So I rotated into the P.M Grill Position

[PintSized]

Hot dang man - good to see some pics up from you again! Gotta love backyard fruit trees, our friends out there had 7 avocado trees in the backyard at their old place.

Awesome looking dishes. Your guys making cabeza there?

[LovetheA2s]

main reason for the seafood is that there hasnt been a nightly changing beef, pork, or chicken entree special on the menu (as per previous chef that i replaced) . When I got here, i hit the ground running and was told not to shake things up to aggressively (menu wise) when i got in. So, i havent tampered with my current menu too much. This summer when we are slower i have a lot of homework to do, full new menu rollout, new kitchen orientation, implimentation of "new nightly features menu", reorganization of dry storage (for inventory purposes), walk in, and paper goods room. We also have to go through our posi touch system and update pricing, delete old menu items and such. It will be busy. But, i am looking forward to the progress. Thanks for the praises. The cow head was roasted in the oven, till completely tender, pulled and tacos were made for all. Salsa verde, picante, pico, chile de arbol and habeneros as well. They did it up. Best tounge tacos i have ever had. hands down

Hope all is well

Aaron

[joness0154]

I've been following this thread for a while now. Great stuff!

[LovetheA2s]

Well Guys, I am on Vacation for a few weeks and have been enjoying some time off. It has been a blast. I have been to the beach in NC, Went to MD for the 4th of July, Went to Jersey for Waterfest and have cooked some good food along the way. I did do a dinner 2 weeks ago, 9 courses for 5 people with a pretty agressive menu. It was a fun challenge as I was the only one executing the prep, cookery, plating, and such. One of the ladies I was cooking for asked if she could help. She was a good help though. Dinner went off without a hitch and everyone had a very pleasant evening. Had some great wines as well.

Onto the menu and Pics:

Amuse
Venison Pepperoni with Apple Chutney and Cheddar- Porcelin Spoon

1st
Chilled Sparkling Cantaloupe Soup with essence of St. Germaine and Thai Basil- Stemless Wine Glasses

2nd
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Oriental Cucumbers, Organic Cherry Tomatoes, Mozzarella Pearls, Balsamic Syrup and Good Olive Oil- Large Family Style Square plate

3rd
Compressed Watermelon Salad with Crumbled Feta, Shaved Red Onion, Mache Greens, Sea Salt, Avocado
(small square, or 10 inch round)

4th
Ahi Tuna Poke with red onion, avocado, sesame, kalbi sauce, and Wonton Crisps
(long white rounded boat)

5th
Pan Seared Bacon Wrapped Scallop With Silken Cauliflower Puree, Pink Pickled Onion and Frisee
(white rectangle)

6th
Sous Vide, Truffle Scented Filet of Beef Oscar with Asparagus, Dave and Dees Mushrooms, Jumbo Lump Crabmeat , Sauce Béarnaise (large square)

7th
Pan Seared Foie Gras “Creamsicle”- Orange Gastrique, Vanilla Oil, Toasted Brioche, Micros
( medium square )

8th
Buttermilk Panna Cotta With Blueberry Coulis, Fresh Berries - Wine Glasses

[LovetheA2s]

and a few randoms, fishing, my buddy who i used to work with in ATL and His wife (when we cooked dinner at my parents place one night), and Garden Harvests:















Hope all is well with everyone. Take care guys


Aaron

[81type53]

Sweet. Where are you guys getting the Foie Gras from?? Hopefully Hudson Valley FG(In Ferndale) which Is like 45 min. from my house. Best In the US!! As usual all looks superb. What about you open up something In the Hudson Valley area and I come work for you?? Lots of stuff going on over here and lots of loot to be spent. You can get burnt ex chefs to work pretty cheap too!Good Luck Dude.

[PintSized]

you had me at Ahi Poke, love that stuff

[LovetheA2s]

Yes Chris, The foie was hudson Valley. 93 Bucks for a lobe of A. It was good good. The plate needed one more element I thought . Which I should have done a Vanilla sorbet, or vanilla fraiche for the top. I cant come up to New York, I dont have the talent you guys have up there man. Youll would send me home with my tail between my legs.

Hope all is well with everyone

Aaron

[LovetheA2s]

So I was going through my pics tonight and realized that I never posted about one of my greatest culinary accomplishments. Head Cheese. I did this over a year ago, with a good friend at my old job. It turned out amazing, and i convinced many non food people to try the delight. With much praise. Not to mention that it was just plain, aesthetically beautiful (for what it is). I took a great recipe, put my own twist on it, refined some standards, and added some love. End result was a beautiful loaf of head cheese with brunoise applewood bacon added, bruniose mirepoix, extra garnish, and all the fun jazz that is in head cheese . Will definately do it again.







