drth d45ys rth // magzus.club

ISSUE 10

TEXAN TERROIR

STEVE MCHUGH HELLO, HELADO

ISABEL COSS

CHICAGO AND ME

JOHN SHIELDS

Onwards for All Chef Publishing Ltd Dormer Road Thame Oxon OX9 3FS Tel: +44 (0) 1844 399 900 www.chefpublishing.com

PUBLISHER Martyn Keen martyn@chefpublishing.com EDITOR Ashley Day ashley@chefpublishing.com +1 407 765 9610 WRITERS Adrienne Cheatham Ashley Day Jhonel Faelnar Morgan Goldberg Matt Jozwiak Stephanie Loo James Marcolin Maki Yazawa FINANCE finance@chefpublishing.com DESIGNERS elena@chefpublishing.com COPYRIGHT Chef & Restuarant Magazine is pubished by Chef Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. No part may be reproduced without the prior written permission of the publisher. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher. While every care is taken, details are subject to change and the publisher can take no responsibility for omissions and errors.

COVER PHOTO Tyler Leiby

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost six months since our last issue, but anyone reading here is of course unphased by delays. We won’t rehash the ubiquitous challenges of the last year, but we can’t help but celebrate the victories. While Claire Bosi was fighting for industry representation among the UK government, so many of you were lobbying for employee relief and the revitalization fund, which James Marcolin details in this issue.

And while billions of dollars in restaurant grants was beyond imagination mere months ago, we’re as inspired by all the unimaginable ingenuity we experienced amid the wait. You’ve tolerated dogs, sidewalk chaos and decorum disarray to give us distance outdoors all year. You built second structures so we could dine comfortably in the winter. You made custom masks that conveyed continued attention to detail despite depleted resources, and to say the least, you delivered.

I used to borderline view takeout as a crime in New York City with how close the cost came to dining out without any of the magic of good company and hospitality. Now I evangelize destination delivery the way I used to revel in every reservation because I’ve made memories all the same.

Opening Blue Hill’s original resourcED box and narrating the evening with a scroll describing each treat was probably the first highlight for my pod. We went on to enhance isolated evenings with Loring Place’s varied vegetables, Rezdora’s rich pasta, Sugarfish’s legend for identifying each piece of sushi and sashimi, and Torien’s tastes of Tokyo bento.

John Shields essentially converted The Loyalist to a burger drive-through in Chicago while Steve McHugh made the savvy adjustment to simple steaks from his usual charcuterie in San Antonio. He calls the pivot fun a few pages from here, which says more about his approach than the universal situation. After all, Isabel Coss tasting every ice cream on the market and Jamie Simpson making the most of The Chef’s Garden’s harvest both sound fun albeit exciting. Rethink Food powering a Michelinstarred philanthropic food truck and Mattia Agazzi letting an inside joke with Massimo Bottura make its way onto his menu — that’s fun we want in on.

And as much fun as we’ve had covering New York City in our first nine issues, we want in on the rethinking and reimagining, too. We need insights and impact from everywhere to evolve so we’re expanding across the country.

You’ve seen stories from California in the last few issues and we’re thrilled to find inspiration everywhere from D.C. to Ohio to Texas this season. We join you in advocacy, unity and resiliency, from coast to coast.

Grants are here, you have permission to pause and read about things you can relate to — in New York and beyond. Welcome to the United States issue. We hope you discover something new.

Ashley Day

Chef & Restaurant Magazine (ISSN 2632-5586) is published monthly by Chef Publishing Ltd

CHICAGO MICHELIN GUIDE 2021 Mako 731 W Lake St, Chicago, IL 60661   Alinea BOKA www.makochicago.com 1723 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60614 www.alinearestaurant.com

 AcadiaChicago

1639 S Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60616 www.acadiachicago.com Ever 1340 W Fulton St, Chicago, IL 60607 www.ever-restaurant.com Moody Tongue 2515 S Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60616 www.moodytongue.com

1729 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60614 www.bokachicago.com EL Ideas 2419 W 14th St, Chicago, IL 60608 www.elideas.com Elizabeth 4835 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60625 www.elizabeth-restaurant.com Elske 1350 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60607 www.elskerestaurant.com

Next 953 W Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607 www.nextrestaurant.com North Pond 2610 N Cannon Dr, Chicago, IL 60614 www.northpondrestaurant.com Omakase Yume 651 W Washington Blvd Suite #101, Chicago, IL 60661 www.omakaseyume.com

Sepia 123 N Jefferson St, Chicago, IL 60661 www.sepiachicago.com Spiaggia 980 N Michigan Ave #2, Chicago, IL 60611 www.spiaggiarestaurant.com Temporis 933 N Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60622 www.temporischicago.com

Oriole 661 W Walnut St, Chicago, IL 60661 www.oriolechicago.com

Entente 700 N. Sedgwick St., Chicago, IL 60654 www.ententechicago.com

Parachute 3472 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL 60618 www.parachuterestaurant.com

Topolobampo 445 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654 www.rickbayless.com

Smyth 177 N Ada St #101, Chicago, IL 60607 www.smythandtheloyalist.com

Goosefoot 2656 W Lawrence Ave Chicago, IL 60625 www.goosefoot.net

Porto 1600 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60622 www.bonhommegroup.com/porto

Yugen 652 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60661 www.yugenchicago.com

NEW YORK MICHELIN GUIDE 2021 Daniel Blue Hill 75 Washington Pl, New York, NY 60 E 65th St, New York, NY 10065  10011 www.danielnyc.com Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare 431 W 37th St, New York, NY 10018 www.brooklynfare.com/chefs-table Eleven Madison Park 11 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10010 www.elevenmadisonpark.com Le Bernardin 155 W 51st St, New York, NY 10019 www.le-bernardin.com Masa 10 Columbus Cir, New York, NY 10019 www.masanyc.com Per Se 10 Columbus Cir, New York, 10019 www.perseny.com

 Aquavit

65 E 55th St, New York, NY 10022 aquavit.org Aska 47 S 5th St, Brooklyn, NY 11249 askanyc.com Atera 77 Worth St, New York, NY 10013 ateranyc.com

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Schwa 1466 N Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60622 www.schwarestaurant.com

www.bluehillfarm.com

Gabriel Kreuther 41 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036 www.gknyc.com Ichimura at Uchū 217 Eldridge St, New York, NY 10002 uchu.nyc/sushi Jean-Georges 1 Central Park West, New York, NY 10023 www.jean-georges.com Jungsik 2 Harrison St, New York, NY 10013 jungsik.com Ko 8 Extra Pl, New York, NY 10003 Ko.momofuku.com L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon 85 10th Ave, New York, NY 10011 latelier-newyork.com The Modern 9 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019 www.themodernnyc.com

 Ai Fiori

Carbone 181 Thompson St, New York, NY 10012 carbonenewyork.com Casa Enrique 5-48 49th Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101 www.henrinyc.com/casa-enrique Casa Mono 52 Irving Pl, New York, NY 10003 casamononyc.com Caviar Russe 538 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10022 www.caviarrusse.com Claro 284 3rd Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215 www.clarobk.com The Clocktower 5 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10010 theclocktowernyc.com Contra 138 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002 contra.nyc

Atomix 104 E 30th St, New York, NY 10016 www.atomixnyc.com

400 5th Ave #2, New York, NY 10018 aifiorinyc.com

Cote 16 W 22nd St, New York, NY 10010 www.cotenyc.com

Blanca 261 Moore St, Brooklyn, NY 11206 www.blancanyc.com

Bâtard 239 W Broadway, New York, NY 10013 www.batardtribeca.com

Crown Shy 70 Pine St, New York, NY 10005 www.crownshy.nyc

Blue Hill at Stone Barns 630 Bedford Rd, Tarrytown, NY 10591 www.bluehillfarm.com

Benno 7 E 27th St, New York, NY 10016 www.bennorestaurant.com

Don Angie 103 Greenwich Ave, New York, NY 10014 www.donangie.com

Estela 47 E Houston St 1st floor, New York, NY 10012 www.estelanyc.com The Four Horsemen 295 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11211 www.fourhorsemenbk.com Francie 134 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11249 www.franciebrooklyn.com Gramercy Tavern 42 E 20th St, New York, NY 10003 www.gramercytavern.com Hirohisa 73 Thompson St, New York, NY 10012 www.hirohisa.nyc Jeju Noodle Bar 679 Greenwich St, New York, NY 10014 www.jejunoodlebar.com Jua 36 E 22nd St, New York, NY 10010 www.juanyc.com Kajitsu 125 E 39th St, New York, NY 10016 www.kajitsunyc.com Kanoyama 175 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003 www.kanoyama.com Kochi 652 10th Ave, New York, NY 10036 www.kochinyc.com Kosaka 220 W 13th St, New York, NY 10011 www.kosakanyc.com L’Appart 225 Liberty St, New York, NY 10281 www.lappartnyc.com

Le Coucou 138 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10013 lecoucou.com

Odo 17 W 20th St, New York, NY 10011 www.odo.nyc

Sushi Amane 245 E 44th St, New York, NY 10017 www.sushi-amane.com

Le Jardinier 610 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10022 lejardinier-nyc.com

Oxalis 791 Washington Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238 www.oxalisnyc.com

Sushi Ginza Onodera 461 5th Ave, New York, NY 10017 www.sushiginzaonoderanewyork.com

Marea 240 Central Park S, New York, NY 10019 www.marearestaurant.com

Oxomoco 128 Greenpoint Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222 www.oxomoconyc.com

Meadowsweet 149 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11211 www.meadowsweetnyc.com

Peter Luger 178 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11211 peterluger.com

Sushi Noz 181 E 78th St, New York, NY 10075 www.sushinoz.com

The Musket Room 265 Elizabeth St, New York, NY 10012 www.musketroom.com

Rezdôra 27 E 20th St, New York, NY 10003 www.rezdora.nyc

Sushi Yasuda 204 E 43rd St, New York, NY 10017 www.sushiyasuda.com

Noda 6 W 28th St, New York, NY 10001 www.noda.nyc

The River Café 1 Water St, Brooklyn, NY 11201 rivercafe.com

Tempura Matsui 222 E 39th St, New York, NY 10016 www.tempuramatsui.com

Sushi Nakazawa 23 Commerce St, New York, NY 10014 www.sushinakazawa.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. MICHELIN GUIDE 2021 Cranes Komi 724 9th St NW, Washington, DC 1509 17th St NW. Washington, DC  20001 20036 The Inn at Little Washington

Tsukimi 228 E 10th St, New York, NY 10003 www.tsukimi.nyc Tuome 536 E 5th St, New York, NY 10009 www.tuomenyc.com Vestry 246 Spring St, New York, NY 10013 www.vestrynyc.com Wallsé 344 W 11th St, New York, NY 10014 www.wallse.com ZZ’s Clam Bar 169 Thompson St, New York, NY 10012 zzclamsbar.com

309 Middle St, Washington, VA 22747 theinnatlittlewashington.com

cranes-dc.com

komirestaurant.com

Rooster & Owl 2436 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009 www.roosterowl.com

The Dabney 122 Blagden Alley NW, Washington, DC 20001 thedabney.com

Little Pearl 921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20003 www.littlepearlcarriagehouse.com

Rose’s Luxury 717 8th St SE, Washington, DC 20003 www.rosesrestaurantgroupdc.com

1904 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009 www.jontdc.com

Elcielo 1280 4th St NE, Washington, DC 20002 elcielorestaurant.com

Masseria 1340 4th St NE, Washington, DC 20002 www.masseria-dc.com

Sushi Nakazawa 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004 www.sushinakazawa.com/ washington-dc

Fiola 601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, DC 20004 www.fioladc.com

Maydan 1346 Florida Ave NW, Washington, DC 20009 www.maydandc.com

Sushi Taro 1503 17th St NW, Washington, DC 20036 www.sushitaro.com

Gravitas 1401 Okie St NE, Washington, DC 20002 www.gravitasdc.com

Metier 1015 7th St NW, Washington, DC 20001 metierdc.com

Tail Up Goat 1827 Adams Mill Rd NW, Washington, DC 20009 www.tailupgoat.com

Kinship 1015 7th St NW, Washington, DC 20001 kinshipdc.com

Plume 1200 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20036 www.jeffersondc.com

Xiquet 2404 Wisconsin Ave B, Washington, DC 20007 www.xiquetdl.com

 Jônt

Minibar 855 E St NW, Washington, DC 20004 www.minibarbyjoseandres.com Pineapple and Pearls 715 8th St SE, Washington, DC 20003 www.pineappleandpearlsdc.com

 Bresca 1906 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009 www.brescadc.com

CALIFORNIA MICHELIN GUIDE 2019 Baumé www.manresarestaurant.com Quince 201 California Ave, Palo Alto, CA  470 Pacific Ave, San Francisco, CA 94306 Atelier Crenn 3127 Fillmore St, San Francisco, CA 94123 www.ateliercrenn.com Benu 22 Hawthorne St, San Francisco, CA 94105 www.benusf.com The French Laundry 6640 Washington St, Yountville, CA 94599 www.thomaskeller.com/tfl Manresa 320 Village Lane, Los Gatos, CA 95030

94133 www.quincerestaurant.com

www.maisonbaume.com

Commis 3859 Piedmont Ave, Oakland, CA 94611 www.commisrestaurant.com

The Restaurant at Meadowood 900 Meadowood Ln, St Helena, CA 94574 www.therestaurantatmeadowood. com

Californios 355 11th Street San Francisco, CA 94103 www.californiossf.com

Lazy Bear 3416 19th St, San Francisco, CA 94110 www.lazybearsf.com

Campton Place 340 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA 94108 www.tajcamptonplace.com

n/naka 3455 Overland Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90034 www.n-naka.com

Coi 373 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133 www.coirestaurant.com

Providence 5955 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038 www.providencela.com

SingleThread 131 North St, Healdsburg, CA 95448 www.singlethreadfarms.com

 Acquerello

1722 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, CA 94109 www.acquerellosf.com

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Saison 178 Townsend St, San Francisco, CA 94107 www.saisonsf.com

Gary Danko 800 North Point St, San Francisco, CA 94109 www.garydanko.com

Madcap 198 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., San Anselmo, 94960 www.madcapmarin.com

Sushi Ginza Onodera 609 La Cienega Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069 www.onodera-group.com

Hana re 2930 Bristol St, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 www.hanaresushi.com

Madera 2825 Sand Hill Rd., Menlo Park, 94025 www.maderasandhill.com

Urasawa 218 N Rodeo Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Harbor House 2930 Bristol St, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 www.theharborhouseinn.com

Madrona Manor 1001 Westside Rd., Healdsburg, 95448 www.madronamanor.com

Vespertine 3599 Hayden Ave, Culver City, CA 90232 www.vespertine.la

 Addison 5200 Grand Del Mar Way, San Diego, CA 92130 www.addisondelmar.com Al’s Place 1499 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110 www.alsplacesf.com Angler 132 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105 www.anglerrestaurants.com Auberge du Soleil 180 Rutherford Hill Rd, Rutherford, CA 94573 www.aubergedusoleil.com Aubergine 7th avenue Monte Verde St, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA 93921 www.auberginecarmel.com Bar Crenn 3131 Fillmore St, San Francisco, CA 94123 www.barcrenn.com Birdsong 1085 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103 www.birdsongsf.com Bistro Na’s 9055 Las Tunas Dr #105, Temple City, CA 91780 www.bistronas.com Bouchon 6534 Washington St, Yountville, CA 94599 www.thomaskeller.com Chez TJ 938 Villa St, Mountain View, CA 94041 www.cheztj.com CUT 9500 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90212 www.wolfgangpuck.com Farmhouse Inn & Restaurant 7871 River Road, Forestville, CA 95436 www.farmhouseinn.com

