 |
|
Big City Chefs in the News
May 6th, 2010
by Betty Ho, Big City Chefs Food Writer
My mother is not a professional chef, but she mastered several Chinese specialties at a young age and continues to wow at family get-togethers and potlucks. And while it saddens her that I’m not as adept as she is in the kitchen, I appease her (and perhaps my own guilty conscience) by saying it is because of her that I love food and writing about food. Family, and mothers in particular, have inspired many a generation to continue culinary family traditions, and some of our private chefs at Big City Chefs are no exception. Three of our Los Angeles area private chefs and co-stars of Food Network’s hit reality series about Big City Chefs, Private Chefs of Beverly Hills, share how their mothers not only ignited their passion for food, but inspired many a successful chef’s career as well!
 Chef Stuart Chef Stuart O’Keeffe reminisces about life as a young boy in Irleand, when he helped his mom and aunt cook in the kitchen.
“They are the two who influenced me to start cooking,” he says. “I have always had a love for good food, and I got this from my mom.” Chef Stuart’s insistence on quality can also be attributed to his mother, who, regardless of how little or how much money she
had, always bought the best quality ingredients. “Mom believed that putting good quality food in your body would keep you fit and healthy,” Chef Stuart says. “I followed in her footsteps today by cooking whole foods and by buying foods in their most raw form.” Learn more about Chef Stuart’s culinary passions at his personal blog. He is also available for bookings by contacting us.
 Chef Jesse “I love you Ma!” shouts Private Chef Jesse Brune, another of our expert private chefs in the Los Angeles area and co-star of Private Chefs of Beverly Hills. A fiercely “independent woman,” mom Tina Brune inspired him to become a chef.
“It’s a no brainer,” says Chef Jesse. “My mom was a southern gal who made the meanest fried chicken in the world.” Her love for cooking and preparation of
“countless family meals (which often included a hungry childhood friend or two),” inspired Jesse to “leap into culinary school” and continue the tradition of cooking for family and friends.
 Chef Manouschka For Chef Manouschka, a Haitian grandmother and mother made a powerful pair, inspiring her to cook and learn the basics. It was also these two women’s limitless hospitality and generosity that inspired Manouschka to take her love for food one step further and pursue a culinary career. No matter what time of the day or who you were, whether you were the mail carrier, a family member or a long lost friend, Grandma Olga, despite her limited English, always knew how to ask, “Do you want something to eat?” and according to Chef Manouschka, that was all it took for people to fall in love with her. “When anyone stepped into her home,” Chef Manouschka recalls, “it was like magic: within minutes, you would have something fantastic to eat.” Realizing she was spoiled, she now laughs that at the time, “I thought this was normal!”
Mom Jacqueline did the same, and it was only natural for Chef Manouschka to continue the tradition, even after moving from Miami to LA. “My friends were blown away!” Anytime someone came over, Chef Manouschka would remember her grandmother’s words and provide a delicious meal. Carrying her mother’s and grandmother’s torch of hospitality made her transition to Los Angeles an easy one.
Her new friends joked that Manouschka should become a chef but she laughed it off. To make ends meet however, she began a “tiny” catering business but still refused to call herself a ‘chef.’ “Cooking was my therapy,” Manouschka says, “and like my grandmother and mother, I stubbornly called myself a ‘cook.’” It seems, however, that Chef Manouschka’s grandmother had a secret that she carried to the grave. This month will mark the three-year anniversary of Grandma Olga’s passing, but at her funeral, it was revealed that she had, in fact, attended a prestigious French culinary school in her hometown, making her a bona fide accredited chef! Learning this, Chef Manouschka could only accept her very delicious fate: “My foray into becoming a chef was the legacy she left me, and I am now proud to call myself a chef,” says Manouschka, “but I’m even more proud that my grandmother’s legacy can continue! With that, I’d like to thank Tom and Big City Chefs for believing in me!”
Thanks to our Big City Chefs for sharing their wonderful stories with us! Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at Big City Chefs!
Tags: Big City Chefs, Mother's Day, Private Chefs of Beverly Hills
No Comments
May 3rd, 2010
By Caroline Gibbs, Big City Chefs Food Writer
Though you never need an excuse to throw a fantastic dinner party, you can use this Cinco de Mayo as a reason to invite over your closest friends and enjoy delicious food and celebrate Mexican heritage and culture. Here are a few dishes to spice up your menu this May 5th. Arriba, arriba, andale, andale to the kitchen!
