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Sea Urchin Ice Cream

Often times when working with sea urchin there are pristine tongues and slightly beaten up or irregular shaped pieces. We believe in highlighting the beautiful seafood, sometimes lightly smoked, although the irregular pieces are often an after thought. When we were working with a large supply of sea urchin we started looking into finding ways to highlight the after thoughts. One delicious result is our sea urchin ice cream. It goes wonderfully well with soups as well as the base for raw fish preparations.

Sea Urchin Ice Cream

220g whole milk yogurt

165g Santa Barbara Sea Urchin

130g cream cheese

110g liquid glucose

3.5g salt

1 scraped vanilla bean

Puree all ingredients in a blender. Strain through a fine meshed strainer. Freeze the mix in a paco jet canister and then process or freeze in an ice cream maker.- props to ideas in food

Tecnoemotional cuisine inspires new Abafado Molecular wine from Luis Pato

Tecnoemotional cuisine inspires new Abafado Molecular wine from Luis Pato

nu sanctuary lounge casting now .... be a part of something nu

Ferran Adria made tourism ambassador for Spain

Ferran is to be the face of a new Tourism Campaign

he 1st European Congress of Tourism and Gastronomy was launched at the Spanish embassy in London this week by El Bulli’s chef-patron Ferran Adrià and Spain’s Secretary of State for Tourism, Joan Mesquida. It was also revealed that Adrià has become the Spanish Tourist Board’s new ambassador and the face of Spain’s new tourism advertising campaign. The Congress, which will be supported by the Spanish government, will take place in Madrid on 24 and 25 May, and will feature presentations and demonstrations by some of Europe’s top chefs including Heston Blumenthal, René Redzepi, Michel Bras and Alain Ducasse. The event, Mesquida explained, would examine opportunities for the food and tourism industries as the importance of food tourism in Europe continues to grow. “We’ve chosen London as the first place to announce this because the UK is Spain’s main tourism market,” he said. Over 30 million tourists visited Spain last year and research suggests that for 6 million of them gastronomy was the key reason for going there. “The success of Spanish gastronomy is not going to fade away soon,” added Mezquida.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ferran Adrià revealed further details about his decision to turn El Bulli into a culinary foundation. “Avant-garde cuisine has to change scenery,” he said. “It’s very difficult to remain creative in a restaurant. I want El Bulli to become the most important culinary think-tank in the world.” He added that it would be a truly international organisation. “Although it had a big influence, El Bulli was only for me. Now it will be more open. El Bulli was the seed, but now we’re making it more radical.”
When the foundation opens in 2014, it will have a team of 30, Adrià explained. Twenty members of staff will receive scholarships to work there. “I’m happy to make these changes,” he said, “because we’ll be devoting ourselves to creativity.”

las vegas weekly coverage on nu sanctuary

A new Sanctuary: Bringing spiritual nightlife and dining to Town Square

Xania Woodman

Wed, Jan 13, 2010 (9:07 p.m.)

A new Sanctuary: Bringing spiritual nightlife and dining to Town Square

Is it us or is “sanctuary” already the It word of 2010? Located not far from Barefoot Sanctuary yoga studio, which opened last year inside the Whole Foods at Town Square, and following close on the heels of the newly-opened Reliquary Water Sanctuary and Spa at the Hard Rock, a new sanctuary is poised to debut on the south end of the Strip—or rather a Nu Sanctuary.

When it opens in mid-March, Nu Sanctuary Lounge aims to enchant, enlighten and entertain all who pass through her doors. Positioned at Town Square’s date-night crossroads—that is, where Rave Theater, Yard House, Blue Martini, Louie Bar and Cadillac Ranch collide—Nu Sanctuary holds court with a massive footprint occupying the first floor just opposite Yard House, and possesses the same wrap-around patio as its neighbor.

Beyond the patio (complete with infinity water/fire features, solar shades, patinated copper, mister and heaters, statues, sliding glass walls and weathered wooden shutters) guests will enter via a small bridge over a crystal garden and yet another water feature. From the hostess stand, they can proceed to one half of the dining room, which is heavenly and innocent in its décor, or to the other half, which favors a more diabolical look. The dining room seats 155 with the capacity to hold more than 340. A private dining room—the Nu Supper—takes its name and theme from the famous Da Vinci work depicting the Last Supper. All religions will be represented in the room, which can hold 18 to 24 diners.

