Dine at Tarrador's Table

Last Saturday we executed a sit-down 3-course dinner for 250 where I work. This was not a huge chore except for 3 things: The client decided at the last minute to change the dinner from a buffet to a sit-down; the budget was adapted but not significantly, giving us very little money to work with; it was the first large event I would oversee and in the wake of the previous chef’s reign there was a lot of concern over how it would go.

I kept the menu KISS simple with a mixed green salad with dried cranberries, candied almonds, house croutons, a slice of poppy-seed crusted goat cheese, and a home-made raspberry vinaigrette. Followed by the entree which was a spinach and roasted red pepper stuffed airline chicken breast, saffron mashed potatoes, vegetable medley, and lemon-garlic cream sauce. The menu finished with cheese cake topped with mixed berries. We also made some vegetable napoleons for anyone wanting a vegetarian alternative. Very simple, very direct, very cost effective.

I had to do a tasting for the event cooridinator who has been very reluctant to do these kinds of dinners because of the elaborate production they would become under L’s management. Too many components, too much fru-fru foods, too much staging. She didn’t like the huge production these dinners would become because she felt it allowed too much room for mistakes. Realizing this, I presented her with a simple menu and did a tasting for her, which she loved. Even though my staff had worked pretty hard during the week, I had them come in to handle the plate-up because I knew we would handle it better than brining in some temps or other staff less familiar with what I was doing. It didn’t help that we had another breakfast/lunch buffet for 250 people that same day, but we got through it and the dinner went off without a single hitch. That has been very rare at this location, to have a hitch-free event. But we did it. I was even able to cut the staff early so they could have as much of Saturday evening free as possible.

L was in the kitchen, working on another event. He’s not really supposed to be in the kitchen, having been banished from the premises, but he had prep that needed to be done. He was constantly over my shoulder, shaking his head and smirking and rolling his eyes. Despite all the praise and compliments we got from the diners and organizers, he didn’t have one good thing to say about the evening. That came as no surprise.

Monday the organizer came to me and said how well everything went and that the customer was very happy with everything, especally the food. They said they would book our facility again next year for their annual event. She was delighted and clearly relieved. She asked me to create some sit-down dinner menu options that she could sell, now that she had more confidence that we could pull it off successfully. That was a huge coup for us and a nice step forward in repairing the relationship between our company and our client.

Yes, there were somethings I was unhappy with… To safe money I bought some berries from a vendor who could deliver them quickly and cheapy. Half of them were over ripe and not suitable for putting on the plate. I ended up turning them into a sauce and blending them with the good berries to rescue the dessert, and actually improve it. I wanted BD to take a more active and leadership role in dealing with the hot food, instead he complained and wanted to play the victim when things weren’t going perfectly. He wanted to take short-cuts not because it would actually safe time but because he was afraid he’d be stuck doing some mundane task. He used way too much turmeric for the potatoes, cutting back on the saffron, when I had said use a lot of saffron in the cream and butter and a little turmeric in the water for the potatoes. I think he was just being chintzy with the saffron, whining that “a little goes a long way and they won’t appreciate it anyway”. Instead we ended up with bright yellow potatoes that definitely tasted of turmeric and not as much of saffron. Still, this is a good thing, since it allows me to identify weaknesses and problems in our team that need to be addressed, gently or forcefully.

Everyone else performed terrifically and it was by far one of the smoothest and most organized dinners we have executed since we have been there. With that I am pleased.

My friend Calvin invited me to participate in an “Iron Chef” style themed-menu cook-off with him over the weekend. He was a little sparse on the details except to say that there would be about 20 guests at a dinner party for one of his clients. The theme was “food and the movies” and the idea was for each of us to present a menu where each dish reflected the theme of a certain movie. I whipped up a menu and sent it over to him, certain he would send it back with budgetary restrictions, but he didn’t. He said it looked good, and that cost wasn’t really a concern with this party. The host would pay whatever was necessary to get a top-notch dinner.

