Kitchen Guy

From the KG Blog: Burgers and Cupcakes

Posted by Chef Jim on July 9, 2010  |  Comments Off

ow much would you pay for a really good hamburger? By the same token, what’s a tasty cupcake worth to you?

It’s hard to believe that after all these years of promoting food and the finer points of the culinary profession on the Food Network, the Cooking Channel, Bravo, and many other outlets (even Fox), that the hottest trend wouldn’t be some fancy-schmancy preparation or an exotic cuisine.

No, the hottest culinary trend right now happens to be hamburgers and cupcakes. They’re all the rage in the culinary hotspots of the major cities around the U.S.

Several of the best competitors from past seasons of Top Chef have opened one or more gourmet hamburger joints in Atlanta and Washington D.C. And they’re now popping up all over the country, giving McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s a run for their money.

You want fast food burgers, meat origins unknown? Fine. Go to a fast food joint. You want a burger made from top grade beef, all origins known, then go to Top Chef favorite Spike Mendelsohn’s (the guy with the retro ‘50s hat) place in D.C. or Top Chef finalist Richard Blais’ (he’s the guy who did all that molecular gastronomy hocus-pocus) in Atlanta. They’re serving up all kinds of burger concoctions at premium prices, with fries and shakes (also at prices in the stratosphere).

And then there is this accompanying trend for bakers to dedicate shops only to cupcakes, some for $50 a dozen (or more!).

This trend surprises me. I’ve always cooked by the motto that simple is best, but burgers and cupcakes? That, to me, takes simplicity a bit far, especially when talented chefs forego the rigors of menu planning and cooking or baking up to their abilities and then attach filet mignon prices to hamburgers and wedding cake prices to cupcakes.

Don’t get me wrong. I love burgers and I love cupcakes. And I’ll bet most of you reading this do, too.

But I don’t get what the big deal is about taking ground beef and fancy-ing it up with shallots instead of onions; arugula instead of lettuce; papaya instead of tomato. By the same token, how much would you be willing to pay for cupcakes that contain Tahitian vanilla, as opposed to Mexican vanilla; organic raspberries rather than California strawberries?

I’m a fine dining aficionado, but I also like simple everyday foods. Most of my clients have hired me to cook for them because they like my concept of “Ethnic American.” It’s the way I brand my version of comfort food with my own twists thrown in.

Yet if I were to price my meatloaf, for instance, at $45.00 – even if I had used Wagyu or Kobe beef – I think I would be run out of town. Or at least out of business.

I suppose if some people are willing to pay a couple of bucks for a bottle of water that’s alleged to come from a special spring in France, or three or four bucks or more for a cup of fancy coffee, I also suppose there are plenty of folks willing to line up and throw money at a doo-dad burger or hoop-de-doo cupcake.

I don’t know about you, but on this subject, I’m with P.T. Barnum.

Follow me on Twitter @KitchenGuyMT or my blog at http://kitchenguybychefjim.blogspot.com

From the KG Blog: Dining for Ducats

Posted by Chef Jim on May 16, 2010  |  1 Comment

The culinary world was abuzz last week, when the brilliant Chicago-area chef, Grant Achatz, decided to sell tickets to his newest restaurant.

This development was reported in the New York Times and here’s the deal: If you want to eat in Chef Achatz’s new restaurant, “Next,” you will have to go online and pay in advance.

Off-peak dining times are less expensive than prime dining times – somewhat akin to the way airline tickets and certain cities’ public transit systems are priced.

Let’s think about this: The menu changes four times a year. When you go online to make your reservation, you are also buying into the menu and paying for it in advance. Full-year subscriptions are available, too. If you’d like wine pairings with your meal, that’s extra.

A service charge is also built into the price of the ticket, so Chef Achatz will be able to distribute this part of the revenue to staff both in front of and back of the house.

Business management experts have already weighed in on the scheme and have given it generally positive marks on several levels. Let’s look at that service charge, for instance. Depending upon the policy of the restaurant, tips usually are distributed in a variety of ways. But ask any line cook or busboy and he or she will tell you they’re probably getting less than what they deserve because, in many cases, the distribution decision is made by the waiter or waitress.