And the perfect Jellified Loaf of love:




All for now

Aaron

[TurboZen]

probably the healthiest head cheese I've seen. Love that stuff.

[G60ING]

Checking in for future updates

[LovetheA2s]

Welp, finally broke down and picked up some goat. I have never bought it before and was feeling ethnic cuisine. Curried Goat with jasmine rice. Turned out phenominal and was more than happy with the results.





Hope all is well, Take care guys

Aaron

[dubjager]

Oh my that head cheese. Probably one of my favorite things to make with my Father.

Do you mind passing along the recipe?

Love this thread!

[LovetheA2s]

Dinner, at a cabin in the mountains (8k feet up , Big Bear Mountain here in Cali), for a friend of mine as well as her friend. Kind of a shotgun menu on the fly. Outsourced entree, as i arrived late due to work and couldnt put out more than 2 courses with time given. Plus i drove home tonight as well ( 2 hr drive). Still had a great time, and it was nice to get into some 70 degree weather and just kick back. Entree was calzones from a local italian spot.




One...... heirloom tomato, mozz, and basil salad with bibb and cuke (balsamic dressing)

Two.......proscuitto and canteloupe with watercress, avocado, oilive oil and cracked black pepper



And Jager, the recipe was nothing spectacular. Cleaned the head, split it, removed the brains, and soaked in a saline solution overnight with 1 lemon squeezed and hulls added. Then Cooked the head in a double chicken stock in the morning with mirepoix, trotters, garlic, thyme, shallots, love and such. Pull head out, strain, reduce braising liquid, add a lil gelatin (i didnt have enough trotter gelatin extract), pick/pull and shread all pork meat, cheeks, and all, i also used some shoulder chunks that I had in the kitchen. Semi frozen applewood bacon, bruniose dice as well as mirepoix brunoise. Sweat that out until bacon is cooked and garnish is tender, add fine chopped thyme and parsley to finish. Fold in to meat and add braising liquid, sea salt and cracked black pepper to finish. Let set up in a half hotel pan overnight. Skim fat off of top in the morning. Use a creme brulee torch to free the bottom from the pan, and invert onto cutting board. Slice down, club or saltine crackers and malt vinegar if you want. This recipe needed nothing. but you can always use rooster sauce on your cracker if ya need

Aaron

[LovetheA2s]

My roommate and I went to Korea town in LA 2 days ago for some Korean BBQ. There is a place which was recommended to us. Apparently it is rated the best Korean in LA. It was really really good food. Parks BBQ is the name. If anyone lives in the LA area or plans to visit. I recommend it highly.

Whats new with everyone these days?

Aaron

[LovetheA2s]

So, my restaurant is back in full swing. Having a tiresome week. 4 Days and counting of 6am to 11pm is really wearing me down. I feel like a zombie, and it will be open 7 days a week until november 7th. Im just burning at both ends. One of THE most challenging times in my career. Feel as if im going a lil crazy. Gotta hit the bed for 5 hrs, and back at it. . Any "hang in there's " would be appreciated. Thanks


Aaron



P.S Any pics of some food from you guys to cheer me up?

[G60ING]

Hang in there

[LovetheA2s]

Ok, so have a few pictures to update the thread. So swamped at work currently and not much to post food wise. I finally broke th bank, pulled my unicorn fund and cashed in. On a chef's salary, kinda hard to justify . But, its been in the works for a few years and i was hunting pretty hard for about 4 months. Drove 4 hours to pick it up in Arizona. I present to you the unicorn:









P/O saved me the trouble, thank you P/O:


H&R's


Missing the MK2 right now and wish i had it here on the west coast:



Its in storage for the moment, waiting on these to go on:




Only got offered 2k for the GLX from the stealership , politely said (errrr NO)
130k, new timing chains, and overall great car. Its the daily now.





Received some capital budget and got a few upgrades at work:

1 Traulson Fish file (not pictured)
1 Irinox Quick Chill Unit
2 Double Stack Eloma Combi Ovens (computer programmable)
6 Hydroponic living towers to raise all organic mocros, salad greens, arugula, tomatoes, you name it......
2 new boose blocks
and about to get a new 8x10 unit for out back. I am so STOKED! I need room!

onto the madness:





The babies:


My garden on the patio:



Random Late night dinner at the house / we were bored, broiled prime filet with sauteed spinach and roasted garlic/mushroom sauce:





My new spot in the desert:





Time to hit the bed,

Aaron

[evosky]

Congrats on the unicorn! Actually was also looking at a B7 avant titanium way back before I went for my GTI...

