The morning started with sleep! We didn’t have a 10am event, our son didn’t have a 9:30 camp. We got to wake when we woke, slowly get going then walk our son down to the Les Chefs Petits brunch. This was supposed to be the kids making their own brunch in the Seven kitchen. This was bad planning on someone’s part since the Seven kitchen has their regular Sunday brunch happening and they couldn’t pile 30 kids into the kitchen! So they set them up out at one of the event tents on the beach instead. I’m sure this was better for the kids anyway, they got to have great food and still be maniacs.
Meanwhile we headed in to the ballroom for an incredible Champagne brunch. I never have high expectations for brunches. Even the one at the Waldorf in New York City failed to impress me. This one however…WOW. The champagne never stopped flowing, I wouldn’t be surprised if I consumed an entire bottle over the course of the morning. The level in my glass never dropped even though I was sipping the whole time. I piled my plate high with every seafood bit I could find. I don’t think I’d recovered from the meat-heavy Friday night BBQ so sushi, oysters, caviar, they all sounded wonderful and rejuvenating and they were. I basically just kept hitting the oyster bar until the brunch was over!
As we are all joyfully noshing away, there is an intense competition happening on stage, Top Chef style. The two finalists from the Cayman Cookoff, Maureen Cubbon and Eric St. Cyr, are frantically putting together a dish and a drink (the twist added to the competition by Richard Blais) for an intense table of judges: Eric Ripert, Anthony Bourdain, Jose Andres, Dana Cowin and the Governor of Cayman. I think I’d pass out from the stress! They are better prepared than me however and they completed their dishes and drinks and thoroughly impressed the judges. Eric St. Cyr came out on top and after the winner was announced, the crazy judge crew got on stage with bottles of Moet and a huge saber! Luckily, no blood was drawn, champagne just sprayed anyone in the vicinity. All we needed were some umbrella girls…the MotoGP of food celebrations.
We hung out on the beach with our son for some of the afternoon, perused the artisan market, picked up some cookbooks and got them signed by Eric and Tony, then had some time to relax before the Gala Dinner. Unfortunately, the evening didn’t go as planned. I gave my “Food Aversions” card to the restaurant manager. I knew this was going to be an intense, stressful evening for the kitchen and the waitstaff. I thought the card would make things easier for all involved, I mean, that’s why I have them. What it did was make them fuss over every course of mine and over me which I don’t deal with well at all. I did get to enjoy a little before I went into panic mode though.
The first course was Wahoo Sashimi, Ume, Garlic and Shiso by Laurent Gras. Wahoo is just the best fish around. I could have eaten nothing but this. The fish paired with Laurent’s grace was a perfect dish. This is actually where the stress began. They didn’t bring me this, they brought me some sort of veggie salad instead. I didn’t want to be a problem but I wanted the wahoo! I saw them take the dish back to the kitchen…the kitchen activity is being broadcast to the whole dining room…I saw Eric talk to my waiter, look at the card, eventually the wahoo came out. I was humiliated. It was exactly what I was trying to avoid. I was truly bummed that my chef-idol was being inconvenienced by me.
I ran into Eric’s wife Sandra in the restroom after this. She is so incredibly awesome, I love that woman (hell, she babysat my kid!!). Anyway, I told her what happened and she joked with me about it and I felt much better. Then the next course came out and I had a substitute where I should have. The dish was Foie Gras Mulligatawny and I don’t like Foie. I got a gazpacho-like dish just bursting with flavor. We were temporarily back on track.
Then the waiter kept coming up and checking on me, making sure everything was fine, over and over. The service was so incredible, I had an anxiety attack. I took my fabulous glass of wine and sat outside for the next two courses. I couldn’t deal. I was completely blowing an amazing dinner. Then I found out my son was having a meltdown upstairs with his babysitter. I guess it was in the air. This gave me an out. I switched from foodie-mode to mother-lion mode and went to my kid. I said goodbye to Sandra grabbed my wine and headed up to the room.
My husband stayed and said Eric’s Venison was the highlight of the evening and he doesn’t even like venison. I’m sorry I missed it but something wasn’t meant to be. It was too fancy and uptight and stressful for me. I loved that we could be sitting around the table with people we’d never normally associate with. They were from different generations, different occupations and very different political worlds than us but we found common ground in the food. Food can bring us all together. It is a leveling ground.
I wish I could have experienced the full Gala Dinner but I truly enjoyed the courses I had. If we make it back to the Cookout next year, I know the Gala isn’t for me. It was icing on an already sweet weekend, truly not needed to complete the adventure. It was a non-stop bacchanalian escapade. I really hope we can do this again!
The first event of Saturday morning was one I was really looking forward to. Good vs. Evil – Ripert and Bourdain in conversation. I didn’t realize they had a schtick. They interrogate each other in quite the hilarious way. Tony started on Eric, trying to find his weaknesses…trying to embarrass him. Eric seems to blush quite easily but he’s prepared, it’s all in good fun. Then Eric went at Tony but was still the good cop of the two.
