getting back into the swing of things

So I feel like life has been pretty crazy lately.  Once the move was all completed, my computer, of course, died on me.  The logic board went bad and so the computer was dead.  So on my second attempt at a new computer, I finally have a new (old) computer.  So with that set, I feel happy to be back and connected to the internet daily again.  It's weird how dependent on the internet we (or at least I) have become.  The week and a half that I was having computer issues were really stressful.  I felt extremely disconnected from the outside world and it was unsettling. 

But I'm back and happy to be so.  Aside from computer issues things have been pretty crazy all around.  Despite the doom and gloom of economic news these days, the restaurant is busy.  Really busy.  Pretty much all the time.  Which, given some of the slow times we had last August and September and this January, is really nice.  It's great to work a line shift and look up the first time the board clears and realize that it's already 8:15 p.m. instead of standing around bored as the minutes tick slowly by and you think the night will never end.  As we get ready to launch a new menu and with a lot of other exciting things coming up (some of which I can't quite mention yet but will hopefully be able to divulge in a few weeks) it's extremely comforting and pleasing to know that we're still considered one of the "hot spots" in D.C. and that people are willing to spend their time and money on us.

I'm extremely excited about the new spring menu.  I love spring foods because if I had to pick the one adjective that I most appreciate in a dish it would be "fresh".  I love foods that are light, fresh, bright, and bursting with flavor.  Spring and summer are two of my favorite food times because of the sheer abundance of food and the fact that so much of it has that fresh bursting quality.  There are spring berries, fresh corn on the cob, perfectly ripe tomatoes, pea shoots, green garlic, and so many other foods that in color, taste, and texture just ooze freshness and lightness.  So it's a no-brainer that I'm looking forward to a menu focused on these tastes and textures.

specials of the week

— lamb leg steak with blueberry and apple cider reduction - the flavor of cider, blueberries, cardamom, star anise, cinnamon, and black peppercorns over the slightly gamey flavor of lamb leg is just a delightful combination. I love fruit and sweetness with lamb and so this was my favorite thing of the recent specials

— duroc pork chop with sauteed apples and ginger - I love pork chops.  Especially when it's a thick and juicy bone-in pork chop combined with the deliciousness of butter, apples, and fresh ginger.

favorite things

— new computers

— the past Thursday's episodes of 30 Rock and The Office.  I love Tina Fey more and more with each passing day.

— Flight of the Conchords.  I am late in getting into this show but after my roommates forced me to watch it the other night, I am on board.  It's hysterical and this song pretty much got me hooked.

— menu planning.  T and I are having another ridiculous dinner party. Only this time the guest list includes people who've cooked us amazing food before (and one of whom is T's boss and my boss might possibly be in attendance as well) so it's a bit intimidating.  But the menu looks promising and I am pretty happy about it.

boys' club

So, although I know at least one reader of this blog is very familiar with the situation/environment I'm about to describe, I'll give a little bit of explanation for those who may not be.  To put it simply: the kitchen (and the food industry at large) is very much a boys' club.

Despite a lot of advances and a lot of really talented female chefs out there, the kitchen remains a pretty tough environment for a woman.  Most of the best restaurants in the world (according to rankings lists and such) have male head chefs, most of the sous chefs, line cooks, prep cooks, and even dishwashers in many kitchens are men.  There are certainly kitchens that serve as exceptions but for the industry at large, the kitchen is still a pretty masculine environment.  In a lot of ways it's like a boys' locker room — girls aren't really wanted in there and if you go in there you better prepare yourself because it's a different world and they're not going to censor themselves or take pains to make you comfortable because, after all, you're on their turf.

So needless to say it can be difficult to be a woman working in a kitchen.  There are a lot of challenges.  I've been lucky for the most part because my head chef started his culinary career in the kitchen of a fantastic female chef and he says that she created an environment that was nurturing, educational, and helped him learn how to be a chef that inspires instead of intimidates.  All of this makes him a fantastic boss and it makes me feel very lucky to work with him.  But in a kitchen you aren't just working with one person, you're working with a group and not everyone in the group picks up on those cues from the top and — should that nurturing figure at the top be gone from the kitchen for six weeks — you will inevitably faced with a lot more challenges.