 Don't even think about touching the sombrero.
(Recipes taken from The Big City Chefs Cookbook: Easy Recipes for Everyday Cooking and Entertaining)
Spicy Pinto Beans
Yields 6 servings
Ingredients:
2 cups Dried pinto beans
6 cups Water
Salt (pinch)
1 Tomato, seeded and diced
2 Serrano chilies, seeded and diced small
½ White onion, diced small
1 clove Garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Cilantro
Salt
Directions:
1. Soak beans in water overnight. Boil beans for 1 ½ – 2 hours or until tender and bursting. Or you can buy whole cooked pinto beans in the can. Drain them before using.
2. Saute garlic, onion and chilies together in oil or drippings until onions are clear. Add tomatoes, cilantro and cooked beans. Cook for several minutes while smashing beans with a spoon or mashed potato press. Only smash about 2/3 of batch. Add S and P to taste and serve immediately. Garnish with jack cheese.
Note: Green chilies pair best with white wines, and you can find the perfect white by matching its acidity to that of the dish.
Spicy Ranchero Chicken
Yields 2 servings
Ingredients:
2 Organic chicken breasts
1 1/2 large Tomatoes, finely chopped
1 1/2 green Chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded, finely chopped
1/2 medium Onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup Chicken broth
Kosher salt, to taste
Jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
1 tablespoon All-Purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons Chili powder
1 1/2 tablespoons Vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups Water
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/3 cup Monterey jack cheese, grated
Directions:
1. Poach chicken breasts in boiling, salted water 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. In saucepan, mix together tomatoes, green chiles, onion and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer thirty minutes or until vegetables are soft. Add salt, to taste, and jalapeno pepper.
3. In another pan, blend flour; chili powder and oil. Add water and salt, and bring to a boil. Simmer gently 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour sauce into a 9-inch square baking dish and place chicken breasts on top of sauce.
4. Pour green chile and tomato sauce over the chicken breasts and sprinkle generously with grated cheese. Bake uncovered 15 to 20 minutes, until chicken is tender and cheese is melted.
Creamed Green Chilies, Corn Soufflé and Jicama Slaw
Ingredients:
For the Jicama Slaw:
Salt
Pepper
1 Medium jicama
1 Small carrot
1 Small zucchini
1/2 Red bell pepper
1 tablespoon Cilantro, chopped
4 Key limes, juiced
1 teaspoon White vinegar3 tablespoons Olive oil
For the Creamed Chilies:
1 tablespoon butter
2 Poblano chilies, roasted, peeled, seeds removed and cut into strips
8 ounces Mexican “crema” (or heavy cream can be used as a subsitute)
For the Soufflé:
1 cup Whole kernel corn
2 tablespoons Butter
1 cup Milk
1 cup Cream
3 tablespoons Flour
3 Egg yolks, beaten
3 Egg whites , beaten stiff
3/4 cup Cheddar cheese
Directions:
1. Jicama slaw: Cut all veggies (jicama, carrot, zucchini, red bell pepper) into shoe-string size matchsticks and toss. Add remaining ingredients (cilantro, key limes, white vinegar, olive oil) and toss again.
2. Corn Souffle: Make a roux by combining butter and flour and cooking on med. for a couple minutes. Add cream, S and P, and milk and bring to a simmer. Add beaten egg yolks and mix well. Cook 1 minute. Add cheese and corn. Mix well. Add half the egg whites and mix. Fold in the rest of whites and immediately place in soufflé cups or cupcake pan. Place on a sheet tray with a thin waterbath for even cooking. Cook at 350 for 45 minutes or until souffle’ browns and is firm.
3. Creamed Green Chilies: Add butter and chilies to saucepan over medium-high and cook until softened. Add cream and lower heat slightly. Let cream and chilies simmer until the mixture has reduced by half. Remove from heat.
1 Comment
May 3rd, 2010
By Caroline Gibbs, Big City Chefs Food Writer
Spring has sprung, and aren’t we all the happier for it! And with spring comes warmer weather, beautiful flowers, spring fashions, and of course, delicious seasonal fruits and vegetables. Yes, it’s finally time to say goodbye to heavy winter dishes and hello to fresh and light spring favorites! So why not make the most of spring this year and enjoy your favorite spring seasonals while enjoying the beautiful outdoors! Big City Chefs’ chef Rebecca Gruwell in New York says, “It’s popular this time of year to start bringing entertaining and dining out of doors – not only to enjoy what it feels like to be outside again, but to enjoy the best of what spring has to offer while being outside. It makes the whole experience feel really complete.” To celebrate the season right, Big City Chefs has a few ideas on how to welcome back spring in style this year.