The interesting point in the conversation was when they ended their performance and took questions from the audience. There was a lot of talk about the Food Network chefs. About how Paula Deen is the evilest of them all, I’m sure you’ve heard in the press, because she promotes ridiculously unhealthy food, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes three years ago but kept showcasing crap food and is going to be endorsing diabetes pharmeceuticals now. Evil and wrong. This got Tony going more than anything. Until someone brought up Gordon Ramsey. I’ve never seen Eric get upset. He’s usually completely diplomatic about everything. He hates the way Gordon abuses his chefs and not only that, how the show is preloaded with people set up to fail. It is wrong, immoral and damaging to the cooking world.
They also were asked how to get Americans to change their view on food. I completely agree with what Tony said. We have to take the low road. We have to brainwash the kids. Eric’s son thinks that Ronald McDonald kidnaps kids and sometimes they end up in the burgers. That is brilliant. Our son thinks McDonalds is just a bathroom on road trips. You need to make the kids think they’ll be weird or shunned if they eat fast food. If the majority of kids thinks that, it will spread like wildfire. I’ve seen it myself with my kid and his friends. I’ve heard him lecture a friend for going to Burger King. About how awful it is and how it’s not really food. I just hung back and listened, I had nothing to add. To change the world, we have to change the next generation’s thought process.
I briefly gushed at Eric afterward…I cannot talk to that man without praising him endlessly. It’s embarrassing. I have to stop! This time it was about McDonald’s. I love that idea.
We made our way to the other side of the resort to Periwinkle for lunch by Laurent Gras. I was really looking forward to this one. After the ceviche on Friday, I knew I’d like what he was doing. I have to admit, I had no idea who he was before he was booked for the Cookout. For being such an avid foodie, I don’t follow the restaurant scene and news all that much unless I’m going somewhere and need somewhere to eat. I missed all the Laurent drama. I was kind of glad for that actually, I came in with a clean slate. He is a genius with freshness and lightness. I left his lunch full but not exhausted and weighed down. We had Conch ceviche with caviar, parsley and lime; Caribbean Lobster with dark rum and lettuce; Wahoo with tomato, ginger and cilantro; and Melon consomme with lemon ginger sorbet.
Our tablemates were marvelous. A woman named Rosemary who makes it a point of getting cookbooks signed everywhere she goes. She has over 500 signed books now in just a few years. A couple from Calgary who are food critics for that area, they were lovely. And Richard Morais, a writer for Barrons and a published author. I just bought his book, The Hundred-Foot Journey and will start reading it soon. It looks fantastic.
For the whole weekend, my husband and I were in the same demos and events except for one. He wanted to drink wine with Aldo Sohm (Le Bernardin’s AMAZING sommelier), I wanted to go see Richard Blais. We both made the right choice and both wished we could be in two places at once. He had wines that were rare and to die for. He snuck me a white burgundy that I savored for as long as I could. Blais was hilarious! He was entertaining, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and so much fun. He made “Oysters and Pearls,” his homage to Thomas Keller but a completely different dish. He took oysters, topped them with a mignonette that had minced cilantro stem in it along with dill, shallots and, of course, vinegar. Then he topped them with the pearls which were horseradish-creme fraiche frozen in liquid nitgrogen. This session made me want to head to the welding shop and buy myself a container of liquid nitrogen. He also made frozen margaritas by putting the tequila and lime in the mixer and whisking in liquid nitrogen until it became like a sorbet. Genius.
The last demo before dinner was from Eric Ripert himself. Cocktails and Ceviche on the beach. He demonstrated a ceviche and a tartare. Both delicious of course. All the while the sun is turning golden behind him. Our son was playing in the waves with Eric’s son (they had a blast together and Sandra is an utterly sweet and wonderful woman). And we were sipping Moet Chandon and eating Eric’s fish. Life was perfect right then.
Dinner was off-site at Michaels Genuine Food and Drink. We were bussed to the event, given champagne and hors d’euvres and then led to our tables. We had Wahoo crudo, slow roasted pork shoulder, rabbit crepes and lamb scottacdito. None of which I got pictures of because it was too dark but from what we heard the next day, Michael’s was the best dinner of the evening. It was really fantastic.
After the meal we quickly rushed through the dessert tables, grabbed some absolutely wonderful treats and then had to rush back to get our son from camp again. The disadvantage of having our son with us was having to dart out of things early, the advantage was…well, everything else. He had such an amazing time and when we picked him up that just meant we weren’t hanging around events too late, getting too tired and too drunk. I think it worked out well for all of us.
Only one more day to go. Everything flew by so fast.
The first real day of the Cookout began at 10am. As Jose Andres put it, “Who puts a cooking class at 10am?! You start a cooking class at 3pm so you have the day sleep and then do your things…then cook!” But he didn’t seem to be slowed by the early start. As Dana Cowin was introducing him for demonstration, she was wondering where he was. As she was saying, “He has got to be here somewhere…” he came bounding on the stage straight out of the ocean in his scuba gear with his ten year old daughter. He is a character to say the least. We were all seated in a tent with the people who payed extra with their American Express Platinum Cards having the preferred seats in the front rows. He undid all that (hilariously) by getting everyone up and out into the blazing sun on the beach, around ENORMOUS paella pans over fires built in the sand. He immediately started hollering for volunteers: 2 people for each pan to stir and add ingredients, 4 people to help make the cocktails, 3 people to grill oysters…go go go!!!