I’d put in a lot of hours at work for the week and asked Calvin to pick up most of the menu food for the evening. He’d said we’d have a couple of guys to help us prep things, and I assumed we’d be working out of the clubhouse kitchen since the host lived in a country club community. Some stuff I had to pick up myself on Friday because I wanted to cook and roast it overnight. I got all the ingredients, but then life and wife intervened and I didn’t get anything done on Friday night.

I got up around 4 am Saturday and began cooking my meats and smoking sugar plums for a sauce. That and a few other things kept me busy until it was time to go to the Spartan Race in Conyers. I pulled all the meats and let them chill while I went and ran the race. The race took longer than I planned and I had to rush back home, hop in the shower, scub off the mud and blood, get dressed and pack all the food. I high-tailed it over to the address Calvin gave me and found out we were not cooking at a clubhouse, but at someone’s home. I arrived a half hour late, but got right to work. The help Calvin suggested was coming never came and I had to do everything by myself. I worked on a tiny space on the counter top and Calvin and I had to share stovetop space. I finished up the components of my four dishes just as the guests were sitting down.

Calvin and I took turns taking out our dishes and explaining the plates and their connections to the movies. Calvin did a clam linguini inspired by “The Little Mermaid”, a grits and short-rib dish via “My Cousin Vinny”, a shrimp trio on cedar plank hommage to “Forrest Gump”, and a Royale with Cheese burger with vanilla shake ala “Pulp Fiction”.

My dishes were: “From Russia With Love” which had a potato hash tower wrapped with smoked salmon and topped with salmon roe, frisee salad, vodka cream sauce and borscht vinaigrette; “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” with a saffron-poached tiger shrimp crouching over a tamarind-glazed slice of bbq’d eel on a bed of green tea tapioca pearls, honey braised carrots, smoked plum sauce and lime chili pickle; “One Upon A Time In Mexico” with chipolte roasted pork tamale, adobo salsa, “riced” jicama and stewed tomatillo; and “Spaghetti Western” with BBQ chuck roast, BBQ marinara, calico baked beans, fresh fettuccini noodles and piavi cheese.

The guests scored us on presentation, taste, and tie-in to the movie. Calvin ended up winning but I didn’t care, it was his party and his guests and it was all in fun anyway. I got reimbursed for my expenses and a nice little wad of cash for helping him out. We cooked and plated and ran food and cleaned and packed up and it was 1am before I left their house and headed home. I had to unpack and unload it was after 2am by the time I was able to go to bed.

Everyone had a great time and we got lots of compliments and handshakes and back-pats on the food and the originality of our concepts. It certainly was fun to do and I always learn something while doing these kinds of gigs(ie, you can never be too organized!). Hopefully we will get to do something fun like this in the future.

Breakfast today was a banana and herbal tea. For lunch and mid afternoon break I had green juice comprised of celery, cucumber, kale, parsley, carrots, lemon, ginger and apples. Drank about 3 quarts of water through the day.

In keeping with my goal to go higher in protein during at least one meal, I prepared one of my personal favorites: Steak Tartare. I’ve been off red meat almost completely for several months, but I decided this was a good way to kick off a powerful protein diet. I made a small salad of tomatoes and cucumbers with a lemon vinaigrette to start with. Then I finely chopped some garlic, parsley and red onions, mashed a little bit of anchovy I found in the very back of the fridge, bowled up some roasted tomatoes and Worchestershire sauce, sauteed some mushrooms, and daubed a little whole grain dijon mustard on a plate. From the store I bought some top round sirloin, very lean. I seasoned around 6 ounces with a little sea salt and stuck it in the freezer for about 10 minutes. I diced the very cold and firm meat into cubes and ran it through my meat grinder on a medium grind setting (I know the purists want to finely chop the meat by hand, but I went the grinding route, sue me). I formed the ground meat into a thick patty and pressed a well in the center. Into the well I laid an organic egg yolk. It made for a very pretty plate, I thought. After the salad I sprinkled the various condiments onto the patty and the yolk and used my fork to fold over the raw ground meat until everything was well combined. It tasted awesome, and pretty gourmet for workout fuel.