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Hashiri 4 Mint Plaza, San Francisco, CA 9410 www.hashirisf.com Hayato 1320 E 7th St #126, Los Angeles, CA 90021 www.hayatorestaurant.com In Situ 151 3rd St, San Francisco, CA 94103 insitu.sfmoma.org jū-ni 1335 Fulton St, San Francisco, CA 94117 www.junisf.com Kali 5722 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038 www.kalirestaurant.com Kato 11925 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025 www.katorestaurant.com Keiko à Nob Hill 1250 Jones St, San Francisco, CA 94109 www.keikoanobhill.com Kenzo 1339 Pearl St, Napa, CA 94559 www.kenzonapa.com Kin Khao 55 Cyril Magnin St., San Francisco, 94102 www.kinkhao.com The Kitchen 2225 Hurley Way, Ste. 101, Sacramento, 95825 www.thekitchenrestaurant.com La Toque 1314 McKinstry St., Napa, 94559 www.latoque.com Le Comptoir 3606 W. 6th St., Los Angeles, 90020 www.lecomptoirla.com

Maude 212 S. Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills, 90212 www.mauderestaurant.com Michael Mina 252 California St., San Francisco, 94111 www.michaelmina.net Mister Jiu’s 28 Waverly Pl., San Francisco, 94108 www.misterjius.com

Q Sushi 521 W. 7th St., Los Angeles, 90014 www.qsushila.com Rasa 209 Park Rd., Burlingame, 94010 www.rasaindian.com Rich Table 199 Gough St., San Francisco, 94102 www.richtablesf.com Rustic Canyon 1119 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, 90401 www.rusticcanyonrestaurant.com Shibumi 815 S. Hill St., Los Angeles, 90014 www.shibumidtla.com Shin Sushi 16573 Ventura Blvd., Encino, 91436 Shunji 12244 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, 90064 www.shunji-ns.com

Mori Sushi 11500 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, 90064 www.morisushila.com

Sons & Daughters 708 Bush St., San Francisco, 94108 www.sonsanddaughterssf.com

Mourad 140 New Montgomery St., San Francisco, 94105 www.mouradsf.com

Sorrel 3228 Sacramento St., San Francisco, 94115 www.sorrelrestaurant.com

Nozawa Bar 212 N. Cañon Dr., Beverly Hills, 90210 www.nozawabar.com

SPQR 1911 Fillmore St., San Francisco, 94115 www.spqrsf.com

Octavia 1701 Octavia St., San Francisco, 94109 www.octavia-sf.com

Spruce 3640 Sacramento St., San Francisco, 94118 www.sprucesf.com

Omakase 665 Townsend St., San Francisco, 94103 www.omakasesf.com

State Bird Provisions 1529 Fillmore St., San Francisco, 94115 www.statebirdsf.com

Orsa & Winston 122 W. 4th St., Los Angeles, 90013 www.orsaandwinston.com

Sushi Yoshizumi 325 E. 4th Ave., San Mateo, 94401 www.sushiyoshizumi.com

Osteria Mozza 6602 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, 90038 www.osteriamozza.com Plumed Horse 14555 Big Basin Way, Saratoga, 95070 www.plumedhorse.com

Taco María 3313 Hyland Blvd., Ste. C21, Costa Mesa, 92626 www.tacomaria.com The Village Pub 2967 Woodside Rd., Woodside, 94062 www.thevillagepub.net

Lord Stanley 2065 Polk St., San Francisco, 94109 www.lordstanleysf.com

The Progress 1525 Fillmore St., San Francisco, 94115 www.theprogress-sf.com

Wako 211 Clement St., San Francisco, 94118 www.sushiwakosf.com

Luce 888 Howard St., San Francisco, 94130 www.lucewinerestaurant.com

Protégé 250 California Ave., Palo Alto, 94306 www.protegepaloalto.com

Wakuriya 115 De Anza Blvd., San Mateo, 94402 www.wakuriya.com

Conceived with Johan Mar tin

M A D E I N I TA LY

www.silikomart.com

DESTINED FOR CHICAGO A SENSE OF PLACE AT CHICAGO’S SMYTH

8

CLARE SMYTH UK 3 MICHELIN STAR

46 The meat section

22

Italy and California Collide at Gucci Osteria LOS ANGELES FEELS LIKE HOME FOR GLOBAL CHEF MATTIA AGAZZI

ISABEL COSS IS MAKING ICE CREAM IN D.C.

32

STEVE MCHUGH’S CURING AND SMOKING TEXAS TERROIR

64 LIVER LET DIE IS THIS THE END OF FOIE GRAS?

72

104 The Fish section

EDOMAE BY AN EDOKKO CHEF KUNIHIDE NAKAJIMA’S FISH PHILOSOPHY

80 106

AN INDUSTRY INSIGHT HOW TO PITCH YOUR COOKBOOK IDEA AN INDUSTRY OUTLOOK BREAKING BARRIERS TO REDUCE FOOD INSECURITY MORE THAN A YEAR INTO THE PANDEMIC AND WE FINALLY SEE THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

68 sommelier DIARIES

MEET CHEF JAMIE SIMPSON, EXECUTIVE CHEF AT THE CULINARY VEGETABLE INSTITUTE

100

EXPLORING THE RISE OF KOREAN SOOL AT A BROOKLYN BREWERY

RELIEF IS FINALLY COMING TO HELP HOSPITALITY SMALL BUSINESSES ALL ACROSS THE U.S

THE VEGETABLE SECTION PLANT PARADISE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

108 RECIPES Heritage Tomato, Sungold Tomato Broth, Lemon Balm and Cottage Cheese

by Chef Barry Tonkinson

Crunchy ropcorn Choux

by Chef Michael Laiskonis, Institute of culinary Education

Scallop, Verjus, Cultured Butter Sauce, Butternut Squash, Celery and Apple Salad

Goat Cheese and Mushroom Strudel, Herb Pea Puree, Pea Leaves, Truffle Vinaigrette

By Shola Olunloyo

Barry Tonkinson, Director of Culinary Research and Development, Institute of Culinary Education

114

Words Ashley Day Camera by Galdones Photography, Jackie Gillium, Tyler Leiby

8

Destined for Chicago

A Sense of Place

at Chicago’s

Smyth T H E U LT I M AT E AV O C A D O D I S H , A P R E S E R VAT I O N D U N G E O N A N D M I C H E L I N - S TA R R E D B A R B E C U E S I D E S 9

John Shields never needed New York. The Chicago chef had a job with Marcus Samuelsson at Aquavit and a New York City apartment lined up nearly 20 years ago when his dream offer came from Charlie Trotter and destiny ensued.

The young St. Louis line cook was transfixed with the imagery in Trotter’s cookbooks and was trying the recipes while making a name for himself as a head chef in Florida before experiencing the reality and chaos of the iconic chef’s landmark restaurant when he arrived in the Windy City.

Chef Shields exited for Alinea in 2005, when working for and traveling with Grant Achatz reignited his creativity and inspired his career.

“I love the idea of New York. Even back then, I was obsessed with the idea of going there for a few years and experiencing it,” he admits. Now 10

JOHN SHIELDS SMYTH

after a decade in Chicago bookending four years of fame in Virginia, Manhattan feels condensed and closed in for him.

those products from someone you can form a relationship with, which is not the easiest thing here in Chicago.”

After all, Smyth and The Loyalist had the room to begin growing dozens of plants on the roof and more than 30 herbs and flowers around the perimeter of the restaurants this year when its proprietary farm fell victim to the pandemic.

Long accustomed to leveraging relationships with chefs around the country to connect with purveyors, from dayboat fishermen in Charleston to small family farms in the Midwest, Chef Shields returned to his phone tree around October.

But he googles and follows the agriculture community’s referral system.

“I really wanted to explore the food and diversity of the United States as a whole, from the Midwest to the Northwest to Florida, where I grew up with citrus and mangoes,” he explains. “The problem with that is getting

“I just pick up the phone and call random people, and these conversations lead to, ‘Well I know this guy and he’s got all these mango trees he doesn’t sell to anybody, but he would sell them to you.’ A semi-truck showing up with a flat of mangoes is not quite the same. I need something deeper, I need a closer relationship with people, to at least know them and have a dialogue with them in order to use their products.”

As any chef committed to personal over transactional sourcing knows, dialogue leads to discovery.

11

“There’s so much here in the United States, and when you work with smaller producers or fishermen, they end up having all this byproduct that nobody wants. They all want snapper, salmon, grouper, and then all of the sudden there are awesome trigger fish that came in with the catch, and I say, ‘Send ‘em.’ We might have an array of different fish but they’re pristine and unusual with all these different textures that you didn’t even know existed. You might get something super firm and gelatinous as opposed to always being flaky. Nothing wrong with snapper, but I’ve been doing this for a long time so I need a little bit more to keep me motivated.”

His earliest motivation began at Cardwell’s in St. Louis, where a fellow line cook brought the fateful Charlie Trotter cookbook into the kitchen.

“I still remember the dish that blew my mind. I knew instantly that that was what I wanted to 12

JOHN SHIELDS SMYTH

do. That was it for me. Charlie Trotter was the guy. I started collecting his books.”

Chef Shields was just discovering the California cuisine that Bill Cardwell, Alice Waters and Wolfgang Puck pioneered. “When I started at Cardwell’s, it was like nothing that St. Louis had ever seen — nothing I’d ever seen. I got thrown on the wood-fired pizza station that had a smoked salmon and ricotta spread with a salad on top, and I thought Bill Cardwell was nuts. It was crazy.”

Chef Shields moved home to Florida to save money for a prominent culinary school, unexpectedly replaced a head chef at 21-yearsold, and by 2002, helmed the St. Petersburg Times’ best Tampa Bay restaurant of the year, Grand Finale.

“I knew I wanted to pay my dues, and after four years, I started putting resumes out to three

13

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JOHN SHIELDS SMYTH

places: Aquavit, The French Laundry and Charlie Trotter’s. Their food spoke to me the most.”

After visiting Aquavit and securing a job and place to live, “Charlie Trotter wrote a letter and said we’d love for you to come spend some time with us, and in an instant, my whole life changed. I was moving to Chicago,” Chef Shields says.

“I started working for Charlie, and let’s just put it this way: The restaurant itself was nothing like the books. It was pretty rough. The beauty and whatever I had manifested in my brain that this place was going to be like, it was nothing like that. Charlie’s influence on me was the books.

“His style of cuisine is very reminiscent of what’s been going on the last 10-plus years with the Nordics: very vegetable-forward, the use of offal, the use of grains, vegetables in desserts,

sauces broken with oils … minimal, Japanese influence weaving its way through, which is very hot now, too. He was at the forefront of that stuff, and it was a very pure way of cooking that really spoke to me personally.”

Meanwhile, Chef Shields was intrigued by books and blogs exposing El Bulli’s gastronomy in Spain, a major influence for Grant Achatz at Trio.

“When Grant opened Alinea, I came on board.

We worked really closely together. I was a tournant at the time, I didn’t really have a station, so Grant started doing dinners abroad in Montreal, New York, all over, and he would take me because I could go around and he trusted me to help. Our relationship started to blossom from there and then I became sous chef, and we texted yesterday so we’ve got a great relationship that’s gone through evolutions as we’ve aged. Grant’s my biggest mentor.”

The four years following Alinea entailed Chef Shields’ origin story: He’d met and married Charlie Trotter’s Head Pastry Chef Karen Urie Shields, and the pair transformed Town House restaurant in Smyth County, Virginia, instead of opening a Trotter concept in Las Vegas.

Their reputation for fine dining featuring local sourcing and foraging received national attention, and they returned to Chicago to develop Smyth and sister concept The Loyalist in the city’s West Loop.

Smyth earned its first Michelin star in 2017, mere months after opening, and its second Michelin star in 2018. It’s No. 2 on the Chicago Tribune’s 50 Best Restaurants in Chicago, among Time Out Chicago’s best tasting menus and most romantic restaurants, and on Eater’s 38 Standout Dining Destinations in Chicago this season. In 2020, the Jean Banchet Awards named Smyth Chicago’s Restaurant of the Year 15

— and then there’s what Chef Shields refers to as the opposite.

the group made a meal pack with its burger, a side salad and a cookie, for pick-up.

“Be careful what you wish for in life,” he joked when turning to The Loyalist. “I set out to make an amazing burger, that was my goal. I talked shit to our investors, I said, ‘I’m going to make the best burger in Chicago.’ I was talking out of my ass a little bit because I didn’t know much about burgers, but we got lucky and got a lot of write-ups and national attention for it, and then all of the sudden that’s what the restaurant was known for.”

“We were doing 350 a day, it was crazy,” Chef Shields recalls. “There were cars lining up and it was basically like a McDonald’s drive-through, which is amazing and it lasted for a while.”

People come to the restaurant downstairs for the cheeseburger, which can be monotonous for the staff but was the company’s saving grace during the shutdown. Within three weeks, 16

JOHN SHIELDS SMYTH

Chicago chefs were among the first to organize when COVID-19 hit America’s major cities.

“We were lucky enough to have the Boka group, run by Kevin Boehm and Rob Katz,” Chef Shields explains. “They’re incredible ambassadors for the Chicago food scene as a whole and obviously incredibly successful along the way. Kevin is very outspoken, super kind, intelligent. He’s just a really warm person

and he’s embraced us since the moment we got to Chicago — a huge supporter. With all his success and all the people he knows, he has relationships high up in politics and beyond, so he was able to use those relationships to start getting data going immediately.”

When restaurants were mandated to close, the city’s chefs gathered in one meeting place. “All of us in one room at one time was surreal and bizarre. We all know each other, but nobody was talking. We were all so shell-shocked. And we just went to work about what to do and who to talk to. Coming together was pretty amazing,” Chef Shields reflects.

“I have the type of mentality that when there’s a challenge, a crisis, something’s going wrong, I

every day thinking about food or something creative. I kind of shut off. I wasn’t depressed, I just thought, let’s see what happens if I stop thinking about it, and maybe when I come back, I think I’ll have a fresher perspective on things.

And I have. I’m really inspired this time around. A lot of it has to do with the team we have in place getting a fresh start.”

He estimates half of the front of house and half of the back of house are new team members.

react immediately to fix or to use it as a learning experience — immediately,” he explains. “I go right into it. When we shut down, I was already thinking about all the things that were going to happen based on this shut down, and then I went into how to navigate that.”

After the successful takeout stint and first round of PPP, restaurants reopened a first time, but Chef Shields confesses suspecting another shutdown. “In my gut, I knew we were not even close to returning. That was a little disheartening. What was the point of spending all this time working on new things?”

Mental burnout set in. “It was the first time in 20 years that I wasn’t thinking about food,” Chef Shields confides. “Usually my brain is constantly,

“We lost a lot of people along the way, maybe people who were ready to go anyway. We kept our core group of people doing different things. Everybody’s job titles sort of changed.

Management is now managing any number of tasks that are assigned on a day-to-day, minute-by-minute basis basically.”

That includes the development of outdoor dining for both concepts with the second round of PPP. Among the silver linings that Chef Shields recognizes: “People clamor to get outside immediately in cold climates,” when the weather lets up. And that’s when the second reopening came through.

“This time around we’re better at hiring people.

We’ve got a better questionnaire based on who we are as people and as a group. It’s less about what’s on your resume or how many stages you had and more about your attitude and can we

work together, are we going to gel together?

Now I’ve got this fresh group that I want to inspire and it’s not just about me anymore, it’s about them.”

Chef Shields says his core team was ready to get back to work and continue their careers.

“The people who are here now are some of the hardest working people around. We opened Smyth a month ago and it’s incredible. It’s the best it’s ever been, which is wild.”

With two new outdoor patios, gardens on the roof and around the restaurant, and new purveyors, Smyth and The Loyalist have returned to providing hospitality.

“We’re all about the guests, their experience, and not just making them happy but knowing that we care,” Chef Shields explains. “Karen and I both do, and I think it’s infectious for the team as a whole and then the guests feel that.

We get letters and emails all the time about the experience and the service and feel, and one of the greatest things they say is that they can feel it coming from the team. We’re hiring people that are like-minded or have that nurturing sensibility about them. Thomas Keller loves to use that word, ‘nurturing’ people, and I think it’s a great word.”

While Karen works from home as the mom of two girls, overseeing the restaurants’ payroll 17

and finances, the couple’s dynamic is part of their continued success.

“We have dialogue all the time and work on things together. She trusts that I’m going to run this restaurant in a way that she knows I’ve got it,” Chef Shields explains. “I always had a passion for pastry anyway and saw the two as equal. When we opened Smyth, I already had a million ideas and when Karen comes in, I give her desserts, and nine times out of 10 she loves them. We really have that connection on the aesthetic and belief system.”