Also congrats on your new resto! sounds like it's going to be some crazy times, but I'm sure it'll be worth it once you're past the crazy period. The new equipment should hopefully help sort out the kitchen madness.

Since you ask about food pics from us, I'll put up stuff that I didn't cook and photobomb your thread ... went to the Food Network Festival in NYC last weekend and attended the sushi karaoke party hosted by Chef Morimoto:







this was Ming Tsai's crew prepping a hamachi plate that is seared off with hot oil







this was an interesting dish by a local chef that used eucalyptus (restaurant's namesake) in the garnish on top of the fish, really fresh flavors



simple anchovies and peppers in oil



sushi zen crew, they made some incredible nigiri with japanese ingredients - fluke, sudachi, salt, and horseradish





forget which fish this was, in a tropical-style fruity sauce with micro greens on top



seafood salad



local restaurant's in-house specialty roll - really really good, stands out from most other rolls i've ever had



oyster with sea urchin foam



chef morimoto's pastry chef did up these yuzu custard chocolate cups and mango mousse with passion seeds and baby kiwi



Harvard Club's exec chef did up these really nice pastries



me with robert irvine



bad shot, but Morimoto, Irvine, and Andrew Zimmern doing some karaoke



Ming, Guy Fieri, and Morimoto hanging out after Guy shows up late



Guy and Morimoto serving up tako to the crowd





Chris Cosentino, Adam Richman, me, and Adam's friend

[LovetheA2s]

holy awesomeness. Looks like a great show! Would love to meet morimoto and ming especially.

[LovetheA2s]

holy awesomeness. Looks like a great show! Would love to meet morimoto and ming especially. Nice pics btw.


Aaron

[joness0154]

So, my restaurant is back in full swing. Having a tiresome week. 4 Days and counting of 6am to 11pm is really wearing me down. I feel like a zombie, and it will be open 7 days a week until november 7th. Im just burning at both ends. One of THE most challenging times in my career. Feel as if im going a lil crazy. Gotta hit the bed for 5 hrs, and back at it. . Any "hang in there's " would be appreciated. Thanks


Aaron



P.S Any pics of some food from you guys to cheer me up?

Hang in there dude! In my opinion you've got a great thing going.

[impact]

evosky, what camera was used to take those pics?

[LovetheA2s]

Hang in there dude! In my opinion you've got a great thing going.

I appreciate the thoughts man, when does the fam get back in town? Its gorgeous here. Let me know! I gotcha!

Aaron

[LovetheA2s]

Time to drop a few pictures:


















Garden is doing very well:





















More to come, Whats new with everyone?

Aaron

[LovetheA2s]

Harvests:








The New Crop:


Plate including harvests:






Crop Rotation:








Our Rep was at the club, and was taking pics to put on their website for promos. I got roped in to a shoot.


Aaron

[SpiffyGTI]

good god that looks awesome.

[evosky]

evosky, what camera was used to take those pics?

Nikon D7000 w/ standard 18-200mm - post processed with Lightroom

lots of pictures of veg

dude, those greens look amazing! must be like heaven to be able to use fresh produce like that

[LovetheA2s]

dude, those greens look amazing! must be like heaven to be able to use fresh produce like that

It really is, I am actually growing some amazing greens, and using them from seedling to plate. They are fun, a bit time consuming when i am so busy with the day to day routine. There is a heck of a system setup (more than what you just see, the towers) . It is fed with nutrient rich water that has a dispenser that disperses a certain PPM of nutrients to the water, not to mention a constant water level monitoring system, and waters them every 15 minutes on a timed system. You can also set them up on a solar panel system. I am no tree hugger by any means, but its fun to be exposed to this.


On a side note, being buried with work. Ive managed to make a bit of progress on the new rig.
I said i would leave it alone, but i couldnt. I think im done,,,,,,,







Hope all is well with everyone. Been getting a whooping lately. But, its all good . Thanks for the compliments. I cant take credit for that crabcake special, its a pull from tommy bahamas menu. My lead cook has a second job there, and i picked his brain. It sold out, 16 orders all day. Good quick special on the fly.


Take care guys,

Aaron

[LovetheA2s]

Whats new with everyone? Busy busy here, new menu rolled out and we are in full swing. Lots of new stuff.

New Pics of Stuff.......












Garden is good:







Backyard goodies:

A morning treat, fresh squeezed OJ, Ruby Red GF, and lemons for lemonade for lunch:













Transportation:





More to come soon, Just hosted a CMC dinner at our new Club.



Aaron