September 3rd, 2010

My mf’ing birthday.  And anyone who knows me knows im a total birthday whore.  The more parties celebrating my existence the better.  Chef T in an effort to turn me into a spoiled snotty brat decided to throw a lavish after hours party at the restaurant for myself and a select few of my closest friends.  On tap was a 22 pound side of dry aged ribeye that he aged in the walk in for 2 weeks, 2 pound lobsters for everyone and enough booze to make even myself scared about whether or not I could handle it all.   A wonderful evening that I wont forget about anytime soon. 

- Salt Crusted 2 Week Dry Aged Ribeye(with Rosemary Roasted Potatoes)

- Poached Lobster (with Green Mango Salad)

August 30th, 2010

Looks like I made some Vietnamese 5 spice ribs today.  You can see it in the background out of focus - but those are the diaphragm and riblets that are normally trimmed off spare ribs and used as scrap meats.  I decided to braise them for a while and roast them with the ribs.  I would argue they are tastier than the ribs themselves.  Definitely a cooks treat.  

- 5 Spice Spare Ribs  (glazed with Hoisin, Soy, Onions, Garlic and Lemongrass)

August 24th, 2010

This must have been the first day it was cool as there’s no way in hell I would have decided to feed the staff soup if it wasn’t.  Wow cool weather in August.. did that really happen?

I made a hue style noodle soup - Bun Bo Hue.  Instead of using brisket - I used the hanger scraps and braised them in the soup until they were tender.  Tasty gelatinous stuff.

- Bun Bo Hue  (Hue Style Spicy Noodle Soup flavored with Lemongrass and Chilis)   

August 23rd, 2010

Eek.  I’ve gone almost two months without an update.  I barely remember what I did yesterday so don’t expect me to remember what I cooked for the last 2 months for staff meal (even with the pictures its hard to remember what I was thinking that day when I made whatever it was I made).   I imagine the next 30 posts are just gonna be food pr0n shots with total guesses as to what I was making.   

This was definitely a breakfast I made here… looks like some chorizo and egg.   By the looks of it I’m pretty confident I enjoyed eating it as much as making it.

- Breakfast Sandwich (Pan D’Avingon Ciabatta with Chorizo, Egg and Arugula)   

August 17th, 2010 

I was trying to make chili today with our stockpile of leftover smoked brisket and for one reason or another it wasn’t coming together as I would have liked.  So instead chili became carne guisada.  The smoked brisket was really what made this special.   The smokiness was all over this biatch.. in a good way.

Carne Guisada de HNH BBQ (served on a Tostada with Cojita molida, lettuce and pickled jalapenos) 

August 15th, 2010 

A large miscalculation on my end resulted in an ungodly large amount of leftover smoked briskets from two events HNH BBQ did this past weekend. Looks like we’ll be eating a lot of brisket themed dishes in the upcoming weeks. This morning I decided to chop some brisket up and make a hash for breakfast. I found some tortillas in the walkin and the hash became breakfast tacos. BTW how come no one is doing breakfast tacos here in ny? Thats a fucking killer idea for a small stand.

TX Breakfast Tacos (Smoked Brisket Hash, Jalapeno Cheddar Sausage and Scrambled Eggs)

August 9th, 2010

An epic karaoke night with the asian invasion new wave posse lead to the as expected hangover i was feeling this morning.   I was hungry but wasn’t the entire day - ya figga feels me?  Before i knew it family meal was on my ass and I had to make something.  A quick check in the walkin lead to some found wonton noodles, vegetables and some defrosting head on shrimp.  A ghetto meal was made - but it was in no way ghetto tasting.  I had some leftover chicken - lobster - shrimp stock fortified with the roe of some dungeness crab that I had made for my homie Mike C’s bday jam a lam earlier that week.  I used that stock to make a quick sauce and over the noodles it went.  

Mi Xai Dong (Crispy Fried Wonton Noodles with Fried Head on Shrimp, Broccoli, Snow Peas and Japanese Long Pepper)

July 21st, 2010

I made a visit to the New Amsterdam market over the weekend and picked up some nice ears of corn and tomatoes from the McEnroe farms stand.  I decided to treat the staff and used my goodies to make family meal.  The tomatoes became a sauce and I threw in some blue crabs to cook-  the results were out of this world! The sauce had the taste of the ocean and seafood in it.   I used the rest of the tomatoes and corn and made a simple bruschetta with it.  The corn was very sweet and really balanced the acidity of the tomatoes.  