In the center of it all stands the Tree of Life, the multi-theological motif representing everything from the interconnectivity of all things to man’s loss of innocence. This massive $200,000 tangle of resin and flickering LED “buds” appears to have sent its powerful roots out from under the central bar through the restaurant’s concrete floors, straining and in some places breaking free. Designer Amit Apel and a team of Hollywood artists, who have worked for Disney and on the Lord of the Rings films, crafted Nu Sanctuary’s Garden of Eden setting around this iconic symbol.

“It will look like it uprooted this whole space,” says managing partner and veteran nightlife luminary Gino LoPinto. Nu Sanctuary is his baby, the first major project he has truly been able to call his own. “All my experiences, every idea I’ve ever held back—this is it, it’s all here,” he says proudly. Nu’s Director of Operations, Zaher Fakih of Almaza Hookah Lounge and Restaurant fame, put together the investor group comprised of five doctors, including Dr. Tim Beckett and his wife, Dr. Naz Wahab.

Another famous local talent is lending his name and expertise to the project. ——has signed on as Nu’s Executive Chef Chef Brian Howard of Kerry’simons  CatHouse kitchen. In a style that has become brians signature, Nu’s menu will feature small and large plates, dishes typical to five regions: the Mediterranean, America, Italy, Asia and the Middle East.

Serving from around noon through dinner time, the kitchen remain open into the wee hours, as late as 6 a.m., to accommodate the nightlife crowd once the supper club has transitioned from prime-time restaurant to a more late-night loungy vibe. On a triangular stage, LoPinto and Nu’s French-Persian resident DJ/producer Pierre Ravan will present DJs sourced from far and wide, and pair them with vocalists, musicians, percussionists and interactive dancers for a feel that is distinctly European. Hookahs will also lend a mystical air.

Dr. Beckett stopped by during the Weekly’s tour of the Nu construction site, still wearing his O.R. scrubs. So why would a group of presumably very busy, successful doctors want to delve into the harrowing, all-consuming world of food and beverage operations? Dr. Beckett cites the increasing costs of running a medical practice and of malpractice insurance and the endless distraction of today’s healthcare issues. “We’re just diversifying,” he says of the five-investor team, accepting a “welcomed risk” as a fallback in case being his doctor gig becomes a break-even proposition someday. Seems they, too, are seeking sanctuary.

Roasted Pig ... Snout to tail baby!!

• 1 (15 pound) suckling pig
• kosher and cracked black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped garlic
• 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh thyme
• salt and fine black pepper
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 2 cups julienne onions
• 6 oranges, halved
• 3 limes, halved
• 3 lemons, halved
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup white wine

Directions

This recipe is a two day procedure. Make sure that your butcher thoroughly cleans the suckling pig. By cleaning inside and out and removes the eyeballs. With a knife make several cuts on the pig's skin so the skin doesn't burst during cooking. Prop the pig's mouth open with a small yam. Season the entire pig with kosher salt and cracked black pepper. Place the pig in a garbage bag and tie the back tightly. Place the pig in the refrigerator and chill for 12 hours. Remove from the refrigerator and rinse thoroughly. In a mixing bowl combine the garlic, parsley, thyme, cumin, bay leaves, onions, juice of the orange, lime, lemon, olive oil and wine. Whisk the marinade until incorporated. Season with salt and pepper. Place the pig back in the bag and pour the marinade over the pig. Tie the back tightly and place back in the refrigerator. Turn the pig every three hours. Refrigerate the pig for 12 hours. Remove the pig from the refrigerator and out of the bag, reserve the marinade. Stuff the cavity with the stuffing. Using a kitchen needle and thread, tie up the cavity. Tie the front legs and then back legs. Cover the tail with aluminum foil. Place the pig on a large roasting pan and pour the reserved marinade over the pig. Place the pig in the oven. Roast the pig in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes per pound, about 5 hours, basting and turning the pig every hour. For unstuffed pig, roast at 350 degrees for 15 minutes per pound. Internal temperature should be about 155 to 160 degrees for both methods. Remove the pig from the oven and allow the pig to rest for about 30 minutes before slicing.

calling all home cooks......