Not something I’d do very often. I still want to make red meat a rarity in my diet. But nothing wrong in being a little decadent in the pursuit of health and fitness.

Even though we were both pretty busy last week with work and school, S. and I carved out some hours on Tuesday to celebrate Valentine’s Day together. I did what I do best: cook; and she did what she does best: set the mood for romance.

While she set the stage upstairs I worked in the kitchen and in less than an hour made up a tasty ahi tuna and strawberry salad with heart of palm and zesty orange vinaigrette, her favorite honey-glazed smoked salmon with white lentils and asparagus sauteed in more orange vinaigrette with a kumquat relish on top, and chocolate-dipped strawberries paired with Rose Regale sparkling wine. Originally I was going to make creme brulees, but time escaped me.

The only thing I’d change would be using brown sugar to make the relish. It caused the bright orange kumquats to darken too much. They still tasted great, but I really wanted that splash of color to offset the green asparagus.

Just before Christmas, I volunteered to Hosea Feed The Hungry for the annual Holiday Dinner they do for homeless and displaced families. Staff and volunteers gave out crates and crates of wrapped gifts for the children and there were other services offers such as haircuts, clothing, and medical assistance. I worked in the kitchen, making pans and pans of vegetables, potatoes, ham and turkey. When all was said and done a few turkeys (donated by Publix) were left over. The head chef running the operation gave them away to the chefs who volunteered and I took one, not knowing what I’d do with it since we were having no family gatherings. I had in my mind to cook it up proper with stuffing and the like and deliver it, Ebenezer Scrooge-style, to some unsuspecting but completely worthy family or friends. If nothing else, it was a chance to do something experimental with some food.

But what? Roasting is passe, deep frying common… I’ve done turkey so many ways it is almost boring. But there it was, laying all plastic wrapped and ripening in my fridge, waiting for some inspiration.

Christmas Eve morning I pulled the bird out. I removed the neck and gibblets and wings tips. I broke the rest of the bird down and put the tips, neck and back in a stock pot with some vegetables, spices, wine, and water and brought to a boil, then let simmer for about four hours. The rest of the bird I layered with salt and let set in the fridge for a couple of hours. I put garlic and vegetables and spices in the slow cooker. I piled the legs, wings, and liver into the cooker and filled the pot with every ounce of oil I had in the house. I let it slow cook for about 10 hours on a low heat. I cleaned up the breasts and packed them in the smoker and layered in chips of oak and cherry wood and let it smoke over very low heat for about an hour.

Strained the stock and reduced it from about 2 gallons to one quart. Chilled and wrapped the breasts with applewood smoked bacon and put them in the fridge. I took the crock out of the slow cooker and let it cool down then covered it and put it in the fridge, too.

I worked half a day on Christmas, and S. worked a full day. When I got home I called a couple we haven’t spent a lot of time with and invited them over. It was a toss-up wether or not they would come, but they seemed pleased and excited by the invitiation. S. was not excited about the idea when she got home, but agreed to be a pleasant hostess.

Before they came over I pulled out all the turkey parts. I made a quick gravy from the stock. I warmed the confit legs and wings and pulled them out of the oil. I separated the oil and garlic from the veg and put it in containers and back in the fridge. I put the legs, wings, and bacon-wrapped breasts in the oven at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes, until the bacon was crisp and the skin of the turkey legs was golden brown. I made a butternut squash and porcini risotto from soup I had left over and steamed some broccoli florets because it was the one fresh vegetable I had on hand. I made a quick salad and a pomegranate sorbet. I was moving everything but the risotto into the warmer when our friends arrived with two bottles of wine and gifts for each of us. We felt a bit embarrassed since we had not gotten them any gifts, and S. gave me a look that said “they wouldn’t know we hadn’t gotten them gifts if you hadn’t invited them over, Ass”. Fortunately I am a man of many resources. I rounded up a gift I was going to give to someone else, but never got around to seeing and gave it to him. To her I gave a Living Social deal for an activity I figured she’d like. I got it for us, but c’est la vie, et l’amities.