On the savory side, he’s most excited about a new relationship with a farm in California.

Chef Shields has long worked with Spence Farm in Illinois (that grows particular plants for Smyth and provides hundreds of seeds for herbs, vegetables and fruits each year), which connected him with San Gabriel Ranch.

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JOHN SHIELDS SMYTH

“The farm out there has these citruses, guavas, avocados, and then hoja santa leaf, which is a Mexican herb that grows in a giant tropical plant. So we did a dish based on that.”

When introduced to the farm, Chef Shields asked what else was growing there and discovered five cherymoia (also called custard apple) trees that weren’t being sold and a neighbor who was making virgin, fresh pressed avocado oil from the pits. “Stuff like that opens up new doors. New ideas come in and then the ball gets rolling,” he explained. “That’s how it always goes with super small producers.”

At the end of the season, Smyth preserves what’s been growing in the restaurant and around the property, pickling and drying for the winter. “We have a secret dungeon-area basement that’s probably 1,000-square-feet that nobody really knows about, and all of

our preservation ends up down there,” Chef Shields reveals. “We ferment, then when we think it’s ready, we stop and refrigerate so come February, it’s still as delicious as it was a few months prior. We use different techniques we’ve learned to utilize excess product, and now we’re in this derivative mode, using two or three techniques and combining those into one new product. We don’t bore the guest too much with all that, we just use it to make things delicious.”

A few of those pickled herbs are included on the dish.

“It’s a nectar of the citrus juices, which is basically a curing process that enriches all the liquid out and it gets thick and viscous. We glaze the avocado with that and then make an oil from the hoja santa leaf and dress it. That’s it, we don’t use any salt. The brine from the citrus is very potent. It’s sweet and sour and

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JOHN SHIELDS SMYTH

there’s a little sugar in there. Then underneath there’s a paste reduced from the guava that has a green apple and sorrel flavor, and we make an ice out of that. The avocado goes on top, we cut it into four but you don’t see it.

It looks like a single piece, and we put a little cherymoia on the avocado. Nine times out of 10, it’s the guest’s favorite dish.”

the guest can take it or leave it. Smyth is a tasting menu so it’s basically take it or leave it, but at the end of the day, I really want to make people happy. It’s a fine line, especially with creativity. I want the guest to understand things, but I still want to challenge people who have been, and I don’t want every course to feel like they know what’s coming next.”

Now Smyth goes through a case of avocados a week and uses the trim and leftovers for guacamole every night after service.

Chef Shields aims to alternate from salty and chewy in one bite to acidic, bright and crunchy, and then completely familiar with recognizable ingredients that make sense to the guest. “I’m not going to serve A5 wagyu beef,” he admits.

“I know everybody’s going to love it, but that would bore me to tears. It’s that fine line of giving them something they didn’t know they wanted.”

“Especially as I’ve gotten older, I really want to make people happy. We’re doing this for our guests, that’s what hospitality is, but I wouldn’t say every restaurant’s like that, and I wouldn’t say I’ve always been like that,” he confesses.

“When we’re all young and even if we’re not egotistical, we have a vision and we want to see it through, and it’s a sort of scenario where

These days, Kinship is offering more for the guest than its exclusive and relatively

expensive tastings. Chef Shields extended as far as an Italian takeout theme paying homage to Karen’s Sicilian family, followed by four months of a barbecue pop-up upstairs.

“I’ve always had an affinity for barbecue,” he divulges. “We turned our hearth into a smoker, and I spent a lot of time working on the sides.

I love the meat, but for me, it’s more about all the stuff you eat with it and that was pretty successful.”

The group is inevitably being approached with barbecue and burger concept pitches, and Chef Shields confirms there will definitely be another offering.

“Thank goodness we’ve had some time to establish a relationship with the city of Chicago. As far as recovery goes, we’re not worried. We’ve got a lot of projects going on.

It’s a beautiful thing.”

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Words Morgan Goldberg

ITALY AND CALIFORNIA COLLIDE AT GUCCI OSTERIA

LOS ANGELES FEELS LIKE HOME FOR GLOBAL CHEF MATTIA AGAZZI

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AT G U C C I O S T E R I A D A M A S S I M O B O T T U R A B E V E R LY H I L L S , T H E C E L E B R AT E D I TA L I A N R E S TA U R AT E U R ’ S F I R S T N O R T H A M E R I C A N V E N T U R E , C H E F D E C U I S I N E M AT T I A A G A Z Z I H A S NEAR-COMPLETE AUTONOMY TO INFUSE HIS OWN PERSONALITY INTO THE FOOD. HE DOES SO USING A METHOD OF CULINARY STORYTELLING T H AT H E L E A R N E D F R O M C H E F B O T T U R A H I M S E L F,

Though guests might not think much when they see humble white trout on the menu at the glamorous restaurant in Gucci’s flagship Rodeo Drive boutique, the dish is actually a flavorful and thoughtful representation of Chef Agazzi’s passions. He decided to serve the fish, which he sources from small producers and lightly steams, after discovering local bounty on a rock-climbing excursion in Ojai.

It’s elevated with Malibu hazelnuts, Asian citrus jus and sautéed mushrooms that nod to his long-time foraging hobby that began with his grandfather in their native Bergamo, Italy.

W H I L E E X P E R T LY M I X I N G I TA L I A N T R A D I T I O N S WITH FRESH CALIFORNIA INGREDIENTS. 24

MATTIA AGAZZI

Chef Agazzi picked up this style of narrative cooking as he trained at Chef Bottura’s three-

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Michelin-starred Osteria Francescana, where he was hired after dropping off his resume and receiving an invitation to interview two years later. When he arrived at the esteemed establishment in Modena, Italy, Chef Agazzi had already absorbed essential lessons from Restaurant St. Hubertus with Chef Norbert Niederkofler in the Dolomites; Bennelong with Chef Peter Gilmore at the Sydney Opera House; and L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon with Chef Xavier Boyer in London.

studied the art of running a kitchen. “She is very serious,” he illustrates. “She never gives up. She was always up to deal with the pressure.”

Chef Agazzi’s own leadership skills were put to the test when Chef Bottura informed him that he would be relocating to Los Angeles. Pranking his protégé, Chef Bottura initially told Chef Agazzi he was assigned to develop a pizzeria. “I was surprised because I never made pizza before,” he recalls. But when Chef Bottura revealed the true plans for Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura Though he had worked in these acclaimed Beverly Hills, Agazzi conjured a dish to honor his restaurants all over the world, the opportunity to mentor’s cheeky trick. With tomato, basil and join Chef Bottura was the one that transformed stracciatella, the Risotto Camouflaged as Pizza is Chef Agazzi’s career and taught him the power a delicious inside joke between the two. of specific inspiration behind every plate. “There was always a deep message,” Chef Agazzi Such meaningful plates are offered in front of a remembers. “It was not just food.” stunning backdrop. The dreamy, 50-seat space features red marble dining tables, cherry-hued To enrich Chef Agazzi’s vegetable education, velvet banquettes, and herringbone wood Chef Bottura sent him to intern at Alain floors in the chic interior, with wicker chairs and Ducasse au Plaza Athénée, where scraps and mosaic tile on the greenhouse-like terrace. “I trimmings were turned to gold. After this stint, feel very spoiled, like a kid in a candy shop,” Chef Agazzi was ready to move to Florence, Chef Agazzi shares. “We have the best china Italy, and help open the first Gucci Osteria that you can find, from Ginori. I’ve never worked da Massimo Bottura as sous chef. Under in a restaurant like this. It’s one of the biggest the command of Karime López, Chef Agazzi satisfactions that you can have.”

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MATTIA AGAZZI

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MATTIA AGAZZI

The benefits of a partnership with a storied fashion house like Gucci stretch far beyond the aesthetics. Chef Agazzi and his team, which includes Cous Chef Vanessa Chiu and Pastry Chef Tamara Rigo, are respected and encouraged to innovate. “They match perfectly with Massimo Bottura, who is always thinking about the future and what’s next — and so am I. We never like to follow the rules and Gucci is the same way,” he describes. “Everyday I feel lucky for where I am.”

The brand was especially supportive when the pandemic hit just a few weeks after the restaurant debuted. Chef Agazzi was able to keep his entire staff employed and busy, quickly pivoting to cooking for those in need. By collaborating with the Hollywood Food Coalition and using ingredients donated by Gucci, they provided nearly 10,000 meals per month for most of 2020. “It was a good way to use our skills to help somebody else,” Chef Agazzi says.

Now that the restaurant has reopened, Chef Agazzi continues to contribute as much food and labor as possible. His main focus, however, is creating an original and unexpected experience. Diners who order the uni carbonara are often shocked at the lack of an orange, tongue-like piece of sea urchin atop their pasta.

Instead, the fresh uni is blended into a cream so it’s tasted in every bite. “We want to surprise our guests,” Chef Agazzi explains.

Those looking for Chef Bottura’s signature dishes will be pleased to find the tortellini with Parmigiano Reggiano sauce and the beloved Emilia burger, but every other menu item is Chef Agazzi’s own. The seasonal recipes reflect everything from his childhood in Lombardy and his high school teacher who motivated him to improvise, to his talent for fusing different cuisines, which he gained at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, and his newfound enthusiasm for Los Angeles’ farmers markets.

Based on positive feedback from diners and reservations consistently full, Chef Agazzi’s personal approach seems successful. “They are really understanding what we are doing,” he raves. “When you arrive in a new country, you never know, but actually there is a big food culture here, too.”

In fact, Chef Agazzi has acclimated rather well to the West Coast. “With all the produce and wine, California is very similar to Italy,” he muses. “I’ve lived in Sydney, Singapore, Melbourne, London, Paris, Bucharest... but right now, here, I feel like I’m home.” Perhaps that means he’ll stay.

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THE PASTRY

S E C T I O N

PASTRY CHEF Words by Ashley Day

Isabel Coss

is Making Ice Cream in D.C. 32

I N D E C E M B E R , C O S M E PA S T R Y C H E F I S A B E L C O S S A N N O U N C E D H E R D E PA R T U R E F R O M T H E FA M E D M E X I C A N R E S TA U R A N T A S E X E C U T I V E C H E F D A N I E L A S O T O - I N N E S E X I T E D S I M U LTA N E O U S LY.

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After what Instagram indicates was an inspiring visit home in Mexico, Isabel joined her husband, Matt Conroy, in Washington, D.C., where he’s opened French neo bistro Lutece, named after Paris and a New York City’s restaurant legacy.

While the pastry chef is indeed spending time in the kitchen, contributing to the natural wine list and even running errands, her focus is on the next project: ice cream R&D. Though that may sound like a departure from her picture-perfect plated desserts at Cosme and Atla, it’s also a work of art.

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during the day and culinary school at night, until she turned 18 and was put in charge of bread at the restaurant.

“Mexican bread is so fun,” she says. “We always have memes in Mexico about how French and Mexican breads have the same basis, but ours come with sprinkles, colors, sugars, flowers, all the shapes.”

Inspired by Mexican bakeries, Isabel was honored to be trusted with the specialty.

“We wanted to do something with Mexican flavors and the basis of all of these flavors are important ingredients from brands that we really, really love,” she explains. “When you move out of your country, you connect with your country so much.”

“I think when you start young and someone gives you an opportunity, you just work so hard trying to prove yourself,” she says of the experience. “You don’t know what you’re doing, but you just learn and learn.”

Isabel grew up in Mexico and got an internship at Enrique Olvera’s globally recognized Pujol at 17-years-old. She was attending university

After a year crafting those colorful carbs she moved to New York intending to enroll in culinary school but met Alex Stupak a week after

PASTRY CHEF ISABEL COSS

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he opened the first Empellon, started pastry with his wife, Lauren Resler, and officially became the pastry chef in 2013.

“We all wanted to learn Danish food and how to ferment things, pickle things, use sourdough starter…”

“This opportunity came and I thought working for Alex Stupak was the best school for me at the time,” Isabel explains. “I admired Alex Stupak for years and I had been following his career. When I learned he was opening a Mexican restaurant it felt like fate — right moment, right time, right everything. I saw a post on Facebook that they were hiring, I went to the kitchen and met them, I had a trail, and I started working with them. It was a lot of fun.”

Gunnar Gíslason and Claus Meyer were opening Agern in Grand Central, and Isabel joined as the pastry chef for a couple years. “It was like a super project. It was a food hall, a restaurant and a school in Brownsville, Brooklyn, all focusing on teaching kids how to cook,” she explains. “They came with all these models of Danish restaurants. It was a no-tipping restaurant, we worked four days, we had a paid day to go work in a nonprofit, education classes… There was so much support from the restaurant. That’s when I learned the restaurant industry can change and it has to and there are ways to do it. More than the food, I wanted to learn the whole system and how those things can be possible.”

Isabel ultimately stayed with the group for five years, opening three restaurants. In 2016, she was excited about New York City’s food scene, describing an influx of new chefs and concepts to explore.

“There were so many opportunities in this new field that I thought after cooking for all this time, I wanted a new challenge,” she says.

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PASTRY CHEF ISABEL COSS

Agern earned a Michelin star and three stars from The New York Times.

Meanwhile, Daniela Soto-Innes was making a name for herself at Cosme, Enrique’s Michelin-starred concept in New York. Daniela and

Isabel had become best friends since Daniela moved to the city and long considered working together.

to this new wave of cooks and new wave of cooking, respect for food, respect for people of color’s food... It’s incredible.”

“I think we had some mezcales,” Isabel laughs, remembering the party where she was persuaded to take the next step. “I jumped into Cosme full-on for almost three years. It was incredible.”

Matt was already in D.C. opening his restaurant, and Isabel was opening another restaurant with Enrique and Daniela at The Wynn Las Vegas, when the pandemic hit.

Isabel’s pastries showcased Mexican ingredients like blue corn, tamarind and pasilla mixe chili peppers, tropical fruits from kiwi to coconut, and of course, there was plenty of pan dulce. She highlights attending the World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards in Singapore, where Cosme made No. 23 on the list and Daniela was named The World’s Best Female Chef 2019, and female chefs beginning to run businesses in New York.

“In this industry we pride ourselves on adaptability — 100 covers, we can do it… restaurant week, brunch, someone called out, one chef can do it…

Suddenly in the pandemic, things were so big that we couldn’t adapt to them, and suddenly we had to rethink all of it.”

“I love this industry and I think it has evolved so much and grown so much, and I feel so lucky that I have been in New York to see it all happen,” Isabel says. “To witness it firsthand and in some part contribute

Isabel and Matt chose to pursue a more family-oriented life in D.C. together.

“He works so hard. I’m just trying to be as supportive as I can with him,” she says of helping at Lutece. “If I can be a cheerleader for a little bit for 37

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PASTRY CHEF ISABEL COSS

a person that I think’s super talented and I respect, admire and love, I find a lot of joy in that.”

When Isabel relocated, locals like restaurateur Daniella Senior of Bresca, Colada Shop, Serenata and Zumo, and Chef Paolo Dungca of Pogiboy, reached out.

“I think the community in D.C. is smaller but it has a lot of heart and a lot of love and a lot of respect,” Isabel says after only a few months. “I felt so welcome that there’s no point in being sad about something else when suddenly there’s more support in a new place. That support comes from years, having friends in the industry and all that, but once you feel it, you know it’s worth it.”

She is looking at spaces for an ice cream concept but starting with retail after two Mexican friends reportedly ate the treat throughout the shutdown in New York City and relayed a perceived void of Mexican flavors.

“There are good ice creams because I’ve been testing all of the ice creams that are in the market, but we’re missing that Mexican

cinnamon spice, the ground chocolate of Mexico,” Isabel explains, reminding us of her Mexican chocolate dessert with cacao at Cosme.

“In the U.S., we buy Mexican chocolate spiced with cinnamon salt and chiles, but very few times are you going to find chocolate with chiles in Mexico. I’m trying to make the ingredients shine through good techniques.”

She’s supporting smaller family companies that are making Mexican chocolate, coffee and honey. “Let’s do it with the best quality hot sambali milk,” Isabel says of the creative process. “Let’s mix what we are, a cultural blend made of love. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

She plans to debut four retail flavors this year and hopes customers are tasting each Mexican flavor in a brick and mortar eventually.