In restaurant kitchens that I have run, the rule of thumb was that tips were pooled so that a reasonable percentage could be distributed to the cooks, the dishwasher, the busboy, the hostess. It’s not a perfect system, but it takes the decision-making by individual wait staff out of the equation. While a diner may only see the waiter or waitress, there are a number of other people responsible for the meal.

Since Chef Achatz has control over all of the money, he will be able to pay cooks more, and in the bargain probably attract greater talent to his restaurant operations. And the wait staff will make out just fine – I promise. The genius part of the plan, though, is that he’s getting money in advance – kind of like what department stores get when you buy a gift card and it goes unused for several months.

Online reservation-making is not exactly a new concept. It’s been around for several years now. There are restaurants in New York City, for example, that accept reservations online, but they also take your credit card number and charge you if you’re a no-show.

Chef Achatz, a culinary star for several years, came into particular focus after a bout with tongue cancer (which he beat, thankfully). Can you imagine a chef who loses the ability to taste? He made a full recovery, including regaining his sense of taste.

Paying in advance for a meal is nothing new, either. The term “American plan” came into being in the travel industry to denote that breakfast and dinner was included in the price of the tour. My father paid a full semester in advance for a dining plan my first year of college. (Moving off campus prior to my sophomore year was the best thing I ever did!)

Removing the business transaction from the dining room has a certain charm, I think. As I only know this chef by reputation, I am certain that he is confident that no matter where you sit in his dining room and no matter who your server is, your pre-paid dining experience will be memorable and delicious.

And isn’t that all that counts?

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From the KG Blog: The Salt of the Earth

Posted by Chef Jim on May 8, 2010  |  1 Comment

The phrase, “the salt of the earth,” comes from the New Testament Book of Matthew and it has come to mean someone or some thing that is plain, simple and unaffected.

On the other hand, the culinary world – at least certain chefs – is having a love affair with fancy, expensive salts and I’m not sure I understand it all. Fleur de Sel, Gray Salt, Black Lava Salt and many others are sold at premium prices, but here’s one undeniable fact about all of them, including Morton’s in the round blue container: Their chemical composition is exactly the same.

From your high school chemistry class – NaCl – sodium chloride is sodium chloride, whether you scrape it from rocks along the shores of Brittany, or extract it from a deep mine in Utah.

Please don’t mistake this as a condemnation of salt. It’s not. When I do personal appearances, I make certain that my audience knows that the two most important spices in my kitchen are salt and pepper.
Here’s the problem, however, and it’s twofold: First, because we eat so much processed food in this country, our sodium levels (as a nation) are off the charts. The average person should have no more than 2200 mg of sodium a day. You can get that in a can and a half of certain soups. So while the calories and fat may be lower, the sodium is way too high.

Second: in our nearly two-decade love-affair with celebrity chefs and Food Network, we’re learning about “special” salts that come from different places around the world. I must admit that I have about 10 or more different salts in my pantry and I’ve tasted at least 10 more. But here’s the thing: they all taste the same. And when dissolved in liquid, you can’t tell gray salt from table salt. You know what the main difference is? Price.

The only compositional difference between these “gourmet” salts and regular table salt, to my knowledge, is that table salt is usually iodized. That is, iodine has been added for some alleged health benefit.

I prefer kosher salt – also known as coarse salt. Its crystals are larger, which helps me control the amount I use (and I like the feel, too), without additives, including color (natural or otherwise), it’s just pure salt. Here’s something else you should know about some of those expensive gourmet salts: Pink salt, for instance, gets its color from rust. Gray salt is gray because of silt and dirt on the rocks from which is scraped. Does that whet your appetite?

Despite their similarities, I do recognize that salt in some forms is necessary for appearance. What would pretzels be without those large crystals? How would we cure meats without curing salts? The term “corned,” as in corned beef is a different way of saying the meat has been salted for curing.