I opened the wine and we sipped and talked and caught up in a kind of stilted, stumbling way. I had to finish things in the kitchen and she wanted to see what I was cooking, and to help if she could. He was content to talk with S. since they have similar work interests. I showed her how to finish the risotto with butter and parmesan cheese. I got the meats all ready while she set the table and bowled the salad. The plates were really simple since S. had not eaten all day and made it clear that getting this dinner underway was a priority. Everyone got to sample a bit of everything, which was the risotto, the breast, the confit, and the boccoli. I asked who wanted the liver and received a chorus of rejection, so I took it all myself. It wasn’t a pretty plate, and I had to snap a photo with my phone on the fly as we all sat down. He raised his wine and made a great and warm-hearted toast. We started to eat and of course everyone loved everything, even S. who generally doesn’t like turkey of any kind. Everything was good, but the liver was a little too overwhelmingly rich and I only ate about half of it. Everything else was wonderfully moist and juicy and flavorful. And as we ate the conversations picked up again and we all seemed to relax some. We all laughed and traded stories abut our jobs and family and other craziness in our lives. In these interactive hours it was easy to remember why we were all friends. After dinner we went back in the living room and I scraped up the sorbet off the pan it was on in the freezer and put it in bowls. It turned out really well, too. I wish I’d had some candied orange zest to put on top. We exchanged gifts and I was glad that our presents were not so lame and received with gratitude and appreciation. Nobody had to work the following day, so our friends stayed until midnight in pleasant conversation and occasional comfortable silence. S. finished straightening while I walked our guests out and exchanged holiday hugs and kisses. He started the car and before she got in she looked at me for a long moment, quizzically. Then she gave a little shrug and got in the car. I know what she meant: Nothing is healed, just bandaged. But it is a start, maybe. When I went in S. had already gone to bed and was either asleep or pretending to be asleep. The next day she said the evening was fun, although she’d been expecting to spend it alone with me.

Good food, good wine, good friends. What better use to put a turkey to?

For the seated dinner party I did recently, I composed a menu I thought would appeal to the host and be suitable for the occasion of his holiday party. I did a couple of back up menu options and he ended up blending two menu choices. I wasn’t a big fan of double seafood dishes, but he was paying the bill, so he got what he wanted. He stressed a couple of times how important the timing was. Last year he did a very nice dinner, that cost him more than twice as much as I was charging per person, but the dishes were so slow in coming out of the kitchen it was after 11:30pm when they got their entrees. There was an average wait of around 50 minutes between courses! He was very clear that he wanted to start around 7:30pm and for dessert to hit the table at 9:30pm. I told him that would be no problem, that the only thing we would be waiting on would be the diners, we would be doing things on their schedule, set and ready.

When guests arrived they noshed on some appetizers and sparkling prosecco to begin with. The apps were chef’s choice, and I created a trio of tasty amuse bouches:

• Roasted Apple with Caramel Sauce and Bleu Cheese Crumbles in a Phyllo Tart Shell

• Pulled Pork with Manchego Cheese and Spicy BBQ Sauce on Roasted Tortilla Chip Crisp

• Duck Confit with Fresh Thyme, Roasted Garlic and Quince Jelly

The Apple was the favorite with the ladies, and the guys liked the BBQ the best. Everyone ate the duck and all said it was good, but no one ate the quince jelly. I don’t know why.

