E. 88th St. & 5th Ave.

is another address of the rich and richer. It is located on the upper eastside, across the street from the Guggenheim Museum and overlooks Central Park.

Upon entering, I was immediately interrogated by the doorman. I guess my hoodie, sneakers, jeans and backpack just screamed "I don't belong here!" I was shown to the service elevator (maybe there's a dress code for the regular elevator?) and was taken to the sixth floor. The doors opened directly into the client's kitchen and I felt like I was transported to a scene from Gosford Park.

Although I only saw the kitchen and dining room, the apartment looked, felt, and smelled like an old 1930s English country house. Without looking out the window, I would have never guessed I was in the middle of New York City. The kitchen was pretty standard, but for the ten china cabinets dedicated to several different patterns of china and hundreds of pieces of silver and crystal.

The dining room had a long mahogany table, yellowing floral wallpaper, and museum-sized portraits in heavy, gold-trimmed frames. The owners were an elderly couple celebrating their nephew's 50th birthday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sit-down dinner (20 guests)

On the menu
Passed Hors d'œuvres

• Bite-sized Maryland crab cakes with red pepper aioli and capers
• Braised short ribs with caramelized onions on potato latkes
• Chinese shaomai dumplings served with a orange-soy dipping sauce
• Endive with herbed goat cheese, tomato and olives

Entree

• Mixed green salad with cranberries, pumpkin seeds and Asiago cheese, served with a balsamic vinaigrette
• Filet mignon with a red wine demi-glaze, served with celery root fingerling potato puree, sauteed mushrooms and sugarsnap peas

Dessert

• Individual chocolate molten lava cakes with caramel sauce and raspberries

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Catering, especially for these types of private parties, requires a lot of compromising and problem solving. There's always going to be something missing (an ingredient, a pot or pan, a utensil) and there's always going to be a change (in this instance, the last minute omission of raw onions and garlic). Thankfully, the crew was flexible, calm and experienced at 'handling' the client, which makes events like these a breeze.

On a side note, I'm fascinated that there are people who live like this. I mean, this was a family get together at a grandparents' house and everyone was dressed to the nines. There was butler service, seating arrangements and a strict agenda for the guests (drinks in the foyer, then to the dining room, and finally to the living room to enjoy aperitifs, cigars and a hired jazz quartet). This old-rich is so different from the new-rich I had just experienced at 25 Bond St. It's stuffy, rigid, and overly scheduled.

There is one old-rich tradition I favor that the new-rich do not often participate in - tipping. In restaurants, only front of the house and customer-facing chefs receive tips. So after years in the food service industry, this was my very first tip. It was an unexpected, greatly appreciated bonus!

Next up: A full day catering Cooper Union's commencement.

NOBU Extra - Comida: 1000 ways to cook chicken wings

Comida, or family/staff meal, is an everyday responsibility that is rotated among the line cooks at both Nobu and Next Door. Comida assignments are in addition to regular service prep and line work, so it is no small task.

Comida menu:

• One to two proteins - chicken wings, whole chicken, flank steak, and pork shoulder were the most common
  
• One vegetable - sauteed, steamed or roasted veggie mix
• One carb - fried rice, french fries, roasted/mashed potatoes or pasta
• One salad with salad dressing

This needs to be enough to feed around 60 people - twice. Everything must be prepped, cooked and set up buffet-style for both the pre-service lunch break around 4pm and the after-service dinner at midnight.

Comida for the day is up to the cook assigned to it. In my days, the line was very multi-cultural, so comida was most regularly Filipino, Chinese, or Hispanic. I admit to being very spoiled at Nobu with comida. Most restaurants do not invest much time or money in feeding their staff. Not only did we have more than enough to eat everyday, we were free to make what we liked and since most of the line cooks were Filipino, I was able to eat the food I grew up on almost everyday.

Pastry would oftentimes provide us with dessert as well - cupcakes, chocolate cake, ice cream, banana cake or cookies. An excellent bonus the line cooks and waitstaff were deeply grateful for.

On extra special days, the Head Chef would make snacks for the line during service. Most of these were Filipino - ginataan, cassava cake, adobo, lugaw, siopao. I still remember Chef calling me from the line and asking me distribute the snacks among the cooks during a lull in service.

"Chef, this is fantastic. It reminds me of my Lola's."
"So you're saying I'm as old as your Lola?"
"No, Chef...Of course not, Chef...I would never, Chef...I was just saying, umm, thanks!...Po!"

::Stuff food in mouth, big smile, a wave and quickly back upstairs to the line::

Phew! Mmmm...

Salad

Seven Course Tasting of Philippine Fruits and Vegetables prepared in Classic French Technique
FCI Final Project
April 10, 2007

Pickled Asian Pear with Persimmon-Jicama Salad, Kalamansi Citronette

Ingredients (4 servings)
2 Asian pears
100ml rice wine vinegar
salt
sugar
5g pine nuts

4 persimmons
1 jicama
5g microgreens
50ml kalamansi juice
100ml blended olive oil
salt

Procedure

Pickled Asian Pear

1. Combine rice wine vinegar and equal pinches of salt and sugar in a small bowl.
2. Core pear and thinly slice, allowing three slices per plate. Place pear slices in the vinegar pickling liquid and let sit for 15 minutes.
3. Toast pine nuts in a dry pan over medium heat until fragrant. Set aside.

Persimmon and Jicama Salad, Kalamansi Citronette

1. Combine kalamansi juice and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in oil. Taste and adjust seasoning.
2. Cut persimmon and jicama into julienne. Combine with microgreens and lightly dress with the citronette.
3. Serve three slices of pickled Asian pear garnished with toasted pine nuts alongside the persimmon-jicama salad.

25 Bond Street

If you live in NYC, you probably know that a loft at this particular address comes with a steep price tag.

Last night I catered a cocktail party for 30 Richie Richs at a loft similar to this one, but nicer and on the 7th floor. I only saw the main floor of the 3-story loft, but that single floor had a dining room that looked more like a conference room, two sitting rooms and a kitchen bigger than my whole apartment.


These are the easiest types of jobs. A couple cheese plates, some pretty shrimp, fried artichoke leaves, and spicy gazpacho is usually more than enough...because no one eats. They nibble, nod and smile and half the food is thrown out. Very frustrating.

The owners are clean freaks, so most of my time was spent making sure everything was spotless. Also, I was not aware that I would be working in socks or else I would not have worn my bright spring yellows.


Note to self: Must play lotto today.