For all you stove monkeys who want to experiment with sous vide cooking in your home and cant afford the expensive immersion circulator and vacuum packing machine that goes along with the process. for half the price you can get this unit thats the size of a bread maker and fits on your counter top. you can also buy a food saver or glad handy vac at your local grocery store to attempt some fun cooking under pressure. check out sousvidesupreme.com for more info and for recipes using sous vide techniques contact me. brian@innovativechefs.com  or get Thomas kellers book under Pressure on amazon. com for 27.95 .. you to can cook like an award winning chef and win over any guest you bring in to your home.

TIME TO MAKE THE DONUTS !!

recently working on a new shared plate item i decided to go with savory donuts.. using a deep fried brioche dough stuffed with beef short ribs that were sous vide for 48 hours and teased. i replaced the cinnamon and sugar with fine salt and smoked black pepper. to compliment the dish i served a warm anson mills yelllow corn grits and corriander tomato stew and for slight contrast a garnish of pickled mango.. tasty treats a must try for your own kitchen. you can stuff them with almost anything and if your looking to try this recipe feel free to contact me ..

snout to tail at its best

today my girlfriend and i had the pleasure of having brunch at a local boston hot spot "craigie on main" where chef tony maws does a great job bringing farm to table, snout to tail cooking together in a delightful way. his use of  local farm ingredients and great sourced product made me happy to be spending my morning drooling over the thought of,pigs heart, claves brain and all of the other nasty bits so often over looked in this country.
we had a great brunch, house brined corned beef tongue, with slow poached local farm egg and greatly executed anson mills white grits with braised kale and bacon. delectable sides such as potato galette and grilled pork belly.
 not to mention the staff was very warm and inviting, they had mentioned tonight is theyre one year anniversary and are offering a "Best of" menu, unfortunatly no room for a six top or we definitly  would have gone back for dinner... i will have to long await my next trip to boston, happy anniversary to the staff of craigie on main

re inventing steak tartare..

Recently i have added steak tartare back on to our menu in the traditional but non traditional way. steak tartare is one of those dishes that people either love it or, they dont even try to like it! my thought was to serve it in a manner that was approachable to all guests. using modern techniques we have upgraded some of the classic elements such as worchestshire, in the form of a thin fettucini per se, avacado using versa whip to make a fluffy like mousse, red onion served in a tomato salasa, caper and jalapeno chips, black truffle, parmesan snow, fried artichoke hearts and waygu strip and tenderloin. and of course warm brioche toast. so classic french meets modern mexican american flavors that everyone loves and knows -- its like eating a tartrare of carne asada taco! come and try it. you be the judge

Check This out.........

be aware of the aromatics in the dining room !!!

i was lucky enough to have chris from mikuni wild harvest drop by yesterday with a monster batch of urbani white truffles from piedmont italy .. the aroma took over my kitchen and persauded me very easily to spend the money and pick some up. although they are a pricey note to pay between 3.80 and 4.50 a gram depending on the size(notice the 453gram beast in the picture) they are well worth the price!!!  unfortunatly i could not afford that "grande" of a truffle so i opted for a smaller one, they will be featured on the menu this weekend.. thanks mikuni.

2009 fresh michigan chestnut season has begun

 Chestnut groves can once again be found throughout the Midwest. Chestnut Growers Inc.(CGI) www.chestnutgrowersinc.com/ is a chestnut growers cooperative of Michigan chestnut farmers who grow, harvest, process and peel their own chestnuts.American-grown chestnuts are a little smaller in size than their European family  members but much fresher and sweeter in flavor.
on our recent fall menu at  Cathouse  we added a roasted young chicken with chanterelle mushrooms, smoked bacon and roasted michigan chestnut tart. we are serving the chestnusts in two preperations. roasted
and cooked sous vide, and also in a puree with sweet confit of garlic. you dont want to miss this.. for recipes contact me at :brian@innovativechefs.com

Anthony Bourdain's Alternate Universe

This should be interesting! I myself a huge fan of Anthony Bourdain is curious to see if too much time on t.v. will change the bad habits and foul mouth of our favorite chef/ tv host .... 

From the creators of No Reservations and the mind of world traveler, chef and best-selling author Anthony Bourdain comes a new animated web series -- Anthony Bourdain's Alternate Universe.

In this fun, new 6-part web series, Tony invites the audience into his twisted imagination, mocking himself and others along the way.

The web series, coming in 2010, promises to deliver some humorous and gritty entertainment. For more, check out Tony’s Blog where the creator himself sheds some light on his Alternate Universe.

