Milk Chocolate Elderflower, Cocoa, Sour Cream

Milk chocolate pudding, dark chocolate sponge, elderflower in forms, gooseberry and sour cream ice cream. Mmmmmmmmm

Peekytoe Horseradish, Passion fruit, Soy

I like really bold flavors, not for every course, not even every bite, but sometimes when used appropriately, overly sweet or overly salty or overly acidic flavors can be really great.

Beet Carpaccio, Traditional Flavors

This summer we did a watermelon course that was frozen and defrosted 3 times. I used that idea when thinking about this course. The beets are salt roasted for 2 hours and then frozen and defrosted 3 times. The freezer usually doesn't get any colder than -10 so it takes the beets a long time to freeze, which is important. At this temperature ice crystals form and expand and break down the cells inside the beets. Texturally the beets are really amazing. They feel like they would be soft enough to just fall apart to the touch, but surprisingly they have a great bite to them.

The rest of the flavors everyone would expect from carpaccio: capers, chives, pickled and burnt onions, manchego cheese, puffed manchego cheese, cassis, almonds, beet chips, baby cress. Well, they started traditional anyway.

Lobster Puffed, Chilled, Sudachi

This one bite course is before the larger version. Tapioca starch, lobster, and lobster glace are processed, rolled thin, steamed, dehydrated, and fried. On top is chopped lobster mixed with vanilla chive aioli and sudachi gel.

Lobster Shellfish, Curry, Celery

Chestnut Apple Cider, Cauliflower, Praline

White Truffles from Umbria

Skate Matsutake, Pinenut, Rosemary

It makes sense. The association of ingredients that are closely related or grow together is a good place to start when creating. We started with the matsutake or Japanese pine mushroom. The rest was easy, pinenut puree, heavily roasted pinenuts, and rosemary intended to be inhaled by the diner to incorporate the aroma without the bitter, overpowering flavor.

Pork Cucumber, Bok Choi, Miso

SRF pork shoulder is brined for 2 days and cooked for 18 hours. After its cooked, this pig offers no resistance and practically melts like gelatin. Coconut is blended and set with agar. Before the gelee is set, it is put in a cryovac machine to remove the air to give it a much denser texture, a lot like tofu. The coconut gelee actually has more bite than the pork. Cucumber kimchee offers a sour flavor that I thought was important in this dish. The broth is a spicy, briny, sweet and salty, gingery mass that is the reason for the dish. Actually, if it wasnt for young chef William's "mistake", this dish wouldnt be on the menu.

Coconut Blueberry, Habanero, Acid Orange

Tuna Kiwi, Soy, Black Garlic

Wagyu Broccoli, Cheddar, Mustard

Scallop Matsutake, Almond, Curry

I have officially called an end to the sanchez project. Lautrec as it was since my first dinner service has changed. I was concerned that we would fail, that I would fail, but over the last month I have been proven wrong. In the last week I have realized that I dont have to work in survival mode anymore. Im not afraid to put a new dish on the menu, to experiment, to hand out responsibility or make prep harder. The team I have now is great. Everyone steps up, fills in, and eventually you find yourself stronger than before.

A week ago today

I found myself standing in the same kitchen as so many chefs in the past. It wasn't an impressive kitchen. Kinda small, have to duck under the industrial hoods put in a personal home, covered in a wall papered map of the planet, normally your first reaction wouldn't be amazement, but this was no normal kitchen, I was standing in the kitchen at the James Beard House.

I would be wrong not to mention what Nemacolin did for this trip. Besides keeping me 90% happy (AHEM...new kitchen), Lautrec was closed for 4 days so the entire culinary team and my manager Jennifer could go. Also our GM, executive chef, f&b director, wine guy came to show their support. Financially, Nemacolin paid for this trip and we are thankful.

If you have followed this blog at all you know by now that in April Wendi Royal contacted me about cooking a dinner at the house, Thursday it happened. What an unbelievable experience. To think of ALL the chefs who have cooked in that space before me and now I'm actually "doing a dinner at the Beard House", for a moment it was slightly overwhelming, in a good way.

