Foie Gras

Foie Gras, same as I did at luxembourg. This recipe is awesome. It's best to let the foie sit for 2 days before slicing, also I've found that it is best to skip the milk marinade (since we are using grade a and b it's not necessary) and double up the time in the sweet wine marinade. Sugar, Salt, White Pepper. Also, dont forget the corriander in the gastrique.

Lemon Tart

This is where we have ended (and started). The crust is made from pine nuts, but I feel like there is not enough "flavor" from them, so we added the brittle, unfortunatly it added more sweetness than pine nut flavor.

Market

Today we are going to the market, really really early in the morning to see what they have for us. Last week it was a bit bleak so hopefully they have some goodies this time. We want to find garnish for lamb, filet, ribeye, foie, rabbit. Apparently wednsday is the day to go so we will see. Enough apples and potatoes!!!

red wine vinaigrette

This is what we will use tomorrow for our sturgeon salad. I thought about bacon and may still go that route...
1TB dijon
2 shallot mince
.25 cup red wine vinegar
.5 lemon juice
1.5 cup olive oil

tempura

We also messed with a few recipies for this batter today. Not sure if there is an older one on thsi thread, I will look tomorrow. For now:
.5 cup flour
.5 cup corn starch
1tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
1tsp sugar
.5tsp salt
1 egg
2/3 cup ice water

pastry cream

I messed with a couple recipies, this is the only one that is stiff enough to be layered. I decided to fold in the cream at the end to lighten the original recipie. 2.5 cups mile
1 vanilla bean
6 egg yolk
1/2 cup vanilla sugar
1/4 cup flour AP
6TB (40grams) corn starch
1 cup whipped heavy cream (with sugar)
Mix sugar and egg yolk, then add flour and starch.
Bring milk and vanilla to a boil. Gradually add together. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly for 60seconds, being careful to not scramble. Strain and cool. After chilled fold in the whipped cream. Also, important to cover imediatly or a skim forms on the top. Makes about 3 cups.

Knives

Today we went to Korin to pick up some new knives. I got a new slicer, chef knife and this really cool boning knife that is crazy sharp. Sorry it took me a while to figure out how to put things up on this pc, after using a mac all the time.

Downstairs Bar

Kitchen

Our kitchen is done. We start cooking today.

June 5th

We are officially opening on the 5th of June. Sous Chef starts this thursday, and by friday our gas should be turned on and we will fire up all the ovens and stoves. Other than one Wolf grill/oven everything is brand new so there should be no problems. We will be cooking this weekend and into the beggining of next week where we will start to do taistings for the principal investors. Then the week after that will be parties, a holiday weekend off (memorial) and then the week of June 1st through the 5th will be our friends and family. The 5th we open for service at 6pm. We have yet to solidify what our hours of operation will be for dinner, I think eventually we will go to some sort of late night menu, but not in the beginning. Probably run 6 to 11 for the first month or two.

Opening Menu

First:
Spring Pea and Zuchinni Soup (cold)
Baby Vegetable Soup with Olive Oil (warm)
Seared Sea Scallops with Celery Root Salad and Caviar
Ricotta Gnocchi with Artichokes and Parsley
Soft Shell Crab Tempura with Tartar Sauce
Selection of Terrines (Foie Gras and Rabbit)
Smoked Sturgeon Salad with Crispy Hen Egg
Salmon Tartar with Citrus
Second:
Roasted Cod with Artichokes and Bacon
Grilled Salmon with Eggplant and Spring Peas
Roasted Chicken with Mashed Potato and Fennel
Chared Duck Breast with Figs and Swiss Chard
Roasted Beef Ribeye with Asparagus and Mushrooms
"Fish and Chips"
Hamburger with Fries, Pickled Vegetables on Brioche
Lamb Loin (or leg) with Baby Vegetables and Lavander. (also I think i want to use some nice goat chesse on here somewhere. maybe infused the goat cheese with the lavander.) The lamb will be marinated/grilled.
Finally, Bangers and Mashed. We need to source out some awesome artisinal sausages. The mashed will be no problem, though i need to find a vessel this week to serve them in. And figure out the garnish for the sausage.
Desserts will begin this week, but again will be classic english/americana.
Official opening date looks to be the 5th of June...