a while, should you at least eat something that doesn't make you gag thinking about it?

More salt in our wounds.

2009-01-28T10:18:00.002-05:00

Marching toward complete control over our diet, lifestyle and eventually freewill, Thomas Frieden, New York Health Department Commissioner, went out again with a new crusade that should save our dumb and ignorant lives from....well, ourselves.

After going Torquemada on trans fat, calories posting on menus and obviously smoking, our black knight of public health is taking it up with salt.

His new campaign wage war against the use of sodium in manufactured food, but (so he proclaims..) won't affect small businesses like restaurant and hotels. His righteousness also point that since the effort to inform public about the danger of "la vida salty" for many years now, didn't pay back in term of submission to their will, a new approach may be taken in the future: the stealth health they call it. Basically doing whatever change in legislation without the public noticing it for the sake of the public health.

If we don't know, we can't disagree!! Even better: if we are kept ignorant about what they do, they don't even need to be right to take their decisions. They will just decide what is "best for us" and there wouldn't even be the need for the old: "because i say so".

Thanks mom!!!

International Day of Italian Cuisine 2009

2009-01-15T21:04:00.003-05:00

We kicked of the IDIC's second year, today at the Italian Culinary Academy.

The event is promoted by the GVCI (Virtual Group of Italian Chefs) to which i'm a proud member.

Basically we prepare a classic dish (in this case risotto alla milanese) which has been mistreated by the many bogus-italian restaurant, in the original form, sticking to the genuine recipe.

More than 130 restaurant around the world partecipate to the cook-out, and today i was with a small delegation of the GVCI in New York to present officialy the program.

Althougth i didn't cook this morning for the press, we will present the dish Saturday January 17th at Borgo Antico.

You dump people!!

2008-12-22T22:11:00.002-05:00

There are tons of blogs about food, cooking and eating on the web; there are also peculiar ones, some of them just plain curious, some definitely weird.....but i think the prize for most ill-conceived web log ought to go to the disgusting people at Freegan Kitchen.They support a life style called freeganism which is supposed to be: "anti-consumerist lifestyle whereby people employ alternative living strategies based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources"

Now, being Italian, i'm used to bullshit, but not of this caliber!! This people ought to be really homeless and experience a REAL "dumpster dive".

Unsung heroes

2008-11-26T18:00:00.004-05:00

No, not the one above, I'm talking about the everyday heroes behind the stoves everywhere that are not found on magazines or TV programs.

I'm talking about Joe the Cook, who is scolding his hands on a griddle or slicing away his life working in a professional kitchen and tries to give the best he can everyday for well below his real worth.

And I'm definitely talking David Chang one of "the most influential people of the 21st century".

Cahng's surely is a great chef, but i'm not the only one saying that he's a little overrated.

Now i don't want to seem envious or acerbic, but the dude presented grits as a signature dish for a national magazine. Are you for real David? Grits? I mean, i even like it, but it's freaking polenta to me, and to sell it i have to couple it with something reaaaaally special, not with a fried egg for sure.

Friends of mine sometimes asked me if a make my city's typical dishes in my restaurant.

Those being a sort of sour cabbage soup, or tripe or marinated fish with onions and vinegar, i always reply that i wish, but it wouldn't sell. Unless you are famous. Then you can make fish and chips and you are a culinary genius and amazingly courageous to push your down to earth cuisine in "alto loco".

What's really different from the polenta cooked in thousands of kitchens around the world and Chang's? I guess the exposure, because even being very good at it, how much better can his grits be? Just asking....

When will Jesus bring the.....eels?

2008-10-04T12:48:00.005-04:00

It seems to me that every time some expert in any field look at the "Last Supper" he or she discovers some astounding new clues on basically anything!!

There was the Mary Magdalen disguised as Peter theory, the Leonardo is in the picture theory and the Freemasons hide the secret message for world domination theory.

Now is dinner time!!! A new "finding" from John Varriano set a new record on what the Saviour & Co had for dinner according to Leonardo.Varriano, as he states eloquently in the new issue of Gastronomica Magazine, found that the dishes on the table contain no lamb or tilapias (as previously believed and anedocted in specials that contain the disgusting fish) but...eel and oranges!Obviously the case is still open and to me it seems that we could also argue if the picture really depicts Nutella and toasts, since the level of details and the new restoration leaves a lot to imagination.

The thing that really caught my attention is how we, maybe without wit, want to attribute a modern aura to old character like, well, Jesus!Who can say that the idea of a "gourmet Joshua", who may have argued with the Fab 12 about the doneness of the eel, doesn't titillate our imagination?