So this piece is not a condemnation of salt. I love the flavor and the way it can enhance other flavors. As I wrote earlier, it’s one of the two most important spices in my kitchen. Salt also has its place in the non-savory world of baking. Any bread dough, cake batter, pie crust, lemon curd, and so forth, would be nearly tasteless without the addition of salt – usually half a teaspoon or less.

So as Julia Child wrote about butter and cream, the same watchword applies to salt: Everything in moderation.

The fact is that the use of salt in cooking and at the table by the average American comes nowhere close to the RDA for daily sodium intake, the aforementioned 2200 mg. Our problem is in processed foods.
Remember that the salt of the earth – no matter what form or color it comes in – tastes salty. And that’s all you have to know about salt.

When it comes to sodium intake, however, it’s important to reduce your consumption of processed foods. Especially the stuff you’re feeding your kids. Take a look at the numbers on the packages and you’ll see what I’m talking about. From cereal to soup to snacks, add ‘em up and you’ll be astounded at how easy it is to go well past that 2200 mg mark.

Follow me on Twitter @KitchenGuyMT

(I wish to acknowledge my colleague, Chef Kevin D. Weeks, for the inspiration to write this column.)

From the KG Blog: Beef — Really on the Hoof

Posted by Chef Jim on May 1, 2010  |  Comments Off

As I become more and more of a “locavore,” that is someone who tries to source most of his/her food locally, I’ve continued to discover more and more about where my food comes from.

And as a committed meat-eater, I was thrilled to find a source for beef raised less than two hours from where I live – certified Angus and, as a bonus, American Wagyu – raised on the same ranch. I’ve used this space on previous occasions to explain the difference between genuine Kobe beef and American Wagyu, so I’ll forego a rehash of that lecture.

I’ve actually been friends with this rancher and his wife for a few years, but it wasn’t until they decided they were ready to market their Wagyu that I became more intimately acquainted with their ranch operation. My friends asked me to put on my toque and consult for them, advising commercial restaurant clients about different ways to cook the non-premium cuts that come from each steer. Every restaurant would gladly buy the prime rib, the rib-eye steaks, the New York strips and even the ground beef. But what about the chuck or blade roasts? Those cuts rarely make it to the menu. If they want to buy from my rancher-friends, they’re going to have to buy a whole steer, and that’s going to include some of those “less desirable” cuts.

They invited my wife and me to spend part of a weekend on the ranch and we were excited that we were going to see firsthand what raising quality cattle was all about.

We never expected, however, that part of our experience would include helping our rancher friend retrieve an 1800 pound Black Angus bull that had gotten out of its pen. But there we were, on a sunny Sunday morning, coaxing this animal (that was definitely not Ferdinand) down the road and into a more secure pen.

No, I was not on a horse; I had no lasso; I had no gun or bullwhip. Nope. Just a rancher and I, on foot on a dirt road with our “womenfolk” about 200 yards away, out of harm’s way.

I may have all the lingo down, but have I mentioned that I’m a city boy?

We also got to see a newborn calf – really newborn — less than two hours old newborn. Its mother had cleaned it up and it was already walking on its spindly legs as the four of us gawked at it as if it were one of our own grandchildren.

Our friend raises mostly breeding stock, so the genetics of the animals are carefully catalogued and reams of details are kept. All of their food is natural and free of antibiotics and growth hormones. I like that. I also was astounded to learn that each animal will eat about 3% of its body weight every day. As they reach maturity, they’re in the 1,000 to 1,800 pound range, so that’s at least 30 to 50 pounds of food every day for every single animal. Consider that the bulls usually get to be around 1,800 pounds, like our friend “Not-Ferdinand,” and that’s quite a lot of chow.

The Wagyu, in addition to grass and hay, also get brewer’s mash, a by-product (actually the waste product) of beer brewing, from a regional brewery. This simulates the diet that Kobe cattle get in Japan. You know that legend about the Kobe cattle being fed beer and being massaged with saki. This mash is extremely high in nutrients, very rich and very moist. For cows, I would say they’re eating really well and they seemed to enjoy it very much.

