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Got Mole? Parisian Mexican Food
I have found two outstanding Mexican restaurants that satisty my desire for enchilades covered in red sauce, mole slow cooked with unsweetened chocolate, and firey soup garnished with shrimp and...
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1st Week Review: No Place For A Lady
I can only liken my experience as a female chef cooking in a 3-star Parisian restaurant to that difficult time in America when women were starting to make a presence in the military.There is a...
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4th Week: Amuse Bouche Station
It’s sooooo good to not be new employee anymore. Seems like most of the chefs have gotten used to me and I hardly hear any yelling anymore (well, not at me – at least for now). They’ve discovered that...
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Guy Savoy: The Sound of Silence
From the moment I get to the restaurant at 7Am to the moment I leave at 11PM there is noise. The endless clanging of huge copper pots and pans being carried up the stairs to the main kitchen, the...
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Guy Savoy: In The Moon Dans La Lune
French Expression: Dans La Lune. In the moon. To be “out of it” or unfocused. When your head is not in the game. I wanted to come back to work at the 3-star Parisian restaurant I cook at well-rested...
View ArticleGuy Savoy: Le Dernier Diner, The Last Supper
I was an emotional shipwreck the whole last day of my job cooking at a 3-star restaurant… I arrived at 8AM in the morning and began my daily routine. As I was hacking apart wild bird carcasses for the...
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Guy Savoy: Prada For Poulet
When I first started cooking at the meat station I couldn’t believe that we had chicken on the menu. “Chicken? We have chicken on the menu? This is a 3-star Parisian restaurant and we’re serving...
View ArticleGuy Savoy: Ah Buh Oui, Uh?
French Expression: Ah buh oui, uh? Meaning: That’s just the way things are. That’s life. Some things will never change. Yesssirrybob. I told you so. Welcome to France. Tough shit. Anyone who’s ever...
View ArticleHow to Talk Like a French Chef
I’m not learning the kind of French I intended to. The other night on one of my days off, I ordered a cocktail at an upscale restaurant that I had never heard of before. It was a mixture of rum and...
View ArticleGuy Savoy: Chef de Partie
I want to throw up. I want to toss myself into the toxic waters of the Seine or walk into a big black endless hole or just simply throw up. I’ve been given the sand swallowing promotion of Chef de...
View ArticleGuy Savoy: Dans Le Jus
French Expression: dans le jus Translation: In the juice Every kitchen has expressions for when things are going really really badly. In American kitchens we often say “in the weeds”. But in France...
View ArticleGuy Savoy: Tres Soigne
The expression “Très Soigné” is a staple in the French kitchen. Or in any professional kitchen for that matter. Even Marcel tossed it around on the second series of Top Chef. “Très Soigné” translated...
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Spring!
It’s Springtime! And what better time to book a table at the Restaurant Spring in Paris? marinated mackerel garnished with, zucchini blossom and orange sauce I’m sure you’ve heard of this chic bistro...
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Guy Savoy: Life On Board A French Frigate
Working in a French kitchen is like sailing on a French frigate in the 18th century heading out to war. Our code, work hours, and skills are more in line with the navy, than a bunch of tatooed swash...
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Beignets Filled with Meyer Lemon Curd
Not feeling the sunshine? Make some! What could be sunnier than beignets filled with tangy sweet meyer lemon curd? Meyer lemons are in peak and if you're not already stealing them from your neighbor's...
View ArticleLe Bernardin: Make It Nice or Make it Twice
“Make it nice or make it twice”… Nope, this isn’t my advice to lovers, one-night stands, and people about to get married. But maybe it should be? In every restaurant worth its salt are the old timers....
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Radegast Hall & Biergarten!
While most of you were enjoying a lazy Easter Sunday around a bountiful table of Spring delicacies I was drinking steins of beer and wolfing down pretzels, pickels, veal schnitzel, grilled brats, and...
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Le Bernardin: The Women in the Kitchen
Cooking is a competitive team sport. And NYC kitchen cultures are notorious for being like men's locker rooms: sweaty and filled with testosterone. Recently I was asked what's it's like to be a female...
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Le Bernardin: Sun Burned Chefs
Lobster red faces against starched white jackets… I came into work after our obligatory day off (Sunday, the restaurant is closed) only to look upon a sea of red. I know you're thinking: so what,...