The fires were hot. The sun was hot. His sous chefs were in jeans. I thought they were going to pass out but they have to be strong to work for this guy. The dish he was making was called Fideo. It’s like paella but made with pasta instead of rice. Much easier to control the outcome of when cooking for 100 people over open flames on a beach! Pork ribs, tomatoes, pasta (short angel hair), lobster, broth. Everyone was sweating like mad in the heat of the day and the fires but the cocktails started flowing. Fruit, mint, champagne…a beautiful, refreshing way to begin drinking at 10am!!
I stood next to Dana Cowin and shamelessly plugged my web site. All the while Jose is running around like a madman and then puts a song on the PA, passes around lyrics and has us all sing along. He is amazing and the food was phenomenal. He’s completely insane and a blast to see cook.
Our next ticket was for a Behind the Scenes tour of Blue by Eric Ripert. They don’t ever just call it “Blue”, it is always “Blue by Eric Ripert”. That was making me laugh.
Anyway, we arrived and grabbed a front row seat. Luis Lujan is the Executive Chef at Blue (by Eric Ripert) and walked us through the preparation of the dishes we’d be having for lunch. The first was wahoo. If you ever have a chance to eat wahoo, DO IT! This is an incredible fish. It looks like hamachi but it melts in your mouth. He cut it perfectly, seared in perfectly and dressed it perfectly. I would expect no less. Eric popped in to say hello and then we all got a brief tour of the kitchen. It’s not a huge kitchen and in 2 days time would be filled with the world’s best chefs making 164 plates each for the Gala Dinner. Incredible.
We then sat on the patio for our lovely lunch. The wine flows continuously at these events. I’m amazed I could walk but something happens on these sorts of adventures and what would result in me being horizontal at home is just par for the course as the weekend goes on. Probably not healthy but this is not an every day occurence.
The afternoon treated us to a demo by April Bloomfield of which I only got to catch the end. Then a beautiful green curry ceviche by Laurent Gras. I was so ridiculously full by this point, I was scared of what Laurent was going to present but it was so light and refreshing that it was more like a cocktail with some fish in it than a meal. It was almost a palate cleanser. He took the ingredients of a green curry but instead of making it a heavy dish full of coconut milk, he used coconut water and created a light ceviche. Something I will definitely try at home.
The first of the epic evening events was the Barefoot BBQ at Tiki Beach. They had a shuttle running from the hotel to the event but it was a whopping 2km away, on the beach, we decided to walk. Really for two reasons: one, we were already so full, we needed to work up an appetite and two, we had to pick up our son from his amazing camp at the hotel before the shuttles were going to be running at the end of the event and we needed to time the walk. What a beautiful way to get to the BBQ. I’m so glad we did that. We didn’t have to wait in line with anxious rich folks who complain if things aren’t exactly as they think they should be, we were walking along the white sandy beach of Grand Cayman at dusk. You can’t beat that.
We arrived at Tiki Beach and it was crazy-busy. Our first stop was Tony Bourdain’s station and some sumptuous pork. He’s still got it man. He may be more known for traveling and writing now but 28 years in the kitchen doesn’t just vanish. He makes a mean pig. We worked our way to the complete opposite end of the venue and found Jose Andres being loud and hilarious as usual as his chefs carved thin slices of Jamon Iberico. I will never be able to eat prosciutto again now that I’ve experienced Iberico. Dryer, saltier, damn it was good. It was atop some sliced beef. So now I’ve had pork, I’ve had beef with pork on top and we waltz over to Eric Ripert’s station where he’s serving beef tenderloin. Why not?! Pork, beef and pork, beef….so full. I thought I made a damn fine tenderloin but, as usual, Eric takes it beyond.
We found a table in the back near Jose Andres and relaxed with our plates for a bit. We got to visit with some fabulous people. I wasn’t sure how the attendees would be at this. There is a lot of money here obviously. And there are some people that have more money than I could ever imagine having and are real snots about it. They have their Gucci and Valentino clothes shipped to them to try on because they live an hour from the Galleria and that’s just too damn inconvenient for shopping. Just one example. But the people we visited with at the BBQ were all wonderful. One woman was a coordinator for the event. One couple had been before but brough his mom this year from Michigan. There were a lot of Canadians representing. Maybe because of Paul Rogalski being there or maybe becuase it’s usually 25 below this time of year and it’s a great escape.
After a few nibbles of dessert we headed back to the beach and walked back to the hotel under the stars….many more stars than we get to see in our neck of the woods. Mars was so bright it was reflecting off the ocean. Amazing.
We arrived a day early and spent my birthday in the amazing waters of Grand Cayman. We snorkled and swam and snorkeled some more. The water is warm and clear and full of some of the cast of Finding Nemo. It was incredible. I snorkeled in Hawaii many years ago but it was not like this. The water here was warmer and clearer.
We were going to be booked solid with demonstrations, lunches, dinners and events so I wanted my birthday completely schedule free. Because of that however, we didn’t make dinner reservations. Once we got in from snorkeling, I realized I really wanted to be able to eat at Blue by Eric Ripert for my birthday. We called. They had a 9:30 table. We have a 7 year old. That wasn’t going to work. My husband had booked it though before we got back to the room and decided that was a bad idea. So we walked down to Blue to tell them we wouldn’t be using the 9:30 table assuming we’d be heading to one of the other hotel restaurants for dinner. We were in shorts, not dressed for an Eric Ripert dining room. They said they could seat us then if we wanted. OK!! We sat and were presented with the many choices for dinner and, surprisingly, a kid’s menu! I never expected that. Le Bernardin sure doesn’t offer a kid’s menu. ;-)
They brought out the amuse bouche which was a tortellini with…honestly I have no idea but it was so wonderful, and a scallop ceviche bite. They gave my son what looked like two tater tots but they called “potato croquettes”. He was not interested. I told them he’d really rather have the scallop and they brought him the “grown up” dish instead. He loved it, they thought he was awesome.