And then dinner service started and all the jitters turned into adrenaline. I know service went well because I didn't know any of my cooks were there. They worked in this small space firing 65 of each course at the same time as if they did it everyday. It was a pretty intense 2 hours. 390 plates, smashing my head off of the hood not once but twice (i actually saw stars), plus canapes, organizing 65 plates on a counter that only holds about 55, the water in the thermal circulator dropping 2.7 degrees and not recovering fast enough to cook the fish, "the kid" coming around the corner telling me the fennel puree just broke, the mixer being turned off instead of turned up so my tomato foam wasn't whipped.....then came the hard part, Wendi with a microphone.

"Somebody get me a drink!"

It wasn't as bad as I thought. Standing in the center of 65 people who live in NYC with a microphone in hand answering questions trying not to sound like an idiot isn't necessarily my comfort zone. Everyone laughed, and listened and surprisingly I lived to talk about it.

I must have done something right, we got an open invitation to come back anytime from the president of the foundation, who was in attendance, and I think everyone truly enjoyed our food. Sublime.

These three sets of words sound perfect to me:

James Beard

New York City

First week of May

Keep your fingers crossed!

Elysian Fields Lamb Carrot, Whipped Honey, Raisins

Keith Martin is one of the few purveyors we as chef might be fortunate enough to work with. Because of his strict attention to detail and love for what he does, his lamb is considered to be some of the best in the country. If you haven't read it, there is a great story about Keith in TFL cookbook (which I read at least 2 dozen times). I am fortunate that Lautrec is only 45 minutes from the farm and have had the pleasure to shake Keith's hand and thank him for his hard work in person. Its not every day we get to meet the Shepard's of the products we use, but when you see the same passion in the eyes of the man who raised your food, it put a new perspective on what my responsibility to this lamb really is.

Chef Dan Mungeer

D walked out the back door of Lautrec today for the last time. He is off to get happy. The stress of this job wears on different people different ways. Its tough, trying to live up to an unattainable expectation, the belief that somewhere perfection exists. I can only be a good friend now. I wont be there to guide and to push. He was the best cook Ive ever worked with and one of the best friends Ive ever had. Lautrec will miss you Chef Dan. Good luck and kick some ass.

Corn in Eight Forms

Corn Custard, Corn Husk Gelee, Sous Vide Corn Bread

Truffle Popcorn, Corn Chips,Freeze Dried Corn, Corn Shoots

Frosted Flakes Milk(under the custard)

Foie Gras Peach, Blueberry, Buttermilk

Dark Chocolate Lime, Raspberry, Mint

the light box

This is the first picture taken in my new light box. A $10 light, 3 sheets of poster board, a free box and some glue. Presto!! Much crisper photography.

Watermelon Imitating Tuna

Lesson Learned

Two weeks before my most recent interview Luke called me and asked if he could give my number to a guy who used to work at Browne that moved on and now writes for a magazine. I obliged.

 I had talked to Jaime a couple of times before, when he worked as a fishmonger. I would say that for the most part my personality is pretty quick witted and sarcastically funny and since he was used to talking to chefs, we hit it off like old friends. I suppose the statements were my fault, after all I said what was written, and probably worse. However, it didn't come across in the light-hearted manner in which it was said. We talked for almost and hour and at one point I almost pissed myself laughing, and I'm pretty sure he did too. 

Im not mad about the article, and knowing me as well as I do, I understand how some of my statements came across as being harsh. It didn't bother me till my dad called me and said "you sounded like an ass". I guess looking in from the outside I can see how that might be. So for anyone who read the article and may have though "what an arrogant jerk-off", i apologize.  

Friendly conversation or not, if you are interviewing with anyone, be professional. Lesson learned.

https://twitter.com/daveracicot

follow my crazy talk on twitter. ill see how long this lasts, i tend to get bored really easily...now if i can just figure out how this works

King Crab passion fruit, coconut, kabosu

butter foam(not shown)

candied cilantro

coconut custard

freeze dried coconut

toasted coconut

                                                      braised mustard

                                                      kombu

                                                      kabosu gel

                                                    green goddess 

                                                    passion fruit custard

these flavors together really make me happy. sometimes if you're lucky when you bite into something you smile involuntarily.

                                                 

Check out the new Nemacolin web site

http://www.nemacolin.com

if you click on "Experience" it will link you to an interactive blog that myself and the Lautrec team will be posting on. Although i cant promise the content just yet, i can promise it will be fun to read, (some of my cooks may be crazy) and ideally let you into our kitchen a little more.

