In the kitchen

I work with badasses.  Who qualifies to be a badass? Someone that gets his/her ass kicked on a daily basis but still shows up to work the next day for some more pain.  There is no giving up.  Yeah, you can go close down 3 bars but still show up to work early the next day.  This is what I see on a day to day basis.  I am proud to be one of them.  My type of group.

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Butcher, Ricardo, a badass.

Pastry cook

Normandy duck breasts, rendering.

On the line

Basting black trumpet mushroom crusted monkfish.

White Truffle..first of the season.

Grill man

Maryland Crab Festival 2011

August 20th, 2011

Unlimited Maryland blue crabs, corn, cole slaw, and potato chips.
They served only male crabs.  Crabs were delicious, beer was delicious.

Dinner at Dell'Anima & Ellabess

View from Chef's Counter

Some thirst quenchers at the bar!

Chef's Counter

Few of the courses we had

Bone Marrow & Biscuit

Gnocchi & Summer Truffle

Pappardelle, Malloreddus & Heaven.

Waffle Souffle, Warm Chocolate Cake, Cherry Clafloutis, & Peach Cobbler Sundae.

Ellabess NY

From Recipe testing to soft opening to grand opening.  I'll let the pictures do the talking.  I was asked to delete the previous entry I made about Ellabess because it was supposed to be a secret, WOOPS! It's cool, I'll share everything with you now.  Executive Chef Troy Unruh, executive sous chef Ty Kotz, and Pastry Chef Carmine Arroyo.

 
                                           

From Grubstreet

New Chapter: Ellabess

I left Oceana for personal reasons but I can say I learned a lot there doing 300+ on a regular night handling a protein station. What's next? Ellabess with Chef Troy Unruh, Pastry Chef Carmine Arroyo and Executive Sous Chef Ty Kotz.  Ellabess It's going to be a seasonal American restaurant.  It's expected to open in July along with the Nolitan Hotel it's located in.  I hope you can join me in this journey because it'll be epic, legendary, okay I'll stop there but seriously it'll be a wild ride.

The first restaurant I stepped into as a cook

Ramen Setagaya

I spent over a year in this kitchen.  This is where it all started.  I miss it a lot and on a rainy day, I would go in for a bowl of shio ramen, cha shyu zara and a cold sapporo.  Hits the spot and brings back many memories.  It's not what it used to be.  The place changed, the owner changed.  Year 2007 was when this restaurant was at it's peak.  We won New York Magazine's Best Ramen award in NYC that year.  The original Setagaya spot was on 1st avenue between 8th and 9th street.  We would play rock, paper and scissors to see who buys coffee across from the corner deli owned by Korean man who was pissed off all the time.  I would sneak downstairs with the cooks and chug beers leftover from the New Years party we had.  We were so busy that year.  Customers were lining up around the block! I remember the ticket number 301.  That's probably 600 customers we served in one night in a 25 seat restaurant.  Best night ever, I felt like the ramen king, no seriously.

Street Festival: Fresh Maine Lobster Rolls.

April 30th, 2011.  65th street and Lexington Avenue.  12 pm-5 pm.

Menu
Classic Lobster Roll, Mayonnaise, Celery
Connecticut Style Lobster Roll, Butter
Bahn Mi Style Lobster Roll, Carrot, Daikon, Cucumber, Cilantro, Sweet Chili Sauce

All lobster rolls were $15

Memorable/funny quotes
Customer 1: "Oh my God, that's drenched in butter?"
Chef: "Yeah but it's low fat and low calorie."

Customer 2: "They all sound good, I don't know which lobster roll to get, which one do you recommend?"
Chef: "If you can't decide, just get all three of them."

Mad "props" to Anais for making my blog look so damn good.  Makes me wanna blog more, no doubt.