He got tomato soup with croutons and local snapper with rice and vegetables from the kids menu. We ordered the 3 course a la carte menu since we knew that he wouldn’t have the stamina for a full many-course, multi-hour tasting menu. I started with hamachi 3 ways, then the lobster and for my main the tuna. My husband got the conch ceviche, the tuna with foie gras (a signature Ripert dish) and the snapper.
While we were eating, we got to ogle the table full of celebrity chefs and they’re beautiful wives having dinner on the patio outside our window: Eric Ripert, Anthony Bourdain, Jose Andres, Richard Blais, Francois Payard, April Bloomfield and others. It was hard not to stare. The weekend had just started so we hadn’t had our brush with culinary fame yet. This event is so small (compared to most food events) that you are constantly running into a culinary hero as you’re walking the beach, traversing the hallways of the Ritz or at the events.
Dinner was spectacular. The service at Blue is on par with Le Bernardin. The sommelier noticed our son was getting antsy and came over an made him a mouse out of a napkin! They were so incredibly accomodating even though they were also having to serve their boss and some of the best chefs in the world on the patio just outside.
This is one of those meals ….one of those weekends…that it seems silly to “review” the food. It was excellent of course. That’s what we flew many hours on a red eye with a bonkers kid playing 12 hours of video games for. The hamachi was clean and refreshing, acidic and salty, rich and cool and the same time. The conch had no chewiness like I expected, but it also had bell peppers so I only snuck a tiny bite from my husband to see what it was like. The lobster was, well, lobster at Blue! Imagine it and you’ll probably be correct!
I ordered the chocolate death for dessert and it arrived with “Happy Birthday” written in chocolate on the plate. I am not one to hide the fact it’s my birthday. I don’t worry about getting older. I tell everyone I meet it’s my birthday. I revel in my day. It’s all about me. I got a candle and a chocolate wish. And I was in the Caymans with my favorite chef in the world. My birthday was the most amazing one I could imagine. Well, except for the woman who told me her husband flew Eric Ripert to her house to cook dinner for her and 6 friends. That is unbelievable but nevermind that. I would never dream of anything better than the Cayman Cookout for my special day.
Anyone who knows me or has visited this site…ever…knows my answer to that question. I don’t bake. I hated chemistry. I don’t measure. I don’t plan things in advance enough to let it rise or refrigerate it overnight. I love to cook. I do it by taste and smell and instinct. My husband brews beer and mead and roasts his own coffee. We have the whole meal covered except the sugar and bread. That’s where our 7 year old comes in. I am determined to make him our pastry chef and baker and he likes the idea as well (luckily!).
He isn’t yet at the point that he can sit through a baking class though so I decided to go to one myself and bring home what I learned to him. I didn’t just sign up for any class, I signed up for Pim Techamuanvivit’s “Edible Gifts” workshop. It was part of Love Apple Farm’s amazing classes. We’d twittered back and forth with each other before, both live in Santa Cruz, but we’d never met. I was excited.
Pim guiding us through her recipes
I arrived along with about 20 others, all of whom were taking notes and anxiously awaiting trying these recipes. I watched and thought, my kid should love this. I didn’t take notes on everything. I was happy with Pim’s recipes and was thrilled that she does everything by weight instead of volume! This turns out to have made the biggest difference in the baking experience in our house.
Pim piping madeleines
We watched Pim make a plethora of impressive yet simple treats: Salted honey caramels, alfajores, honey madeleines, pain d’epices, honeycomb and chocolate truffles with armagnac prunes. Each confection was made with precision and expertise in a way that anyone, including me could still make it. Everyone was itching to try all the sweet treats and it only took Pim asking once for people to rush up to cut, wrap, assemble and taste the goodies.
It only took seconds for people to swarm to the finished treats
I brought the recipes home (including the super-secret pain d’epices) and got my son to work on our Christmas goodie bags! He had a blast. All I had to do was get the ingredients and bowls out for him and he could measure and mix. I helped with the more dangerous tasks like stirring and pouring boiling sugar, but for the most part this was his project.
Pim's next apprentice?
We ended up with a beautiful assortment of gifts: Honeycomb that we dipped in dark chocolate, pain d’epices, salted honey caramels and chocolate-dipped madeleines. Plus we added extras from our kitchen: dried sage, chili flakes, pomegranate mead, applesauce and home-roasted coffee beans. I also used Pim’s idea of rubber-stamping labels. It looked so darn cute! I want to stamp everything now!
The Christmas Goodie Bag
For Christmas I got my son some books that Pim recommended: The Fearless Baker and Ready for Dessert (which he recently made a Chocolate Pavé from and it was divine!). Plus I picked up the Tartine Bread book. All of the Tartine recipes use a natural leaven. He will need to nurse a starter culture daily…it’s like a Tamagotchi but real…and yeasty.