Alice in Wonderland

...the Matix...the fork in the road...the choice that you are asked to make with no idea of what the choice will bring or why you are being asked to choose. 

How can I use this feeling of uncertainty and childish curiosity to benefit the dining experience? 

Your server delivers a sealed envelope with your name on it. Inside the envelope are two cards, each a different color. There is nothing written on the card, and no explanation is given as to why you are being asked to pick a card. So you choose one, most likely based on which color you like best, or the one your companion didn't choose. Red or Blue, that's all. 

The outcome of the choice comes in the form of a savory course or a sweet course. One bite so there isn't an opportunity to share. You eat it in an act of selfishness knowing your dining companion has something that tastes different. It makes you talk about what each of you have just tasted, try to describe it to each other. It makes eating more fun, more interactive, it adds another element to the performance. It makes you smile. Its the one choice or bit of control you have in the grand tasting menu. You "ordered" a specific food without knowing that you were being asked to.

We have been talking about this for at least a month now. Its about time I make it happen.

there are 3 months out of the year when i have other hobbies...may is one of them, the others are october and the first 2 weeks of november. thats my little dudey behind me. and if youre asking yourself "what does this have to do with food"...where do you think turkey comes from?

Wagyu(bulgogi)fermented black garlic, soy, kiwi, argan

i stole this directly from a friend, well the combination of flavors anyway....mine looks better

Peas lavender, honey, passionfruit

pea puree, fresh peas, green and gold pea shoots, pea blossoms, passionfruit gelee, whipped honey, honey sphere, freeze dried honey, lavender gel, lavender flowers, vanilla cream, malted shortbread

when i first completed my list of components, i thought this dish would be in the first 3rd of the grand tasting menu. just like every other dish, it starts with a clipboard with a blank piece of paper(cause the lined paper messes with my ocd a little), a blue bic pen, and the dinner menu hung on the wall to my back where i prep in the kitchen. from the "final" list, because no dish is ever really final, i began to write the recipes that we would test. i took a step back from the clipboard and i hit me that for a couple of reasons this would make perfect sense being in the bottom 3rd, specifically after the last savory course. most of us think of peas in a savory application, so mentally it isn't what the guests will expect. and second it offered a great bridge or transition between savory and sweet. 

I think he scared the meat off that fish

62lb line hooked halibut from browne trading

HUH! Ironically, thats the tool box.....get it.....TOOL box

This past month has been pretty busy for myself and the Lautrec team. I didn't take any notes this month so ill do my best to recap...where to start?

Lets see, one night right before dinner service I got a phone call from the James Beard House. The lady on the other line, Wendi Royal, asked me if I would like to come to the house and do a dinner. Would I ever!!!! So I spent a week laboring over a late summer menu. Ive never been the type of chef to just sit down and write a menu. New dishes aren't always easy to come by, especially when you are trying to be creative, and for me its sometimes painful. Anyway, we are super excited and incredibly honored to be given this opportunity. In case you are interested, dinner is August 13, come check us out. 

Ive been trying to talk my bosses into allowing us to move forward with a "tasting menu only" format. Finally they have agreed. So April 2nd we introduced it. We have always had 2 tasting menus, but before we had a prix fix menu also. Now we offer a 7, 9 and Grand (16 to 20)tasting menu. All of the menus have wine pairings, as you would expect, and so far 75% of our guests are enjoying pairing with their food now. This was a really big step forward for us and I truly believe all of our guests are and will continue to reap the benefits of giving us a little more control. So far it working great and I cant see any reason why it wont continue this way. 

Both our Mobil 5 star and AAA 5 diamond plaques got hung in the dining room. It looks great. I look at them everyday and imagine what the heartbreak of having them taken from us would bring, its truly motivational, and surprisingly humbling. I know Lautrec is an amazing restaurant, but to think my restaurant has the same awards as some of the chefs who i still look up to as gods in the industry, its hard for me to imagine. Until the day comes that "Lautrec" and "The French Laundry" or "Alinea" are muttered in the same sentence, I wont feel accomplished. Looks like Ive got some work ahead of me!!