Watch a sneak peek of Alternate Universe,

when life deals you lemons, make foie gras - courtesy of jauque bluett

So it’s been some time since my last food entry, but it’s been an eventful month. I’ve found myself in the bowels of Austin, the lower intestine of Las Vegas, and rarely in the comfort of my own home. In the meantime, I’ve lost three year’s worth of music due to a hard drive malfunction and I’m now really, really engaged, ring and all.
That said, I’m going to lay down all my best finds over the last few weeks and hope it all makes sense in the morning:
Caveat: all the best food finds I had in Vegas are due to the extreme kindness of Chef Brian Howard of Bouchon (Thomas Keller’s Vegas venture, he’s the only American to hold two joints in this great country that both wield three Michelin stars simultaneously), who I met by chance at B&B Ristorante while I was eating and getting drunk at the bar with some co-workers.
He must have thought I was alright enough, or at least thought I was serious enough about finding something special, he gave me some earnest recommendations: the grilled octopus and the beef cheek ravioli. Both of which were excellent. The grilled octopus was unlike any octopus I’d ever had, not even slightly rubbery (going against everything I’ve ever known about octopus, this was fresh as hell, which was surprising to me coming from a coastal city to a gambling oasis, I was expecting the usual buffet fare), a bit crusty and wonderfully seasoned on the outside. With my nicotine-tinged palate, I’d have to say this was some sort of pseudo-creole seasoning, it had this nice paprika-thyme based redness. The best thing about the dish was the simplicity of the fresh main ingredient and the nice supporting cast of fresh seasoning. This isn’t the powdered shit in your mom’s kitchen, someone actually tasted this shit and made sure it was fresh and good enough for the leading actor, our greco-octo friend.
The beef cheek ravioli almost tasted like organ meat, it was so rich and flavorful. The ravioli pasta was perfectly al dente with a nice, hard cheese melting into it, probably a good stinky parmesan. Not that powdered shit I’m used to, this was nice and oily, hard and cold, beautifully bitter against the savory innards of the ravioli. Just to add here, it was me and two co-workers at the bar getting blistered on the cheapest wine we could get away with ordering in such a place, the other dishes we were passing around were the most retardedly tender lamb chops I’d ever tasted (I gnawed the bones and felt as if I was going to crawl under the porch like a dog ready to die).
The last was a dish I thought was going to be predictable and stupid, something called a “lobster spaghetti”. The only lobster I’d ever had was at Red Lobster twice, once as a drinking grown-up, once as a tender teen, both times I thought, “why am I paying for the pleasure of tasting something that has the texture of a condom that tastes like butter and garlic?” I mean, I love buttah and garlic, but geez… anyway, this was the first time I’d ever tasted capital L Lobster, and it was transcendent. The other wonderful dish was brussel sprouts cooked in an in-house pancetta. Here’s a tip: any vegetable you hated as a child, roast it, toss it in some sort of fatty pork meat (pancetta, lardons, prosciutto, et. al.), and then come see me, see if you don’t like it. Seriously, you don’t love kale? Throw some bacon on that bitch, G.
So I mentioned earlier that I was fortunate enough to meet Chef Brian, and he made my trip to Vegas by personally arranging a night at Bouchon for me and my lady. Here’s a layout of our night’s offerings (sorry Chef if I bastardize them with my crappy descriptions), with descriptions to follow:
1.) Freshly toasted pistachios with a crusty loaf of bread (you might say cibatta or “artisan” bread if you were to bastardize the form, my girl aptly called it “scorpion bread”). In any case, it was perfectly crusty, extraordinarily airy, absolutely popping with air bubbles upon breaking each loaf, it was a waiter’s worst nightmare, whose job it is to crust the workmanlike butcher’s paper tablecloth every time he sees a fleck of crust.
2.) Cold, COLD! moules on ice, some sort of smaller, more delicate variety than I’m used to in H-town. Served with a delicate dijon mustard, it was the kind of taste that you never wanted to swallow, it was beautifully subtle and exquisite. The transition from the bread and fatty euro butter to the mussles, good Lord. Wonderful. Put me on life support and float me down the water log ride in Euro Disney and call it done.
3.) Butternut Squash soup, with julienned apple (gala?) and chopped chive garnish. Usually, something like squash soup in those shit hippy joints either have the consistency of baby food or stringy, undercooked sea-debris. I felt weird getting all fanboy about the chives, but they really tasted more chive-y than any I’d ever had before. The perfectly executed vegetable stock, I believe was the source of this texture, and I’m sneakily suspicious that there was some chicken stock in this mixture, but I think I’m wrong because these mothers are such brilliant, purist perfectionists, they can even pull off a pure veggie dish without plying a guy like me with a marrow-based stock.
4.) Salad Maraichere(?) with blood orange, some delicate form of mandarin orange, and duck foie gras. I’m guessing here, because once I tasted the foie gras, my mind left the shuttle location and wandered off into the desert. Seriously, it was the most beautiful taste of food I’d ever had to that point. If you’ve ever had really good butter and really good gelato, this is some sort of Faustian synthesis. To those of you who are fans of the illegal, there’s a reason our government is trying to do the same to this, it’s so good it could destroy a society. Cruelty aside, this is so, so worth it. Like anything bad is, I mean, if someone needed to make me listen to Springsteen’s “My Hometown” on repeat for sixteen years and then slice me into tiny succulent morsels, I think that’s justifiable on both ends of the deal.
5.) Continuing the chain of eating cruel baby versions of things, I ordered the veal sweetbreads (that’s k-k-k-kidney, folks) seared and covered in bacon, in a miniature roasting pan full of new potatoes, a whole mess of beautiful mushrooms (hedgehog, oyster, etc.), a beautiful veal stock glaze, some pearl onions, and a display of all other things baby in vegetable form. It was so rich it seriously made me gag with how amazingly flavorful it was, at this point I basically began weeping like a small child, seeing color, having fever dreams, which lasted all night. Seriously, I felt like I’d taken really, really strong hallucinogenics, and that I was going to die very, very soon. Now I know why rich people do this. I felt like going on a crying jag.
6.) Just when I thought I was going to crawl under the table and die, our guy brought us a trio of desserts: a pot de creme, which was flavored with espresso, it killed. This badass baker accompanied the creme with what we call biscochitos down in NM, aka cinammon infused sugar/butter cookies to those of you elsewhere. The second dessert was a trio of tiny, beautiful lava cakes, which tasted like something out of baby Jesus’s easy-bake oven, each topped by a different flavor of home-made ice cream: pistachio, vanilla (real bean, bitches), and chocolate (near O.D.). Last of all was a cheese I was too insane-o to remember, but it was served with a reprisal of blood oranges, a beautiful flashback, and some of those beautiful gala-esque apple slices, arranged in a statuesque formation, a recherches geisha’s fan, atop a bed of sticky and lovely tasting honeycomb. I felt like doing coke off of Sartre’s ass at this point.