“Traveling is so important (— not right now),” Isabel concludes. “You reconnect with those roots and suddenly it seems ridiculous to be in another country knowing you can support something and you can choose things that will support others.”

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Words by Stephanie Loo and Maki Yazawa Photos by Ben Hon for With Warm Welcome and courtesy of RE:Her

Edible Activism Culinary professionals collaborate on causes

THE VISION FOR WITH WARM WELCOME HAS BEEN TO AMPLIFY AND HUMANIZE ASIAN AMERICAN CHEFS, R E S TA U R AT E U R S AND FOUNDERS

BY PRODUCING

PASTRY CHEFS CREATE TO

STOP AAPI HATE

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PODCASTS, PROGRAMMING EXPERIENTIAL EVENTS A N D C R E AT I N G MEANINGFUL C O L L A B O R AT I O N S .

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Stephanie Loo, an avid podcast listener and Pastry & Baking Arts student at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE), stumbled upon With Warm Welcome’s podcast and reached out to the founder, Arnold Byun, via Instagram asking if there was any way to get involved. In mid-March, he responded with the idea of a Bakers Box, inspired by the efforts of Bakers Against Racism in 2020.

Here, she shares that experience.

forward in the world of pastry. The boxes showcase the breadth of both emerging and established Asian American pastry people.

Not only have we had the opportunity to give a platform to these pastry chefs, but we’ve also impacted the AAPI community at large through this project, giving a percentage of proceeds from each box to nonprofit organizations such as Apex for Youth and One Book One World.

By the last day in March, Volume 1 of the Bakers Box project was a huge success.

The idea behind Bakers Box was to provide a medium to share the stories of talented individuals who are creating their own paths

The time between our initial call, when we were floating the still amorphous idea around, to the day of Bakers Box pick-ups was only about two weeks. We were working around the clock to coordinate with all 18

bakers and pastry chefs we featured, design marketing content and have illustrations drawn, and figure out all the logistics, operations details and packaging. It was an ambitious timeline but we pulled it off through a herculean effort from our small but dedicated team at With Warm Welcome.

We debuted Volume 1 in New York City, Volume 2 in Los Angeles, and have many more cities lined up for the coming months including Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and San Francisco, to name a few.

Many ICE and ICC alumni, who I have admired for years, were featured in our first

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two boxes including Joy Cho of Joy Cho Pastry and Shari Tanaka of Gramercy Tavern. I also had a chance to be one of the bakers in the initial box, along with my friend and fellow Pastry & Baking Arts student, Ying Ting Hu. We’ve been so overwhelmed by the amount of support we’ve received from everyone involved in the project: Valrhona generously donated chocolate for the LA Bakers Box; Cha An Bon Bon, Steep LA and Paulie Gee's Logan Square graciously opened up their spaces to host us; the Los Angeles Times and Infatuation New York wrote about our project.

In each of our first two cities, we made 100 boxes and sold out within 48 hours. Though what we’re providing is a box of sweets, it’s much more powerful than that. There is boundless Asian American talent across the 44

country, and it’s a huge privilege to play a role in showcasing these individuals and their stories, which can be overlooked. Especially in light of the recent anti-Asian violence across the country, this project has been particularly meaningful to me.

BAKERS BENEFIT OTHER CAUSES The ICE community has participated in similarly sweet activism: Pastry & Baking Arts Chef-Instructor Joseph Settepani contributed to New York Magazine's The Cookie Edit, a box of a dozen cookies from bakers around the city benefitting ROAR (Restaurants Organizing, Advocating & Rebuilding); ICE alum Bisma Akhtar (Pastry, '19) participated in Bakers Against Racism in June; and Pastry & Baking Arts Chef-Instructor Tracy Wilk

started #bakeitforward delivering cookies to frontline workers in 2020.

FEMALES ENTREPRENEURS EMPOWER One of the most intriguing and inspiring developments that came about amid the circumstances in the industry amid 2020 was the formation of the Los Angeles organization called Regarding Her (RE:Her).

Evidently, "hardship brings people closer together if you share it," as UCLA’s basketball coach John Wooden once said. Re:Her is a "nonprofit devoted to the advancement and empowerment of women restaurateurs."

According to the organization’s mission statement, participants “strive to create opportunities for connection and success

in 2017. The additional founders include Sylvie Gabriele (Love & Salt), Bricia Lopez (Guelaguetza), Mary Sue Milliken (Border Grill, Socalo and BBQ Mexicana), Kimberly Prince (Hotville Chicken), Dina Samson (Rossoblu and Superfine Pizza), and Brittney Valles (Guerrilla Tacos).

In January 2021, the organization hosted its inaugural festival on the anniversary of the 2017 Women’s March. Almost 100 womenowned restaurants participated in the 10-day event, collaborating with other female chefs, offering themed menus and facilitating conversations among female leaders in the industry. Diners had the opportunity to win a gift bag by filling the festival passport with stamps and receipts from 10 participating restaurants.

by way of programs that support, unite and uplift female food and beverage entrepreneurs in Los Angeles and beyond.”

The group offers its members opportunities such as grants for women-owned culinary businesses, has industry-focused resources for education and networking, hosts virtual and physical events to promote women in food and beverage, and represents women restaurateurs in the industry.

“In fall 2020, nine women restaurant owners joined forces to support the female hospitality leaders of LA and drive business to women-owned restaurants in a time of need,” explains Heather Sperling, the coowner of Botanica. “The response has been wonderful. The support, enthusiasm and engagement is incredible.”

The founding female restaurateurs all boast impressive backgrounds and business acumen. Sandra Cordero opened Gasolina Cafe in 2015 in Woodland Hills.

The restaurant serves Spanish-influenced foods like patatas bravas and pan con tomate that honor her native roots from Spain. Heather Sperling, the co-owner of Botanica, a restaurant and market in Silver Lake, provides “nourishing hospitality” and aims to promote respect, equality, inclusivity and healthfulness in every aspect of her business.

Lien Ta is the co-owner of All Day Baby, a feel-good restaurant with the soul of a diner in Silver Lake, and Here’s Looking At You in Koreatown, which was named Restaurant of the Year by Food & Wine magazine

With a tremendous response from the public, Re:Her has nearly 200 members today. “We're working hard to create more events and resources to support them!”

Heather exclaims. Though the organization originated in LA, Heather points out that there has been a lot of interest from female restaurateurs outside of the area. “We hope to serve as a model for ways local restaurant communities can connect and mobilize [in their area]," she says. “In fact, female restaurateurs of San Luis Obispo County recently created a March festival inspired by RE:Her, called At Her Table."

Re:Her has set the stage for groundbreaking advancements for women in a male-dominant industry. Heather advises that donations help support the organization's small-business grant program, saying: "We’ve got lots in the works — all intended to support LA’s women restaurateurs and encourage the public to eat their spectacular food."

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INTERNATIONAL CHEF Words Andrew Richardson Camera Food Story Media & Clare Smyth

CLARE SMYTH U K 3 M I C H E L I N S TA R THERE ARE TWO QUESTIONS WE DON’T NEED TO ASK. CLARE SMYTH I N T R O D U C E S T H E S U B J E C T S T H AT P E O P L E M I G H T I M A G I N E T O B E T H E M O S T FA S C I N AT I N G : G E N D E R A N D G O R D O N R A M S AY. Y E T, I N T R U T H , T H E Y A R E A M O N G T H E L E A S T I N T E R E S T I N G I N H E R S T O R Y. S U R E , S H E L E D R E S TA U R A N T G O R D O N R A M S AY, I N C H E L S E A , A N D R E TA I N E D T H R E E S TA R S . S U R E , S H E W A S NAMED THE BEST FEMALE CHEF IN THE WORLD. BUT THE BACK STORY TO T H AT I S W H AT ’ S R E A L LY I N T E R E S T I N G . H O W S H E G O T T H E R E , W H Y S H E S T U C K I T O U T, W H AT M O T I VAT E D H E R T O G O I T A L O N E AT C O R E – T H O S E Q U E S T I O N S P R O V I D E T H E K E Y I N S I G H T S , R AT H E R T H A N A D I N T O F B I R T H , A C A S E O F C H R O M O S O M E S O R S O M E B O D Y E L S E ’ S N A M E F L A S H I N G U P O N H E R C V.

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And while we talk about being a female cook and wider, more interesting issues surrounding diversity, and while she brings up the subject of Gordon Ramsay and talks about that to the nth, what is really captivating is what led her to this and what will fuel her quest to secure a third star. For if there’s one British chef who might attract smart money at the bookies, it is Clare Smyth.

She is bang on time, to the second. The phone goes and she’s on the other end of the line. Time is unlimited, we talk until we’ve covered all bases, until she’s explained herself in her own words, unpacked the details of her remarkable career.

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We know plenty before we begin. She grew up on a farm in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, before moving to England at the age of 16. From that age, she showed an uncompromising devotion to her craft, training in some of the most celebrated kitchens in the world, with stages at both The Fat Duck and The Waterside Inn. In her time as Chef Patron at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Hospital Road, her many awards included 10/10 in the Good Food Guide, five AA rosettes and an MBE for services to the hospitality industry. She also won the Cateys Chef of the Year Award 2016 and Michelin Female Chef 2017.

It was a long ascent to the summit at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, where she began in 2002 before eventually becoming head chef

and in 2013 winning The Good Food Guide’s Chef of the Year. She opened Core in August 2017 and achieved extraordinary recognition, securing two Michelin stars and a raft of awards. It wasn’t enough, of course, for a chef who’d spent many years at the pass of a three-star establishment and her relentless work to improve was continuing until March.

“Those three months were pretty horrible, to say the least. Those three months of not knowing what was happening were pretty stressful.” Not knowing what was going to happen was the worst part, though Smyth re-opened on July 4th, as soon as she was able.

“We were only two-and-a-half years old. We’d had a phenomenal couple of years. We had a three-month waiting list with extraordinary success. But closure takes you from hero to zero. We didn’t know if we could keep the team but thankfully we’ve brought all of the staff back.

We have amazing guests and we’re able to continue. But we have no control over what will happen. Even for the strongest of businesses, there were times during lockdown when I wondered if I’d have to walk away from it. It felt like the end of our industry as we knew it.”

She weathered the storm. Each day is a bonus as we head towards winter. She takes each service as it comes and is striving to get her 49

restaurant back into a great position. Being based in Notting Hill helps.

The area has a village-feel and is well supported by locals. Core was a restaurant that was 20 years in the making and her regulars from Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and Core continue to show support.

She enjoyed creating Core, putting her imprint on a stylish space. “That was always bubbling under. I wanted to create something from scratch.

I loved every day at Royal Hospital Road but I’d been there for a long time and couldn’t really do any more than I’d already done. It was about proving to myself that I could be an independent business owner.”

She found the site, negotiated the lease, worked with interior designers and worked within a modest budget. “There were no big backers, a lot was on my shoulders.” It was enough, just about. The success provided her with the opportunity to re-invest and upgrade. She had silver cutlery, stunning glassware and handmade plates. She hired Bridget Riley artwork initially, being able to purchase it once revenues allowed. A cellar was up50

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graded, as were tables and chairs. “You never stop investing or improving if it’s your own, you always want to keep moving forward.”

She felt honoured to receive so many accolades within 12 months.

Knowing that people had faith in what she was doing provided her with vindication. Though she’d worked in 3-star restaurants for 15 years, it was reassuring to know that people rated her. “It was a big relief, in a lot of ways. I was coming from the very, very top level and taking a big risk, reputationally. Opening a new restaurant is horrible. You come from being at the very top to the very bottom. It’s humbling. It’s a new team, new ideas, new menu. I left 10 years’ worth of work on the menu at Royal Hospital Road.”

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But she was ready for the challenge. She started to work with humbler ingredients. Having cooked with ingredients representing the pinnacle of luxury, she traded white truffle for potatoes, foie gras for carrots. “It’s easier to be judged on lobster or black truffle than an onion or a potato.

The skill level and creativity that you have to require turning an onion into something spectacular takes a lot more effort than it would if you’re working with a scallop.”

Smyth’s Britishness shone through. She wanted to support Britain, its culture and its heritage. She chose British brands for tableware, rather than French, seeking out those artisans who create exceptional products, just as she does. “I really wanted to find something British. We

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found cutlery, silverware that were absolutely stunning. They might be out of vogue, but the skill level is incredible and it’s about protecting jobs and raising the profile of businesses that trace back 200 or 300 years.

It’s about celebrating our heritage and protecting our skills.”

Building a team was imperative. Smyth was committed to training and opted for eight services per week, rather than ten. Each Wednesday lunch is dedicated to training front and back of house. Team members give presentations – and continued to during lockdown, for three hours per day. “That education is huge. Education is power, it’s confidence.

We wanted to create well-rounded individuals.” That confidence flows through when staff are at the table, or in the kitchen. Team members

know every little detail about what goes on, they become ambassadors for their chef-patron.

“I feel quite strongly that this is a brilliant profession. It’s so much more respected in France and Italy, I want that her.”

She’s no longer a shouter, though she had her moments. Coming from the background that she inhabited for so many years inevitably rubbed off. “Everybody knows what Restaurant Gordon Ramsay is like. It’s a pretty tough environment. Things have moved on, times change and I’ve also grown up. The industry has evolved tremendously over the last ten years, for the better.

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“Certainly now, it’s very, very rare that I would raise my voice. I don’t really see that as something I’m proud of. Go back 15 years and people were proud of that bravado. The training that we put into the guys means that’s not necessary. They know what they are doing, they know what they should be doing and when.”

of me though. They buy into the culture that we all create. As an industry, we need to be seen to be open to diversity in all respects.

There has to be a culture where everybody feels comfortable to be themselves.”

Smyth likes to see the character of her employees. She isn’t interested Diversity is key, irrespective of gender, race or background. Equality is all. in the sort of heads-down, don’t-talk-to-your-neighbour ethos of the former Royal Hospital Road. Automatons are out. Individualism is in. “I didn’t want the robotic stuff. We didn’t even talk to the guys next to us at “It’s incredibly important to us. We’re almost 50-50 gender balRoyal Hospital Road. I wanted to see smiles. I wanted personality. Each anced, which is something I’m proud of. A lot more women apply individuals character is so important. There has to be an enjoyment of because it’s me, but that’s not why they stay. But my restaurant coming to work.” manager and head chef are males. They’re not staying because 57

Yet Royal Hospital Road was the making of her. She threw herself into it. She stuck it out when it would have been easy to leave. It was, at the time, the best restaurant. She figured if she couldn’t handle that, how could she seriously contemplate being successful in her own right? It was dog eat dog, chefs were incredibly driven. It toughened her up and gave her the tools she needed to open her own restaurant. She learned how to deal with pressure and handle people. She spent three-and-ahalf years there before leaving for Monaco, learning to speak French, and once more working to three stars. She would have been happy to clean the floor, she just wanted to learn and improve. “Honestly, for what I learned, I could have paid them. Same at Royal Hospital Road.

Start at the bottom and work your way through, show how good you are. Positions don’t hold you down. If you are good at what you do, you are quickly accepted.”

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She retuned to Royal Hospital Road, ascending to the top. “Gordon has always been very supportive, even in the early days. I remember being a chef de partie, he had faith in me then. He told me I was undoubtedly talented but I was a young woman. He said: ‘Margaret Thatcher was a young woman once and she led the country.’ He was a mentor who helped and supported. People don’t see that side of Gordon, he was an incredible leader and always looked after us. He looked after us at Christmas when we had no money, he looked after us. I speak to him about pretty much everything, to this day. I have this incredible person with amazing experience. He told me he’d achieved more than he thought he’d ever achieve and all he wanted to do now was support those who’d been loyal to him.”

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Food was ever in Smyth’s blood. In Country Antrim, she learned to cook as a girl. Everything was made fresh with great ingredients, nothing came from a can. The kids in her home had chores: hers was cooking for family and farm workers. She gained respect for farmers, who work 365 days per year and don’t count the hours. “We still have a long way to go in understanding the work that goes into our food, as a society.”

In her school holidays, she worked in a local restaurant, earning £1 per hour, and realised then that she wanted to cook to Michelin standard.

She was 15. Her artistic nature led her to the bright lights of London and, other than her sojourn to Monaco, she never left.

