antique store, Callicoon, Sullivan County, NY

Nothing to do with food but I wish I had written it myself.

North Branch with New Eyes

Last weekend found me with the ability to do something
I rarely get to do, get the hell out of Dodge and breath
some mountain air.
My grandparents bought some land and a small, small, small
house in North Branch, NY in the Catskill Mountains sometime
in the early 50's. The coming years brought the addition of a couple
of bedrooms and, to my mother's delight, an indoor bathroom and the
destruction of the out house.
To say that the place was in the middle of nowhere would
be an understatement.
My cousins and I grew up going up there for weekends
with my grandparents when they were there on their vacations
and truly, there really wasn't anything to do.
I think TV came sometime in the 70's and cable in the 80's but
only in the way of Canadian sitcoms that weren't even picked up
by their own.
We saw the addition of a porch and then later the enclosing of the porch.
The wood paneling and carpeting remained and a short time after
we lost my grandfather, my father took it upon him to make
what was on overgrown acre of land into a beautiful landscaped
country home.
Yes, it was beautiful. IS beautiful.
We all loved the weekends up there but never much left the property
once we got there. My grandparents rarely did so why would we?

Fast forward to present. I took the weekend to get away with my good
friend Heather. Another restaurant person in need of a little mountain
air and some girltime.
We left the property. We met lots of people. It was crazy.
I suppose I should'nt have been suprised once my hairdresser had bought a house
in the area and there was a local gay pride parade but old impressions die hard.

This brings me to the Old North Branch Inn.

Last year the abandoned Old North Branch Inn was bought by Victoria
Lesser, a designer based in Key West who had bought a country house in nearby
Callicoon Center. The Inn seemed like a great project. Now she owns it and
lives there.

It still had an original bowling alley and a bar from the 1939 world's fair.

We met Victoria while grabbing a coffee and a piece of amazing apple pie
at Baxter's, the coffee bar she opened in the lobby. Only local bakers are
featured.


We took a tour of the rooms and decided that she had us at the bathrooms.
The place is respectful of where it is with just enought comforts (small flatscreen TVs, heat and enormous showers) to not feel like
you rented out someone's barn for the weekend. A night at the Inn: $120 or $140.
Fabulous.
A wine license is on the way. Cheese, wine and bowling nights are soon to follow.

We met a couple from the city now living in North Branch, Steve and Kimberly and their four-month-old Owen. Steve and Kimberly have started a record label which
means, unbeknownst to them, they'll be seeing me again in the near future.

Now other than pushing my new friend Victoria's inn, why are we here?
Food, of course.
Victoria came into the city a few days later and had lunch at Lassi.
I just loved that. I would do it but I would visit a toll booth if I knew someone.
She said she'd like to have guest chef dinners. I said I could get a ton of very
fabulous chefs who would love to do such a thing.
Well, I'll be the first.
Not a lot of Indian food up there in Sullivan County.
I have every intention of getting some great dinners going up there.
Some of my favorite chefs have already signed on.

Looks like it's going to be quite a summer and we haven't even
sold the last Tandoori turkey yet.

Beauty and Truth Prevail

Yesterday in the Dining Section of the NYTimes,
The Under $25 section reviewed El Quinto Pino.
Here's sending love to the girls and of course,
to Eder(who hasn't come to visit me in a while).

Besos.

Indiophiles Around the World

I love this banner.
After shamelessly Googling myself in the "Image" category,
I came upon an Italian website all about Asian food.

No suprise to me. After years of working in Italy and having many
close friends in Italy, I've learned the love Italians have for Asian foods.
From any country.
Whenever I get a visitor from Italy, there are always meals in favorite
Asian restaurants for their remaining days here in NYC.
Now that I have an Indian restaurant, I am my Italian friends' favorite
New Yorker. If I wasn't sure before, I'm quite definite now.

Anyway, the website is www.corriereasia.com
There is a review of Lassi and from what I can tell, it's quite flattering.

Or I'm lying to myself.

But that aside, I love the banner image. It says tons and it makes me smile.

s.s. france trois

The following photos are of the S.S. France circa 1970.
Please scroll down to read the original France entry.

s.s. france photos

I'm not particularly ept at the computer thing.
So I'll be posting the photos of the S.S. France
and it's kitchens as best I can.
Stay tune for the rest tomorrow.
Thank you for your patience.
Happy Motoring.

S.S. France

All chefs get the same questions thrown at them left and right. The all time worst
to me is "What is your specialty?"
It's not an easy question to answer.
When I was doing pastry, I always answered with "Pastry".
I know the answer desired was to be more specific, such as "French" or "Italian".
But at a certain level a chef tries to have some mastery of everything
and to try to pigeon hole what may have a million influences is difficult.
What can you say if you make stunning wedding cakes, have a handle on
ice carving and come up with media worthy menus every season?

I'm cooking a lot of Indian these days but I still have a couple of decades of pastry
under my belt and I still do pastry daily. Now what?

The next most asked question is probably "What influenced you to become a chef?"
Another big question. If you've truly made this your career, the influence had to be big.
It's a 24/7 job. Maybe more so in New York. It's social and it's everywhere.
And now, it's even considered to be an affluent job. Go figure.

I came across some pictures the other day that made me remember the earliest threads
of what was to come for me and my dedication to the kitchen.

When I was three years old (stay with me here, it gets better...), my parents took me on vacation on the
S.S. France.
The S. S. France was at one time the largest cruise liner on the water at 316 meters. It was known for
luxury, French service and fine French food.

My mother remembers with misty eyes the steamer trunks arriving days before our departure so we
could pack with our vacation wear. The day the ship left port you had nothing to carry but a hand bag.
Someone has got to bring that back or I've got to start taking better vacations.

The memories of the ship and the people we met on the France have always remained very vivid for me.
I had my own state room and my parents had a lot of fashionable new clothes. Pucci the first time around.

There was a lot of table side service and to this day I don't think I've ever gotten over it.
I love table side. Recently, I had lunch at Jean-Georges. Phillipe, the GM, carved and dressed
a pineapple tableside. Worth the price of admission.

I am convinced that the defining moment for me---the moment I decided to become a pastry chef---
was at 3 on the S.S. France. It was my parents anniversary and my father had the pastry chef make
a baked alaska in the shape of the ship for each table in the dining room. They came out of the kitchen all
at once in traditional fashion, en flambe.
How on Earth do you not carry that with you for all eternity?
Nevermind that they didn't get their name right on theirs, it's just too fabulous.

About a year ago, I was listening to Mike Colameco's radio show and he was interviewing a writer that had
come out with a book about his life and the food around it.
I wish I could remember who he was. He is very famous. His cousin was Jill St. John, if that rings any
bells. The one thing that really caught my attention was that he talked about how if father gave him
a ticket for a vacation on the S.S. France for his college graduation. Colameco knew all about the ship
and it's culinary reputation. It was so exciting to hear someone go on about the France
and the opulence that has given my career whatever romance I can muster up about it when
I've been working too much, my feet are giving out and I'm tired of everyone's opinions.

When I was a kid, my mom was a great baker. And yes, my parents loved to go out to restaurants
that were rare in the seventies but are taken for granted now.
A pretty traditional answer to a typical question.
Luckily, though raised in the Bronx, I also was exposed to the type of culinary perfection
I've been working towards ever since.