Event Horizon

Yes, the name of a super creepy, scratch that, super terrible movie but also a great descriptor for things to come.  Epically huge things like watches with tv remotes built in and those ever useful pants with the buttons down the sides so you can rip them off in a mad dash without destruction, like a costumed superhero on a budget.  I foresee a series of Event Horizons like ripples on a calm sea.  Food horizons and life horizons.  One of us has went to the national learned meca of things culinary,  one of us has done the ultimate grace to this earth by bringing another beautiful life into being, and lastly, one of us has stepped out of the heat for a spell.  Lots of change since last I saw new words and ideas here.  Hopefully there will be more soon.  Or even an event horizon and this that was will be past and something new will ripple out.  I don't think we are done though.  Not even close......

The Art of Breakfast

The Art of Breakfast is the pride of Omni hotels. We were given the task of recreating it and providing a variety of food preparations and interesting presentations. This is still a work in progress, but I'll continue to track our progress.

Possible new hors d' huevres

Grilled asparagus and Serrano ham, lemon aioli and garlic chip

Deconstructed devilled quail egg with tomato tartar and rye crustini

Black bean and banana puree with queso fresco and plantain chips

crispy pork belly with sweet onion panna cotta and fried apples

Chilled lobster "snow cone" with tomato caviar

Pickled green tomato, watermelon and goat cheese skewer

Sake poached wianno oyster with crispy bacon and horseradish foam

Blue prawn with avocado and habenero confit

Coco Lopez crab salad with vanilla scented mango in a sesame cup

Ahi poke tuna with seaweed salad and watermelon radish

Salt Cod Espuma Demo by Chef Paul Liebrandt of Corton for iSi North Amer...

Things I'm proud of

My wife earned VIP parking at publix by bearing my second child

We're finally taking the steps of improving the food quality and presentation in my department, at the same time playing a bigger role in the resort by becoming an organized commissary as well


Garde manger is almost fully staffed and running like a well oiled machine. We're taking on more projects like composting, participating in the local farmers market and making our own pepperoni for the resort.

We've added more talent to our staff. April Tanner started with us about a month ago. She can carve pretty much any picture you give her into a melon without skipping a beat.

As for everything else, there's a lot of exciting things coming up for foodbros. Stay tuned.

Catching Up and Getting Back to Basics

Time catch up and get back to basics....stripped down the blog to just the bare essentials. Food is the star again. Actually had some picture issues with this post so this is the second time I have posted it. Long story short is that its been a crazy summer so far and work has been pretty taxing as of late. But now time for a breather and taking a step back to break down and learn. Next Foodbros. dinner is pretty much all set for the August 29th, until then I'll get more active posting food and more interesting stuff like farmers market pics......

Hawaiian Blue Prawns

Surf and Turf Tartar

Lobster and Apples

Tacos on the horizon

On July 4th, I introduced my dream job to Jacksonville beach.  Well, at least the beginning of that dream.  A great friend offered her driveway to act as my front and back of house.  With Becca as the FOH and me slinging tacos and papusas, we made a dream come to life.  Check out more pics and words to come at sabrosajax.blogspot.com

Food Bros. Menu #1

Sorry to take so long to post this.  It was great to finally cook with Chris and Brennan.  I was not really happy with my courses.  I guess I could summerize it as a mild to medium identity crisis.  My approach was jumbled which came across in my cooking, plating, and lack of adaptability.  But I learned a lot, I think I finally found my voice, and I was humbled by the inspired beauty I saw in the dishes of my food bros.

I am left eager to cook again. 

FoodBros. Menu #1

Sunday June 12th 2011

Hors D’oeuvres

fried chicken liver dumpling, soy marinated coriander seed, toasted anise

foie gras, Rainier cherry gastrique

little neck clam and black bass ceviche, peach , roasted poblano

New England clam chowder “on the half shell,” smoked tomato

1st Course

baby octopus, grilled watermelon, watermelon cocktail, clove sprout

2nd Course

spaghetti all’amatriciana

guanciale mousse ravioli, flash seared black bass, basil flower

3rd Course

slow cooked oxtail, white cheddar arepas, bing cherry BBQ, rosemary smoke

4th Course

steamed sworfish, crispy chicken skin, wilted sorrel, hot pepper vinegar

5th Course

london broil, brussel sprout, brown butter potato silk

6th Course

Singapore chilli crab

prawn, dungeness crab, chilled rice stick

7th Course

blueberry cobbler

8th Course

parsnip cheesecake, rhubarb, pistachio butter

9th Course

sopaipilla bread pudding, tres leches, habanero in multiple disguises

Foodbros. 12 course dinner....

Family and Friends, people who support us,......that's what this dinner was all about. For the most part at least, the other part was Brennan, Mike and I finally getting together and throwing down.....this is the first of many. For now I'm just gonna post the pics(the ones that fit at least, there are more but I can't figure out how to fit them on the page) and if Brennan and Mike want to drop some notes about the food even better......special thanks Sarah Deshaw and her excellent photography, we were truly impressed.......you can check out the rest of the photo's here at one of Sarah's Websites http://www.sarahdeshaw.smugmug.com/

Things that are cool....

In Atlanta I found many things cool.  I found that I was an uncle again.  I got to hold a beautiful little girl, long overdo.  She is my family, she is perfect, and I love her and her mom and dad lots. 

I found an appreciation for food and local sustainability that was refreshing. 

I found that I love my wife more and more as the years and time go.

I also found that the Decalb farmer's market is a great place, really and truly, when you have no game plan and nothing other than an hour to kill and great music to wander to.