There is a certain portion of each herd – the Certified Black Angus and the American Wagyu, however – that do make it to the table, so to speak. So let me tell you about the Wagyu beef we’ve been eating.

There is a richness to this meat and a softness as well – even in the traditionally tougher cuts – that is unmatched by other types of beef. And while it is often compared to Kobe, American Wagyu does not have the massive amounts of fat throughout the meat that makes Kobe so extremely rich that it can be eaten only in small amounts.

Nevertheless, it’s delicious beef – very different from the beef you’re used to – and if you see it on the menu, after you get past your “sticker shock,” because it is expensive, you’ll see – and taste — what all the fuss is about.

Follow me on Twitter @KitchenGuyMT

From the KG Blog: Everything In Its Place

Posted by Chef Jim on April 17, 2010  |  Comments Off

Here I go with the French terminology again. “Everything in its place” is the translation of the culinary law that has no exceptions: mise en place (pronounced meez uhn plahss).

Having everything in place when you’re cooking or baking is probably the No. 1 “secret” to success in the kitchen.

When giving private cooking lessons, I’ve seen my pupils running around their kitchens, searching for items in the recipe while a pot is boiling over or onions are burning in the sauté pan. This is not acceptable. And I don’t mention it or drill in it, until I see it happen. And it never fails to happen.

Yes, I know it’s your home kitchen and in your kitchen, you’re the boss. But why would you deliberately make things harder on yourself?

Everything in its place.

It goes without saying that recipes are, in a sense, formulas. In fact, in baking, formula is the term, rather than recipe because, as we all know: cooking is an art; baking is a science.

Nevertheless, the reason I and others more skilled than I write recipes that call for a tablespoon of this and a teaspoon of that, and a whisk and a knife, and so on and so forth, is that these are the ingredients and the implements that should be on the counter, ready to go. And that goes without exception.

Part of mise en place is the advance preparation of ingredients so that, for instance, a pan is not heating while you’re still chopping something. Chopping, dicing and mincing vegetables can be done while the oven is preheating. The pans you need should be out of the cabinet and ready to be placed on the stove top. The knife or knives should be sharp and ready for duty. (Remember: the most dangerous thing in your kitchen is a dull knife.)

In culinary school and in culinary competitions, unlike your home kitchen, the various cuts of vegetables, fruits and herbs are very precise. So a budding chef will have to learn the difference between a large dice and a fine dice; a mince and a small dice; a tourné and a batonette, and so on.

But you don’t. While the culinary student will be judged on his or her precision in making the aforementioned cuts, you need only approximate these. I promise you that it will taste the same. It may not look the same. But it will taste the same.

Everything in its place. Mise en place.

Cookware and bakeware must be appropriate. As a home cook, no one expects you to know the difference between a sauteur and a sauteuse. This is not a hierarchical French kitchen. It’s your home.

But knowing the difference between a pan with higher sides and a pan with sloped sides can make a huge difference in the way your ingredients cook up. This, too, is part of mis en place. If you want your diced vegetables to sauté rather than sweat or steam, then you must choose the correct pan. After all, when you’re expecting crisp and you get limp, don’t blame the pan. Blame the cook who didn’t do proper mise en place.

If I seem a bit pedantic about all of this, it’s because I had it drilled into me on the very first day I walked into the classroom (and for many days afterward) and my chef spent hour upon hour talking about mise en place.

And so it became a habit that is ingrained in me and I hope, if you’re serious about what you do in your kitchen, that it will become ingrained in you as well.

Blog Topic: Kids Eat the Darndest Things

Posted by Chef Jim on April 5, 2010  |  Comments Off

With a tip of my toque to Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby and their very funny television shows from a long time ago, I choose to write about the youngest among us and how we’re forming their eating habits.

There’s another “reality” show currently on television, called, “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” featuring Jamie Oliver, the English chef who originally came to fame as “The Naked Chef” on Food Network. Naked, in this case, referred to his use of pure and unadulterated foods and ingredients. He’s taken the same concept – sort of – for his latest television gig.

