Defeat In The 1st Round ; Apple Battle

Spice Rubbed Grilled Pork Tenderloin, Apple & Sweet Potato Hash, Wasabi Apple Sauce, Red Orach, Apple Chip, Crispy Sweet Potato

Fried Sea Scallop, Apple Slaw, Parsnip Puree, Apple Sauce, Apple Cilantro - Lime Coulis, Peppercress & Popcorn Shoot

Chef Nikki, Chef Eddie, Chef Ken

  Unfortunately I missed getting a photo of the dessert.  We had a great time doing this competition.  We don't really consider ourselves competitive when it comes to "Iron Chef" type stuff, but it was fun to do something new.  I was happy with all of our food, but seemed to be the only one.  The dishes were judged by the diners who did not know who was cooking each dish until after they completed the meal.  We ended up feeding 48 people, 3 courses from each team.  The variety of ingredients provided for us to work with was quite nice.  Each team was allowed to bring their own specialty bag, valued up to $100.    It was interesting cooking in a kitchen that I had only briefly stepped into once before.  It sure did make me appreciate our kitchen alot more.  No offense to Crippen's!  You guys just need some new cambros!  We do look forward to giving it another shot next year!

Our New Pasta Maestro

  This is Josephine Gordon, mastering her pappardelle skills, and testing the recipe, under 'Zen Ken,' our fearless leader.  Toss this with some buffalo bolognese, organic baby spinach, Italian marinated olives, shaved pecorino toscano, and toasted pine nuts.  This was a great dish.  Simple sells.  Nice work little chef!  

The Coolest . . . .

piece of service ware I have ever used in a kitchen!  I love the fact that our customers are comfortable bringing things in, like surfboards, and asking us to present a birthday dessert on them!  I enjoy nothing more than giving someone flavors that they have never experienced and I also get really excited when someone brings a surfboard into the kitchen for me to serve food on!  This was a 'longboard.'  The picture doesn't give a very good perspective of the size.  

Local Chef Challenge

  Jimmy Crippen, owner of Crippen's Country Inn & Restaurant, is organizing and hosting a local chef challenge called 'Fire On The Rock' through the month of March.  There will be sixteen teams of three preparing three courses each every Tuesday and Wednesday until April.  The final competitions will be held April 17th & 18th.  This competition began a few years back as a Blowing Rock event.  It has now grown to include Boone, & Banner Elk.  There are talks of eventually doing regional competition and having a state competition.  The event is part of the Blue Ridge Wine Festival and sponsored by the N.C. Dept. of Agriculture.  Tickets are available through the 'Fire On The Rock' link.  This is a great opportunity to experience the culinary creativity of The High Country!       

Alinea Stage

So, this is it! Alinea Restaurant. No sign, the address is hardly visible, and I only had to ask two people where it was. I stayed at the Arlington House Hostel, which was only about a mile away. The walk twice a day was very nice. It got the blood flowing in the morning and the blood freezing at night. The stage was a great experience. I did a lot of menial tasks that included cutting mire poix, cleaning baby corn, cleaning shell fish, picking herbs, assembling some aromatics, and scrubbed about $10,000 worth of french truffles. There were some other small jobs in between. I didn't mind doing these jobs at all. It is a nice change to work like this where all of the major responsibilty falls on someone else. It was fun to hang out and see how things roll in a kitchen of this caliber. This does not mean that I did not have to bust my ass! The work, though menial, was intense. It had to be perfect. Their kitchen gets slammed and out of align too. That is when the stages get sent home.
There were some disappointments. I didn't mind being free labor, for a little while. It was obvious that some of the chefs would rather us not even be there. No one wants to feel like a nuisance. I'm sure it is stressful for the full time cooks to have new people in their kitchen every week. That's the way it is going to be. Get used to it and take advantage. At some point, every kitchen could use some extra hands around! Also, there was alot of waste. This was surprising considering some of the other pet peeves that were upheld.
It was the cleanest kitchen that I have ever seen. That's no surprise. This was the first time that I had ever vaccuumed a kitchen. With 18 other chefs in the kitchen, and in a hurry, this was not an easy task. Another tough job was trying to remember which cabinet housed what. I had read alot about the great kitchen design and how everything that each station needed was within reach of that station. I don't know where I read that, but someone made it up. The work space was great. Great enough to give about 18 chefs just enough. Under all of this workspace is where cutting boards, spices, vita-preps, refigerators, freezers, utensils, pans, flour, sugar, etc. was all stored. Without any sort of labels, of course. Then again, the chef wanted everything that makes magic 'hidden'. There was alot of space for stuff to hide downstairs, too. The scales, for example, are used in every recipe. They were stored in a closet in the locker room in the basement of the restaurant. Anyway, this is just one chef's experience in another chef's kitchen. Thanks Alinea for giving me a week to see how you guys make magic!
I was able to eat at Alinea while I was in Chicago. The food was incredible, the service was incredible and if you ever have the chance, take it! Having the opportunity to see Alinea from the front of the house and the back of the house gives me complete understanding of why they are in the top 25 restaurants in the world. There is alot more to say, but you will just have to go see for yourself! If you are thinking about doing a stage at Alinea, see what some other chefs have to say.

http://thegourmetpiggy.blogspot.com/2008/01/stage.html
http://chadzilla.typepad.com/chadzilla/2008/02/alinea-tasting.html

New Year's Menu

New Year's Eve 2009


Amuse
Blackeyed Peas, Collards, Watauga Country Ham, Sweet & Hot

1st
Shrimp Bisque, Saffron, Kaffir Lime

2nd
Smoked Trout Brandade, Potato Blini, House Cured Salmon, Basil Caviar

3rd
Ostrich Carpaccio, Horseradish, Micro Mustard

4th
Asparagus, Apple-wood Smoked Bacon, Wild Mushrooms

5th
Virginia Beef, Herbed Gnocchi, Butternut Squash, Gruyere

6th
Wild Boar, Sweet Potato, Pear, Aged Balsamic, Honey, Cumin

7th
Key Lime, Blackberry, Grande Marnier, Prickly Pear

Joys of Winter

The New Year at The Gamekeeper always starts off with the restaurant closing four days of the week! Sounds great for about a day. Our days of service are Thursday through Saturday, due to being in a very seasonal area. The majority of our customer base is summer traffic. However, we do have great local support, year round, and we appreciate you very much! You know who you are. Our local crowd also knows that the cold snowy nights, with few other diners, are sometimes the most memorable. For the chefs, it is sometimes very difficult to purchase for such a small window of service but I guess it is these challenges that keep things interesting when other challenges change with the weather. I don't know what it is with the weather but it always seems to stay relatively nice, until Thursday, the first day of service for the week. Cancellations, icy roads, loss of power, no deliveries, always on the days we are supposed to open. Why? I wish I knew. Happy New Year! Can't wait till summer!