Experimental Drinktitude

This drink menu is starting to become extremely fun to play with. Today we finalized the 1st edition of our new house cocktail list:



I played around today, trying to perfect a recipe for green olive caviar. So far, its pretty cool. Now, I just need to work on getting the size right. Hopefully, this will end up garnishing a dirty martini.




I think it will be awesome. I'm still trying to work on encapsulated shots.

I also made a sherry vinegar sorbet for a wine dinner. This idea came from the book Flavor Bible. It turned out really good, and we will use it as an intermezzo.

Spring Menu Brainstorm Extravaganza!!!!

Tonight we sat around and made huge strides towards completing the spring menu for Fire.

Here is a tease of our minds at work:


That tease was for you Stuart!!


We also experimented with a few new drinks. The one that was the best would have to be the new "house" manhattan.

The "hot and bothered" martini is incredible as well. Something about habanero vodka and pickles...............yee-haw!!!!

Tasty Bites

Below is a pic of my new favorite BBQ sauce. I experimented a little bit and decided to make a Smoked Dr. Pepper and Strawberry BBQ sauce.

This tasty as it can be sauce was served at a function promoting "minimally invasive surgery" for Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland.

If anyone wants the recipe, drop me a line.

1st Post

This post is dedicated to Stu Spivack.

I have often wanted to blog, but have found very little time to do so. I finally decided to do one after hearing about an argument between some of the cooks at the restaurant that I am Executive Sous Chef at.

The argument they had was about the validity of "foodie" blogs. One side of the argument was that people don't really pay attention to food blogs(this is the side that I don't agree with).

The other side is in defense of "foodie" blogs and the publicity that they can generate(this is the side I do agree with).

In the last few years, blogs have taken off. Blogs about food have especially seemed to gain notoriety. One blog in particular, Chocolate and Zucchini, is extremely popular. The author of said blog, Clotilde Dusoulier, has been on television and has even published 2 books. I would say that this makes her blog something that people read on a daily basis.

I myself am extremely fond of food related blogs, especially blog posts that pertain to restaurants. I often look for reviews of the newest spots that are opening up. Blogs are even useful for finding out what events are being held at your favorite restaurants(ex: Stuart Spivack's blog).

Over the last few years, blogs have really opened my eyes to what is going on in the culinary world. Ideas in Food, opened up my eyes to "molecular gastronomy"....even though that term has been widely abused by many writers. This blog really began to show me how important a blog can be for expanding your knowledge of cooking techniques. It also showed me how much more I have to learn about food.

As I began the start of my career in Cleveland, I began to seek out blogs about the dining scene(ex: Cleveland Foodie). Michelle blogs about every restaurant in Cleveland. This is where my point about the validity of food blogs comes in. She blogs about the restaurants, she interviews the chefs, and people read all about it.

Chefs around town begin to notice, and soon she gets noticed when she goes out to eat. Some bloggers even get invited to events that chefs hold promoting their newest restaurant.

Chefs take notice, so why wouldn't educated consumers. Isn't it possible that a favorable review in a blog could make a restaurant goer more likely to dine at that establishment. Don't even get me started on how pictures of dishes can totally influence someone's decision to eat there.

In summary(sorry if I rambled to much for a 1st post), I think food blogs are very important. I feel that they can influence people to come to your restaurant, and have sometimes even influenced my decision.