The Tuscan Dinner Party for 6
Let Big City Chefs transport you to the sun-drenched countryside of Tuscany with this gourmet dinner party for six. With a four-course menu of seasonal and rustic old-world Italian cuisine, you and your guests will be sure to enjoy this outdoor dinner party featuring seasonal favorites such as Panzenella Bread Salad, Spring Pea Ravioli with a Lemon Cream Sauce, and Asparagus Risotto with Shaved Pecorino. Price Estimate: $425
Wine Country Dinner Party for 6
Visit California’s beautiful Napa Valley this spring in your own home! Let Big City Chefs’ expert chefs bring you an elegant multi-course meal that captures the essence of spring and the rustic yet refined flavors of Northern California’s wine country. Possible seasonal dishes include a Spinach Salad with Warm Sherry Vinaigrette with Sonoma Goat Cheese, Cream of Asparagus Soup with Crème Fraîche and Meyer Lemon, and Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Breast Stuffed with Rosemary and Goat Cheese. Price Estimate: $425
Spring Picnic Basket
Big City Chefs can create a custom picnic basket for you and your friends to celebrate spring this season. Enjoy the freedom to dine anywhere you choose out of doors this spring, and bring along a picnic basket filled with delicious seasonal dishes such as a Wild Rice Salad with Chicken and Apricots, Pancetta, Ricotta and Artichoke Frittata, and a Strawberry-Cherry Tart. Price Estimate: See BigCityChefs.com
No Comments
April 21st, 2010
America’s elite private chef agency boils down ten years of demanding clients into the most essential tips for making your next dinner party a showstopper.
By Tom Stieber, CEO, and Caroline Gibbs, Big City Chefs Food Writer
So you’re hosting that special occasion coming up – maybe a milestone birthday, a visiting relative, a “girls’ night in,” or just a get-together with your foodie friends. And of course, you’re looking to impress your guests with Martha-Stewart-style (ahem, “Big City Chefs” style, that is), but like most of us, you have little time to pull it off. Fear not, because we’ve put together our Top Ten Tips for Hosting the Perfect Dinner Party, guaranteed to make you the star of your next dinner party without missing a beat.
> FREE DOWNLOAD
No Comments
April 17th, 2010
By Betty Ho, Big City Chefs Food Writer
I can easily churn out the names of authors and books I read growing up, from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, all of which nurtured the aspiring writer in me. You don’t wake up one morning and shout “I’m going to be a writer/designer/chef!” without having seen what it is these people do and create. The path to becoming anything begins with opening your eyes and enjoying the works of those already established in their fields. For me, it was reading the books of my favorite authors and then taking the first step to write in my journal the thoughts their works inspired in me. For many chefs, it might very well have been the dishes their mothers or grandmother’s prepared – and that’s a post for another day. For some of Big City Chefs’ private chefs, however, family had little to do with in terms of culinary inspiration. More specifically, in Chef Sasha’s case, it was the dishes that her parents weren’t preparing:
“My cooking career began purely as a survival instinct,” says Private Chef Sasha Perl-Raver of Big City Chefs and co-star of that agency’s Food Network’s series, Private Chefs of Beverly Hills. “It’s not that my parents aren’t good cooks, it’s just that they’re not really cooks, period.”
Chef Sasha admits that while her mother has “one great dish,” a “bangin’ roast chicken and vegetables” which she served every Friday for Shabbat dinner, her mother’s patience for the culinary arts ended there. Her father, on the other hand, “tries his mighty best when it comes to matters of the kitchen, but everything he makes involves either pickle juice or Dijon mustard- usually both.” I cringe when I hear her father’s creative concoctions: “Eggs with pickle juice and mustard; salad dressing with pickle juice and mustard; oatmeal with pickle juice and mustard…Okay, maybe not oatmeal, but just about anything else.” No wonder a young Chef Sasha took charge. “From a young age, I saw that somebody had to save mealtime from pickle juice tyranny and I was that person.”