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“I’ve always been naturally competitive, I think. I loved horse riding and show jumping when I was younger. Independence was also a big thing.

I wanted to make my own way in the world and be successful in my own right. Life is short.”

Her obsessive personality, her attention to detail, her drive to succeed have led to Core. Meticulous, hard-working, tough as old boots, nothing will stop her. The story of Core is not yet written. In the UK Michelin Guide 2021, Clare was awarded her third star, which came as no surprise and a huge delight to the global industry. There are more awards to win, more guests to please. Smyth, you imagine, will achieve all of that and more.

THE MEAT

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Texas Meat Beyond Prime Beef

Steve McHugh’s Curing

and Smoking Texas Terroir

STEVE MCHUGH DOESN’T NEED A STEAKHOUSE TO S H O W C A S E T E X A S M E AT S I N S A N A N T O N I O . H E ’ S B E E N N O M I N AT E D F O R F I V E J A M E S B E A R D A W A R D S F O R H I S W O R K AT C U R E D , I N T H E C I T Y ’ S H I S T O R I C P E A R L D I S T R I C T, W H E R E H E R I TA G E H O G P O U T I N E A N D H I L L C O U N T R Y L E G O F L A M B A R E P R E C E D E D B Y H I S S I G N AT U R E C H A R C U T E R I E S P R E A D S .

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When the pandemic hit last year, there was a period of pivoting for the mainstream. The chef, his partner and the general manager were cleaning out freezers to offer curbside pickup with whatever food was left, and his charcuterie case dwindled down to a few hams.

“I didn’t have the labor to get whole hogs on salt because we were working around the clock,” he recalls. “It was the first time that we tried just dry aging beef and offering steaks. It’s been a huge money maker for us.”

Now, he’s offering two beef cuts: a 30- to 45day dry-age ribeye from Peeler Ranch and a whole black angus strip loin from 44 Farms.

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“It’s as simple as buying really good subprimals, drying them out and putting them in our cooler. We used to cure at about 55 F at 60% humidity. I keep the humidity the same, but adjust it down to 45-48 F. We don’t want funk. I figured 55 F was going to be too swampy for the beef and steaks. It does slow down our charcuterie a little bit, but we’re able to work around that. It’s been gangbusters.”

Cured displays the strip loin in its case for 30 days with a name plate that the customer can customize. Diners come in for a meal and watch their meat age before picking up the seven or eight cleaned and cut strip steaks with a quart of house bordelaise made with the trimmings.

“We’ve all had to rethink what we’re doing and it’s been really fun,” Steve says. “We did a big promotion for Valentine’s Day and sold 15 of them for $250 each. It’s about 50% cost for us, but there’s no labor involved. We cut it and give it away. We don’t have to cook it, season it, plate it, serve it. It works out really well. They take it home in a chilled box. They can freeze it, whatever they want. It’s been popular.”

Meanwhile he was preparing for the March opening of Landrace in the new Thompson hotel downtown, where he serves Texas ingredients around a mesquite wood-fire grill.

“I always had this idea for an anti-steakhouse — for lack of a better term,” he explains. “I’ve never

been a fan, as a business owner, of the model.

I know steakhouses do extremely well, but it doesn’t excite me to be very basic with a list of steaks and a list of vegetables and potatoes.”

adapt to their terroir. We focus on things that people might not realize grow in Texas or never thought were edible, like a mesquite bean.”

He is sourcing a prime angus/wagyu cross breed from Peeler Ranch in Floresville, Berkshire and red wattle pigs from Peaceful Pork in Dinero, and more Texas ingredients from olive oil to peaches, pequin peppers and prickly pear.

Beyond terroir, or perhaps adjacent to it, the concept combines Texas history and Steve’s personal story. The chef grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, the root of his connection to agriculture, and worked for John Besh in New Orleans for a decade, relocating to San Antonio to open an outpost of Luke.

“The whole idea behind Landrace is Texas terroir. Products, whether an heirloom piece of produce or a heritage animal, are better because of place, right? They adapt to their surroundings, they adapt to their climate, they

Steve was diagnosed with lymphoma right before the move and underwent a year of treatment upon arriving in Texas. San Antonio is where he was cured, inspiring the name of his first solo concept — Cured, where he cures

meat — and the city lured him away from New Orleans for having many of the same draws.

“I’m a bit of a history buff and when I tell people that San Antonio is the same age as New Orleans, they’re often shocked by that,” he explains. “Americans have this tendency to think New Orleans is the oldest city, but both are 303 this year. There are so many parallels between the two cities that I love — settled by some of the same people, have a lot of the same influences, it’s cool. I really enjoy it. I love traveling around the state learning about the different cities and regions.”

The New Orleanian-turned-Texan weaves what he learns into his hospitality.

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“More than 200 years ago, Texas had this wide-open range to graze cattle. The cattle drives from Texas to Montana were searches for grazing land. That’s the story of how mesquite got so prolific. It’s very detrimental to the land, the root system can go 60-feet-wide by 200-feet-deep. It can tap the water table and choke out a lot of plants around it. When the cattle came through they were eating the crap out of these mesquite beans and depositing them around the state. We didn’t start smoking with it until the ‘50s because somebody was like, ‘We’ve gotta do something about this. It’s everywhere.’ The native huntergatherers in the area would eat the beans because they’re so sweet, almost sugar-like, which is why the cattle like them so much.”

Now he’s using mesquite chips and beans at both restaurants.

“Four or five years ago, I started playing with the beans at Cured and using them in a lot of recipes. Low and behold, they’re amazing to work with. It’s like working with powdered caramel or coconut. It’s got this amazing sweet flavor that’s really umami-rich, and it’s a lot of fun to use.”

Mesquite chips flavor about 75% of the menu at Landrace, even a salad and cheese plate, imparting smoke and wood with the grill.

“I fell in love with that term Landrace and understanding a little bit more about dealing with things in your region,” Steve explains of the name, which refers to a species or breed adapting to the conditions of a particular place.

“Even cattle aren’t native to Texas, but some breeds do extremely well in Texas. When I moved from New Orleans, my career started going really well, so I’m kind of ‘landrace.’”

Graciously admitting that the front-of-house staff at this new concept is still skeptical of Steve’s approach, he describes “preaching the gospel” of all this connectivity for the last eight years at Cured.

“I love talking about the history of our region; why things are so important; why we should eat locally, purchase locally and keep our money local; and eat those things that are in our area to help our bodies,” he explains.

“I learned a lot going through a year-long battle with cancer about how food and how we treat our bodies is so important. I’d never really thought like that before. Even as a chef, it didn’t really occur to me. All through the ‘90s 68

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and the 2000s, it was all about who can have the fanciest ingredients on their menu, who can have that abalone, caviar, fish from the Mediterranean or whatever it was. That was what it was to be a badass chef, and I had to think about who it was I wanted to be really as a teacher. That’s what a chef is, right? We’re teaching, not just our employees, but our customers too.”

Cured customers making their own charcuterie boards at home is evidence of this education.

When Steve and his wife, Sylvia, opened the concept in 2013, charcuterie could still be perceived as exotic or unapproachable in a suburban place like south-central Texas. Now, as the restaurant implemented retail amid the pandemic, locals are picking up quarter pounds of bresaola, hams, pork belly and salami, along with house-made pickles, mustards and marmalades.

Steve’s evolving charcuterie plates are the ubiquitous introductions to most meals in the dining room, and the chef donates $1 from each plate to a designated nonprofit each month. The most popular cured meats are the most approachable, and from the chef’s perspective, most consistent because they are easy enough for any of his sous chefs to prepare.

The coppa is a tube of round muscle with a high fat-to-meat ratio. “As a chef-owner, I love it because we’re not wasting anything, and it’s one of my favorite things to eat because the fat is spiraled through the muscle,” he explains, crediting Peaceful Pork for the quality of the meat.

“These pigs are so well taken care of that people will come to Landrace, get the pork chop and say it’s the best they’ve ever had in their life. Loncito Cartwright is a pig rancher who gives a crap, and we respect the pork and take care of it. It’s a great relationship.”

Steve says when Cured switched to Loncito’s products a couple of years into business, it made a world of difference.

“He has hundreds upon hundreds of acres so I love going down and seeing the operation because the pigs are out being pigs in a wideopen space, not confined to pins or concrete floors or any of that. The mothers aren’t trapped in farrowing crates, they just go out in the field and have their litter. It’s as natural as can be, which makes for a better product.”

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Another bestseller from these pigs, rillettes, have proven approachable as a simple pork spread with South Texas flavors. “We confit pork in its own fat with apples and jalapenos and then whip it with the fat and remaining pork stock. You get a really nice spicy, sweet flavor.”

“My a.m. sous chef will rinse it off first thing and dry it out on a speed rack for an hour or two and that helps develop a nice dry pellicle so the smoke adheres better,” Steve explains of the restaurant’s proprietary cure and aging process.

The third popular product may benefit from its pork-related name: smoked duck ham. “It’s the pig of the sky,” Steve says. “It has amazing fat and takes smoke and spice extremely well.”

“We’re getting better at it all the time.

You can’t treat a pork loin like you treat a piece of beef because the fat structure is very different, and they’re going to cure at different times for different lengths.

Beef cures extremely fast because of the intramuscular fat whereas pork is covered in fat but not necessarily intramuscular. It takes a while for that natural osmosis of the salt to pull out the moisture. I’m constantly

Tender and flavorful, it’s hard to mess up but easy to over cure. Cooks cover what’s essentially duck bacon with the cure and set a timer for 12 hours so the next shift can come in, rinse the cure off and smoke the meat really low.

learning about that. Salami will always keep you on your toes… If you’re grinding, whole muscle’s a lot easier than ground… I learn a lot about what length to case things at, how long each meat should cure or stay in the case. I’m always surprised when something comes out and is amazing. I just get excited about it. I still haven’t lost that passion for it. I love it.”

Now he’s dividing his passions between curing, smoking and grilling, honoring Texas’ history by conceptually preparing its products.

“I’m taking things that are extremely familiar to people and adding that smoke and grill element and getting them to rethink what a steakhouse could be.”

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Liver Let Die IS THIS THE END OF FOIE GRAS?

IN 2006, CHICAGO BECAME THE FIRST MAJOR U.S. CITY TO BAN THE SALE OF FOIE GRAS. 2 YEARS FOLLOWING, THE LAW WAS OVERTURNED, BEFORE A FURTHER BAN IN 2012, REVERSED AGAIN IN 2015, AND THEN B A C K A G A I N I N 2 0 1 7 . T O D AY T H E B A N O N F O I E G R A S I S A C R O S S T H E W H O L E O F C A L I F O R N I A , A N D I N N E W Y O R K C I T Y. 72

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Whichever way you look at it, Foie Gras is controversial. And, as with many other elements of our lives, things change over time. Consumer’s preferences change. Diners are more interested in welfare, fair pricing, sustainability, provenance and waste than ever before.

Our British friends are facing a similar threat to the serving of traditional Foie Gras in the UK and again, it was almost inevitable. Whether Chef and Diners in the UK agree with it, or not, it is looking highly likely that the sale of Foie Gras into Britain will be banned.

Since the early 2000’s, it has been illegal in the EU, to practice force-feeding or gavage 74

to produce Foie Gras as animal welfare laws were passed to prevent any animal to “suffer unnecessarily”. In truth, challenging the traditional practice of Foie Gras production had been simmering away as far back as 1936 in Germany. The passing of the modern legislation was welcomed by animal welfare organisations but, as the UK was still in the European Union, a complete ban on the import of Foie Gras to the UK was not possible.

On Saturday, March 6th Animal Welfare Minister Lord Goldsmith proposed to introduce a ban on importing Foie Gras to the UK within months - now they have left the EU. Applauding the Queen’s grocer of choice Fortnum & Mason for

their announcement that they would no longer stock Foie Gras last month, Lord Goldsmith is backed by senior government ministers George Eustice and Henry Smith, with celebrities such as Twiggy, Joanna Lumley and Ricky Gervais also adding weight behind the cause.

There has been a slow decline in the amount of Foie Gras being imported into the UK over recent years. In the 1980s, the UK made its way through 2000 metric tonnes of the stuff, today that figure sits at around 100 metric tonnes.

Whichever way you look at it, and regardless of your own opinion, it is becoming clear that many consumers are just not comfortable with

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traditional Foie Gras. It’s not about flavor, it’s about ethics. It is the way the world is turning and the banning of traditional Foie Gras was always just around the corner. I fully imagine this will be followed next in the UK with the humane killing of shellfish, banning the practice of boiling them alive. This has already happened in Switzerland, Austria, Norway and New Zealand. Diners are becoming more and more concerned with animal welfare, so will choose accordingly and demonstrate with where, and what, they spend their dollar on.

But Foie Gras? That flavor. Unique, easily identifiable. A reassuring flavor enhancer, a reliable ingredient that adds something so

unctuous and delectable to a dish. A starter of choice on many restaurants, those stunning, vein free Terrines, with Warm Brioche and Quince – the skill that goes into making something so classical and accomplished, yet is actually loads of work. Foie Gras will be missed.

BUT DOES IT HAVE TO BE? For Chefs in the UK, no. As many European countries, including Germany, began the process of banning forced feeding or Gavage of animals, the team at Foie Royale were prompted to start an investigation into how they could produce a product that tasted, and behaved, as traditional Foie Gras - but could be made from natural livers harvested from birds raised for their meat.

Free range, outdoor bred birds, raised for meat production, with no force feeding necessary.

Working with several renowned research institutions including DIL, The Institute of Food Technology, the impossible question of how to combine the bird’s natural liver with its fat to make a product that looks, feel and tastes as good as Foie Gras. Through years of extensive research, the problem was solved.

On first look, the finished Foie Royale product seems essentially to be a parfait, or perfectly formed terrine. However, it is more than that.

The texture, melt in the mouth feeling and flavor are the same as Foie Gras. The behaviour 77

in the pan, and its reaction to heat - equal to that of the traditional Foie. This is no gimmick; this is not a ‘laboratory-grown’ product. It is neither fake, nor fraud. This is a bunch of super clever scientists establishing exactly how the traditional Gavage process altered a birds’ liver and then discovering a way to recreate the same process, outside of the animal.

Foie Royale is revolutionary, Heston Blumenthal clever. Rethink and re-imagine. Undo an ingredient and put it back together. This is a 78

solution. This is keeping everything we love about Foie Gras on our menus, and in our recipes. This is not having to be concerned that your diners have strong opinions on the welfare of traditional Foie Gras Ducks and Geese. Because the birds used in Foie Royale are free to roam, raised outdoors and free from force feeding.

Traditional Foie Gras may be off the menu very soon in the UK, but the qualities of the ingredient will still available in an ethical, chef friendly solution.

It will only be a matter of time before chefs and diners across the USA have the opportunity to still enjoy the flavor of traditional Foie, with a clear conscience.

Bob Dylan sang ‘the times they are a changin’.

The world is changing and our diners are changing too. But in this instance, where some may bemoan the loss of traditional Foie Gras, I am afraid that it is and always was, inevitable in the UK. Whether the whole of the USA follows suit, we will see.

THE FISH

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Words Ashley Day Photos by Melissa Hom

EDOMAE

BY AN EDOKKO Chef Kunihide Nakajima’s Fish Philosophy

A F T E R M O R E T H A N 3 0 Y E A R S O F E X P E R I E N C E AT S U S H I R E S TA U R A N T S I N T O K Y O A N D M A N H AT TA N , KUNIHIDE “NAKAJI” NAKAJIMA DEBUTED HIS NAMESAKE R E S TA U R A N T D U R I N G T H E M O N T H W E ’ L L N E V E R F O R G E T: M A R C H 2 0 2 0 . F O R T U N AT E LY T H E M Y S T E R I O U S W O O D E N D O O R I N A C H I N AT O W N A L L E Y A N D 1 0 - S E AT O M A K A S E B A R T H AT T O G E T H E R T R A N S P O R T FA M I L I A R D I N E R S T O TOKYO MADE AN IMPRESSION ON DISCERNING NEW Y O R K E R S B E F O R E B U S I N E S S R E L I E D O N TA K E O U T.