This past Monday I went to Philly, Valley Forge to be exact, for the PA Tourism and Lodging Awards. Lets start over, a couple months ago 1/2 of the food and beverage department "tried" to sneak around and write nice letters about me to submit to this association. No one really said anything to me about it, but i think of myself as being fairly perceptive, moderately intelligent, and having great common sense so its not really easy to pull on over on me. Anyway, a month later I found out I was a finalist, and this week found me in Philly for the awards (and a large amount of bourbon, thanks Jack). Whatever everyone wrote must have work, and most certainly were stretchings of the truth, because I won 2009 department manager of the year. Very cool for me, and great for NWLR. It makes me proud to be able to bring positive news and press to the resort and restaurant. 

Yesterday was the first of two new menu tastings in another restaurant that I am accountable for(see....and you just thought I only ran Lautrec). We are changing the menu for the season and to make it a little more casual and rustic. Italian food, my favorite. I could eat pasta and gravy everyday of the week. Anyway, this has taken a great deal of my month. Menu, recipes, service guide, allergy information, food cost, blah, blah blah. 

But its almost May! As far as I know there wont be anything this month to distract me, except for myself. Ideally I will be able to find my creative groove and get back into my first love. Its almost summer already and I'm gonna need a lot of new dishes if I intend to stay ahead of the curve. So here's to April, you have been a productive month, but I'm ready for you to end.

finally i have two thermal circulators and the capacity to sous vide foods at different temperatures. this is my first white asparagus cooked sous vide....WOW! i feel like ive been cheated my entire life...like every time ive eaten asparagus prior to today i was stolen from or lied to. blanching asparagus in water was, for the most part, how every aspiring young chef learned to cook the vegetable. i would imagine this is because thats what chefs had done for years and it was just passed down from generations. the end result was palatable asparagus and pot of intensely flavored asparagus water. but this generation has science. like it or leave it, for better of worse, science and chemistry play a huge part in cooking. i understand like hydrophylic properties of asparagus because of chemistry, meaning its volatile flavor compounds bond rapidly with water, but not with fat or in this case oil, but i never realized just how drastic the difference is. the flavor is amazing. this is what we did with it.

 White  Asparagus meyer lemon, green goddess, violet, licorice

sous vide white asparagus, white asparagus cloud, green goddess dressing, frozen meyer lemon puree, violet flavored yogurt, lemon oil jam, violet flowers, grated licorice

          Sanchez d, little d, dan, daniel, danny, chef dan...

          he goes by many names, i proudly call him my sous chef

tai snapper from browne trading company. these guys really know their fish, namely lucas, who is the greatest fish monger alive! they have earned a lifelong client. thank you for you commitment to being the best.

Pork Belly banana miso, kimchee, sudachi, daikon

Pork Belly in Brine

A Free Meal

Normally I wouldnt do this but...

"chef, someone called today and said her and her husband got food poisoning last night".

"really"?

"she said they got violently ill as soon as they left the restaurant, and couldn't drive home the next day".

"huh...so much for that whole incubation period thing...what did they eat".

"well thats the thing, their name isnt in the reservation system so we arent even sure who they are".

"damn yahoo news...someone reads about Heston now everyone is sick...hell half of our staff was sick this week".

That was last week.  

So today I get this email from our admin saying this lady is pissed because we havent made it right that she got sick in our restaurant. WTF!  Of course today, along with becoming so ill that they couldnt get out of bed (which oddly sounds like one of the symptoms of the flu that knocked out our service team), the food wasnt any good either. As if I didnt see that coming.

 Anyway...these guests were supposedly here on the 13th of march. I dont know much, but i know if i ate i a mobil 5 star restaurant id remember what i ate, and if i got sick from it, i wouldnt forget...ever. Guess what...neither one can remember what they had. At this level, you dont say no, so you try to make it right no matter what. Im sure they probably ate the same thing for one of their courses, if they were even there? But im also absolutely positive that no fewer than 20 people ate all of the courses they "had". Another thing im also absolutely positive of...they live in the same house, share the same bed, probably the same mouthwash bottle, drove to the restaurant in the same car, handed each other the same glass, and im sure im way off base to assume they like each other enough to kiss.