Chef Jamie goes to Huntington, W.V., named by a government survey, “The Unhealthiest City in America,” for its incidences of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and other maladies. And it’s no wonder, looking at the school lunch menus that Jamie wants to change.

The milk rarely appears in its original color and is flavored with chocolate and strawberry; the main feature of the breakfast tray is pizza; lunch is chicken nuggets (has anyone yet figured out where the nugget is on a chicken?); and the trays are loaded with additional carbohydrates and fat-laden fried foods.

The plot thickens: Jamie tries to change the menu, as he did successfully in England and received an honor from the Queen for doing it. But he runs up against the school administration bureaucracy and, worse, the lunch ladies who have to prepare the food.

He goes into a kindergarten class and the kids can’t identify any vegetables. One kid thinks tomatoes are potatoes. The whole class is completely mystified by eggplant. He cooks a healthy lunch and, we are not surprised, the kids hate it and most of the food ends up in the trash.

As of this writing, the series is still going on, but we’re certain there will be a happy ending of some sort. We’ve already seen him take a morbidly obese 12-year old under his wing and teach him how to cook healthier for the whole family.

My point? Well, I have several. First, I recently began cooking for a client who has special dietary needs and I paid much closer attention to labels than I normally would. I am stunned by the vast number of products in the grocery store that contain high fructose corn syrup. Do we really need this stuff? Why not add plain sugar or honey?

Second, have you noticed the sodium numbers on jarred and canned food? Average adult daily intake of sodium should be less than 2,200 milligrams. But you can get nearly half that in a can of chicken noodle soup! Table salt is not the problem. Salt in the cooking process is not the problem. Sodium in all of these prepared foods is the problem.

Third, I know it’s easier to just throw something in the microwave, or bring home prepared food or fast food take-out. I know how hard you work during the day and how exhausting it can be to have to come home and cook a full-blown dinner for your family, especially if both spouses are working, or you’re a single parent. But think of what you’re putting into those little growing bodies. Unfortunately, fat is flavor, so we have to be creative to figure out ways to make our food taste better without the heaps and heaps of fat, sodium and high fructose corn syrup.

How? Julia Child said it best: “Everything in moderation.” I am not advocating that you never eat fat, or have salt in your food, or even high fructose corn syrup.

I believe if we feed our children better food, and moderate their intake of fast food and the other tempting #### that’s put before them on a day-to-day basis, their bodies and their brains will be stronger.

Surely your child knows the difference between a tomato and a potato. Doesn’t she?

From the KG Blog: The Other Side of the Table

Posted by Chef Jim on March 21, 2010  |  Comments Off

I’ve been giving wait staff a pretty hard time in this column, but isn’t it usually the case that a few miscreants give a whole group a bad rap?

There is another side to the story and, having been a waiter at more than one time in my younger days, I know from whence they speak.

Diners can be a pretty ugly lot, too. There are now a number of blogs written by waiters and waitresses, and a couple of books have just come out, written by waiters baring their souls about their travails in restaurant dining rooms. Some of you diners are doing some pretty weird and, from what I’ve read, some pretty rotten things.

Have you eaten half or more of your meal and then told your waiter it wasn’t prepared to your liking? Have you ordered something and then feigned an allergy?

Have you overstayed your welcome, thereby preventing the restaurant from turning the table in a reasonable amount of time, so that the restaurant and the waiter could make more money? Have you stayed to the point where the busboys are putting the chairs up on all of the vacant tables and you’re still lounging and chatting with an unpaid check? Did you know that the wait staff has more to do after the restaurant closes, so you’re keeping them way beyond regular hours.

Did you remember that most state laws exempt restaurants from paying their wait staff minimum wage, with the expectation that tips will make up the difference? Did you run a $90 bill and give the waiter $100 and tell him or her to “keep the change?” And did you do the math and figure out that you left an 11 percent tip?

Did you show up at the restaurant on a busy night without a reservation and insist that you should get not just any table, but one of the better tables in the place because you “know the owner?”