These challenges come in many forms.  And if you're like me (a stubborn perfectionist who hates to be wrong) you'll look at every challenge as an opportunity to prove yourself. Sometimes this leads to amusing results.  Like when you can't pry the lid off of a tub of pickled vegetables and you tell the boys you need help and they make fun of you.  If you're the stubborn sort, once they quit laughing and say they'll come help you, you tell them that, nevermind, you've got it on your own.  So you go out to the walk-in with a meat pounder and a butter knife and try to take the hammer and chisel approach to working the lid off.  When that doesn't work you end up putting one foot on the edge of the lid closest to you, planting your other foot firmly on the floor, and pulling on the other side of the lid with both hands and all your strength.  It works, but you're wearing about a quart of pickled vegetable juice and for the next 6 hours of your shift you will have brine in your shoes.

Sadly, not all of the challenges will be as amusing.  Somedays the boys' club will make you feel angry, frustrated, defeated and maybe it will even make you doubt yourself and your abilities. Without that understanding and nurturing leadership at the top, you have to fight it out with the boys who've been there longer, have been doing the job longer, and are pretty convinced that they don't need you or your input.  

So the head chef is out for a few weeks and you've gotten a promotion to a role of new responsibility and new opportunity...how do you succeed when the boys leave you isolated and out of the loop?  They talk to each other but not to you.  When you offer help or suggestions, they're brushed aside.  When you ask questions, you are ignored or, worse, snapped at and essentially told that it doesn't concern you.  They go over your head, below you, and around you to get work done but it doesn't seem that they are particularly interested in talking to you.  With the head chef out — the one person who hired you, promoted you, and seems to believe in you — how do you sort it out?

...I'll let you know when I figure out the answers.

Getting Ready for Inauguration

Inauguration is upon us.  The madness started yesterday.  We got in deliveries of enough items to last us through Tuesday since most of our vendors are going to be closed Monday and/or Tuesday and with all the road closures, we're not sure deliveries would be able to get to us if they were open.  We got in 20 gallons of mayonnaise and 8 wheels of Hook's blue cheese.  Our bison farmer came up from Madison yesterday and, in addition to getting stuck in some nasty traffic that caused him to arrive at 7:00pm instead of 5:00pm, brought us 6 cases of fresh ground bison, enough brisket and hanger steak to last us through Tuesday, and what has to be the single largest amount of bacon I've ever seen in one place.  I spent 45 minutes last night out in the freezing cold opening the boxes, organizing the walk-in to find space for it all, and then breaking down boxes.  It was not fun.

To add to that, our kitchen is freezing.  The kitchen is in a part of the building that was added on to the original structure so it has never had the best heating and cooling.  So basically cold air pours in to the bottom of the kitchen (which is above our outdoor patio) and then our commercial grade hood pulls all that cold air up through the kitchen.  It doesn't help that we're going through some of the coldest weather D.C. has seen in the last five years.  I've decided that I'm going to need to get a long-sleeved chef's jacket to wear over the many long-sleeved shirts I already wear since the short-sleeved jackets aren't working so well.  I am also going to need to wear two pairs of socks in the hopes that I can keep at least some of the feeling in my feet.  

These next four days are going to be unreal.  The kitchen will be staying open till midnight starting tonight and going through Tuesday night.  The bar will be opening at 1:00pm Saturday through Tuesday and that will include the kitchen having to turn out fries for customers in addition to getting prep done between 2:00pm and 5:00pm.  Thankfully I have tonight off and I'm off all day tomorrow.  However, Sunday the insanity begins: in for prep at 9:00am, prep until 4:00pm and then host from 5:00pm until whenever the wait subsides (hopefully around midnight at the latest).  Monday night is a line shift and Tuesday I'm serving.  Jeebus help me because I'm pretty sure tonight and tomorrow are my last chance for sleep until Wednesday.

Specials

Beef Rib-eye with Balsamic Cherry Reduction: Our "beer guy" (although he's really so much more), Pat, makes these bourbon-kriek soaked cherries for the bartenders to use in Manhattans that are unbelievably good.  So today I decided to use some of them.  Balsamic, bourbon cherries, and steak.  Yum.

Grilled Rockfish with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette:  I loved the lemon basil aioli from last week.  I decided to try it a bit differently since I thought a lighter vinaigrette might work better with grilled rockfish (I think aioli works better with the fried fish).  I liked it, but not as much.  I still need to sort out the exact lemon/basil balance I want.

Reading Materials

I'm still working my way through The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten.  I am sort of reserving that one for helping me survive my Sunday night hosting shifts.  Steingarten's wit makes it easier to answer 58 phone calls about whether or not we take reservations and 15 phone calls that require me to explain that we are NOT located on the 1200 block of H Street NW and that there is a big difference between NE and NW in the District.