This is one of the risks of serving food to "just anyone". The ones who refuse to look at all of the other things that they had in common, other that sitting in my restaurant for 3 hours and not being able to remember what they ate. Hey, maybe ive created a new strain of food bourne illness. Eat your heart out Heston, your guests just vomited, mine lost their memory!

Fennel Soup apple, pecorino, marigold

Tuna sudachi, avocado pineapple, banana

Yuzu ginger, macha tea, salt foam

Langoustine fennel, foam from its head

Shrimp  lemon, daikon, soy green garlic

Cod honshimeji, pinenuts, burnt onion, parsley

Cod Skin malt vinegar

Celery Root red curry custard, almond, dried bacon, warm cider

         Cherry sweet and tart

Niragi soy, soybeans, cucumber

 daikon

Heirloom Tomatoes textured lemon oil, roasted garlic, basil

*DISCLAIMER* this dish isnt on the menu now. In fact, I havent seen a tomato for months, unless you count the one on a whopper. This was the tomato dish from late summer early fall 2008. 

Lobster banana pudding, ginger tapioca, lime, malted lobster custard

Lobster onion soubise, gruyere malted vanilla and lobster custard

Silver Bream marcona almond custard, red curry, soy gel, celery

"Wow...thats pretty cool"...

...That's what they told me I said when I heard  we earned 5 stars from Mobil for 2009. Doesn't seem like the reaction you would expect from someone who just found out his restaurant was 1 of 20 in the country. I always knew this day would come for me, somewhere, sometime, but not in Farmington Pa, and not at 30 years old. A little over two years ago (2 years, 2 months and 20 days to be exact) I walked into Lautrec as Chef de Cuisine for the first time. I wasn't overwhelmed by the room, or the food. I knew the cooks who were there already didn't like me, but I didn't care...I had my Sous Chef, my meat cook, my fish cook, and my pastry girl. For the first four months I struggled to find my identity, my place. All of the FOH staff had been there for years and were established. I didn't know if I was suppose to change MY vision...or change the vision of everyone who was already there. I wanted to quit, for the first time in my life. I couldn't sleep. I wandered through the day like an idiot. Staring at the damn peach colored walls. AAAAHHHHH! One day, out of the blue, the GM walked through the kitchen. He asked how things were going, I told him I was having a difficult time with my transition. He looked at me and said "this is your restaurant now". Just like that, I was back! I felt great. No one wanted me to change, they wanted Lautrec to change...and it did. The restaurant manager at that time helped with the transformation of Lautrec, and still remains active in the restaurant today, all be it from another location. The food changed, the attitude changed. In less than two years, Lautrec went from an elegant, AAA 4 diamond restaurant, to a Mobil 5 star, AAA 5 diamond restaurant. I told them it would happen, and it did. I gained their confidence. The day we found out about our Mobil rating, we all drank a glass of champagne together. I made a statement that this wasn't the end, we still had a long way to go, a lot to learn, and a lot to improve upon. I told them by 2011, Lautrec would be known as the best restaurant in the country, and they didn't flinch, except to nervously look at the time. It was almost 6, and there were glass racks at the bar...

white chocolate, caviar

Three years ago, the Ulterior Epicure....or as we know him in the food industry, UE, came to eat at what was then my restaurant. I was 27 at the time and pretty ambitious, not to mention really nervous. I respected his writings and wanted his honest opinion about my cooking. I attempted to create two different tasting menus for him and his guest. One of the courses was a white chocolate custard with Calvisius caviar. I got the idea from an article I read about Heston Blumenthal that talked about the possibilities of matching white chocolate and seafoods....why not? So I tried it. Three years later, and hundreds of new dishes, new techniques, better understanding of food, new equipment, and a lot of failures...this dish is still with us. The shape of it has changed a dozen times or so, but the context of the dish is the same. Silky smooth sweet white chocolate, salty, briny caviar, pickled lemon and cippolini add acidity without texture, and a slight peppery bite from micro cress. I dont have any "signature dishes", and this certainly isnt one, but its the only one thats been around since its conception. This one dish changed the way I think about food, it got me started, made me question. Today, we are still ambitious, still trying to push forward, still trying to be perfect. Our food has evolved, become more refined. Just like the white chocolate and caviar, we have changed forms over the last 3 years....and it doesnt end here.