STUDIOKITCHEN

Service

I think the client said it best.

From our fearless leader at PENN :

"You two seemed to flow through the dining room like angels with food"

Never underestimate the importance of who serves your food.
Ambassadors of the kitchen I like to think of them as.
Food in thier hands.
Answers at thier fingertips.
Precision delivery, almost like there are imaginary arrows painted on the floor to guide them.
Eyes like hawks.
Attention to detail.
That's what good service is about.
Margarita sips in between courses take the edge off.

Thanks J and B.

Ito san

Contemporary architecture and contemporary cooking occasionally share an austere intellectual snobbery. The most obvious question upon being confronted by both is usually "it looks good but what's the point ?". To answer simply "because we can" is not enough, does it offer any functionality or transfer of flavor that communicates the integrity of it's foundations and components. This is the challenge that mavericks face, at the end of the day, does it taste good ?. One of the best aspects of contract private cheffing is you never know where the winds blow and who you might meet, the chance to intersect with extremely creative people who take an intellectual interest in what you do is good assurance that any cook can ask for. Toyo Ito is one of the most brilliant Japanese architects and the Sendai Mediatheque, a multi functional space based on columns is on the same vein of lateral thinking a competent chef might use in composing a tasting menu or an oenophile assembles a vertical tasting. In the end he loved his food and undestood the intellectual wisdom behind it. That is all we cooks ask for. For those interested in architecture, click HERE.

Parting Gift.

Many years ago, I worked for Chef Fritz Blank at Deux Cheminees in Philadelphia. Fritz was of the old school, he taught by example, emphasised taste and actually tasting the food while you were cooking it. He took me under his wing as a very young cook and essentially taught me how to season food by titration. Fritz was the master of acidity as a balancing component of flavor. While many scoff at the fact that the food in the restaurant was old fashioned which it arguably was, he never wavered in communicating honest defined flavors. One of the things I was tasked with at the restaurant was charcuterie and fabrication of sausages and terrines. Fritz used an old hand cranked meat grinder.