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Le Bernardin: Duckathlon NYC Restaurant Industry Showdown!
I am not just a little bitter that we lost the annual d'Artagnan Duckathlon Industry Contest: I am OUTRAGED!!!! This competition is just for fun, organized by D'Artagnan, a food distributer who is...
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Kelley & Ping, A Shanghai Noodle Bar, And a Summer Long Gone
I’ve been coming to Kelley & Ping’s, a stylish Shanghai noodle bar for fifteen years. I discovered it the summer I graduated from from college while visiting my college girl friend who had, at...
View ArticleLe Bernardin: End of Hot Appetizers
The executive chef pulls me into his office Friday before dinner service, tells me to get comfortable, and asks me to take off my hat. I’m sitting there staring at him wondering if I’m going to get...
View ArticleLe Bernardin: All Burnt Out! (Help me plan Family Meal)
I have no idea how I'm going to work tomorrow. No idea. I burned myself so badly on Friday night that I just don't think my foot will rebound in time. My foot! Can you believe it? The handle of an...
View ArticleHave fun, Accept the challenge, Conquer the fears
My mother gave me sage advice years ago while heading off to a remote part of Southern India to teach at a Hindu High school. She said, “Amy, have fun. If you’re not having fun teaching, the students...
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Le Bernardin: Superstitions & Kitchen Witches
I have become ridiculously superstitious. And I don’t mean in the traditional sense like if you see a penny face up and you leave it there (because New York City sidewalks are dirty) that you will get...
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Le Bernardin: Monk Station at Night
Switching from cooking the lunch service to cooking the dinner service on the line is like switching from Coca Cola to cocaine. Both are stimulating, one slightly more than the other… I arrive Friday...
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Le Bernardin: A Thousand Kitchen Years Ago
There are dog years, cat years, human years, and then there are kitchen years… Saturday morning, my last Saturday morning, I hop in a taxi and take the FDR freeway from Lower Manhattan to Midtown. I...
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Voici! The New Executive Chef at Michel Rostang in Paris
Introducing Nicholas Beaumann, the new Executive Chef at the two Michelin star restaurant Michel Rostang in Paris! Nicholas did his apprenticeship at Michel Rostang after culinary school and worked his...
View ArticleParis, Ma Maîtresse
THESE POSTS UPCOMING ARE DEDICATED TO A LONG TIME BLOG READER OF MINE WHO UNEXPECTEDLY PASSED AWAY. HE WAS A LIGHT IN MY LIFE FOR MANY YEARS. AN INCREDIBLE LAWYER FIGHTING FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AT THE...
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Septime in Paris
Hon, hon, hon! I have not written a restaurant review for Paris for years now. But I receive requests daily about where to go and eat. I want to politely defer to Paris by Mouth and David Lebovitz...
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L’As du Fallafel
This falafel is the BEST on earth. And only from this particular shop in Paris, in the heart of the Marais, on Rue de Rosiers. I am not the first to write about this place. But after 8 years of eating...
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Farewell Hidden Kitchen, Hello Verjus!
Saving the best for last in my series of Paris restaurant reviews is restaurant: VERJUS. Big Thumbs Up! I am ecstatic for owners Braden Perkins and Laura Adrian (American) who have braved the Parisian...
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Rosé Poached Salmon, Lemony Parmesan Cream & Pommes Anna
I missed posting this for Easter – good thing Mother’s Day is right around the corner! How about rosé wine poached salmon infused with herbs and sauced with lemony Parmesan cream for brunch? Rosé...
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Cooking with the Legendary Chef Faz
No, I’m not drowning in some self-afflicted pool of despair – that is not why I haven’t posted in eons. Quite the opposite, I am now the Executive Corporate Chef (official title: Culinary Arts...
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Pan Seared Fluke with Warm Wild Mushroom & Lentil Salad, Sunchoke Smear & Lardon
Oh how I WISH that I had stayed current with my blog over the last 8 months, but alas I’ve been so busy with 5 restaurants that weekly fish specials have come and gone! Here is one for Winter; I love...
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Fuyu Persimmon & Little Gem Lettuces with Labneh Kefir Ranch Dressing
Did I mention that my new favorite ingredient is Labneh? The thick kefir based strained tangy yogurt (some say soft cheese) that is mega delicious and packed with bazillions of probiotics? If you’re a...
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