A Chef's Take on Foodies: Or Why We Love Daniel Boulud!

In a recent interview by Claire Sibonney from Reuters, Daniel Boulud (Daniel, Bar Boulud, etc) reflects on his life in the kitchen of some of the most famous and popular restaurants he has owned. He goes on to talk about certain food fads that he hates to love as well as what some of the latest ingredients he is playing with. All this is great fun, but there is one amazing quote from this interview that sets it apart from any other I have read.

Q: What do you say about the backlash against foodies and the self-indulgence they stand for?

A: "I think in France for example, we can say whatever we want about the French, but going out and dining is more about the intellectual moment to share with the people you dine with than trying to figure out what the chef did with that little piece of salmon or lobster and all that. It's more about the conversations, it's more about the privilege to share a moment with your friends and not be so obsessed with everything going into the plate and around it ... I think luxury and pampering and refinement and rarity in what you have stimulate your intellect. I take so much pleasure at seeing customers who are happy, happy with what they eat but happy with their friends and sharing a great moment together and I think that is more important in life than the endless pursuit of perfection."

It seems as if the questions was based off the recent uproar on an article from The Atlantic, "The Moral Crusade Against Foodies" however his answer was so on cue. A rare response from such a high end and respected chef. This is one of the reasons why we do what we do at Worth Kitchen. The food is just a means to create this intellectual and social stimulation. Trust me, the food is very important to us, and we push ourselves to deliver on quality and flavors that are expected (and hopefully unexpected as well), but by no means is the food the front and center of what we do. As he says:
"I take so much pleasure at seeing customers who are happy, happy with what they eat but happy with their friends and sharing a great moment together and I think that is more important in life than the endless pursuit of perfection"

Thank you Daniel for putting in words our very own manifesto!

The Menu from the March 17 and 18 Events

As we were looking for a fun theme we ran into St. Patrick's Day. Our first plate was a ver specific ode to Ireland, from there on out almost every plate had the irish colors.

For everyone that was there, thank you for making the night so special! We had a great time. Its amazing what happens when you have such an amazing mix of people. 2 nights 40 people each night!

Enjoy the menu and many more pics and posts to come!

Click to view

London in New York

It was one week during the winter where the weather was so foggy and rainy that it really felt as if we were on the other side of the pond. So we thought it was only right to pay homage to our English brethren... Worth Kitchen style.

We chose three traditional dishes and placed a unique twist on them.

1. Fish and Chips - Tiraditos of flounder and tuna with blood oranges and red and gold beets fried
2. Shepherd's Pie - Traditional recipe with ground lamb and added Mexican and Peruvian spices
3. Toffee - Warm chocolate cake  with delicious toffee and toffee/vanilla ice cream

We lack some picture but you can see for yourself with what we have that it was a great success.

We had a great time with our friends from Apt 4 and Jenny for Grub Street!

Enjoy!

The tiraditos and the beets served as our Fish and Chips. Yes, I know it was a stretch but it was delicious!

The shepherd's pies were individually served with aji panca and a red wine reduction sauce.

And here they are, our friends and guest for the night!

How the Dream Killed the Perception

As we prepared for a very big, very special, very important dinner at our apartment, thoughts of doubts mixed with excitement couldn’t help but rush into our heads. Felipe and I, each concentrated on our tasks. On my side of the assignments, there was the music, the table, flowers. On his side, the three dishes that would cause a NY magazine writer to have a reaction, to leave a mark, obviously a positive one. We never thought this project would get us this far, this fast, so anything from now onwards we consider a nice “extra”, including this particular night. This type of thinking makes it less stressful, but of course, it ends up being a stress reliever in theory more than in actuality. Truth be told, at the gut and at the heart, before each night, there is a certain level of hesitation, fear, and a bit of insecurity which is hard to shake off, especially in a night such as this one.

Felipe and I were strangely quiet, as the clock got closer to 8pm, time our guests would arrive. We heard a knock on the door and I reached for it. It was Dan Grossman, from Apt4. I felt strangely relieved and gave him a hug, which was more than unusual, considering we had never met, and he is practically our competition. Still, I felt a strange connection, as if he was on my side of the fence, knowing he has in the past, felt the exact hesitations and fears as I was feeling that night.  The rest of the Apt4 crew made their way in and we all clicked in a matter of seconds. Not even after finishing the first glass of wine, we all were very much synchronized. The doorbell rang again, this time, it was Jenny Miller, writer Grub Street. This time around, it was she who gave me an unexpected hug, now as if it was her who understood something we both shared and that I had yet to discover. I poured her a glass of wine and we all got to talking. It wasn’t long after, while recapping where people were from, that Jenny told us the story of a girl growing up in Portland, who always dreamed of writing for NY Magazine. That girl, of course was herself. It was amazing to hear her talk not about where she has gotten thus far, but about the effort that took to get there, and the determination to follow a passion and pursue a dream. In that journey of hers, I am sure lived the same types of hesitations, fears and insecurities, and that may have just been the thing that tied us together.

The rest of the evening was quite delicious, from the food to the conversations, the wine and the great company. But the one thing I will remember from that night was that moment, when we all got a sneak peak into the beginning of our stories and the time I realized, that before success, a person must have the magnificent ability to dream.

Thank you Jenny and the crew at Apt4, as always, its been a pleasure.