A tall order for a small child, but Chef Sasha met the challenge with gusto! She had a “bizarre preoccupation with food” from a young age, and even now she’s not entirely sure whether the fixation developed out of necessity or was a gift. “I recently found a writing assignment from the first grade,” says Chef Sasha, recalling a fill-in-the-blank exercise that began: Bring me…
And what did Chef Sasha fill in the blank with? “FOOD!” of course!
As far back as she can remember, Chef Sasha “read cookbooks the way other little kids read comic books.” She grew up on a steady diet of Julia Child and Martin Yan, learning from these master cooks with the same ferocity as other kids watched Jem and She-Ra. At seven she was making pizza from scratch, “from dough to sauce,” and by sixteen she declared to anyone who would listen that “cheffing” was her profession. Here, Chef Sasha pauses and reflects, acknowledging that while many factors influenced her to become a chef, the greatest inspiration of all was the food.
“Food has been my inspiration from the time I could eat,” she says, “and when I realized it was possible to make money from my obsession, I dove in headfirst.” Now, Chef Sasha is a successful Big City Chefs Private Chef who has cooked for clients from Beverly Hills to Malibu to Los Angeles.
While her parents find it ironic that their culinary shortcomings led to a professional chef in the family, Chef Sasha thanks them. “I have to admit though,” she says, “after a decade and a half as a chef, one thing I’ve realized is my dad was onto something: pickle juice, when used in the right ways, can be a stellar secret weapon!
2 Comments
April 13th, 2010
By Betty Ho, Big City Chefs Food Writer
Recently, I watched as the producers of “The Cove,” a documentary exposing the killing of dolphins in Japan, won the Oscar for Best Documentary. Towards the end of their acceptance speech one of the producers raised a hand-made poster: “Text DOLPHIN to 44144,” it said. The next day, a sushi restaurant in Santa Monica was discovered to be serving illegal whale meat. The story broke on the New York Times and was the topic of an Atlantic Monthly blog post, in which author Trevor Corson raises an interesting point: “I think the issue of harvesting non-endangered whales, as Japan does (along with Norway and a few others), ought to begin with the same moral concerns I would bring to lobsters and everything else: how sentient is the creature, and how much did it suffer during the process?” What really struck me about Corson’s post however, was his rather simple question regarding the eating of whale sashimi: “If whale sushi isn’t even that tasty, why bother eating it at all?”
I remembered back to the first time I tried Kobe beef sashimi at a fancy Japanese restaurant in Taipei. The meat was a beautiful, deep red, and I couldn’t believe I was about to put raw beef in my mouth – but I did, and I distinctly remember the taste: nothing.
“That’s what good sashimi is supposed to taste like,” my uncle said smugly, for he was the one treating us to this fancy dinner. He finished off his final sliver of beef and savored it. “Some foods are eaten for texture rather than the taste. If you taste something, it’s most likely that the sashimi isn’t fresh.”
Raw beef is neither rare nor illegal, but I wondered what the appeal was, aside from the fact that it was quite expensive (we all know that something being expensive makes it that much more appealing to some people). This leads me to wonder about the numerous other delicacies I was taught to revere. Chinese people enjoy many tasteless albeit textured delicacies – all of which are rare and expensive. The one that comes immediately to mind is shark’s fin soup, which I had recently at a cousin’s wedding banquet. A few years ago I had the opportunity to visit a Taiwanese fish market and rather than fish, I remember only dozens upon dozens of shark carcasses lying about the floor. Some were female sharks who had been on the verge of giving birth and their unborn fetuses lay lifeless on the cement next to them. Every shark was missing its fins, all of them, some cleanly, others left with ragged skin where the cut hadn’t been so clean. It was a gruesome spectacle – and while Taiwanese people do eat the meat of the shark, the bodily flesh was not nearly as popular as the fins and I knew most of the carcasses were to be discarded like fish bones.
The fin itself is pure cartilage, and like a clear noodle, it holds flavor well but has none of its own. Chinese people cook it in extremely reduced chicken or seafood broth with a variety of spices, mushrooms, and Chinese herbs – thus giving the shark fin soup its distinct flavor not from the fin, but rather from the combined, slow simmering of the less costly ingredients. I cringe every time I see it on the menu, but I eat it anyway (as I did at the wedding) – after all, if the animal has already suffered and died for it, it would be more of a waste to throw away what has already been served on the plate in front of you.