So since I'm reserving that for Sundays, I tend to read other books during the week.  Since today has been a long day, I've been enjoying Melanie Dunea's wonderful book My Last Supper which has 50 famous chefs talk about what the ideal meal, setting, music, guest list, and etc. would be for their last supper on Earth.  The photographs are wonderful and the book always inspires me (doesn't hurt that there are recipes in the back including Thomas Keller's perfect roast chicken).  Whenever I'm having a day where I'm tired, frustrated, and starting to question myself, I always look at this book and it reminds me of what I love about the business I'm in and how, even for the most talented chef, it's important never to stop deriving joy from good food, good friends, and, mostly, being able to do something you love every day.

a change of direction

So because my schedule is so weird it's been hard to keep this blog focused on what I cook at home.  Mostly because I don't cook at home as often and when I do it's usually pretty simple or I'm not thinking and forget to take pictures.  Based on that reality check, I've thought about refocusing the direction of this blog.

One of my favorite blogs to read is called line cook. and it's become a favorite because of its honest, thought provoking, and hilarious take on the life of a restaurant cook.  So while it's highly unlikely that I will have as many deep insights or hilarious moments to share, I do think that blogging about cooking at work and that aspect of my life will better accomplish the intended purpose of this blog: to chronicle things I discover, learn, and love about food and cooking.  I'll still have some stuff in here about non-work cooking but since work is where I do most of my cooking it makes no sense to exclude it from what I write about.

This week was a long one: 52 hours on my feet, 27 of which came in just two days (Friday and Sunday).  Weeks like this make me feel lucky that I do get one weekend day off and yet, my Saturday still involved a trip to Granville's so I suppose it doesn't entirely count as a day off since I apparently can't seem to stay away.

Despite being a long week, it's been a pretty good one at the restaurant.  This week has been the week of sauces.  Gotta make a sauce for the côte du jour and the poisson du jour each day and, as small as it is, I have to say that this is one of my favorite parts of being the opening chef.  

I've always loved sauces because I think that, while a protein can be perfectly tasty on its own, the right sauce can often add the perfect accent.  I also think that sauces can be difficult and are an important test of a cook's skill for two big reasons.  The first is that making sauce is an exercise in balancing texture and there's a very small area of perfection and a vast ocean of wrongness on either side.  A sauce that's too thin is messy, weak, disappears within the dish and, at its worst, makes everything a soggy wreck.  A sauce that is too thick, on the other hand, is goopy, ugly, unevenly distributes flavor to the food, and has an extremely unpleasant mouthfeel.  But a sauce that has found that perfect niche is heaven: velvety, rich, luxurious, and is the perfect accent to the food.

Aside from the texture issue, there's flavor to contend with.  Making a sauce that tastes good on its own is one thing but it's not necessarily the best thing.  The sauce should be flavored and balanced to suit the food it's accompanying.  Finding the right balance of fat, acid, salt, sweetness, etc. to match whatever the sauce is accenting requires constant adjustment, tasting, and refining.  It's why, in kitchens that operate on the traditional French brigade model, saucier is an extremely important job and is often where one of the strongest cooks will be stationed.

So, that said, I'm taking this new opportunity of being opening chef three days a week to perfect sauces.

Specials for the week: (this part is going to be something I'm using to chronicle the specials I came up with for that week...if nothing else to help me remember those that were really good and which ones didn't work)

Grilled Beef N.Y. Strip with Dijon Cumin Vinaigrette — did this sauce with both the beef ny strip and a bison sirloin; there's just something I love about the tangy flavor of dijon and the smokiness of cumin matched together

Fried Rainbow Trout Filet with Lemon Basil Aioli — probably my favorite sauce of the week; lemon plus fried food = classic, lemon and basil aioli = rich AND refreshing

Arugula, Goat Cheese, Macerated Strawberry Salad with Strawberry Lemon Vinaigrette — strawberries + goat cheese = heaven

Grilled Bone-In Duroc Pork Chop with Chilli Cream Sauce — roasted poblanos, rehydrated guajillos, garlic, cream, cumin, and coriander; this sauce reminded me of something and I can't figure out what it is but I loved the flavor

What I'm Reading: The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten.  He's one of my favorite food writers (his columns are my favorite part of Vogue and one of the main reasons I subscribe) and easily the best judge on Iron Chef America.  A collection of various essays and pieces he's written over the years, the book is funny, smart, educational, and a beautiful tribute to fantastic food writing.