When the apps had been devoured, the official welcome offered by the host, and everyone seated (around 7:45pm), we got right to the first course:

Roasted Butternut Squash with Root Vegetable Timbale, Topped with Seared Scallops

I did such a good job on this dish at Thanksgiving I decided to add it to this menu. I smartened up and used only one scallop per bowl, since two sea scallops was really too much. Almost all butternut squash and only a splash of cream, with a mix of sweet potato, celery root, turnip and red onion in the timbale. Tasting it in the kitchen as we reheated it for service, even I had to stop and say: “Wow”. Lots of compliments on the flavor and what we did not serve I packed up for the hostess to have the next day. My only reservation was that the soup was too thick, almost like a pudding. But it went over well.

Mixed Greens with Dried Cranberries, Golden Raisins, Burgundy-Poached Seckle Pears, Candied Pecans and Pomegranate Vinaigrette

Trying to get a nice blend of sweet and sharp, and to cleanse the palate of the soup, the salad went very well with the chardonnay the host had chosen for this course.

Grilled Salmon Filet with Blood Orange Beurre Blanc, Pink Peppercorn-Crusted Beef Filet with Bourbon-Vanilla Sauce, Kabocha Squash and Porcini Mushroom Ravioli Tossed with Browned Butter and Sage, and Roasted Baby Vegetables

A complicated dish to assemble because of the number of people who wanted different temps on their meats. We pulled it off by laying out the plates on every available surface and running around with pots and spoons. I cooked all the salmon the same degree of doneness, and it remained very moist. I chose a sashimi grade of salmon, which has more fat and flavor. The beef was teres major, which was convienient because it enabled me to cook whole pieces to the desired degree of doneness. The homemade ravioli came out the best I had ever made it, and I only lost one piece to breakage while reheating, and that was the extra piece. In my rush I forgot to properly season the vegetables, which was a stupid mistake on my part, a real amateur screw up. But on everything my portions were exactly on the money, with no extras. Sucked for the servers who were helping me, because they got to taste nothing. I apologized and I did feel a little badly for them. Once the dishes hit the table the guests switched to a pinot noir which I had recommended for the meal. It must have gone very well because I believe they went through a dozen bottles of the stuff. Plates came back to the kitchen clean, except for a few who didn’t eat their vegetables. Because of the meat temps, we should have made a seating chart so we would know who got what temp. That would have made our plate-out faster and more efficient.

We cleaned up and got reorganized and laid out the dessert plates.

Cayenne-Spiked Chocolate Truffles with Cinnamon-Ginger Dust, Almond Toffee Crunch, French Chocolate Mousse and Raspberry-Port Drizzle

So quick and easy to make that I rushed and piped the mousse too soon and it deflated a little. The dessert plates went down at exactly 9:30pm, just as the host had requested. We hit all our times perfectly and I was very pleased. They enjoyed a Graham’s 20 year old tawny port with the dessert and those plates came back scraped clean, too. We made coffee for those who requested it and proceeded to clean up and load the van. The guests stayed at the dining table, plowing through the wine, bottle after bottle, (the host had hired a limousine van service to make sure everyone got home okay), and several people came into the kitchen to compliment me and the staff. I settled up with the host while his friend, who was a bit drunk, asked for my card and said he had lots of events at his lake house on Lake Lanier that he would like me to do. Included was a pasta party for about 100 people. I promised him I could do it. I need to follow up with him on this if he doesn’t call me soon. The host tipped my two servers and my wife $50 each and said everything was terrific. We were gone and out their hair around 10:30pm. In my later analysis I discovered that my actual costs were only 2% higher than I had estimated they would be, and the discrepancy came from some paper products I forgot to account for and needed, adding coffee, and overbuying on ice. My food costs fell in at 22%, exactly where I wanted them to. From both a learning experience and a practical exercise, I was very pleased with how everything went and how all the food turned out.

I had to reshoot all the pictures of the food after the event. We took a camera but got so busy that we forgot to snap any photos.

Without a big family to feed this year, or very many guests to entertain, I decided it would be a good opportunity to make a Thanksgiving Day dinner that wouldn’t be found just anywhere. It could contain a few traditional holiday elements, but also be a little unorthodox. I don’t know of too many fish-based Thanksgiving dinners, so that’s what I set out to do. I went to my friendly neighborhood Buford Farmer’s Market and bought everything for just under $50 on Wednesday afternoon. I was expecting the store to be packed with last minute shoppers, but it was actually very easy to get around.