- Blue Crab Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti

- Sweet Corn and Tomato Bruschetta

September 1st, 2010

Staff meal swap day.   I sent Bario some 5 spice ribs that you can read about in the last post.  Bario sent back yet another chicken dish (it might have been the 3rd week in a row that we got chicken and it was interesting one this week to say the least) that was not received very well by any of the AC staff.  Being in a particularly dickish mood that day I decided to send back the hotel pan full of food they had made for us.  My instructions to the messenger were to thank them for the food and to drop off the pan.  It ended up turning a little ugly and I ended up offending some people (in particular my favorite mustached waiter C dawg).  Good job Dennis.

For Bario Chino I made:

- 5 Spice Ribs   

In return Bario Chino made for us: 

- Chicken Something (Ground up chicken that was formed back into a patty in a tomato sauce)

August 25th, 2010

Bario Chino Vs An Choi staff meal today.  I have no recollection of cooking this at all nor eating what Bario Chino made for us.  

For Bario Chino I made:

- Lemongrass Porkchops  (with Vietnamese Pickles and Rice)   

In return Bario Chino made for us:

- Sopa De Pollo (Uhm looks like some sort of Chicken soup with baby carrots and rice?)

August 24th, 2010

100th post! woot!  I guess I was in my sandwich making mood that particular week.  Looks like another mexican inspired sandwich.  

- Breakfast Sandwich  (Pan D’Avingon Ciabatta with Cecina, Arugula, Cojita Cheese and Cherry Tomatoes)   

August 18th, 2010

I’ve been running a butterflied chicken thigh and leg marinated in lemongrass as a special for the last couple days and decided that I would send that to Bario Chino for family meal swap today.  I made some rice and tossed it in the pan drippings.   I added some sliced cucumber to help offset all the fat and meat.   Classic vietnamese lunch dish.

Chef G i guess sensed that I was making chicken for him so he returned the favor.

For Bario Chino I made:

- Ga Nuong Xa  (Butterflied Chicken Leg marinated in Lemongrass, Fish Sauce, Lime and Honey)   

In return Bario Chino made for us:

- Pollo Milanase (Chicken cutlets served with Rice and Pico De Gallo)

August 16th, 2010

Was starting to feel a little bit under the weather today. Even though it was hot as balls I decided to make a soup anyways. I’ve had a craving for comfort food numero uno Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese and decided that was what I was gonna roll with. I ended up throwing some carrots into the soup which resulted in a beautiful orange color and added some much needed sweetness. I would probably get murdered by the kitchen staff if I didn’t have some type of protein in the meal so instead of grilled cheese I roasted some chickens and shredded them for the sandwich. Hit the fucking spot.

Carrot Tomato Soup

Chicken Sandwich (on Pan D’Avignon Ciabatta Bread with Baby Arugula)

August 11th, 2010

I had heard through the orchard grapevine that last weeks family meal wasn’t very received by some of the Bario Chino staff.  The fish and mango was apparently a little bit too experimental for some of the kitchen staff.  I strive to please so I decided to go with something somewhat familiar and easy to eat but still very tasty.  I had some leftover sausages from an HNH event the night before so I reheated those bad boys and made some BBQ chicken.  A little bit of Texas at Bario Chino.  I heard later from Bario Chino bartender C-dawg that the meal was destroyed.

Chef G topped himself from last week and gave me what I had been craving.  Fucking pork in a green sauce.  I begged him for some tortillas and I was a pretty happy cook.

For Bario Chino I made:

- TX BBQ Jam (Meyer’s Jalapeno Cheddar Sausage, Grilled BBQ Chicken, TX Potato Salad and the fixings)   

In return Bario Chino made for us:

- Carnitas in Salsa Verde (Pork chunks fried in its own fat with Rice and Tortillas) 

August 4th, 2010

Bario Chino hooked it up today and gave us a crowd pleaser.  Between you and me I think they forgot about the family meal swap today and Chef G had to throw something together on the fly last minute.  Fine by me though - if this is what we get when he forgets I hope he forgets every Wednesday.

For Bario Chino I made:

- Ca Chien (Crispy Salmon with Green Mango salad)   

In return Bario Chino made for us:

- Carne Asada (Grilled Skirt Steak and Chicken with Mexican Rice)

- Beet Salad