not safe for work... disgusting , but filmed in my home town

this is a must for any book shelf

“David Chang is magical–that’s why it’s so difficult to explain what he does. I can only tell you that you need to experience his cooking; it will move you deeply. He is a chef of prodigious talent–and also a great guy.”
—Ferran Adrià

“The breathless hype is true. His food is as good and as exciting as everyone says it is. David Chang has opened up a new direction in dining and cooking. With his troika of Momofukus, he changed the whole game. Scary-smart, funny, and ambitious, the wildly creative Chang is the guy all chefs have got to measure themselves by these days.”
—Anthony Bourdain

“As a food professional I am always on the look out for the new, the different, and the delicious. It was with great pleasure that one day I tasted David Chang’s pork buns at Momofuku. Since then, I have sampled almost all of his delectable creations and I am so pleased that I finally have a book of recipes that will allow me to try to emulate them at home.”
—Martha Stewart

HOT DOUGS

On my recent trip to Chicago, i searched out the best hot dog and sausage in the city. About 20 minutes from the downtown area you'll find Hot Doug's.

3324 North California, Chicago, IL 60618 Phone: (773) 279-9550

some of the best sausages ive ever tasted,  this is not your average dirty water hot dog. this is the best chicago has to offer ... duck sausage with foie gras, sauternes, truffle aioli and sel gris... white wine rabbit with whole grain mustard and tripple cream brie and of course The Dog, your classic chicago dog........ the possibilities are endless and dont forget the duck fat french fries, only on saturday though. plan on waiting outside inline for 30 minutes, but trust me as they say " there are no two finer words in the english language than encased meats"