Steak Chef

A new direction

2012-02-18T20:22:00.000-08:00

So my wonderful, amazing and sexy fiancé and I have decided to make ourselves food critics. Now, we have some credentials when it comes to food and drink. I am a chef and she is a longtime restaurant person and bartender. We both work in NYC at up scale restaurants. We use these as our bases or guidelines for our critiques.

So for our first run, we went to Osso Bucco on 93rd and 3rd. We got a deal from Amazon for 2 apps, 2 entrees, 2 desserts, a bottle of wine and coffee all for $55 for two people! So going into this, I thought it's gonna be "ok." Well, I will tell you this- the food was better then good... not great, but Good! We had the mussels which were supposed to be in a white wine sauce but came out in red sauce, and it was delicious. My fiancé got the osso bucco salad which was pretty good. Then for main courses we got the lamb shank and the bronzino. Both were good portions and delicious. For dessert we got tiramissu and cheesecake. They were both very good. We had a choice of malbec or pinot grigio - we went with the malbec. It was from 2011, but it was good. All in all we had a great dining experience and for the deal it could not be beat. We will definitely go back again.
My fiancés review will be on her blog site Sallyforth.net. Her review will include pics of the food. Please check it out. Thanks.

Certain Death Awaits You

2012-02-18T17:02:00.000-08:00

So my friends and fans of lobsters. These guys were freshly shipped to me from Canada. They will become so many tasty dishes. They look so angelic in their insulated styrofoam packaging. Little do they know or do they know that they face certain death within the next 11 hours. I've read that it takes 5-7 years for a Maine lobster to reach 1 pound. So to all these kindergarten age crustaceans I say bad luck my friends. You will become something that some random person will consume all the while not knowing that you survived 25 molts of your shell so that they can have a appetizer. This is a tribute to you.

Tuna Tartar

2012-02-12T21:16:00.000-08:00

So this is my tuna tartar. There are wonton tacos, avocados, mango, basil, cilantro, evoo, salt and pepper. I like to keep the ingredients simple in my dishes and let the individual flavors speak for themselves. I use only the freshest and best ingredients. Make it nice, don't make it twice.

A little background information

2012-02-12T21:05:00.000-08:00

So my wonderful fiancé is a pretty amazing blogger and pretty amazing at everything else too. So I was very excited at the chance to have a sweet blog.
My name is Matthew and I have been a working chef for about 7 years now. I cooked before then, dabbled in the stock trade and a few other enterprises. I am currently working as a Sous chef in midtown. I have been almost everything that you can be in a restaurant. From dishwasher to executive chef. I believe that having an understanding for every position will make you a well rounded and understanding manager.
I went to culinary school at the FCI, French Culinary Institute which is where I received my classical training. When I say classical training I mean the French terms for different kinds of cuts and you mother sauces. I received my real life training in many kitchens in New York. I have worked in so many places over my career that it is hard to even recollect.

For a few years I followed a great chef around who until this day I consider my mentor is so many ways. He taught me how to run a kitchen and everything else that it takes to make it in this cut throat world of cooking. I have taught myself a good deal more. I remain open minded and learn something new everyday from everyone that I work with. I stay away from the fufu kitchen network as much as possible. It made every kid with nothing better to do attempt to become a chef. For the record I despise the food network especially Rachel Ray and Emeril. They make me sick. Ok that is the end of my rant. Thanks for listening.

Sunday Funday

2012-02-12T20:19:00.000-08:00

So anyone who has worked in a kitchen, who has worked on a Sunday knows they can be great or they can be the worst fucking thing ever! I like Sunday's because they are usually a little slower I get to catch up on whatever the guy who worked yesterday didn't do. So today was one of those fuck the guy who worked yesterday. I came in to a note that said "do you want the good news or the bad news?" Then I read the note and was like "where the fuck is the good news?" So as I put on my headphones ( a luxury I afford myself to keep my sanity) and begin to start cleaning up this mess. I get a look at our reservations to see a 20 top party with no notes no party menus nothing. Great. I look at the inventory of my cut meat and say OK! Now I start to get a little mad. But hey I am fucking superman no problem. So much work to do so little time. The one thing that brightened up my whole night was a picture of my fiancé trying on wedding dresses. I was instantly transformed into the chef who needs to do the best job possible so that I can give this woman the world. So game on and fuck the guy who worked yesterday.

Some of my recent food

2012-02-11T19:40:00.001-08:00

This is one of my new ideas. There will be a place for feedback soon I would like to hear what you have to say. Nice or not. Preferably nice :)

So this is Blackfish over black trumpet mushrooms and asparagus with red pepper coulis. The fish is scored so that the meat will stay flat the skin will crisp up evenly. I like to have some fun at work so that night I made a new design on every plate. My guests enjoyed this almost as much as I did. Here's one more.