And on those busy nights, do you make special requests, expecting the chef to cater to your every whim? And did you know the chef does not cook every dish, so Joe or Manny or one of the other line cooks, more than likely only know the original recipe and aren’t really qualified to make the adjustments you asked for?

In some of our country’s larger cities waiting tables in high-end restaurants is regarded as a profession. And in some cases, the position can be so lucrative that it is handed down from father to son. There are waiters in New York City that make in excess of $100,000.

But waiters and waitresses also get an unfair rap for waiting on tables because many people think they’re biding their time waiting for a big break on the stage or screen or some other “better” job.

And in that same vein, have you asked your waiter or waitress what they really do for a living? Did you know that in most cases that’s an insulting question?

There are more people in a restaurant that make things happen that you never get to see. In many cases, the wait staff is obliged by restaurant management to give a percentage of their tips to the busboys, line cooks and, if there’s a maitre d’ or host/hostess, to him or her, too. Other restaurants pool tips so all waiters and waitresses make about the same amount each night they work – without regard to quality of service or check sizes.

Have you wondered why most restaurant menus now declare that parties of six or more will have an automatic gratuity added to the check? There’s a reason, but based on all of the foregoing, I’ll let you figure it out.

The long and short of it is that a large plurality of waiters and waitresses are doing a great job and they deserve to be tipped. In most European countries, a gratuity is added in to the check – an automatic 15 percent no matter what.

I’m a 20-percenter. I’ve walked in those shoes. But unlike the European system, it’s not automatic nor do I think it should it be. Gratuities are an expression of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. In my book, it’s no different than sending back food to the kitchen when it’s cooked incorrectly – how will they know they’ve done something wrong unless you tell them?

I think it ought to be the same with wait staff. Learn to earn.

Blog Topic: Service Service Service

Posted by Chef Jim on January 21, 2010  |  Comments Off

SIMPSON BAY, Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles – There’s a restaurateur here whom I came to like and admire very much over the last few years. He and his wife retired from the U.S. and opened what became a very popular tavern/restaurant. He’s just one of several expatriates I’ve met in Sint Maarten. It can be a daring move for anyone, and a number of these folks seem to be retirees, so they’re gambling with their savings and security.

Sometimes these gambles pay off. Many times they don’t. I’ve seen both instances a number of times. If you put together a menu that people want, and if the food is good, and you can hire as many of the right people as you possibly can, that’s a formula for success. A major problem in Sint Maarten, as far as I can tell, is the labor law that seems to require an excess of personnel, many of whom are just biding their time, collecting their paychecks.

I’m not saying this is unique to Sint Maarten. I’ve had the misfortune of supervising a number of “employees” like that right here and I’ve told more than one not to let the door hit them in the back. Nevertheless, when you have this excess of personnel, my expectation is that no customer should ever be ignored or have to wait for service.

I remember the first time I visited the island and went to a bagel shop on a Sunday morning. I was astounded to see that it took four people to complete an order for a toasted bagel: one to take the order (in triplicate!); a different one to pass the order to the kitchen; the person in the kitchen; and the cashier. It’s no wonder the place went out of business. Food margins are slim enough. Bagel margins are even slimmer.

These restaurateurs I wrote of earlier owned a restaurant that used to be walking distance from our apartment in Simpson Bay, located in a strip shopping center along the very busy Welfare Road. The owners seemed to have it made. The place was always busy and the food was decent – not great – but decent. There was always a large, jolly man with cornrows and beads in his hair to greet you; he remembered your name; there was always a hug and he made sure that the wait staff paid attention to your needs. I could always forgive the missteps from the kitchen (invariably there was always something) because the atmosphere was playful, friendly and the prices for beer, wine and mixed drinks were very reasonable.

I’m not sure what motivated them to move their location across the Bay, but the whole character of the place changed. The prices increased dramatically, no doubt because the rent and other overhead expenses increased substantially in the new place. A bone-in rib eye steak, of unknown grade and origin, cost $39.95, when the boneless version was $10 less. That didn’t make sense to me – I know bones are great for adding flavor, but I just can’t abide paying that much extra for something I can’t eat.