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Chef Nakajima has been working with fish since he was 5 years old. His father and grandfather instilled the instincts that allowed for a 13-piece omakase to be perfectly packaged for pick-up in a traditional oribako (wooden box) with bamboo leaves retaining moisture. The wine, sake and Japanese whiskey lists haven’t hurt either.

such as high-grade uni and tuna,” he says. “My family has built strong relationships over the years with dealers in Japan who can help source rare finds and have priority at these auctions.

My father (and grandfather) have built these relationships many years ago and now I work with the same dealers to source specialty items such as the No. 1 aomori uni of the week.”

Nakaji exclusively sources seafood from Tokyo’s Toyusu Market, which Chef Nakajima ranks No. 1 in Japan for its wide selection of fish. “They have the most well-known auctions for rare items

The chef trusts his dealers, who he communicates with on his standards, and the fish is flown in three times a week on Japan Airlines. Nakaji receives fresh fish 13 hours

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from when it’s purchased at the market on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and Chef Nakajima immediately breaks it down in the mornings, allocating pieces in trays for service.

“I do not slice the fish until I serve the sushi in front of the customer,” he explains. “The fish is always fresh and never left for more than a few days. We also have special equipment at the restaurant, such as a super freezer, which helps hold the ingredients’ freshness.”

The fresh, edomae-style experience features exclusive pieces that diners will only find here.

Chef Nakajima uses his family’s recipe for soft and delicious anago (freshwater eel) and his family’s curing technique for kohada (silverskinned gizzard shad). In the spring he serves specialty pieces like expensive neon flying squid, which you’ll be hard pressed to find elsewhere in the U.S., and crimson sea bream “kisu,” which requires patience and skill to prepare with tiny bones to remove.

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“When I receive the fish and ingredients, I decide on the day what to prepare for today’s omakase meal,” he explains. “I don’t like making the same appetizers every day. My approach is to respect the fish by presenting the ingredient in the best way possible.”

Chef Nakajima’s approach gained attention at Jado Sushi in Harlem, where he was the exclusive chef serving omakase at an 8-seat counter, combining local catches with imports.

“I take the same approach as a fisherman, which I practice routinely, and fish as a hobby.

I use every part of the fish from its fins to its bones for sushi preparation, broths and stocks, appetizer, and even the guts of a fish for curing,” he shares. “I’ve been working with my father since I was 5-years-old, so I’m not afraid of routine, and my daily rice preparation is done through almost muscle memory. It’s about doing the same thing, every day, over and over again until you reach perfection.”

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That daily routine has taken him from Sushi Den Ginza, Ginza and Shinjuku in Tokyo to Sushi Den in Midtown, Uogashi in the East Village and Sushi Inoue in Harlem, as revealed by sushi fans who followed him around the city as he consulted.

Now they know where to find him every night.

“I was born into this role. I am third-generation – it’s my destiny to be a sushi chef,” he says.

“It’s about legacy. My father and grandfather spent their lives doing this every day for their customers. Knowing my role and my destiny is what keeps me going.”

THE VEGETABLE

S E C T I O N

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Words Ashley Day Camera by Michelle Demuth-Bibb

Plant Paradise in the Middle of Nowhere Meet Chef Jamie Simpson, Executive Chef at the Culinary Vegetable Institute

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“ I D O N ’ T T H I N K I ’ V E E V E R TA K E N A N Y O N E O N A V I R T U A L T O U R . H O W W O U L D Y O U R AT E T H I S T O U R ? ” C H E F J A M I E S I M P S O N A S K S O N T H E S P O T T Y G O O G L E M E E T W E ’ V E J O I N E D F R O M M A N H AT TA N A N D H U R O N , O H I O . H E ' S PICKED UP THE CALL IN A FIELD OF 40 BEEHIVES SET TO HOUSE SOME 400,000 B E E S B Y T H E E N D O F T H E S E A S O N — A P R O J E C T I N C O R P O R AT I N G T H E P R O P E R T Y ’ S D I S H W A S H E R S , E V E N T C O O R D I N AT O R S A N D S E R V E R S A L I K E .

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The staff pulls the whole frame, manufactured in Amish Country, out of the hive to sell to restaurants so chefs can cut the honeycomb however they’d like to serve it. The Culinary Vegetable Institute has connected chefs with one of America’s most prominent farms for 20 years, and Jamie has fostered those relationships for nine.

“The Culinary Vegetable Institute is a place for the visiting chefs of The Chef’s Garden to unplug and ideate. It’s always been a place for research and development,” Chef Jamie explains. “I came on as a chef liaison, mainly a culinary bridge between the farmers and the restaurants we support.”

If you know Farmer Lee Jones, who appears at New York industry events in his trademark overalls, you know he has a lot of friends. Those friends used to visit his Ohio farm, where many of the city’s chefs source produce from, and stay at the closest Hampton Inn. “You’ve come all this way — and it’s a journey. You’ve pulled all these carrots out of the ground and you’re full of inspiration and you’ve got nowhere to go,” Chef Jamie describes the impetus for the retreat.

Farmer Lee and his brother Bob Jr. came up with the idea for an on-site kitchen, and in 2001, Daniel Boulud, Alain Ducasse, Chris Hastings, Thomas Keller, Rick Tramonto, Charlie Trotter and Jean-Georges Vongerichten organized sponsors to design and furnish it.

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“These were some of the pillars of the American food revolution,” Chef Jamie says of the advisory board. “Out here, in the middle of nowhere, there’s this gorgeous, gorgeous kitchen designed by Mark Stech-Novak, who does all of Jean-Georges kitchens.”

He walks me inside the log cabin that now includes an AirBnB to see the space that hosts 600 chefs a year. “One of the magic parts about this kitchen is the size of the room, the wide open kitchen, the really tall ceilings with exposed HVAC,” he says, panning past the finest equipment and cookware. Everything from the ovens to knives to pots and pans is sponsored.

For now, the room has been converted for home delivery production, reducing waste and diversifying revenue. Chef Jamie relays that Ohio was one of the first states to shut down all restaurants so The Chef’s Garden got a head start on this new business model.

“When restaurants closed we started cutting honeycomb as well as creaming honey in a really cool marshmallow texture of raw honey for home delivery and our little farmers market,” he explains. “As the flowers in the flower house keep growing and nobody’s buying them, we have been drying them and working them into things like tea or bars of soap or marmalade — anything that will turn it into a more shelf-stable product that will further support the home delivery model.”

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He shows me 300 bottles of lotion — a first for the farm that’s sold food for more than three decades. “We ship to all 50 states overnight.

We always wanted to do it, but we never had the reason to have to do it,” he admits. “By March 16 we were moving. It was a crazy effort. Ellen Degeneres got her hands on some boxes and shared the message.

Rachael Ray was telling her friends, Jose Andres was on TV, Kim Kardashian posted on Instagram.”

We move into the dining room where any trees cut down during construction were used to build the space, which sits on the Huron River on a 100-acre peninsula. The setting is featured in food films from “Forks Over Knives” to “For Grace.”

El Bulli Chef Ferran Adria hosted a 14-course lunch here with his team and said, “We’ve learned what we need to know about fish, we’ve learned everything there is to learn about chicken, but we haven’t even scratched the surface when it comes to vegetables and plants,” a sentiment Chef Jamie loved and lives by.

“I’ve always had an influence to lean on agriculture from Charleston, where we had a lot of small family farms,” he explains. Chef Jamie grew up in the South Carolina dining destination and worked at The Charleston Grill when he took advantage of The Orient Express hotel group’s program paying for college culinary courses that pertained to a career at the 94

Charleston Place Hotel. “I really fell in love with the elevated dining experiences that the hotel offered,” he says. “Charleston would be guilty of causing my love for food in general with 400 independent restaurants on a 4-square-mile peninsula. It was an unbelievable place to grow up in this industry.”

He followed his interest in vegetables to The Chef’s Garden, where 100 farmers specialize with 600 plants and 10,000 products. “I knew if I actually lived and worked on a farm and got to see every part of a plant’s life from start to finish, I would learn so much more,” he says. “I’ve always felt like chefs, to a fault, spend more time learning how to cook a perfect steak or a perfect piece of chicken or fish or making great sauce than they do learning how to cook vegetables.”

Now he’s exploring thousands of varieties of basic commodities like tomatoes or sweet potatoes at the property and hosting groups from major restaurant, hotel and hospitality companies, like Chick-fil-A, Google, Marriott, Starbucks, even Wendy’s.

“Many great teams come through who just need to get together, plan a menu and work through it before they actually have the space to do it,” he explains. The teams from Chicago’s three-Michelin-starred Alinea and Grace both visited for menu development before opening.

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As a chef, you can pick up the phone and order a box of zucchini and that’s it… That’s your only option. It’s going to be 5, 6 or 7 inches long. They’re going to be green, they’re going to be straight, they’re going to be in a box, and you’re going to get the box tomorrow. You’ll have no clue where it comes from and no clue how it’s grown. And you might learn to cook that 5, 6 or 7-inch-long piece of zucchini, but it doesn’t even start to cover the grasp of the plant, of the whole thing. The zucchini starts [this big] with a little flower on it, and then the flower opens up and it’s magnificent, and then that closes as the squash begins to grow, and at some point you have squash and flower, and the stems are great and the leaves are great, and every part of the plant is unbelievable, and all of that is lost when you’re not connected with agriculture. All you get is the cardboard box of zucchini. And I don’t know if there’s another way to do it other than a chef and farmer relationship, a way where food and beverage and agriculture are connected.

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Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller visit regularly to use the commercial kitchen with a root celler, wine cellar and staff. The dining room seats 60 comfortably for dinners open to the public, while eight to 10 visiting chefs can work comfortably in the open kitchen.

Chefs are on the house and typically become customers for life since everything grown here is so exclusive.

“We get seeds from people who specialize,” Chef Jamie explains. “For tomatoes, we work with a gentleman named Fred Hempel who’s dedicated his entire life to tomatoes, different varieties and restoring heirlooms. All he is, all he does is tomatoes, that’s it.”

That means eight types of cherry tomatoes, six kinds of currant tomatoes, eight species of heirlooms and eight variants of toy box tomatoes are available, with an array of colors, textures and tastes.

“We work with a gentleman named Calvin Landborn who invented the sugar snap pea, and all we get from him are peas. That’s all he does, his whole life, inventing new varieties of peas: purple peas, red peas, little peas, big peas, pea tendrils, and all kinds of fun things, that’s all he does. Our lemongrass seed is $10,000 a pound. There are two growers in the world that grow lemongrass to seed. You don’t see lemongrass seed, but we work with one of those two people.”

The list goes on, and chefs have the opportunity to work with all parts of the plant and new techniques for preparing each part when they visit. Farmer Lee has released a cookbook capturing these decades of exploration. “The Chef’s Garden: A Modern Guide to Common and Unusual Vegetables—with Recipes” is available now.

“We have a lot more work to share, and I think the book will help,” Chef Jamie says. “I hope there are elements of this book that become more commonplace because that would result in less food waste, less agricultural waste. It’d mean more parts of more plants are being used.

I wonder aloud where he’s seen his work on dishes at restaurants, and the chef explains the educational process is all about identifying new things.

“When we started early on, we were growing this plant called a citrus marigold,” he explains. “We were growing it in this flower house for the flowers, and I got a hold of that plant once and tasted the leaf on it. The leaf was fern-shaped, but it tasted like orange peel and orange zest, citrusy, like orange soda. I brought a few into the sales office and said we’re growing these for the flowers and we’re leaving a lot on the table here. It’s like our No. 3 selling herb on the farm now. It’s an item that’s on the menus of restaurants all over the place now, and it’s the leaf of a marigold. Now we grow more marigold leaves than flowers, which is really cool.”

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Squash stems and onion scapes have resonated with Jose Andres’ ThinkFoodGroup. New techniques are being applied to single ingredients across the industry. “It doesn’t pay the bills — unless you’re selling marigold leaves — but it’s really valuable to see when your work distributes around the industry.”

He explains how this work can impact the commercial industry’s conundrums.

“We’re growing carrots in California in the desert next to parsley. We pull the carrot out of the ground, cut the top off, put the carrots in the box and ship those. Then we cut the tops off the parsley, leave the root in the ground and ship those — but they’re the same thing. Very slight differences in flavor, but they’re really the same thing. It’s the same family. Parsley makes a root, carrot makes a leaf, why can’t we just grow one of those things in mass volume and not waste half of most of those things? It’s an interesting opportunity in our system and it only comes when someone with a culinary mind can walk onto a farm and help guide decisions.

“It’s really important. The book touches on a lot of that. Every part of a plant’s life is valuable. Why are we growing brussel sprouts for those 98

little round balls on the stem and throwing away the leaves? And next to it we’re growing collard greens, turnip tops and mustard greens…

They’re the same plant. You can braise brussel sprout leaves, which is 60-70% of the plant’s mass, in the exact same way that you would braise collard greens or turnip greens, and you’re throwing out the rest of the plant. It takes so much energy for these things to grow and be harvested, it just doesn’t make any sense. The farmer does what the market requests and the chef does what the catalog suggests. It needs to change.”

Chef Jamie’s affecting change by exposing fellow chefs to “new and unique things that are 1,000 years old that nobody’s seen,” he explains, crediting his connection with agriculture as the most rewarding part of his project-based role. “Last year’s project was product development and rapid production and getting to market quick with overage from the farm. I’m thinking the future looks bright with a lot of projects ahead.”

Chefs can call, email or reach out on social media to the Culinary Vegetable Institute to arrange a stay on the property, and guests can book through AirBnB, to meet Chef Jamie who’s “in love with being able to be a part of this ecosystem, and that includes the people.”

THE SOMMELIER

DIARIES

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THE SOMMELIER DIARIES Words Jhonel Faelnar

EXPLORING THE RISE OF KOREAN

AT A BROOKLYN BREWERY

HOPE AND NEW BEGINNINGS ARE ALL I WANT TO H E A R A B O U T T H E S E D AY S . C O M I N G F R O M T H E D E A F E N I N G S I L E N C E O F 2 0 2 0 , 2 0 2 1 I S S L O W LY SHAPING UP TO BE A YEAR OF NOT JUST RECOVERY B U T A L S O G R O W T H I N T H E I N D U S T R Y.

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As the wine director of Atomix restaurant in New York City, I am always on the lookout for liquid gold in its many forms and incarnations.

Our concept is rooted in Korean flavors and ingredients although by no means are the combinations and techniques traditional in the normal sense of the word. Wine pairings for the 10-course tasting menu, while challenging, come to me instinctively through experience, having eaten at firstborn Atoboy frequently since its inception. Navigating through the twists and turns of fermented flavors, pops of acidity, earthy sauces, and spice-laden stews had all been done tableside; rosy cheeked, merry, and with gusto while filing away inspiring sips and bites that would pull any gourmand into a reverie. So while I wrote the beverage program for then yet-to-be opened Atomix in early 2018, I found myself feverishly searching for liquid inspiration from Korea that could be sourced locally, perhaps oddly enough in a way only a non-Korean would entertain.

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THE SOMMELIER DIARIES

However, this city, rich in all things fermented and distilled, was missing the thing that I was looking for: Korean sool, or literally translated, alcohol.

Fast forward to 2021, and I’m walking along a nondescript street in northern Greenpoint, Brooklyn, still in search. Luckily, I hit gold midway through the block. Enter Alice Jun and Hana Makgeolli. A first-generation Korean-American born in Northridge, California, Alice found herself in New York City to attend the NYU Stern Undergraduate Program for business. Homebrewing had been a part of her life since childhood, and she started the hobby personally in late 2015 while she was an analyst at Deloitte Consulting. “Back then, Hana Makgeolli was a way to be able to share my home brewing practice with friends, other home brewers and passionate makgeolli drinkers and learn as much as I could about the history, science

and methodologies around authentic Korean sool,” she says of the Brooklyn brewery and future taproom.