Like Corson, I’m not saying we shouldn’t eat the things we enjoy, but that we need to consider our short and long-term impacts on the environment so that we can continue enjoying these foods in the future. But these things, of course are easier said than done. With increasing population and wealth, rare and perhaps endangered delicacies are more and more in demand. As always, it starts with the individual: making the decision to order something sustainable (and legal) whether its from the sea or from the land. For me, beef sashimi and shark’s fin soup are two delicacies I needn’t try ever again.
No Comments
April 2nd, 2010
by Caroline Gibbs, Big City Chefs Food Writer
I think we can all agree that dieting can be easy…if we weren’t so hungry all the time! As America’s premier private chef agency, creators of recipes for (VH1 Celebrity Fit Club panelist) Dr. Ian Smith’s New York Times bestseller The Fat Smash Diet, and experts at helping our private chef clients reach their nutritional objectives, here are ten easy tricks to naturally curb that hunger and keep you reaching your weight loss goals.
1. Let’s start at the beginning. Breakfast. It’s the first and most important meal of the day, so make it power-packed. Avoid the temptation of pancakes and syrup and take advantage of delicious low-carb, high-fiber breakfast favorites.
· Try a whole grain “quick” oatmeal mixed with natural peanut butter and flaxseed, topped with fresh fruit like blueberries, or whatever fruit is in season. If you have a little more time, opt to make Irish Steel Cut Oats for more fiber.
· Omelets and scrambles are always healthy and filling options. 3 whole eggs is great, but 4 egg whites is even better (avoid processed egg substitutes). Pack your scramble or omelet full of fresh veggies like bell peppers, asparagus, spinach and tomatoes. To top it off, add some Swiss or Emmental cheese, which is the lowest fat natural cheese (avoid defatted cheeses that are rubbery and processed)
2. Before eating out at restaurants, try drinking 12 ounces of water 15 minutes before sitting down to your table. It will start to fill you up and curb that voracious appetite.
3. Limit your alcohol intake. Not only is alcohol a source of fat and calories (alcohol has 7 calories/gram versus carbohydrates which have 4 calories/gram), it tends to inhibit your ability to put on the brakes… when it comes to eating that is. Drinking is of course, a large aspect of social culture, and is in many cases unavoidable. So instead of forgoing drinking altogether, simply drink in moderation and make the smartest alcohol choices, i.e. a glass of red or white wine, which are less fatty than beer and have been shown to have additional nutritional benefits such as antioxidants.
4. Bring your own snacks to work. It’s really easy just to pick up a bag of chips from the office kitchen or to grab a sugary pastry while you get your coffee but these snacks will only leave you wanting more. A well balanced snack will leave you feeling fuller longer, so trying bringing a snack from home that includes carbohydrates, protein and a little bit of fat.
· A pear or an apple with some cheese or some low fat yogurt
· Celery with natural peanut butter
· High-fiber and high-antioxidant fruits like blueberries or strawberries with a small side of low fat cottage cheese or yogurt
5. Find a new hobby. Keeping your mind off of food is half the battle so do yourself a favor and keep your mind busy with a new activity or hobby. Try finding a class or activity at your peak snacking hours (like right after work and before dinner) to keep your body and mind active and away from the refrigerator. For at home and daily distractions, try finding an activity that’s easy to pick up and put down whenever you feel the urge to snack, such as reading (try joining a book club to keep you on track), organizing projects (take on that box of photos that’s been sitting in your closet for years) or more creative endeavors like making jewelry or painting.
6. For a quick fix, try using a peppermint aromatherapy oil to help curb your appetite. Studies have shown that smelling peppermint when hungry or before a meal has tended to lessen one’s appetite and resulted in a decreased calorie intake as a result.
7. Try aerobic exercise. It may seem counterintuitive to think that exercising makes you less hungry, but studies show that aerobic exercise actually leaves you feeling less hungry in the hours after your work out than if you hadn’t worked out at all. Taking a thirty-minute jog not only helps stave off those cravings but you burn some calories in the process!
8. Be sure to eat something every three to four hours. Curbing your appetite isn’t about starving yourself – it’s about keeping you from binging on those things you’d wish you hadn’t. Keep yourself satiated throughout the day by having a small bite of something every few hours. The snacks suggested above are good ideas, and just keep in mind that the healthier and better balanced the snack, the longer you’ll stay full.
9. Wait 20 minutes. Always wait a good 10 to 20 minutes (longer is better) before going back for your second helping. If you’re with friends, engage in conversation about a topic that will keep you interested long enough to judge whether or not you are really full. If you’re alone, pick up a book or newspaper and tell yourself to finish at least three articles or a whole chapter before you go back for me. You’ll probably find you aren’t as hungry as you thought.