Wouldn't you want to try for yourself the dish that Jeez ate for his last supper on the worldly realm?

I'll guess sells of eels are up and more than one chef wondered if retouching the original recipe for their specials constitute sin.

Spanish war.

2008-08-25T18:22:00.000-04:00

Lately in NYC you can find a wide array of new spanish restaurant flourishing on the moment of glory brought by the tapas hype.
I personally find spanish cuisine more than appealing to my palate, both for the similarity of flavors in the most popular dishes with certain coastal italian food, but also for the boldness of use of most offals such tongue, brain, tripe and company.
So i decided to try three different Spanish places in town, two in Manhattan and one in Queens.
My first stop was also my favorite restaurant in New York: Casa Mono.
The second a staple for more then four decades on 23rd street: El Quiquote.
The third one a small, almost hidden family place in my neighborhood of Astoria: El Boqueron.
Let's begin with Casa Mono which is a very modern wine and food spot, famous for the tapas and for the fact of being owned by Mr. Molto Mario Batali. It's everything that real New yorkers love: crowded, pricey, celebrity ridden and very very small.
But what really made me love this place is the food: consistently delicious and meticoulosly crafted, not so small plates, that are so different from each other as surprisingly convergent in the spanish idea of morsels.
Can't have only one order of seared Mojama with duck's egg or the foie gras with five onions.
The open kitchen add a touch of voyeurism to your meal. The chef and amazingly trained crew create the effect of personalized meals for the customers who are willing to seat at the counter and sweat a bit.
El Quiquote is one of those places that, since they are open for more than forty years, are playing the classic city restaurant card. Besides being maze like and a cross between old steakhouse and old catering hall, the decor is so kitch, you would think they are a cheap turistic spot in the ran down part of the city. Not quite, they are situated in the middle of 23rd street just a couple of aves of fifth. Not cheap either, a dinner for two set me back about a 120 bucks without wine. The mexican waiter in an oversized Lycra tuxedo didn't help the eye, and the service could be define as sleepy, if you wanted to be kind.
Now, for the important part, the food: if you ever enjoy the art of cooking and do some research on ingredients, you would have to admit that sometimes you fall in love so much with a certain spice, or vegetable or any other ingredient, that you subliminally tend to use it EVERYWHERE, flattening every dish with the same flavors. This was the case with tomato & onions at El Quiquote: every single dish, from the sauteed mussels, to the paella or the octopus tasted exactly the same: almost raw onions and fresh tomato.
The overall meal wasn't too bad, it just tasted all the same!! The portions, i have to admit, were very big and can make for an hefty doggy bag if you are into spanish leftovers.
And last but not least: El boqueron.
This was more a "spanish trattoria" than a full scale restaurant, very small, with the "Queens bar and food" kind of feeling, no artificial lights during the day, kind of hot and sticky, television set on Telemundo with a Mexican soccer match, waiters in white shirt and black vest.
The food wasn't anything super revealing, but consistent, of good tapas size portion, bold flavors and no frills.
Particularly good was the roasted quail (a little on the dry side, but hey!!) with figs & raisins, but the potato chips from the bag were a setdown.
The service was overall attentive until the dinner was over, then another waiter took over our table for the closing and we wondered were the former had disappeared. We found out later, walking by the open door of the kitchen, that he was playing cards with the chef. And than you said relaxed service...
So on my humble opinion the winner couldn't be any other but Casa Mono, even if everytime i need to quench my craves of spanish food i have to first check my account, since with great food comes a even greater check.

May i have hate on the side with my order?