Nevertheless, here was our experience: It was a Sunday evening, about 7:30. We parked our car and walked into the new place. You’ll recall what I said about places having an excess of employees. We stood at the host’s stand for nearly 10 minutes before even being acknowledged. Finally, a bartender came out from behind the bar and seated us at a table near the kitchen. Imagine a bartender not asking if you’d like something to drink!

It was nearly 10 minutes before a different bartender came by to ask us if we’d like something from the bar and then I watched our two-drink order sit on the bar at the wait station for more than five minutes. We still had not been given menus. Finally, the drinks came to the table. To my way of thinking, when one orders a martini, it automatically should come with at least one olive. That’s part of what makes it a martini. When I pointed this out to the server/bartender, he acknowledged the missing garnish and brought it over. Then, after a quick glance at the menus that finally came to the table, we ordered our appetizers and dinner.

Our appetizers came in a reasonable amount of time and they were good. As for the main course, we waited and waited and waited for our entrees. I actually saw our order placed on the pass, ready for delivery to our table. But a server took it somewhere else. About 10 minutes later, one of the wait staff volunteered to us that, “Another table ordered exactly the same thing you did and they got your order.” Really? What’s up with your computerized POS system that prints out the table number?

It was very nice of the server to comp a glass of wine for each of us. But another 25 minutes ensued before our entrees arrived at the table.

I asked my wife to rate the place on a four star scale and she said she would give it somewhere between two and two-and-a-half stars. I would have to agree, leaning toward the lower rating. Service is so critical to the dining experience. The entrees were okay (not great) but the service was so seriously lacking at this place and it saddens me that I’ll probably cross it off my list of places to go when I’m here next.

That saddens me, because as I wrote at the beginning of this piece, I like the owners and have always wanted them to do well. I understand they’ve taken on a partner who will buy out their interests some time in the coming year so that they can retire again. So to the new owner I say: as long as the government of Sint Maarten requires you to have so many people on your payroll, why not train all of them in customer service?

Blog Topic: The Great Gravy Boat Incident

Posted by Chef Jim on December 21, 2009  |  Comments Off

For some ridiculous reason, there’s always a story that comes out of holiday gatherings at my house, usually the result of a guest at our table.

This year was no exception. And every word is true.

I have a very dear friend, who’s been at my dinner table a number of times, but this was his first Thanksgiving with us.

In addition to all of the cooking I do for others, I also make a complete turkey dinner (a basic mirror of ours) for the men and women who have to work on the holiday at the TV station where my television program is broadcast. It’s the least I can do for them because they make me look so good. (They get Christmas dinner from me, too.)

Anyway, back to this guy. We asked our guests to come about an hour and a half before dinner so that we could have a drink and socialize a bit before sitting down to the massive feast this holiday demands.

Our tradition is to serve turducken as the main course and if you aren’t familiar with that, it’s a Cajun specialty that is a completely deboned chicken, stuffed inside a completely deboned duck, stuffed inside a mostly deboned turkey. They leave the turkey drumsticks and wings. In between the birds and in the chicken cavity is a stuffing – either a Cajun sausage with cornbread stuffing or Creole seafood stuffing with rice. (I buy this and have it shipped to me because even though I know how to debone poultry, I’d rather let someone else do this task!)

The three-bird combination yields some tasty drippings which, in turn, gives me the makings for one fine gravy, because we also serve a combo dish I call marbled mashed potatoes, combining Russets and sweet potatoes; an apple and sausage cornbread stuffing, plus the meat – so there’s plenty of food on the plate that is appropriate for gravy.

As we sat down to the table and began bringing the various dishes around to serve to our guests, my friend’s wife quietly warned my wife not to let my friend have the gravy pitcher until everyone else at the table had it. My wife thought that was a strange thing to say and when she told me, I thought the same thing, but let it pass.

Well, we found out why she gave us not a hint, but a warning. My friend didn’t get the pitcher last, and for some unknown reason, he was the third person out of eight to get the gravy pitcher and he poured the entire contents onto his plate! I estimate that to be about a pint and a quarter of gravy.