Walking into the space, I’m greeted by soaring ceilings, the sweet scent of fermentation, and Chapsal, the most handsome dog on this side of Greenpoint, appropriately named after the Korean word for “glutinous rice.” A wooden bar to the right looks rather welcoming, a foreshadowing of the tasting to come, and stacked boxes line the opposite wall, shipping labels neatly attached, patiently waiting to be taken to the next borough or another city between here and the west coast. I meet John Limb, Alice’s business partner and an integral character in the scaling of the project from hobby to full-on production. “Admittedly, there was never an explicit plan to turn Hana Makgeolli into the brewery it is today, but early on I was fortunate enough to meet my mentor and now business partner, John Limb, who also

perceptibly off-dry, I ask Alice why she went all the way to bone dry. The answer was simple: Sugar is an easy way to mask deficiencies in the brewing process. In short, she wanted to produce something without the shroud of sugar. She also open-mindedly mentioned that perhaps a playful addition into a cocktail would not be a bad idea for the YAKJU. I immediately shake up the bestgimlet-I’ve-never-had with this ingredient at the forefront in my head. Delicious.

Next up is the TAKJU 16, the other side of the ferment complete with sediment and lees. This is otherwise known as Makgeolli, the brewery’s namesake, when it is brewed under 10% ABV. It’s creamy, rich and also acid-driven while having just a touch more residual sugar to round out the palate. Drinking takju is as much a textural experience as it is one on the palate, with rice solids and lees floating about. The graininess is soft and enjoyable, with notes of ripe melon, papaya and sweet yogurt coming through. Classic pairings here are different Korean jeon, or fried pancakes, made with ingredients like pa (scallion), gamja (potato) or haemul (seafood). Pairing this across cuisines is an exciting prospect that may yield some seriously unique combinations not to be missed.

saw the potential of sool that I and few others shared at the time,” Alice says.

Alice comes in, cheery and luminous, and quickly whisks me into the inner sanctum towards three fermenters where we taste a brew in progress.

This is the stuff. Milky, sour, lightly sweet, and grainy as the rice grains had not yet fully broken down from the fermentation process. Aromas of yogurt and creme fraiche come to the fore along with the unique earthy scent of nuruk.

What separates Korean sool from any other fermented beverage is nuruk, the quintessential Korean starter made from inoculated barley and wheat with wild molds, yeasts and bacteria. While comparisons have been made to Japanese sake, these end as soon as they begin. According to Alice, nuruk is “not like and cannot be used interchangeably with the koji/ yeast method as that process uses single strains of aspergillus and saccharomyces cerevisiae.”

There is a unique parallel fermentation that occurs with nuruk that is crucial to the style and the final subsequent ferment.

We move on to the finished and bottled brews.

Hana Makgeolli produces three ferments at the moment, all relying on organic rice, specially sourced nuruk, and multiple stages of fermentation for each batch. We start off with the YAKJU 14, a clear, filtered liquid, usually reserved for nobility in olden times known for its nuance, clean texture, and the purest expression of the ferment. Also known as cheongju, Alice’s rendition is tart and acid-driven, with notes of underripe yuja citrus, focused and perhaps unyielding to some degree, but I can imagine how easily this might take the place of Brut Nature Champagne or Trocken Riesling from the Mosel.

This is clearly a gastronomic beverage, needing food to find its center. With the few examples of this style available in the market being closer to

We end with the HWAJU 12, infused with chrysanthemums and hydrangea tea leaves.

This presents a similar texture to the takju with the obvious addition of herbal and floral notes on the nose and palate and a refreshing bitterness at the end that makes for an interesting sip, especially with the right food.

Traditional infusions like this bring new life to the classic and showcase another side of the fermentation process and beg the question, what will be the next rendition?

It’s rare to see the nascence of a project that will make an impact on a culture’s imprint in a city, nay, the country. And what better way to do it than to do it with a drink in hand? With Korean sool flowing through our bloodstream at this point, I ask Alice one more question: What is your dream for this space and the future? She answers, “The dream for the space is for it to be a place for the community and sool lovers to come learn about and enjoy our wines. We plan to have a small taproom where our sool will be served on tap and can be paired with anju, small Korean dishes enjoyed while imbibing. We also plan to have many collaborations and popups out of our space to expand the possibilities of what can be paired with our sool!”

I, for one, cannot wait.

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How to Pitch Your Cookbook Idea

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B Y C H E F A D R I E N N E C H E A T H A M , INSTITUTE OF CULINARY EDUCATION Every chef, cook and home cook that I know has an idea for their own cookbook and what it would be about when and if the opportunity presented itself.

Sometimes it’s a theme, a narrative that guides the recipes they will later develop, and sometimes it starts with the recipes and a narrative will be woven together later.

For me, it was a little of both. At restaurants over the years, I would sometimes work on menu ideas when I got home late at night, and sometimes I would devote a little time to my hopefully-someday-future cookbook, writing a narrative paragraph or adding to the list of dishes I hoped to later write recipes for.

I always had a theme in mind for what I wanted to put out into the world between the covers but didn’t know how to officially begin the process of working toward that goal.

After about 13 years in restaurants, I finally started to come up for air and began attending industry events, networking and meeting so many new people. I was no longer solely focused on working every day and catching up on the sleep and laundry that had fallen behind on my one day off each week. I started meeting other professionals that I didn’t work directly with — writers, public relations pros, lawyers focused on our industry, food and prop stylists, agents, entrepreneurs and others representing areas in the food industry beyond a restaurant kitchen.

It was while attending the annual Cherry Bombe Jubilee conference that I met a well-established writer who asked me if I ever thought of writing a cookbook. This led to working with her as a co-author.

That led to an agent, and we began putting together the pieces of what would become a pitch to present to publishers.

Some of the well-known chefs in our industry don’t have to go through the same pitch process, they are courted by large publishing houses who know their books will sell and often get contracts for multiple books with the same house. For me and many other chefs, it’s different, you have to get publishers excited about

your point of view, your voice and the recipes that reflect them.

The process begins with a formal pitch, introducing yourself as the author, what you have to say and why it’s important.

Be as detailed as possible. You want to be clear about what your book is about so the publisher and editor know how to guide and develop that idea instead of molding and shaping it into something different than what you intended. You’ll write up an outline of chapters or how the book is to be organized, and you’ll list dishes that hopefully get the publishers’ attention. Write out around 10 of the most exciting dishes into full (tested) recipes that the people reading your pitch will hopefully want to try at home as part of their due diligence.

This is one of the many reasons why the co-author was so important for me.

I knew my general idea and some of the recipes but needed someone who could listen to my stories, make sense of them, and weave a consistent narrative through the chapters and headnotes. I also still cook professionally full time and knew there was no way I could focus my frazzled brain and devote the time needed to thoughtfully write this all out. Outlining, reviewing and editing was better for me instead of the actual draft writing; it would have taken me forever, and you want to keep momentum on your side.

During the pitch writing, your agent will already be drumming up interest in your project with contacts at publishing houses. You may even have a few meetings to get to know some editors whose interest has been piqued. Then, when you, your author and agent are happy with the pitch, your agent starts to send it out. You will have already looked up the books that you love, who published them and which editors worked on them, and the list of houses you pitch will be guided by that diligence. While some publishers may occasionally try a new cookbook/chef that’s different from their traditional style, you want to make sure it’s a good fit for you and your book. You should also see if you know at least one person you can reach out to, even through

a direct message, to see what their experience was like there.

Your agent will be your advocate and close friend during this. They will push to get you seen and heard, and scream from the rooftops why everyone should see the value in publishing your book for sales and the importance of your POV. It will be like an interview, but you should feel comfortable. You’re getting to know each other and what working together would be like. The editors you meet with will also fight for your book if they believe in it.

They will tell their bosses, the publishers at the imprint, why they need to make an offer and pay to get this project. You will hopefully get offers from several of the editors you meet with. For some, it may not be a good fit. Some might want a broad, commercially appealing book while you want a tightly focused book with a more niche audience. Some might support you taking years of research to create a thick tome as an authority on your area, while you want to introduce the reader to the broad strokes and get your project on shelves within two years. Don’t take it personally, and don’t feel pressured to mold and change your vision to align with an offer if it’s not what you want.

Hopefully, in the future, you will have an opportunity to do another book in that way with that publisher.

Pick an editor you want to work with for the books they’ve done and their belief in you. The money you are offered is important, it shows how much they really want you as an author on their roster, and how much they really believe in your book and its ability to sell, but the money is not everything. You want to pick an imprint and editor that will help you make your book the absolute best it can be, aligned with your vision for it.

Having one offer is something to be proud of. With luck, you will have multiple offers and multiple editors/publishers you could see yourself working with. That means that your pitch really resonated, and these editors can see your vision and believe in it.

All you have to do next is make the tough decision about who will be the one for you.

And then the real work begins!

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Breaking Barriers to Reduce Food Insecurity MATT JOZWIAK, RETHINK FOOD CEO

Rethink Food is a nonprofit whose mission is to create a more sustainable and equitable food system. We connect restaurants to local community-based organizations, also known as CBOs, to distribute nutritious meals to our neighbors impacted by food insecurity. There’s always been this idea that you can’t donate your food, even that it’s illegal, which has added a barrier to entry for many in the industry. So, restaurants typically start with donating some excess food or a couple of roast chickens, and then it turns into a relationship over time. Rethink Food fosters those relationships.

We used to collect excess food, process it and cater to local CBOs, and then when the pandemic hit, we pivoted.

Since the CBO teams were already experts in connecting with their community and distributing food, Rethink Food focused on providing restaurants the funds it would’ve spent collecting the food to prepare meals, and then the restaurants catered to their local CBOs directly.

Daniel Humm, chef-owner of Eleven Madison Park and co-founder of Rethink Food, and I theorized and developed the Rethink Certified restaurant partner program throughout this pivot, to feed communities and keep restaurants in business. We piloted it with Emmeline Zhao and Simone Tong at Little Tong Noodle Shop on a smaller scale. After watching the concept work at the beginning of the pandemic, we scaled it at Eleven Madison Park and are grateful that Daniel helped us do that.

The concept is simple: Donations made to Rethink Food are directly invested into restaurants — like Katie O’s Soul Food in Brooklyn, Manna’s Soul Food, Uptown Veg in Harlem and many more — to prepare nutritious meals for local community-based organizations. Since food insecurity is at an all-time high, CBOs’ demand is up, and they spend a lot of time processing and making food.

Through the Rethink Certified program, the philanthropic dollars stay in the community through a partnership with the local restaurant. The food quality is culturally sensitive because CBOs are matched with the right restaurants, and there is a relationship between the local community center and the restaurant.

There’s a major tax benefit for restaurants and their investors for doing this. You can write off 25% of what you donate throughout the whole year, and that’s substantial.

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O U T L O O K

There are a lot of different ways you can get involved, and you can start by reaching out through the website. We’re happy to go to any city in America. We work with over 70 restaurant partners in New York City and across the country, from Dominique Crenn at Petit Crenn in San Francisco to Sean Brock at Audrey in Nashville and many more.

With our model, fine dining restaurants can make meals for a local community-based organization or raise funds for a sister restaurant in another neighborhood. Of course, you can donate a portion of the profits, like Eleven Madison Park does. Its pick-up Eleven Madison Home meals fund 10 meal donations per set. When the restaurant reopens, each diner's meal will fund five meal donations. Most notably, the Eleven Madison Truck took off in April.

Restaurateurs and chefs want to get involved in fighting food insecurity, but they don’t always know how. At the same time, restaurants have been raising money for charity forever, that’s not new. Restaurants like EMP typically raise a significant amount of money each year for charity through methods you are likely familiar with, such as galas, donating tables, guest dinners, etc. You can do that, though it can be hard for the business, or you can charge your guests a little more, bring in the money and donate to a nonprofit. Here’s why the Eleven Madison Truck is so important and revolutionary: Its model generates engagement with the employees, and every diner that walks into EMP is a part of it. We’ve successfully connected a community in the South Bronx, Eleven Madison Park, and the people who work in the Bronx at a nonprofit all through food, in this very circular way when typically, the money would go to the charity. The charity would buy, make and distribute the food, and the restaurant wouldn’t really have any part of it. We’ve broken a wall.

When I started working in the restaurant industry, I couldn’t afford college and I was broke. I started cooking, and I got a meal and a good wage washing dishes. A lot of people who work in restaurants, especially juniors, can relate to my story.

This program brings every part of it, every single employee together in a really interesting way that’s never been done before. People think Daniel Humm’s just doing something charitable, but he’s really breaking a wall that was there.

You can get involved and join the movement by taking the #RethinkPledge at rethinkfood.org/pledge.

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Words by James Marcolin, Hospitality Recruiter and Founder of PERSONE NYC

More than a year into the pandemic and we finally see the light at the end of the tunnel

Relief is finally coming to help hospitality small businesses all across the U.S

WITH THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN SIGNED, TRUE FINANCIAL HELP FOR R E S TA U R A N T S I S O N T H E W AY 108

After more than a year since the start of the pandemic and with a new administration in charge, Joe Biden (POTUS) signed the American Rescue Plan on March 11, 2021, which includes the first ever grant relief fund for independent restaurants and bars. The $28.6B grant program is modeled after the Restaurants Act first proposed by our coalition in April 2020. It’s truly amazing that during such a difficult year, our industry came together against all odds and made this happen.

Relief is here. This time for real! #SaveRestaurants

THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT’S SMALL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE AND SUPPORT The American Rescue Plan Act provides additional relief for the nation’s small businesses and hard-hit industries for programs the SBA is currently administering and adds new efforts, including: • $7.25 billion additional for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), expanding eligibility to additional nonprofits and digital news services • Funds allocated for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program, allowing businesses to apply for both a PPP loan and the SVOG • $15 billion for Targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance (EIDL) payments, including NEW $5 billion for Supplemental Targeted EIDL Advance payments for those hardest hit • $28.6 billion for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund for industry-focused grants • $100 million to establish a Community Navigator pilot program; grants will go to eligible organizations supporting efforts to improve access to COVID–19 pandemic assistance programs and resources.

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THE RESTAURANTS REVITALIZATION FUND OPENED ON MAY 3 AT NOON EST Eligibility Details: • A business operating with its own tax identification number and located inside another business (like a restaurant or bar operating independently inside a hotel) is eligible.

• Inns, bakeries, brewpubs, wineries, tasting rooms, and the like must demonstrate that on-site food and beverage sales to the public constituted at least 33% of their gross receipts in 2019 to be eligible. If such businesses opened in 2020 or have not yet opened, the original business model must have contemplated at least 33% of gross receipts consisting of on-site sales to the public.

• Businesses operated by state or local governments are ineligible for the RRF, as are businesses that have permanently closed or filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

•

Businesses that have filed Chapter 11, 12, or 13 bankruptcies are eligible only if they are operating under approved reorganization plans.

• Publicly traded companies and nonprofit organizations are ineligible for the RRF. • Businesses that have pending or successful applications for a Shuttered Venues Operators Grant are ineligible for the RRF, but businesses that did not apply for or were denied such grants remain eligible for the RRF. Previous applications or receipt of funds received under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) or Economic Injury Disaster Loan program (“EIDL”) will not affect eligibility.

However, applicants with outstanding PPP applications are required to withdraw their PPP applications upon application to the RRF – this is required whether or not the RRF application is ultimately successful.

APPLICATION FUNDING AMOUNT The RRF is intended to provide a grant equal to an applicant’s pandemic-related revenue loss.

Applicants are required to apply for a minimum of $1,000 per location and a maximum of $5 million per location (not to exceed $10 million total for all affiliated businesses). Funding allocated is dependent on the scenarios below: • If an applicant was operating prior to or on January 1, 2019, the funding amount is calculated by subtracting the applicant’s 2020 gross receipts from the gross receipts reported on the applicant’s 2019 federal tax return and the original disbursement amount of any PPP or EIDL program payment, or any other small business grants received (whether received in 2020 or 2021 but not any amount repaid before May 18, 2020).

• If an applicant began operations during 2019, the funding amount calculation is pro-rated by calculating the 2019 average monthly gross receipts (total 2019 gross receipts divided by the number of 2019 operating months and multiplied by 12).

The applicant’s 2020 gross receipts and any government assistance are then subtracted as above.

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•

If an applicant began operations between January 1, 2020 and March 10, 2021 or has not yet begun operating, the funding amount is determined by taking the amount spent on Eligible Expenses (see below) between February 15, 2020 and March 11, 2021 and subtracting gross receipts for 2020 and for January 1, 2021 through March 11, 2021 and the original disbursement amount of any PPP or EIDL program payment, or any other small business grants received (whether received in 2020 or 2021 but not any amount repaid before May 18, 2020). Businesses that have not begun operating nor incurred Eligible Expenses prior to March 10 are ineligible for the RRF.