2008-07-30T16:08:00.000-04:00

Every time a waiter come into my kitchen and ask if i can do a fettuccine Alfredo or a chicken "Parmesan" i start feeling the bile building up to my stomach, then i curse half breath (sometimes a little louder) and i usually do it anyway since this is the policy of the restaurant where i work: "If the customer ask you to do something out of the menu and you CAN do it, you do comply with the request".
I couldn't disagree more with this rule, since my philosophy is that if you come to my restaurant and you don't like the dishes on my menu or dislike how i prepared them, well then you are in the wrong restaurant.
I also don't really care about food allergies, which half the time people make up only because they don't like garlic and saying that you "have a condition" sounds less dumb than whining because you want your pappardelle alla Bolognese garlic-free.
Where i grew up, you know what people used to do when they were allergic to some ingredients contained in their favorite morsels? They ordered something else!
I'm saying this because nowadays it is a common practice to bend and trick any dish just to accommodate people's taste, instead of teaching them the way that those particular dishes supposed to be eaten.
It won't change soon for sure, due the will of restaurant owners to please the bitchiest of request and make a new regular customer who would come back over and over again busting chef's chops for THEIR favorite version of whatever turn them on. It is all about money, but keep in mind that sometimes this practice can be a double edged sword, since i can tell you from an insider point of view, that the cook who is "forced" to bend over and arrange your desires may be less eager to do it at his best. I never did anything fool with anybodies food, because i respect food and my profession more than some people can respect the restaurant's integrity, but i saw many people going to the dark side when it came to do something that they despised, and believe me it happens in a lot of places, even the "high profile" one.
So next time you feel the urge to have chicken Francese where is not on the menu try to think of the guy behind the swinging doors and curb your desires, stick on the menu and you can be sure that you'll have a friend and not a foe in the kitchen.

Ihungry 3g

2008-07-18T15:04:00.001-04:00

Talking about product placement and the importance of p.r. in the new century, check out this great site from a Spanish company selling......jamon!! The ham hawkers went the proverbial extra mile trying to appeal younger demographics.

Kicking and screaming!!

2008-07-05T20:12:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since the last post, and especially the last couple of weeks had been difficult at the restaurant. The problem is that we are working without gas in the kitchen or hot water for that matter. They found a CO2 accumulation in one of the apartment above the restaurant and the fire department shut down the whole system. Obviously it was the only reasonable thing to do, but working for two weeks without gas has been a big challenge; I worked before in an emergency situation without electricity with flashlights and candles, also without running water, buying gallons and gallons of it at the deli, but cooking on portable stoves and food warmers has been far the most grueling experience so far.

But the restaurant is still open and we can take pride in ourselves that we were capable of overcome the odds and keep serving our customers, even if with a reduced menu.

Let's just hope that Conedison and the FDNY fix the situation as soon as possible so that we can get back to business as usual.

Restaurant review: Wildwood Barbeque

2008-05-20T11:56:00.000-04:00

It's known to all around that I'm a big meat lover and in this country almost always means steakhouses, hamburger joints and......BBQ parlors!!
And especially this year in Nyc the old art of slow cooking briskets and fire grill slabs of juicy ribs never seemed so hot! Everybody is trying to milk the big cow of culinary simplicity, even Asian restaurants went BBQ for Pete's sake!!
So i had to try for myself Wildwood the new Hanson restaurant on the site of the now defunct Barca 18.
First of all let me note that the decor looks like exactly what it is: a million dollar faux country style barn!! Now, why spend that much money to look cheap it kind of escape my logic.

But let's not stop at the label and go deep into the most important thing: the food! Much hype has been build around the culinary skills of "Big Lou" Elrose, the so called pit master of the place, and i have to say it actually is not bad for an ex cop from Queens, but the dishes should come come with a disclaimer: "Eat if you are a 300 lbs cop from Queens"
The food itself is very good, well seasoned and fork tender but, oh boy, it stays with you for a while!! It's so fatty and crunchy/burned seared that i had to find my innermost carnivore cravings to finish the dish. I've got the "Texas Low and Slow Smoked Briskets" and my better half had the "Fallin' Off the Bone Beef Short Rib" queen cut to be precise, only one rib. But it was more than enough! She really couldn't go through half of it for so much melting fat around the meat, and i had to search the help of my Coleslaw side order to push down the marbled beauty.
Wow, it WAS good, but it's definitely not for everybody!! Leaving the place after the meal i felt bloated, but thought it was part of the BBQ experience, but 6 hours and 3 Alkaseltzer later i was ready to exchange that experience for a good night of sleep!
On a sweet note, order the cakes only if you want to base your dinner on them, cause the last time i saw slices that big was in Saw II.
Overall it was worth the visit , but i know now that splitting a dish in this restaurant is not a bad idea, and washing it down with more than a pint isn't either.
Wildwood Barbeque 225 Park Ave. S., New York, NY 10003

Restaurant review: Stove

2008-04-21T21:52:00.000-04:00

Stove is an Irish restaurant with a menu that include French and American fares, plus a very friendly, family oriented service. All this, and being a busy restaurant in the heart of Greek loving Astoria is already an achievement per se.

The food is simple yet inspiring with such a staple as Shepard pie and pate' Maison, but include also best sellers like lasagna and wiener schnitzel.