To call this a review would be ludicrous. The meal was perfect. I got to meet Eric Ripert. I was a giddy, squealing ’60s Beatles fan girl. You should have seen me! I maintained for my conversation with him but I was jumping up and down once I got outside. I have met many-a-famous-person. I’m a fan girl. I stay after concerts and booksignings in the off chance I’ll get to say hi and take a picture. Never has a rockstar or author had this effect on me. I think it’s because Eric Ripert does something I would love to do: cook seafood *perfectly*.
We were seated near the kitchen and I immediately asked if I could peek inside. I’ve made the mistake of waiting until after the meal and the multiple glasses of wine to head into the kitchen and I’m a bumbling, drunk idiot. So, sober tour for me this time please!
Unfortunately, Chef Ripert wasn’t in the kitchen yet. But it was such a different space than other kitchens, notably the French Laundry. When we went into that kitchen I felt like if I breathed too loudly, I would ruin a dish. In the Le Bernardin kitchen there was a lot of movement and, not chaos, but constant motion. But the chefs (ranking designated by the blue baseball caps) all looked up and acknowledged us, said hello, looked like they were enjoying themselves.
They’re enjoyment came through in every bite. First off, I have to say how much I loved coming to a 3-Michelin star/4-NY Times star restaurant and being given a SPORK! How awesome is that?! The star of the first 3 bites was the fluke. In On the Line it states they can’t take the fluke away, too many patrons would complain. I agree. I made one of the marinades the other night and it was delightful (I used filet of sole, we don’t get fluke here).
Every dish was magic.
CAVIAR – WAGYU
Nebraska Wagyu Beef; Langoustine and Osetra Caviar Tartare
Black Pepper-Vodka Crème Fraîche, Pomme Gaufrette
Champagne Dom Ruinart 1998
The *only* complaint I had of the entire meal was the smokiness of the dashi gelee. I only ate a very small percentage of the gelee on the plate. The gelee itself was fine but the ratio was off to me. If I had all the gelee, it would have been overpowering.
TUNA
Ultra Rare Yellowfin Tuna; Spiced Dashi Gelée
Green Peppercorn – Iberico Chutney
Yuki no Bosha, Yamahai Junmai, Akita
Anytime we go to a fancy-pants place like this, I try to get the waitstaff to relax with us. We aren’t uptight. We’d like this food on a plastic table with folding chairs…I don’t care about ambiance and rituals. Every course that came out required a new set of silverware. Including the trowel-like knife which never got used because all the fish was like butter. Every time they brought a new one I laughed! Finally I said, “Seriously, leave the knife!” And he laughed as well and said, “I can’t, it’s my job security, what do you think they’re paying me for?!” He was great.
LOBSTER
Warm Lobster in a Rosé Champagne Nage
Currant Tomatoes and Hearts of Palm
Chablis, “Vieilles Vignes”, Domaine Savary, Burgundy 2009
SALMON
Barely Cooked Wild Salmon; Asparagus “Risotto”, Smoked Pistachio Pesto
Château Grillet, Neyret-Gachet, Rhône Valley 2005
Every dish that came out was amazing but I think the winner of the night was the black bass. It was so wonderfully salty and the mini pork bun was right out of Din Tai Fung in Sydney (my favorite place there!). All elegance and table manners went out the window for me, I was lapping every drop up with my finger.
BLACK BASS
Crispy Black Bass; Lup Cheong and Beansprout
Mini Pork Buns, Hoisin – Plum Jus
Rioja Reserva,Viña Bosconia, Lopez de Heredia, Spain 2003
KING FISH
“Barbecued” King Fish; Marinated Mango and Napa Cabbage
Sancocho Broth
Barolo, Mirafiore, Piedmont, Italy 2007
I cook a lot of fish. At least once if not twice a week. I don’t know how he does it. I could take the same ingredients and they would taste good, but not like this. The fish truly is the star of the plate.
CITRUS
Lime Parfait, Meringue, Avocado Purée, Mint, Grapefruit – Tequila Sorbet
Poire Granit, Pear Cider, Eric Bordelet, France
CHOCOLATE-TEA
Dark Chocolate Cremeux, Cocoa Pain de Genes, Earl Grey Tea Ice Cream
Pineau des Charrentes Cask No. 2, Paul Marie & Fils
After the meal, my husband wanted an after-dinner drink so we migrated to the lounge to free up the table. They brought us, what I later found out, is a signature dish of theirs, the chocolate-caramel Egg. It’s in my cookbook but I’ve literally never looked at the dessert section…not my thing. I was so full at that point but the egg was also amazing (tired of that word yet?)
It was then that Chef Ripert walked by…I said hi and that’s when the giddiness hit. I was happy with that but my husband asked the maitre d’ if we could meet and take a photo with Eric. They escorted us back to the kitchen and there he was…just standing there. Squeee! He was so incredibly nice and accommodating. I got to tell him I’m a huge fan, not from Avec Eric or the appearances on Top Chef but from his cook book. Once I started making his recipes I became a big fan. He turned to my husband then and said, “So you get the benefit of this then?” :)
Then he had us move over for a picture so we’d have the kitchen behind us. The photo is now one of my prized possessions. And we got to tell him we’d be seeing him at his Cayman Cookout event in January (on my birthday!). It’s going to be the most amazing birthday EVER!
