Archived entries for

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

For my last night on patissier this Saturday, I wanted to go out with a bang.  We had a little free time before service, so I made a pumpkin pie ice cream.  Boy, was it good!  The recipe is as follows – it’s very easy, but if you don’t have access to a machine, you [read more ...]

Yes, It Matters

I can’t tell you how many times in the past two days I’ve been given links to this article in the Atlantic. It’s a relatively quick read, so I recommend you do, but a quick summary is that people are beginning, “in these lean times” to question whether aspiring cooks are better off just interning [read more ...]

Down with Mediocrity!

There is a shitty Italian restaurant on the corner of my street.  I know for a fact that it is a shitty restaurant – I’m not going off arrogant assumption – because I ate there with a friend and after sludging our way through 3 courses of truffle oil, cream and bland, oozing cheese, we [read more ...]

“You Taste Like Duck Fat”

The following piece contains content that may not be suitable for either children or my parents.

As we sat in the dark of the theatre, he rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb.  I felt him move into a steady rhythm until he reached the fresh scar parallel with my middle knuckle.  He pressed [read more ...]

Le Caprice

One of my more annoying qualities is my insistence that putting the word “le” in front of every phrase makes it better.  A survey of recent e-mails to friends proves this unfortunate habit:
How was le restaurant?  Are you going to le brunch?  Where is le doctor’s office? I’m going to le gym to work of [read more ...]

Patissier

Although I have a sweet tooth the size of Texas, patissier is probably my least favorite station.  It’s a different world than the rest of the line – it lacks that excitement, that rhythm, that push.  But patissier was the first station assigned to me at L’Ecole, the French Culinary Institute’s student-run restaurant, and so [read more ...]

A “Doe-licious” Dinner

This may come as a surprise to some of you, but I’m a bit – oh – stubborn.  If I get it in my head that I want to do something, well damnit I’m going to do it.  So when I decided that I’d cook loin of venison over the Christmas holidays, nothing, not snow [read more ...]

Interview with a Chef

All of Daniel Boulud’s restaurants are excellent, but I have a special fondness for Café Boulud on 76th and Madison.  It has a quiet, sophisticated air about it – a neighborhood feel.  And yet the food is brilliant enough to make even the most boring solo lunch or ordinary dinner date transformative.  That I chose [read more ...]