Now I've being very impressed by the appetizers, they are hearty, generous in size and full in flavor. I would even say lovely executed. The let down on my opinion were the main courses.

It's not that they are of bad quality or poorly thought or, even worse, ill prepared. It's just that since I'm a big fan of appetizers i have even bigger expectations from main course, otherwise i see the entree' as falling short of a promise of grandeur.

And frankly, Stove's main dishes are...just fine. The seafood platter was fresh and the temperature of the fish just right, but it failed to wow me. The leg of lamb was as good as a diner's one.

I don't know it felt like the chef spent all his passion and time on the hoers d'oeuvre and was too exhausted to think outside the proverbial box regarding the entree'.

The dessert thought was a very good and different Bailey's cheesecake and i tried the profiteroles which i found utterly appealing and fresh.

Overall i can say that Stove passed my personal test for neighbour restaurant and surely i will patronize it again, but i really wish the chef would put a little more efforts and go the extra mile in every compartment of his menu.

Hold your horses!!

2008-04-16T18:59:00.001-04:00

In today's New York Post there is an interesting article about the new trend among professional male New Yorkers of eating better meat, from unusual cuts and different animals. You can read the article by yourself here: http://www.nypost.com/seven/04162008/entertainment/food/we_re_having_a_meat_wave_106710.htm#

It is funny, though, as most of the "exotic" morsels are common food in medium low income family in Europe. I grew up eating my mother's sauces which always came accompanied by oxtail, nerves and my favorite chicken's feet. No broth was complete without some marrow bone which were sucked empty at the end of the meal.

Curios is that no mention has been made about horse's meat, one of the most delicious and sought after meat in the already extensive animal kingdom. Since it's been 10 years since the last time i ate the precious animal, i tried to obtain some for myself in more than one way, licit and let's say less conventional.

I tried to convince a famous meat purveyor from the city to smuggle some leg in from Arizona for me, but he just hung up on me.

Before you people start leaving nasty comments on my inhumane craving for the proud quadruped, let me just ask you this: have you EVER tasted horse in your life? If not YOU NEVER ATE MEAT!!!!

There is no other kind more delicious, nutrient or satisfactory than horse's meat and i challenge ANY carnivore to prove me wrong with a tasting: I'll cook and you bring the horse.

Green market's three o's

2008-04-09T19:13:00.000-04:00

Working 2 blocks away from Union Square i often stroll through the Green Market when it's on, and let me tell you: i think it obtained the three fatal o's in my personal classification of shop/stops: overrated, overpriced, overcrowded.
People seems just can't get enough of praising the Green Market, but from my experience i can say it is mostly hype and not enough high.
First of all the selection of fruits and vegetables is way below the one you get at the adjacent Whole Food. Ok, they've got organic (pfui!) stuff, but the flavors are not sufficiently superior to justify the higher price.
And then, do we really need to squeeze together and try to trump each other like it was 1845 in Ohio?
I don't know if it is mainly about the "coolness" or the feeling that people got from being brought back to other times, but it doesn't live to expectations and i'll give the Green Market 2 rotten apples and a little chunk of goat cheese.

Restaurant review: Akti

2008-04-07T12:53:00.000-04:00

I tought Akti was another Greek restaurant in the overly Hellenistic neighbourhood of Astoria.

The decor is a little more chic and less euro-trash than their fellow restaurants/lounges/bars/idunnowhatiams surrounding the area, but the real difference is the food. It really reminded me of the food of the Balkans, because let be honest, Greek, Albanians and Yugoslavians they all ate the same kind of food with different names....point is: it is simple food cooked simply. That means that the most elaborate dish contains no more than 3 ingredients and you can have it grilled, grilled or grilled. They may slap it in the oven to make you a favor, but it won't be the same. And no sauces or decorations or other not-necessary additions. BUT if in this kind of cuisine you use the freshest ingredients and you don't fall asleep while manning the grill, it is really difficult to fail, and they don't for what i have tasted.

Everything is so simply prepared that the sardines taste like sardines (fishy of course! It IS fish, isn't???) and the lamb chops tastes like you just cleaned the grill with them, ahhhhh it reminds me of my youth!!

Skip the dessert and coffee, there are only a certain number of molested Baklavas and tired espressos one can take in his culinary life......

Bottom line is: if you want to eat like in Greece, or Yugoslavia please stop by and check your craving for finesse at the door. You won't be disappointed if you expect the right things.