10. Don’t stress. Over-eating is often an emotional reaction to stress and anxiety, so instead of simply treating the symptoms by curbing your appetite, try and treat the cause.
· When at work, take a couple of minutes to alleviate tension by giving yourself a hand massage. Hands hold a lot of tension and both reflexology and acupressure suggest that relieving tension in your hands can promote better overall body wellness.
· Focus on your breathing. Take a minute to gather your thoughts and take a few deep breaths. We often become so busy that we fail to notice our breathing has become rapid and shallow, often resulting in headaches and can increase one’s sense of anxiety. Take the time to slow it down when you’re feeling frantic and you’ll find yourself feeling better instantly.
Tags: Celebrity Fit Club, Fat Smash Diet, How to Fight Hunger
3 Comments
April 1st, 2010
By Betty Ho, Big City Chefs Food Writer
Recently, a friend ask me to list my favorite foods and I rattled off, without thinking, a list of breakfast foods: waffles, pancakes, French toast, steel-cut slow-cooked oatmeal. She raised her eyebrows and concluded, “So breakfast is your favorite meal of the day.” I thought about this and then corrected her, “No, brunch is.”
Breakfast for me, occurs before ten A.M.; anything later classifies as “brunch,” and this is when my need for something savory kicks in. On a normal weekday, I wake up around eight, and have, by nine A.M., breakfasted on a steaming bowl of oatmeal cooked with banana and topped with chopped nuts. This is breakfast. No need for something salty, just slightly sweetened hearty oatmeal and a nice cup of coffee. It is wonderful, necessary, and routine – but in no way does it compare to the riches of a decadent weekend brunch. Brunch normally occurs after nine A.M. and is best eaten in the company of good friends. It is a different affair entirely. I normally still opt for a sweet grain-based dish but am compelled to finagle a friend into ordering something savory.
“We’ll share,” I’ll say, pointing out which omelet sounds good. “That way, we can have both salty and sweet.”
It’s not so much an obsession with balance as it is the very human obsession of wanting it all. And I know I’m not the only one, which explains the popularity of and my personal fixation with the penultimate sweet and salty brunch combination: Chicken and Waffles. Much like Food Network’s popular program, “The Best Thing I Ever Ate,” this is my personal food fixation.
I was in high school when I first ate Chicken and Waffles at Roscoe’s in Long Beach, the branch supposedly frequented by Snoop Dogg. I had just gotten my driver’s license and with my friends, all budding foodies, decided to drive down to Long Beach to see what all the fuss was about. It was like love at first sight, followed by love at first bite, and right then and there a life long hunt for chicken and waffles began. I don’t know why it never occurred to me to eat the two together: I love fried chicken (as does my father – this sort of taste is inherited, I believe, though my mother despises the stuff) and I love waffles, but food innovation is not my specialty, which is why I’m sitting here writing about food rather than inventing recipes with staying power. And Chicken and Waffles does have staying power. If, like me, you’re wondering about the history of chicken and waffles, let me direct you to this informative article. The article does not clear up the origin of this heavenly combo as much as it provides hypotheses proving that some great culinary ideas are a combination of histories: attempting to pin them to one single source would be missing the point. This is, I think, the essence of chicken and waffles: to enjoy the savory-sweet dish in front of you without thinking about its roots.
This weekend, I took my hunt to 900 Grayson, a small brunch place in Berkeley, CA that serves a fantastic Chicken and Waffles dish with a fantastic appellation: “Demon Lover.” This dish contains Spicy Buttermilk Fried Fulton Valley Chicken Paillard, a Buttermilk Waffle and Old-Fashioned Cream Gravy or Vermont Maple Syrup. And truly, who can resist?
The sweet Demon Lover (with syrup):
The salty Demon Lover (with gravy):
The Demon Lover Up Close:
900 Grayson Street
Berkeley, CA 94710
P: (510) 704-9900
Next on my Chicken n’ Waffles list:
* Little Skillet in San Francisco
* Home of Chicken and Waffles in Oakland
* Brown Sugar Kitchen in Oakland (Our friend Chef Tanya Holland used to have a show on Food Network, and also has her own cookbook!)
And…Highly recommended:
* Citizen Smith in Hollywood
* Roscoe’s!
What are some great chicken and waffle places in your city?
