Where is my mind?

Wow! Here's a pic from New Year's Eve.
I guess you could say our theme for the night was gold.
Don't even remember what this dish consisted of.....pineapple?

obstacle1

i have a lot going on and unfortunately this is one thing that is not a priority, so i am going on a blog hiatus.
this blog has been a lot of fun. i have met (internetly! if that's a real word) a lot of people through it. i hope that it has inspired, intrigued, or even made some upset.  as long as anyone looking at it has taken something away from it.
if any readers and seekers have questions about techniques or recipes, feel free to give me an email.
thanks to all out there looking....

stutter

one of the great things about working in such a small restaurant with a minimum staff is the spontaneity of everything.  

in going through the assorted mise en place on hand, i found that I had some extra product that seemed to fit well together to form a fun first course for the tasting menu.  

meyer lemon sponge cake soaked in meyer lemon syrup, white chocolate infused with pine oil, candied buddha hand, roasted banana sorbet, yuzu meringue, and fennel fronds.

cosmik debris

one day i am going to make a very clean, straightforward looking dish.  i remember being taught in culinary school to give things height.  people eat first with their eyes...
but most of the time i just want to smash things up and lay it as they fall.

some may see chaos, but i see elegence.

lime curd, pineapple sorbet, pineapple compressed in pine, long pepper anglaise, pine gelee, shiso, mint, cilantro, lime meringues, pineapple croquant

a porcini

last night was our mushroom dinner for our Food for Thought dinner series.
i made a porcini.
two meringues using porcini powder...one chewy and tiny dehydrated ones.
tonka bean ice cream stood as the stem for the mushroom, hazelnut crunch snagged from the awesome milk bar cookbook, whipped porcini cream buried underneath, and some greens to round out the dish.
it was simple but the effect worked well.
why not have fun with your food, right?

you and whose army

got a great write up for our restaurant at http://www.qliweb.com/food/Aubergine_Carmel.

if you don't know about QLI, you should follow the link and check it out.  Felix Hirsch is the main guy that runs it.  he and his group travel the world and write about restaurants/wineries/etc.
they have a great layout, take amazing photos, and have a huge collection of restaurants to look through.
i was lucky to cook for them and they were really genuine guys who love dining.
excellent!

phantom limb

had an amazing time in manhattan last week.  dinners at eleven madison park, babbo, corton, dessert tasting at wd-50, 10 course lunch in the salon at per se...il laboratorio del gelato, milk bar (twice for the aptly named crack pie and the no slacking candy bar pie...a few morning jogs through central park, at stop at jb prince...shake shack pit stops...i'm feeling such a longing to return already.

time to go back to work