The RRF considers “operating” to be making actual sales to the public. Therefore, if a company formed in December of 2019 made its first sale to the public in February 2020, the RRF would consider it to have begun operations in 2020.

In each scenario, if the total difference is more than $5 million per location, the funding amount for that location will still be capped at $5 million.

Restaurants, bars, caterers and other food businesses devastated by the pandemic began applying Monday for help from a new $28.6 billion federal aid program, but the money isn’t expected to last long.

Despite a few glitches after thousands descended on the application website for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund when it went live at noon, the process was straightforward,

applicants said. That was a welcome change from the technical problems that have plagued other aid programs run by the Small Business Administration, which is managing the restaurant fund.

The S.B.A. said in a Twitter post that it was having trouble with that portion of the application process. “Your place in line is reserved and you will be able to complete your application shortly,” it informed those experiencing problems.

The fund offers grants of up to $10 million. The amount each business can receive equals the difference between its 2019 and 2020 gross receipts, minus certain other federal assistance such as loans from the Paycheck Protection Program.

The Small Business Administration said its goal was to respond to applicants within 14 days.

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AS DINERS RETURN, THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY FACES A NEW HURDLE ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY: FINDING WORKERS. A staffing shortage seems counterintuitive in a business that has been devastated by the pandemic, with mass layoffs and an alarming number of permanent closings, but the truth is that owners across the country report shortages in help, as rebounding business are forcing them to compete for a shrunken pool of applicants. Restaurant employment has risen each month this year, according to the National Restaurant Association, but staffing

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levels at full-service restaurants in February were still 20% — or 1.1 million jobs — lower than a year ago (employment at quick-service and fast-casual restaurants was down just 6% over the same period). Owners and chefs at full-service restaurants say the main reason staffing remains stubbornly low is that there are simply more job openings than available workers.

Restaurateurs also claim many former employees are choosing not to re-enter the work force at a time when they can make nearly as much or more by collecting unemployment benefits. Others have simply left the restaurant business for better-paying jobs in other fields, further shrinking the pool

of possible applicants. The tight job market has helped hasten changes that restaurant workers pushed for during the shutdowns, including higher pay and better working conditions. Many people, though, may be reluctant to take up or return to restaurant work, given the health risks that some studies have linked to serving customers, particularly indoors. Many restaurateurs are also concerned that resuming indoor dining too quickly could cause another spike in COVID-19 infections. Some restaurants are still outdoor-serving only, even as indoor dining restrictions loosen because of worries about unvaccinated staff and customers, and because opening more tables only puts more stress on already overstretched staffs.

WHAT TO DO NOW: As a recruiter in NYC— where we are experiencing all these challenges — I recommend promoting within your team and ask your loyal staff to bring in friends and family members, even if they do not have hospitality background. The fact that their husband, friend or former co-worker referred them, will be a great start for you to get a reliable person. Focus on training and positive culture in the workplace.

Promote that busser/runner to a full-time server, the dishwasher to part-time duties as line-cook, the line-cook to sous chef. Invest in educating your staff and grow or re-think your company culture.

Now more than ever, restaurant workers want to feel at ease and happy in their workplace. It is the owners’ responsibility to create that environment, to keep and attract new hospitality workers. After the devastating effect of COVID-19 on our industry, money may be very, but owners should see this as an opportunity and as sort return on previous investment. Without a competitive package of salary and healthcare benefits, you will risk finding yourself with unqualified and unmotivated managers and chefs that will eventually find themselves unhappy and will quit, leaving your place scrambling for workers during the busy season. Spring is here and cities like New York are bouncing back quickly, with almost half of Americans vaccinated (May 12, 40% of New Yorkers were fully vaccinated). This pandemic is an opportunity to rebuild your team and restructure your business. Invest in your team because, at the end of the day, it is a business, but above everything it is hospitality and your family.

I started and founded my company PERSONE in 2016 in NYC, after working, experiencing and breathing Hospitality my entire life, with the purpose of supporting Restaurants in NYC and being a strong asset to our Industry. It’s truly devastating and overwhelming the consequences of the Covid-19 in our Life and Industry. But we will get through this Together!

At “PERSONE”, we launched an educational newsletter as a new form of communication, focusing on helping our clients and friends in the industry to access breaking news + webinars and resources in an instant way. All of this in a simplified email, that we send out twice a week. www.personenyc.com

To support our fight to #SaveRestaurants please go to saverestaurants.com Join the conversation with ROAR NY and IRC. We are #StrongerTogether and #TooSmallToFail .

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recipes Heritage Tomato, Sungold Tomato Broth, Lemon Balm and Cottage Cheese

by Chef Barry Tonkinson Scallop, Verjus, Cultured Butter Sauce, Butternut Squash, Celery and Apple Salad Barry Tonkinson, Director of Culinary Research and Development, Institute of Culinary Education Crunchy ropcorn Choux

by Chef Michael Laiskonis, Institute of culinary Education Goat Cheese and Mushroom Strudel, Herb Pea Puree, Pea Leaves, Truffle Vinaigrette

By Shola Olunloyo

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HERITAGE TOMATO, SUNGOLD TOMATO BROTH, LEMON BALM AND COTTAGE CHEESE

by Chef Barry Tonkinson

Yields 4 servings

HERITAGE TOMATOES INGREDIENTS ● 20 heritage tomatoes ● Sea salt, to taste Blanch heritage tomatoes in salted water.

Refresh in iced water, peel and set aside.

SUNGOLD TOMATO BROTH INGREDIENTS ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

450 grams sungold tomatoes 5 grams sea salt 20 grams shallot, sliced 5 grams basil leaves 7 grams chardonnay vinegar 7 grams lemon balm leaves 2 stems lemon thyme

METHOD Cut tomatoes evenly.

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Strain into double-lined cheesecloth and leave to hang in the refrigerator overnight.

Strain juice again through cheesecloth.

Add to a saucepan and reduce liquid by half.

Place into a container and add lemon thyme and lemon balm leaves. Leave to cool.

Check seasoning and strain once more.

METHOD Dice bread and leave to dry.

Mix well with olive oil, and confit garlic along with a pinch of sea salt.

Place in a preheated oven at 190 C/375 F for around 12 minutes until evenly colored.

Blend leaves and grapeseed oil on high until almost smooth.

Bring to a rapid fry on induction to remove excess moisture.

Immediately strain into a container over iced water.

Strain though cheesecloth.

LEMON BALM OIL

ASSEMBLY

● 100 grams lemon balm leaves ● 200 grams grapeseed oil

RYE CROUTONS

METHOD

● ● ● ●

Blanch leaves in boiling water very briefly.

Refresh in iced water, strain and pat dry.

100 grams sliced rye bread Olive oil, to taste 1 confit garlic clove Maldon sea salt, to taste

INGREDIENTS ● ● ● ● ●

Sungold tomato broth Heritage tomatoes Fresh cottage cheese Lemon balm oil Marigold petals

● ● ● ●

Lemon balm leaves 8 rye croutons Maldon sea salt Extra virgin olive oil

METHOD Dress the heritage tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil and sea salt.

Place the tomatoes in a circular formation in a bowl.

Top with cottage cheese and rye croutons.

Mix tomato broth and lemon balm oil and drizzle in the center of the tomatoes.

Finish with marigold petals and lemon balm leaves.

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SCALLOP, VERJUS, CULTURED BUTTER SAUCE, BUTTERNUT SQUASH, CELERY AND APPLE SALAD Barry Tonkinson, Director of Culinary Research and Development, Institute of Culinary Education CULTURED BUTTER SAUCE

INGREDIENTS ● ● ● ● ●

900 grams heavy cream 185 grams live yogurt Salt White pepper Salmon roe

Reduce to around 2 tablespoons, and mount in ice cold cultured butter to emulsify.

Season with salt and white pepper. Add salmon roe.

DILL OIL

BUTTERNUT SQUASH CHIP

INGREDIENTS

INGREDIENTS

● 400 grams butternut squash ● 4.2 grams Ultra-Tex ● 1.1 grams salt ● 1% Methylcellulose F50

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

INGREDIENTS METHOD In a mixing bowl, whisk heavy cream and yogurt together.

Place in a bain and cover with cheesecloth, secure with elastic.

Allow to culture at 20 C/70 F for 36 hours. Refrigerate.

Using a paddle attachment on the KitchenAid Stand Mixer, whip cream until buttermilk has separated, around 15 minutes. Pour out buttermilk and place butter mixture in a double layer of cheesecloth.

Gently squeeze, releasing all traces of buttermilk. Reserve.

Place butter into iced water and wash thoroughly. Squeeze again through cheesecloth until all liquid has been removed.

Form butter into a log and wrap tightly with plastic wrap.

Roll each end and tie off. Leave in refrigerator until firm.

Place the buttermilk into a saucepan and bring to a boil until the mixture separates.

Strain off and keep the whey liquid.

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METHOD ● 210 grams dill ● 300 grams grapeseed oil

Blanch dill. Refresh in iced water. Squeeze gently to remove excess water. Blend with oil in Vita-Prep until nearly smooth, about 40 seconds.

Strain through a Superbag.

Clarify in a centrifuge.

Place into a squeeze bottle, ready for use.

Dice squash. Place in a vacuum bag and season with salt.

Seal on 100%. Cook at 85 C/185 F until tender, around 2 hours.

Place into Vita-Prep and puree until smooth.

Add the Ultra-Tex and puree.

Add the methylcellulose and blend until smooth.

Spread onto Silpat and dehydrate at 65.5 C/150 F until dry, normally 12-24 hours.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH PUREE

COMPRESSED CELERY

METHOD

INGREDIENTS

INGREDIENTS

● 400 grams butternut squash ● 100 grams heavy cream ● Salt

● 1 rib celery ● 2 lemons, juiced ● 15 grams agave

METHOD METHOD Dice butternut squash, place into a vacuum bag and seal on 100%.

Cook at 85 C/185 F for 1.5 hours until tender.

Blend in a blender until smooth. Adjust seasoning.

Pass through a tamis.

ASSEMBLY

Place all ingredients in a small container. Seal in the vacuum chamber three times.

Scallop Salt Clarified butter Jus de verjus Butternut squash puree Cultured butter sauce Butternut squash chip Granny Smith apple, julienned ● Wood sorrel ● Carrot top ● Compressed celery

METHOD Season scallop, sear in a cast iron pan in clarified butter.

Deglaze with verjus and coat scallop. Remove scallop and drain.

Place a small spoon of butternut squash puree at the base of a cleaned shell.

Add a spoonful of cultured butter sauce.

Add scallop on top of puree.

Garnish with dill oil.

Pipe butternut squash on top of butternut squash chip. Add compressed celery, apple julienne and herbs. Serve on the side of the shell.

Season the scallop with Maldon salt to finish.

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CRUNCHY POPCORN CHOUX

By Chef Michael Laiskonis, Institute of Culinary Education

Yields approx. 10-12 pieces Skill Level: Moderate Active Cooking Time: 45 minutes Total Preparation Time: 3 hours

PÂTE À CHOUX

INGREDIENTS ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

65 grams whole milk 60 grams water 5 grams sucrose 2 grams salt 50 grams unsalted butter 40 grams all-purpose flour 35 grams high gluten flour 100 grams (2 pieces) whole eggs

METHOD Place all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle; mix on low speed just until combined, adding a small amount of water if necessary.

Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper cut to approximately 30 cm by 40 cm. Freeze.

Cut into discs that are slightly larger than the molded choux pieces.

POPCORN CREAM

METHOD Place the milk, water, sucrose, salt and butter in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.

Remove from heat and stir in the flour until combined; return to heat and cook for 1-2 minutes until a smooth mass has formed.

Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

Beat the mixture until slightly cooled; incorporate the eggs in small amounts.

Transfer the paste to a pastry bag and deposit into medium-sized silicone hemisphere forms. Freeze.

Unmold and arrange on a Silpat-lined sheet pan; top each frozen choux with a disc of the choux sablée. Temper to room temperature.

Place in a convection oven preheated to 350 F/175 C and bake for 10 minutes.

Reduce the heat to 320 F/160 C and continue to bake an additional 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 F/150 C and finish baking until golden and dry, approximately 10-15 minutes.

CHOUX SABLÉE

INGREDIENTS ● ● ● ●

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100 grams butter, unsalted 125 grams sucrose 125 grams all-purpose flour 2 grams salt

INGREDIENTS ● 1 bag microwave popcorn (or an equivalent of freshly popped corn, roughly 60 g) ● 200 grams heavy cream (36% fat) ● 450 grams whole milk ● 5 grams agar ● 50 grams sucrose ● 2 grams fine sea salt ● 1 sheet gelatin, hydrated

METHOD Prepare the popcorn according to the instructions on the package. Combine with the milk and cream in a small saucepan; bring to a gentle simmer, remove from heat and allow to infuse for two hours, chilled.

Gently re-warm the infusion and strain, pressing as much liquid from the popcorn as possible.

Combine 500 g of the popcorn infusion with the agar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer, cooking an additional 1 minute.

Remove from heat and quickly whisk in the sucrose, salt and gelatin.

Transfer the popcorn cream to a shallow pan and allow to cool and fully set at room temperature. Blend the popcorn gel to a smooth consistency and strain.

Reserve chilled.

Transfer the chilled cream to a pastry bag and fill each choux puff. Serve immediately.

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GOAT CHEESE AND MUSHROOM STRUDEL, HERB PEA PUREE, PEA LEAVES, TRUFFLE VINAIGRETTE

By Shola Olunloyo STRUDEL FILLING INGREDIENTS ● 6 x 6 sheets of brick paper dough, filo or Chinese spring roll wrappers ● 500 grams fresh firm goat cheese (chevre style) ● 100 grams creme fraiche ● 1 tablespoon sugar ● 1⁄8 teaspoon fresh nutmeg on a microplane ● 1 egg yolk ● Salt, to taste ● 1 pound shiitake or oyster mushrooms, sliced thin ● Olive oil ● 1 tablespoon butter

METHOD In a bowl, combine the goat cheese, creme fraiche, sugar, nutmeg, egg yolk and salt. Stir gently to combine till emulsified and smooth.

Season with fine sea salt. Transfer to a pastry bag.

Film a large saute pan with olive oil over medium high heat.

Add the mushrooms, season with salt and cook till they have released all their water, browned and well caramelized.

Finish with the butter in the pan and toss.

Drain the mushrooms in a colander and cool completely.

Place a square piece of the pastry on a flat dry surface with a pointed end towards you.

Pipe some of the goat cheese cream across.

Top with the mushrooms.

Brush the edges with a beaten egg and roll it up tightly like a Chinese spring roll. Repeat for remaining filling.

Store covered in plastic wrap on a sheet pan refrigerated till ready to cook.

HERB PEA PUREE INGREDIENTS ● ● ● ● ● 120

1 pound frozen high quality IQF green peas 1 cup flat parsley leaves 1 cup watercress leaves 1 cup tarragon leaves 1⁄4 cup olive oil

METHOD Defrost the peas and save 1⁄2 cup aside.

Transfer the rest of the peas to a blender.

Blanch and refresh all the herbs for 30 seconds.

Drain and chop coarsely then transfer to the blender with the peas. Add the olive oil.

Season with a pinch of salt.

Puree till you have a bright green mixture.

Transfer to a sealed container and refrigerate.

TRUFFLE VINAIGRETTE INGREDIENTS ● ● ● ● ●

1⁄2 cup hazelnut oil 1 black truffle 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar 1 teaspoon dijon mustard 1 egg yolk

METHOD Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Season with salt and pepper.

TO FINISH: Fill a pot no more than 1⁄3 full with canola or grapeseed oil. Bring to a temperature of 350 F. Fry the wrapped rolls till golden brown (about 2 minutes). Transfer to a rack lined with paper towels.

Meanwhile warm up the pea puree and whole peas gently in a small pot. Transfer to a plate.

Place the fried roll on top.

Dress the pea leaves with the truffle vinaigrette and garnish the plate.

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