Quahog Clam Chowder with Crispy Clam Fritters

Using which ever local clams you can get, can be substituted for the above mentioned. This is what is available now. For 4 people. Chowder: 2 tsp rendered bacon fat, 2 ribs celery, chopped, 1 large shallot, peeled and finely chopped, 8 clams, scrubbed, 2 bay leaves, 1 cup dry Savignon Blanc, 2 ounces yukon gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch pieces, trim reserved, 1/2 cup cream, salt and pepper to taste. For the clam fritters : 5.5 ounces cooked clam meat, chopped, 1 cup all purpose flour, 1/4 cup stone ground corn meal, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt and fresh ground pepper, 2 large eggs, 1 cup whole milk, 1 tsp finely chopped parsley, 1 tsp finely chopped chives, 1 tsp finely chopped tarragon, 1 TB finely chopped scallions, 1 TB finely chopped shallots, 2 TB finely chopped celery, kosher salt for seasoning and malt vinegar powder for seasoning. For the dish : Canola oil for deep frying, 1 TB finely chopped celery, 1 ounce dried chorizo, finely chopped. For the garnish : Baby celery, parsley leaves, Mustard flowers. In a large pot over medium heat, add the bacon fat, celery, and shallots, sauteing until just translucent. Add the clams, bay leaves, and white wine and simmer, covered. When the clams begin to open, lower the heat, remove from the pot, and discard any un opened clams. Shuck the clams and strain through a fine mesh sieve, adding juice back to the pot. Reserve meat for the fritters. Add the potato pieces and stir in the cream, continuing to simmer. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat. Discard bay leaves and transfer to a blender. Blend on high speed for at least 1 minute. Strain through chinois and keep warm. For the fritters : Heat a deep fryer to 325 degrees. Mix together clam meat and all other ingredients, adding more flour if batter seems to wet or clam juice if batter seems to dry. Form small mounds and fry until golden brown. To serve : Spoon chowder into a shallow bowl. Add fritters, reserved potato trimming, celery and chorizo. Garnish with baby celery, parsley leaves and mustard flowers.

Salad of Raw Herbs and Vegetables with Creamy Tarragon Vinaigrette

For a long time this is something that I really have wanted to do. A summer salad made with raw assorted baby heirloom vegetables, herbs and flowers. The dressing works very well as it does not weigh down the greens or vegetables but has enough flavor to transfer over with out having to drown everything. Dehydrated Olives : 1 cup mixed pitted olives For the salad : Assorted baby heirloom vegetables ( baby candy cane or chiogga beets, english peas, baby leeks, assorted squash and zuchinni ) Assorted herbs and flowers (picked tarragon, parsley, dill, baby mustard greens, baby kale, nostrum flowers and greens) Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Salt, fresh Pepper. For the dehydrated olives : Place in a dehydrator set at 135 degrees for at least 12 hours. Transfer olives to a cutting board and finely chop. Store in an air tight container. For the Creamy Tarragon Vinaigrette : 1/2 cup aoili, 1/4 cup butter milk, 2 TB minced tarragon, salt and pepper to taste. Combine all ingredients and season to taste. Transfer to a squeeze bottle and store chilled. To serve: Dress the greens and vegetables with the dressing. You can wisk the dressing right before to incorporate some air to make it even lighter. Place on serving vessel and sprinkle with dehydrated olives. Dot with extra virgin olive oil. Using the dressing that has been whipped, add dots and lines around the salad. Add flowers. A little bit of fresh whole grain mustard scattered about. For the above vegetables I shuck some of the fresh peas but leave some in tact and just halve them. Do not dress the flowers and be careful to not over dress the greens. In fact all I dress are the vegetables and maybe half of the green's.

new plates... and pork perogies....

We had this beautiful french china set donated to us a week ago by a grateful customer. Villeroy and boch. Also a pork rogie dish with apples and Marigold market greens.

pig from the "farmer"

Every other week a local farmer will bring in to us a fresh kill. This time it was a pig, sometimes we only buy half, other times we buy the whole animal. With this pig being around 240 lbs we took half. So they split the animal right down the middle, wrap it in plastic, load it into their pick up and drive into chicago. Once in the city, in the alley several of us will go outside and carry the animal inside and off the farmer goes. Thats just the beginning for us. Regardless of what we choose to buy that week be it a goat, lamb or pig, a decent amount of time and thought goes into the breakdown of the animal. In this case we save the front and back legs for hams or to cure. The tenderloin will be first to be served, unless we have the heart and liver in which case they are. Next will be the belly section to be cured and confit'd, the loin, hocks, etc. All the way down to the fat which we clean up and portion to be used in the future cooking, as well as the skin which we slowly poach until tender and then reserve for a number of possibilities. Nothing is wasted, the bones are roasted for a pork jus, even the blood if it is a fresh farm kill from that morning. I feel like when getting in an entire animal it changes how you treat and prepare the animal. You have much more respect and appreciation not only for the product itself but knowing that an animal has been killed for you, you almost take on a responsibility morally to make sure this animal was not killed just to be stocked on a shelf in a grocery store somewhere. Its good for the cooks as well, giving them the same feeling of respect for the animal.

closing time

After everyone is gone, it is almost eary how quiet the kitchen becomes. Nothing but the occasional "blump" from the pork stock. In 12 hours it will be the complete opposite of this moment...

Dining Room

staff

The biggest challenge we face every day and continue to do so is aquire and retain great staff. Over the course of the last 2 weeks we have lost 4 people, one of them being management. It just kept getting worse every day something seemed to come up. There was a stretch of 6 days where we could not even make it through a day with out someone calling in or no showing. And in this industry, unlike other jobs, if some one does not come in, that work, that station still must go on. For some one to not even call is to myself and a few of my friends a sign of complete dis respect. Because the individual doing this knows that the above must go on and that some one or every one is going to at the last minute have to put their work together. I only bring this up because Jimmy and I were very down a week ago, wondering if we were doing some thing wrong, and if not us then what is causing this to occur so frequently. Who knows... We could speculate for ever. Only reason I wanted to mention this was because as of this week we have 4 new guys ans girl's coming aboard. And they all are "Promising". So stick with it in the future, no matter what it is, if it is some thing you truly believe in, things will turn around.. It would have been so easy to throw up our hands and say "that's it!" And move on to a hotel, but thank God, we did not. Staffing has always been the hardest part of leading a team as a chef. Because everyone wants to move up and on, so just when you feel like the dream team is composed, the sous chef puts in notice because he has been offered a chef position somewhere. The prep guys want more money or promotions, and the dish washer has to go back to Equador. Its a never ending cycle. Always has been and as long as people are passionate about what they do, and those are the types we want working in our kitchens, people will move on... So be thankful when and if you do ever get the team together and appreciate it every single moment. You never know what will happen next..

Pork belly, summer tomatoes salad