I know I put the picture at the beginning of the post but it’s worth a second look…it’s me with ERIC RIPERT!!!
This is worth a walk to the East Village. And you really should walk a long distance so you also have to walk a long distance back. These ice creams are not dainty little scoops. This is a huge, amusement park-sized, dipped soft serve cone lined and dipped in goodness.
I got the wonderfully named “Salty Pimp” (Vanilla Ice Cream, Dulce de Leche, Sea Salt, Chocolate Dip). Possibly the best part of the name was my seven year old son debating whether or not he should get the Salty Pimp. He ended up with a nutella-lined cone with vanilla ice cream and rainbow sprinkles. The concoction was as big as his head and he ate the whole thing. Luckily we had to walk back to west village so some of that sugar wore off!
The people who run the store are lovely, the toppings are amazing, the menu is vast. It’s not your boardwalk soft serve.
We spent a rainy but wonderful weekend in Inverness, CA for my dad’s 70th birthday. He loves oysters, as do we, so we stayed near Hog Island Oyster Farm and shucked oysters for two days. Truth be told, my dad did most of the shucking. I got about three open but he was so much better at it, he did the rest of the 6 dozen.
All we did was top them with a little red wine vinegar and shallots or lemon juice and tabasco. They were heavenly. I barbecued some for my stepmom and sister. Some of those worked, some didn’t pop open like I thought they would and I ended up burning those…oops!!
The raw ones were the way to go in my opinion ;-) If you ever have the chance to get oysters this fresh, you have to try them. The best!!
First things first…this was totally cool and fun!! We actually started discussing putting some sort of exhaust fan over our dining room table so we could do this at the table rather than in the kitchen. Next time we’ll do it outside instead so everyone can participate and cook their own food on the block. This time was an experiment (a successful one!) and I manned the salt block “grill” in the kitchen.
I slowly heated the salt according to the instructions from The Meadow. While it was heating, I prepared the rest of the meal.
I made baked fries…another thing I’ve never made before, oddly. Super easy. Peeled and cut russet potatoes into fry sizes (I like skinnier, crispier fries so I cut them pretty skinny). Toss with olive oil and bake for about 20 minutes at 400°, flip them over and bake 25 more minutes or so until they are as crispy as desired.
I tossed the fries with Flor de Sal de Manzanilla and Nanami Togaroshi. The kicker for the fries though was the aioli. Since this was a Japanese-style dinner, I basically was making Japanese steak-frites, I made wasabi aioli (and it was good!):
1T wasabi paste
2 large cloves garlic
1″ peeled ginger
–Put in food processor and mince all the up together.
2T rice vinegar
2 super-fresh, organic, you can trust to eat them raw, egg yolks
Salt to taste
–Now turn on the food processor and add canola oil until it’s the right consistency…Probably about a cup of oil, I didn’t measure.
(Make ahead of time and refrigerate)
I knew this would be a rich meal so I made a crunchy, refreshing salad:
3 c. Julienned daikon
2 oz pea shoots
3 T soy sauce
2 t sugar
2 t mirin
1 tablespoon water
1 t toasted sesame oil
Dress the salad right before serving so it remains crunchy.
Now, the part you’ve all been waiting for. Thinly slice ribeye (or whatever cut of meat you want to use). I just sliced a steak as thinly as I could. When the salt is hot, put it on there! Cook for about a minute per side…if that. The first batch I think I left on too long. By the last batch I was getting the hang of it. The fattier the meat, the better. If the meat is too lean, it will draw too much liquid out of the meat and make it too salty. The ribeye was borderline…we are saltaholics so it wasn’t a problem for us! I really wanted to cook Wagyu for it’s fat content but nowhere around here sells it.
To serve, squeeze a little lemon juice on the meat and eat!
It’s been six years since my first trip to the French Laundry. I’d heard rumors that Thomas Keller had spread himself too thin, opening too many restaurants, too many projects, that the French Laundry had slipped and wasn’t as good as it used to be. I don’t know what these people are talking about!! And I apologize in advance for the length of this article. It was a nearly 5 hour meal. You’ll have to cut me some slack. But I’m jumping ahead of myself. A few months ago I was contacted by my friend, Ticia, about an interview with Mark Van Name. He was coming out to the West Coast for World Fantasy Con, wanted to go to the French Laundry, and could I get reservations? Oh sure, you betcha! I have no insider connection, I just had to hope, keep my fingers crossed, and war dial the reservation line at 10am. The first day I tried for, I couldn’t get in. I called back three days later for the second available date and, miraculously, got a table for five at 6:30 PM. I about dropped the phone I was so excited.
When we arrived, the first thing I asked to do was see the kitchen. I didn’t do that last time and was kicking myself for it. I also wanted to do it before we started drinking wine…I figured that was a smart move! I was giddy standing in that kitchen. I was in complete awe. It was so quiet, so clean, and so precise. No one spoke above normal conversation levels and no one was rushing. I watched them assemble a plate of foie gras and it was so perfect (of course if it wasn’t it wouldn’t have gone out to the table). I felt like I had been granted access to the inner chambers of the food Vatican. I could have stayed there all night, watching, trying to learn, being enamored with the food and the dedication of the chefs. But we also felt we were in the way so we moved along. We then headed up to our table in the corner of the second-floor. Earlier, when we’d just gotten into our hotel we were early so I took a little nap. The first thing I said when I woke up was, “Salmon Cone.” I anxiously awaited the croquette. It was just as heavenly as I remembered. The waiter then went over the menu with us in detail and I conveyed my weird, inconvenient-as-a-foodie, food aversions. These of course would not be a problem for the magicians in the kitchen.