  I went to Atlanta with a brain bag of ideas for dinner because I knew and hoped I would be asked to cook by my food crazy brother.  This posed a fantastic and exciting challenge.  My brother's wife does not eat meat and could not eat dairy due to a possible dairy allergy in my baby niece.  I was forced outside of my comfort zone into seafood and what an adventure.  Pictures are not allowed in the Decalb Farmer's market but the fish market is great.  I wandered for quite a while.  I settled on a 3 lb. Branzini. I found galangal, snow pea tops, and peace.

1st course was a Pho style broth with seared Branzini, Shanghai bok choy, snow pea tops, and since there were no noodles in sight, unripe peach julienned.

2nd was farro creamed with avacado, chipotle mole, pico de gallo, and of course branzini

Great fun, hopefully food bros will be cooking together at a date, time, and place TBA

Finally some woolly pig...

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Study of Orange

This is one of our new standard amenities at the Plantation. We call it the "Study of Orange"

Orange and Sweet Potato Panna Cotta with Blood orange "Caviar"

Grapefruit soda with yuzu cream

Tartar of Honeybell orange, clemetine, grapefruit and tangerine with Serano ham

Blood Orange and fennel tart

Candied orange peel

By the way Mike, I remember when there was talk of chiduckey's and inside out grilled cheeses with tomato bisque. We should revisit that thought. I'm already getting ideas.

Eye candy...

Lots of pictures.  The catering went well.  Mustards, pickles, saurkraut, and sausages were great.  The other pictures are of cooking on coals while cabining for my bday, and my bucket garden.  Roma tomatoes, cayenne, jalapeno, habanero, arbol, cilantro, basil, onions, and hopefully garlic.  

Finally, after many, many weeks, and much deliberation, we are about to have a dinner as FoodBros.  We have a date but no theme or rules.  We'll see.   In any event, in 2 weeks I get a chance to cook alongside the Pickren brothers in mild competiton.  More soon....

Pork Belly Day 3

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Pork Belly and Black Garlic, Day 2

Out of the brine and now cured with a Black Garlic Rub...

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Small pleasures.....

Sonic commercials and a request from a wise one has had me wandering the boundaries of what a hot dog could be.  Call me silly but if every topping u can imagine was produced not only from scratch but from a higher level of respect than things canned, where is the end?  So far I have sourkraut, 2 mustards, coleslaw, chili, easy cheesy sauce, relish, pickled banana peppers and jalapenos, peppers and onions, and then bypassing the ketchup.  A previous attempt on the fly at work weeks back leaves me to nod fondly to Heinz and let them have their moment.  Sweet and hot Italian sausage, kettle chips, yukon fries, corn dogs, and arepas......gotta throw in something Mexican.  One more day of prep....after a little shrimp fest!

"You have to work to get better...It doesn't just happen"

.......my brother humbly said at our chef's meeting today. The words stuck with me throughout the day. Although it's human nature to want to make things easier on yourself, choose a tv show or a video game instead of a cook book after a 12+ hour day. Anything that doesn't take anymore brain energy. I've found that you have to constently recommit yourself to this business to avoid slipping into the complacent "going through the motions" phase. It's not always easy or fun at times, but a great chef once told me that what you spend all your money and time on is what you eventually get really good at. It's time for me to recommit myself to the necessary homework this business demands to avoid stepping sideways for too long. It helps when your surrounded by people who share the same goals of moving forward. Sometimes you just have to hear said from someone else. Thanks for saying it Chris. And in case I haven't said it yet, I'm glad your back.

Live and let live............

So I am finally doing something cool again.  Catering a birthday for my best boss'ss 3 year old son Carter.  I wanted to make my own hot dogs.  They sucked.  No self respecting 3 year will eat a dry as dirt, wrinkly, grey member that was a result of my 1st test.  Hopefully I can kill it on the condiments..............luv u people and bye bye

Changing the Way We Think

I have been salivating uncontrollably over the Modernist Cuisine Series. In a big picture sense, I feel that chefs should constantly try to manipulate the way we think about food. This series illustrates this in a very real time vision. Adding, Subtracting.....adding by subtracting....nothing is ever set in stone. If you look at roasting a red pepper and say, "this is how its done and there is nothing else to discuss" then I'm sorry but I cant work with you my friend. Sure there are rights, wrongs, and in-betweens but one should always allow new thoughts to enter the arena of thought. I remember years ago when I was first asked to roast a red pepper, in all honesty, I didn't even like to eat peppers much less care about the subtleties of cooking them. Brennan was there and I thought I was going to just throwing some chopped peppers in the oven and roasting them that way, but to my everlasting shock I watched Brennan drop a pepper right into the inferno of a lit stove top burner. As I watched the skin blacken I think I had an awakening of sorts, the whole pepper was completely black with shades of carbon gray. "What next?" I asked, the answer was putting said peppers in a bowl and covering it with plastic wrap to complete this cooking process. That was a real big step forward from working at Hooter's(that's right, I was a Hooter's Master Chef). Fast Forward a couple of years later...... I'm reading Rick Bayless, I've had a couple of hard years growing as a chef and I have just started to really understand this world we live in. Skimming through one of his recipes and read over him describing how to roast a pepper, the whole procedure was more involved but the thing that struck me the most is that he suggested covering the pepper with a kitchen towel instead of plastic wrap......? He claimed that plastic wrap would almost certainly overcook the pepper and you know what.......its a bonafide fact. This epiphany only comes from someone who truly understands that you are never done learning...... I know that I dont have it all figured out yet, but I wont stop the reinventing myself to get there....gotta scratch up the coin to to get these six volumes, if you didnt know the price tag is around 500 clams.....yikes!

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