Midtown Catering

It was a busy catering week for me. I had three gigs all in Midtown West, which is admittedly my least favorite section of Manhattan. This aversion most likely originates from previous employment in Times Square, where trying to get a quick lunch is a 45 minute ordeal - meandering through constant street congestion, standing in tourist and angry banker-filled lines, and paying twice as much as one would pay 20 blocks down. But I digress...

The first was a private cocktail party at a nightclub called Touch. Picture, if you will, a Times Square club with an hour-long wait in a line filled with loud B&Ts, doors guarded by list-wielding heavy-set bouncers, and an 18 year old hostess demanding $25 at the door and a mandatory $5 coat check. Inside you'll find stained velvet couches, 'reserved' signs on all empty tables, and $17 beers. As you might have surmised, I do not visit such clubs and could not help but laugh at the angry line as I entered quickly through the nearby employee entrance.

The party itself was pretty easy, although it still amazes me that we are expected to produce all the food out of what looks like an old office, with only one portable grill, two toaster ovens and one working sink. But we pulled it off once again and pushed out passed hors d'œuvres of lobster mac & cheese, mushroom risotto, chicken empanadas, and smoked duck breast, along with platters of cheese, sandwiches, and chicken satay. I left the club past midnight with the line still miles long...Did I mention this was a Tuesday night?

The next gig was a two-day CEA conference at an event space on W. 34th St, across the street from the Empire State Building. We were set up in the far back corner hidden from view by a black curtain. With a microwave and three toaster ovens, we made 2000 passed appetizers over two days, including mini-cheeseburgers, mini-mushroom pizzas, cheese puffs, shaomai, spring rolls, and lobster empanadas. Thankfully, two great chefs were with me at this event and we were able to turn over the food at lightning speed.

Next up is a very large sit-down dinner. These tend to be more interesting and exciting to work. Details to come!

Side Note: I must make business cards asap. I feel like such a novice when a client or fellow chef asks for my information and I have to scribble it down on a scrap of paper. Any suggestions on where I can order unique business cards (cheap!) are greatly appreciated!

Kosher Grilling

This past Tuesday, chef friend Shaya and I battled an early call time, relentless rain and thick fog (in June?!?) to teach another kosher cooking class at the JCC Greater Five Towns, Long Island. It was a summer grilling class, which we did on an indoor grill due to said inclement weather.

On the menu (sorry, no pics this time)

1. Rosemary and Garlic Grilled Chicken Breast with a Grilled Corn and Radish Salad
2. Spice-Rubbed Grilled Skirt Steak with a Tehina and Tofu Noodle Salad
3. Bulgar Wheat Grilled Burger with a Grilled Watermelon and Arugula Salad

The feedback was so great that they've asked us to come back for two more classes this Fall. One will be on Egyptian/Middle Eastern cuisine (Shaya's background) and the other on Japanese, for which Shaya will help me kosher-fy some of the recipes I learned from working at Nobu.

Although it does pay less, I'm really liking these culinary instructor gigs, more so than the catering. Being a back-of-the-house type, I'm surprised that I'm actually enjoying the heavy client interaction. Also, having some input on the menu is creatively more satisfying than churning out, say, 100 goat cheese-stuffed endive cups. Now if I could find a place to teach that doesn't require me to wake up at 5am...

Side Note: On my days off, I bake...

Sour Cream Apple Pie and Buttermilk Biscuits

Fish Course

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

Atlantic Cod in Coconut-Ginger Sauce with Upo and Star Fruit

Ingredients (4 servings)
200g Atlantic cod
1 upo (winter melon)
100ml fish stock
200ml coconut milk
1 tblsp grated ginger
1 jalapeno, remove seeds and emincee
patis (fish sauce), to taste
pepper
1 star fruit
peanut oil for deep frying
cilantro sprig

Procedure

Fish

1. Clean, skin and debone cod. Portion into 50g per serving.

Upo

1. Peel upo and spoon out the spongy center. Cut into 7in. x 2in. rectangles, and cut those across to form two right angle triangles (3 per serving). Poach in fish stock until tender and set aside. Keep warm.

Coconut-ginger sauce

1. Reduce fish stock by half.
2. Add coconut milk, ginger and jalapenos. Simmer until lightly nappant. Taste and adjust seasoning with fish sauce and pepper. Strain and keep warm.

Garnish

1. Thinly slice star fruit (1 per serving) and deep fry in oil 350F-375F until golden. Remove and drain on paper.
2. Pick fresh cilantro sprig and prepare very thin slices of jalapeno (4 per serving).

Finish

1. Season and steam cod in a little fish stock.
2. Arrange upo triangles on the bottom of a shallow bowl. Spoon on sauce.
3. Place cod on top and spoon additional sauce.
4. Garnish cod with fried start fruit and cilantro sprig. Garnish sauce with jalapeno slices.

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.

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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

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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.