Before we dove into the menu and I wanted to get my standard interview questions out of the way. I knew once we started eating we would want to talk about nothing but the meal! I also liked posing the questions before we ate knowing at some of the answers may end up changing throughout the meal… and I was right.
Chantrelle: What is your favorite comfort food?
Mark: Macaroni and cheese. The kind that is fake cheese, Velveeta. The kind that probably turns your insides orange!
Chantrelle: What is your best childhood food memory?
Mark: I don’t have many. I’d have to say Thanksgiving. We were living in a house with two adults and 10 kids and food was scarce. My mom usually worked so the other woman in our house did most of the cooking and she wasn’t a very good cook. But on Thanksgiving my mom cooked and it was the only day we had food in such excess. And there were pies! I would eat until I had to lie down, my stomach was so full. The rest of the year we would have things like stuffed peppers with one pound of meat stretched between 12 people. Thanksgiving was the only day we could eat as much as we wanted.
Chantrelle: If you were forced to eat food from only one region or country what would you choose?
Mark: Italy I think. I love Florence. That’s if I didn’t have to worry about my health. If I were worried about being healthy I’d have to say China. But without taking health into account I’d say Italy with France being a close second.
Chantrelle: I’m always torn between Italy and Japan because I love sushi so much.
Mark: Japan doesn’t do breakfast well. Have you ever had natto?
Chantrelle: Funny, I never thought of breakfast when I asked this question! I think that tips the scales for Italy. I make a frittata every week, I will never go anywhere near natto!
Since my interview with one of the cowboy junkies, the way I phrase this next question has changed. And it’s changed in a way that is perfect for you!
Mark: Which Cowboy Junkie?
Chantrelle: Alan Anton, the bass player. He’s a huge foodie.
Mark: Ah. Margo Timmins’ voice is like an angel.
Chantrelle: I agree! I used to ask what you want your last meal be. Apparently that was a little too morbid and depressing. So now, you are about to be shot into space, what do you want your last meal on Earth to be?
Mark: My answer may change after tonight!
Chantrelle: We predicted that may be the case. But as of now….?
Mark: The 16 course truffle menu at Robouchon in Las Vegas. With the banana cream pie from Emeril’s.
Chantrelle: Really? Emeril??
Mark: You don’t have to eat anything else there. But if you like banana cream pie he has the best.
Chantrelle: And my favorite Food Porn question: What do you consider the sexiest food?
Mark: It depends on who is eating it. Anything can be sexy with the right person eating it! A hot dog eaten correctly by a woman can be quite sexy. But I’d say foie gras. Cooked perfectly but not cooked through so it’s just warm in the middle.
(This question was later revised when the white truffle course was served! Wait for it….)
Formalities out of the way, it’s time for serious eating.
First up, the famous, now classic, “Oysters and Pearls”. I was concerned. I don’t like cooked oysters, I don’t really like caviar. That was the biggest blob of caviar I’ve ever seen on a plate in front of me. After my first bite I added to my list of sexiest foods. There was so much sumptuous butter in the dish I don’t think I would’ve cared what was cooked in it. Pure, fatty bliss. I almost licked the bowl but I restrained myself. This was followed by a black truffle brioche. Everyone else got some cheesy thing. I got a hot-air-filled pastry balloon of happiness. For the next course, it was a choice of soup or foie gras. Mark got the Moulard Duck “Foie Gras au Torchon” with Gingerbread Purée, Tokyo Turnips, Watercress, Pecans and Cranberries. He was a happy, happy man. If I could go back in time I would take a picture of his face upon the first morsel of foie hitting his tongue and pair that with the sexiest food question. The rest of us got the Musquée de Provence Pumpkin Soup with Chestnut Beignets and Whipped Maple Syrup. It was sweet, it was toasty, it was autumn in a bowl…a very refined, fancy, somewhat elitist autumn. Before this course we got some bread. Luckily I had a piece left so I actually got to mop up every last drop of the soup! There was an extra “little” menu addition. We happened to show up during white truffle season. Just to add to my weirdness, I’m a fungophile who doesn’t really enjoy truffles. I love to smell them and would love to hunt them (I never have) but they are too overwhelming of a flavor for me. I was the only one at the table that did not opt in to the truffle supplement menu. The waiter didn’t want me to feel left out so asked if it was okay if he brought me a little egg custard infused with white truffle oil… like I would say no! It was lovely but still too truffley for me. I enjoyed two or three bites and really enjoyed it with our wine (2006 Corton Charlemagne, Coche-Dury that we picked up not too long ago as a pre-arrival at Kermit Lynch). They brought the truffle humidor around for all of us to smell the beautiful fungus! Then shaved the most truffle I’ve ever seen on one plate. It was such a beautiful thing, I thought I’d share. Sorry there’s no smell-o-vision!