“Are you kidding me?” I barked (and I confess I added an expletive or two).

My friend’s wife responded, “I told you so. He did this at my mother’s last year and he hasn’t lived it down since.” There was a stunned silence at the table and a goofy look on my friend’s face. The lighting was dimmed for dinner so I couldn’t see if there was any sign of embarrassment.

“Hey. What can I tell you? I love gravy,” was his response.

“And what about the rest of us?” I asked. He shrugged his shoulders. His wife then added, “If he’s ever invited back, you can just make up some of that powdered gravy mix and give it to him. He wouldn’t know the difference.”

I’ve shared this story with my hundreds of Facebook friends around the world and they reacted as I’m sure you are reacting now as you read this.

One of my guests, who probably ought to be in the diplomatic corps, said: “Well, Jim, at least your turducken, and extra stuffing are moist and tender just as they are. And I guess if you wouldn’t mind, I’ll just put a little butter on my potatoes.”

Guess who’s not getting invited back next year?

Blog Topic: Oh, Walla Walla!

Posted by Chef Jim on December 4, 2009  |  Comments Off

WALLA WALLA, Wash. – I am acquainted with a wine salesman who once told me that climate change was pushing the grape growing regions of the Northern Hemisphere farther north.

Interesting concept, I thought, and apparently true as we see more and more viniculture outside of the more temperate regions of our country.

One such area is the Columbia Valley in the state of Washington, specifically an area around Walla Walla. There are some mighty good wines coming out of this region and the reputation of the growing number of producers has begun to reach beyond the Northwest.

Our recent trip to Portland, Oregon included a planned detour through Walla Walla, as we were acquainted with at least two producers whose wines we enjoy very much. One such place is Bergevin Lane.

One thing that makes this particular winery special is that two women are the principals, Annette Bergevin and Amber Lane. To be sure, it’s not the only winery in North America run primarily by women, but they are in a distinct minority. They know their stuff and proved it to me originally at a dinner featuring their wines – six courses, including dessert, with Bergevin Lane products to match with each.

They produce an outstanding reserve Cabernet Sauvignon they call Intuition, and we made it a point to get to this winery specifically for this wine. As the women point out, making a great wine starts with intuition, and they had a hunch that blending cabernet sauvignon with petit verdot, cabernet franc and merlot grapes would make a great tasting wine. Their intuition told them further to leave the wine unfiltered, letting time in the barrel and then in the bottle work their magic. You know all the clichés about women’s intuition. I’m a believer that Annette and Amber have it.

We also bought their vigonier, regular cab-sav, pinot noir from grapes they bought in Oregon and their citrusy Calico White.

I first became acquainted with L’Ecole No. 41 with a dartboard pick at a steakhouse in Spokane. I had asked our waiter for some guidance, but it soon became clear that he knew little to nothing about wine, so I closed my eyes and let my index finger pick the wine blind. How lucky am I?

L’Ecole No. 41 is one of the star producers in the Columbia Valley. The winery is located about 11 miles west of Walla Walla, and they are in a converted schoolhouse, hence the name.

Their best-known product is the estate-grown Merlot, but there are a few blends we managed to pick up that I haven’t seen on any wine lists yet. The first, known as Perigee, is a blend from their Seven Hills Vineyard and I’m at a bit of a loss to understand the thinking behind the name, because they make another called Apogee. The former means the low point of an orbit, while the latter means the high point. Our palates told us to buy the Perigee and not the Apogee, so if I were naming them, I might have switched the names based on our opinions of each.

Windblown loess and geologic good fortune created the soil mixture for L’Ecole to grow these vines, including an outstanding white they call Luminesce. It’s beautifully made and has interesting notes of citrus in the background, but also two other tastes come forward – surprisingly lychee – and a little melon.

To be certain, grape growing and winemaking have been helped immeasurably by advances in science, virtually guaranteeing decent product from hundreds and hundreds of wineries.

But there are a select few that go beyond decent and Bergevin Lane and L’Ecole No. 41 are two that, in my opinion, surpass all expectations.