Thursday morning I made a little quesadilla of crumbled queso and Honey-Baked Ham (the one must have on my wife’s dinner list) and we enjoyed that with some picante sauce and back-to-back “Fringe” episodes on Netflix. I made my way into the kitchen in the afternoon and put together our meal, just the two of us.

First up I made an escolar ceviche salad with wakami seaweed, pineapple and satsuma oranges. I’ve tasted lots of ceviche at lots of places, but I honestly believe that the ceviches I do are killer-good. The blend of citrus and acids cleansed our palates for the next course.

I whipped up a very simple but very delicious butternut squash soup with two spice-crusted seared scallops. I used turmeric in the spice and I don’t think I will do that again because it gave the scallops a yellow coloring I didn’t care for. But they tasted great.

Next course was coriander and ginger seared tuna, sliced and served with an heirloom tomato and heart of palm salad with a little crumble of Bulgarian feta. Really nice but I overcooked the tuna a little bit.

For the entree, I kept it simple and made it a crowd-pleaser (that is, what S. likes best). Smoked salmon filet, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. The potatoes were some fingerlings I was just trying to use up, and they were good, but not fluffy. I played around with the idea of a sauce, but opted to just go with the salmon as is.

We finished up with pumpkin pie (store-bought) and some fresh whipped cream (homemade). And later, more ham. Not your everyday Thanksgiving, but we were thankful, anyway.

Same text, but more photos, can be found here for anyone interested.

When I first encounted this goal, shared by my two very good friends, I must admit I was both flattered and a bit embarassed. I mean, I know I’m good, but for some reason I never expect other people to know I’m good.

When I made my contract recently with the client to do the sit-down dinner, one of my friends, whom I was expecting to offer congratulations and good wishes, made some rude and thoughtless remarks regarding about how I came to get the contract. I was working a gig for this friend when someone approached me and asked me personally if I would be interested in doing this dinner. I gave them my personal email, which they asked for, to pass onto the the client hosting the dinner. The client then contacted me, we worked things out, and I’m doing the dinner next Saturday.

My friend felt that since I was working the gig for her, I should have given the guy all her information and let her be contacted by the dinner client and let her get the contract. She was kind of snarky about the whole thing, wondering if I was at her events handing out my business card and poaching clients from her. I explained the situation very clearly, how the guy approached me, not her company, and all the details involved. It’s a gray area, I must admit, but it is less murky on my side of the argument. I didn’t tell her, but I thought she was being small and petty, and rather unappreciative of the numerous clients and business I have sent her way. We have kind of patched things up, but not completely. I am doing some more events for her company, and I was going to ask her help with my dinner… but screw that now.

What bothered me the most was coming away from the conversation with the distinct impression that my friend, my peer, my associate, felt that somehow I was unworthy of the job I had contracted to do. That by virtue of her owning her own business she and her staff were more qualified, talented and capable than I was. I had to finally tell myself that the reason they contacted me was because they wanted me, not my friend or her delicious, albeit it unsophisticated, food. I’m fully capable of executing this dinner in 1st class style. If that hurts her feelings, I’m sorry. But she should work harder at making herself better, not at trying to tear me down. I’ve been doing dinners like the one on Saturday for years for other employers, for other people’s praise and glory. Now the praise and the glory, and the risk and the drama, is all on me. I must admit: I like it.

And maybe by offering some entries about what kind of food I am doing here and there I will strengthen in confidence that I am good at what I do, that I can play in the sandbox with the big kids. Also a place where I can honestly assess and adress what works and what doesn’t; where I soar and where I tumble. I know the time is coming where I have to move from the realm of dreams to the manifestation of reality. Maybe this adopting this goal will help me achieve that. Along with equal measures of esteem and humility.