My husband described the truffle experience best when he said, “The wine with the truffles made me taste colors I’ve never seen before.” And when discussing the experience later, “Washing down a mouthful of freshly shaved white truffle with a slurp of Coche Dury Corton Charlemagne was a new peak moment for me as a foodie, though I suspect it guarantees that I will, in fact, be going to hell — if not for the sheer decadence of such an indulgence, for the so-called “statutory grape” of opening an ’06 a decade early.”
After the richness of the truffles came a refreshing tartare of Medai Belly with Fuyu Persimmon, Yuzu, Black Sesame, Radish and Mizuna. The plate was a beautiful combination of colors. It was sweet, crunchy, fresh and made my sexy food list longer once again. I think I’ll have to add this whole dinner into that list!
Exit fresh and light and return to rich and decadent: Maine Lobster Tail “Pochée au beurre doux” with Michigan Sour Cherries, Sunchokes, Piedmont Hazelnuts, Pearl Onions and Coffee-Chocolate Emulsion. Yes — coffee-chocolate with lobster. I’m not going to say it was something I’d request on a dish again, but it wasn’t bad or as weird as I thought it would be. It didn’t take away from the dish, it was quite mild, but I don’t think it added anything either. It wasn’t a “miss” but it was the only thing all night that wasn’t a life changing taste with each bite. The lobster itself was though!
We all had a funny reaction to the delivery of the Fricassée of Liberty Farm Pekin Duck with Cèpe Mushrooms, Toasted Farro and Brussel Sprout Leaves… we forgot it was on the menu, all thought it was the beef course and didn’t two of the five of us order lamb? Well, yes they did but this is the duck you dingbats! What, are you getting full?!? You are only halfway through! But was I happy to get this duck afterall! I don’t even like duck… or Brussels sprouts. It was moist, juicy, rare, tender, flavorful, roasty-toasty, rich and earthy. Turns out I like duck when it’s been run through the Keller-Magic-Pan-of-Yum. Now, no one else complained about this but me. The Snake River Farms “Calotte de Boeuf Grillée” with Horseradish Dumplings, French Laundry Garden Beets, Romaine Lettuce, Crème Fraîche and “Sauce Borscht” was an abnormally large portion for the French Laundry. I actually said, “Why is that so huge!?” I was already full at this point and had been powering through for a couple of courses. I took a couple of bites and shared the rest with the table (no one objected!). The meat just melted away. Two others at the table shared the Elysian Fields Farm Lamb Saddle with “Cassoulet” of Autumn Beans, Tomato Compote and Garlic “En Persillade”. One of those two was my husband and he doesn’t like lamb. He had a similar epiphany that I had with the duck. How can the kitchen transform flavors like that? Thankfully the cheese course, “Camembert” with Black Truffle, “Pain Perdu,” Quince, Celery Branch and Brown Butter, was next which meant I got a little refreshing salad break. This is the first time I’ve been happy about not liking cheese because I think I would have exploded if I tried to consume that much fat and richness at this point in the meal.
Ahhh, on to dessert. Simple, yes? Just sorbet and then a little chocolate, right? WRONG! First up was the Bartlett Pear Sorbet with Roasted Jacobsen’s Farm Pears and Chai Tea Sablé. It cooled the senses, gave the illusion that you could keep eating. Pear sorbet has become a favorite dessert for me (Scream Sorbet at our farmers market sells their’s, in season) and this one, of course, encapsulated every bite of peariness imaginable. Second, “Gâtueau Saint Nizier au Manjari” with Mango-Chili Relish, Valrhona Cocoa Nibs, Lime Foam and Coconut Milk Sorbet. Can I just say that for the first time I *EVER* loved foam! Now I finally get the foam thing. It’s not like a little pile of flavored bubble bath soap on your food, it’s denser and flavorful, still light, and this particular one was like a little, frothy virgin margarita topped with crunchy salt and lime zest. And yes, this paired wonderfully with the chocolate. That’s the end of the menu, so were done. The album is over…Nope! There’s that hidden track that’s not listed in the liner notes! Now the multilayered box of cookies and confections: nuts, sesame, caramels, toffee, things I don’t even recall. Then the plate of truffles: caramel, peanut butter, pumpkin, peppermint, coffee. Good Lord! Just like six years ago, this last surprise course came home with me for breakfast.
Thankfully we didn’t have to find room for more food. Sadly, the dinner was concluding. Tea, coffee, a little parting gift of shortbread cookies. We lingered as long as we could. Mark then ventured into the kitchen to be awed by the work in there as well. He came out sufficiently venerated.
To be honest, I usually would have more quotes from my interviewee in my write-up. We talked about books: his and others (“Shoes off and the whale!“), tech work (Mark is CEO of Principled Technologies). We discussed many other restaurants: Pigeon, Beast, and Sel Gris in Portland, Little Washington, Alinea and El Bulli). We talked about his upcoming book projects, family, and more food. Alas, my recorder failed and all this has all come from memory. I think that means we have to do this again! We’ve all agreed to return to the French Laundry together and this time LICK THE PLATES!!! Etiquette be damned!
Eric St. Cyr came out on top and after the winner was announced, the crazy judge crew got on stage with bottles of Moet and a huge saber! Luckily, no blood was drawn, champagne just sprayed anyone in the vicinity. All we needed were some umbrella girls…the MotoGP of food celebrations. 