Tags: 900 Grayson, Big City Chefs, Chicken and Waffles, Private Chefs of Beverly Hills
No Comments
March 26th, 2010
by Betty Ho, Big City Chefs food writer
I came across an interview with Anthony Bourdain, one of my favorite writer chefs and probably the man responsible for making me realize that food and literature do mix. I read his memoir, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly during my freshman year at NYU and thought briefly about dropping out of college to pursue a career as a chef.
“And how are you going to do this?” my parents asked.
“I’ll start by washing dishes!” I said.
Unsurprisingly, they were less than supportive, and I stayed in school. A few weeks after I’d finished his book, I read in the local paper that he was in town to promote his second book, a cookbook for Les Halles, where he was head chef at the time. I waited feverishly for classes to end, then ran to the Barnes and Noble in Union Square with my copy of Kitchen Confidential tucked safely in my backpack. I was about to see the man in the flesh.
He was just as I imagined him to be: lean and mean with a handsome scowl and a rich, deep voice tinged with the ravages of too much salt and cigarettes. I don’t remember much of what he said, aside from the various jokes he cracked at the expense of fellow celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, but I knew that he had found an eternal fan in me.
His memoir started a hunger for other food-related literature from cookbooks to travel memoirs to books about very specific types of food: salt, spices, beer, and led me to other food writers whose works I’ve come to cherish along with Bourdain’s: Ruth Reichl, M.F.K. Fisher, and Jeffrey Steingarten. In a way, Kitchen Confidential began my literary food education which continues to this day, and I am ever-grateful every time I look over and see it on my shelf between Reichl and Steingarten. My list of food “must reads” grows longer every day, and while I haven’t yet read anything by Emeril Lagasse, I’ll be sure to shelve him far away from Bourdain.
That said, I’d like to inaugurate the weekly Chef Question and ask our own Big City Chefs private chefs: What is your favorite food memoir? Why? And when did you read him or her for the first time?
Washington DC Personal Chef Mikey Torres loves Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which he first discovered in his high school home economics class. Although not technically a memoir, Chef Mikey got from it “such a strong sense of [Child's] personality…which was unheard of in a cookbook back then.”
Our Denver area Personal Chef Mike Herskowitz likes the now famous cookbook/memoir hybrid The French Laundry Cook Book by celebrity chef Thomas Keller, as well as Surfing the Menu: Two Chefs, One Journey: A Fresh Food Adventure by Curtis Stone and Bewn O’Donoghue.
Chef Rebecca Gruwell, one of our Personal Chefs in New York, shares one of my favorites as well: Ruth Reichl’s Garlic and Sapphires, a brilliant memoir about the ins and out of being a food writer for the New York Times. “It felt as though I stepped into her life,” says Chef Rebecca. “She’s a brilliant and engaging writer, vividly describing the people, places and meals in a way that one cannot help but be drawn into the experience as if it’s their memory too.”
The next time you’re in the bookstore or library, be sure to check out one of our chef recommendations! Happy reading!
1 Comment
March 20th, 2010
We recently came across an online customer review of a cooking class taught by one of Big City Chefs’ expert San Francisco Bay Area personal chefs at the Culinary Center at Whole Foods Markets in Napa. We were so pleased to know that this customer had such a wonderful experience from the partnership between Big City Chefs and Whole Foods!
“I recently took a cooking class at Whole Foods in Napa and I wanted to share my experience. The class was called ‘Organic Chicken Dishes.’ It was taught by a Chef, whose names escapes me, from Big City Chefs. When I arrived, to my surprise, I was greeted with a glass of Rombauer Chardonnay and a big welcome from the chef. The class began with a tour of Whole Foods. This could have been the best part. I don’t typically shop at Whole Foods because I find it to be intimidating. Not anymore though! This chef walked us up and down aisles teaching us about the Whole Foods brands and gave us a quick lesson in chicken. I have to say that I haven’t bought Foster’s Farms chicken since I took this class last month and I don’t plan on it. I learned the differences between Air Chilled Chicken and regular Chicken you see at the butcher. This was great! We headed back to the big demonstration kitchen and began to cook. We made four dishes that evening, italian chicken sausage in Pasta, Chicken, Arugula, Fig jam Paninis, Chicken fingers (i’ve made these three times already) and Mashed potatoes. I had a really fun time and I can’t wait to go back!”
-From user LisaD
Source: http://napalife.forumandco.com/forum.htm
No Comments
|
|