But be aware: the waiters are like the food, genuine but they don't speak English, so work your hands babies!!

There you got some pixes:

Akti Seafood Restaurant – 34-19 30th Avenue, Astoria NY 11103718.721.3530

Food junkies?

2008-03-29T14:19:00.000-04:00

Today i went to the Whole Food store in Union Square only to buy a can of smoked paprika powder and i realized that i couldn't stop picking up other things and i finished up buying some great Indian curry, some Chilean Mapuche Spice (I don't know yet, i'll let you know ok?), an assortment of Gourmet salts and some Southern Kiwiberries (Frankenberries anyone?).

Ok, so i'm a food junkie and i can't stop. Not in the quantity way, like a 400 lbs Mc'D addict, but in quality which is even more expensive of an addiction to have. Well today i got out of the place spending only 30 bucks, but my idea was more 4.95.

And i wasn't even at the Chelsea market which is my "pusher" place. It was an Whole Foods for Pete's sake, what is next getting my fix at the deli?

Am i alone in this? Is anyone hooked on gourmet food too? Please let me know i'm not alone!!! Is there a C.A. meeting soon?

Where all your money goes?

2008-03-24T13:13:00.000-04:00

There is a common complaint, often used by my wife, that fine dining is expensive. Too expensive is the actual comments. If you work in the industry you'll know why the prices in fine restaurants are so high: higher salary for higher educated and specialized professionals, top shelf products, high quality tools & machinery and also no money held decor.

Of course you can eat well on the cheap, but for the complete experience you need to pay a little extra and I'm fine with that!

What I'm not fine with is that if you are a food lover, they try to squeeze you hard earned cash in the silliest ways.....for example there is the "oh so famous" James Beard Foundation.

I admit i was intrigued at first at the premises: fine dining, lots of events, famous chefs, the whole work.

The web site is very appealing too, until you realize that is mostly smoke and mirrors:

famous chefs? Once a year, the rest are "up and coming" talents.

Lots of events? Mostly get together between fellow Beardians.

Fine dining? Sure, like you can have at fine restaurants with fine waiters and fine decor, not in a cramped mansion with rent-a-crew staff.

But at least is cheap right? Not really: you pay for every event from 100$ to 250$!! Well if you are a Member you get a 10% discount.......but the membership is 250 bucks a year!!!!

You want to know what really is a bargain? Pro chefs that teach you face to face in very small classes the best technique you can pay for. That's the case with the folks from http://www.ideasinfood.com/

For 125 dollars you get 2 chefs actually spending three hours teaching you the cutting edge new trends in cooking hands on!! They answer every silly question, they help you improve your skills and they also feed you the creations you just made with them!

Well i don't know what bangs you expect from your bucks, but i found out that there are way more rewarding ways to spend your money, and thanks to Aki Kamozawa & H. Alexander Talbot.

Why should you read this blog?

2008-03-18T01:54:00.000-04:00

Well, no reason at all actually, like there are no reason to read any other blog for that matter!!

But if you ARE into reading blogs about food, you could give it a try i guess.

First of all let me introduce myself a little but not too much, we don't know each other that well:

i'm a chef, and having said it i have to stress that i'm a working chef, i mean in a restaurant, i mean like i'm cooking and the all nine yards........i know i may sound crazy at this point, but bare with me for a little while more and you'll understand.

I'm a chef writing a blog about cooking and food and restaurant business and....well you got it, right?

What makes this blog different from any other chef's blog would you ask at this point?

Again i would answer: nothing! You'll have notice for sure, that there are many chefs right now who started experimenting with the fine art of blogging and i'm just one of them, not even a famous one i'll say! I guess you could say that the difference is the same that set apart one restaurant from another: personal taste.I may be using different spices in my blog and it could be more or less tasty to your palate than another, maybe too salty and sour for some. But the REAL question you should ask, and the one that really is the backbone of my project, is the following: what makes this blog different from other "foodies" blogs?

Ahah! I think that being in this business gives me a little more right to talk about it than somebody who only "eat out a lot" as a credential for being a "foodie" or "epicurean" or whatever they fancy to call themself. People, you have to understand that almost everybody eat out and certainly think they are the best judge on this or that restaurant. On the other side not everyone got to the the world about it!
What gives Andrea Strong, Steve Cuozzo, or Ruth Reichl for that matter, the right to tell you "i'm better than you at judging how a restaurant does"?
If you think the answer is "not them" you may be on my same page.
So stay tuned and i promise you that at least you going to have fun on my ride.