Awesome Teaser for Tomorrow's Dinner!

A Fresh Take on Summer

Walking down the streets of New York with a breeze that blows at a higher temperature than what the actual thermometers read, we are brave souls living and moving through one of the most intense city heats. Now, Imagine something fresh… The next Worth Kitchen dinner party will be all about bringing in the fresh. We will make you think, imagine, and feel freshness all around you and in everything you eat. Also to play a part will be the freshest wines paired up with a 5-course meal. Make sure to join us on Thursday August 4th at 8 PM where 25 perfect strangers will attempt to fight the heat. Buy your tickets here

Two Weeks to Training

So after a very busy day yesterday, I dropped by the construction of Sidewalk (no pictures, sorry I will have some up soon!) and the kitchen equipment had just arrived. Very exciting.

Friday I have my final tasting with the owners, GM and cooks. So far it has been very interesting to see what happens at the tastings. In the last one I had, about 4 weeks ago, I did a lot of last minute improvising. To be totally honest, I do not think it worked as well. So for the past 4 weeks, I have been cooking non stop. Experimenting and getting the recipes down perfectly. From very simple chicken wings, to much more elaborate pastas and others. The final menu is due next Tuesday.

Here was my take on the chicken schnitzel with a beet & feta cheese salad and french fries. It came out delicious, but only after 4 tries to get it all right.

This version was done with pank bread crumbs (I ran out of the other normal bread crumbs)

And this, at the end of the day, is the basic menu staples. You can also expect some very fun dishes. Plus my own version of pulled pork with a homemade BBQ sauce... Its going to be awesome.

In two weeks I begin to train the kitchen staff on all my recipes. We have two weeks of hard work to get it all straight before our soft launch. By beginning of next month expect me to be going insane. How crazy is this. I am loving it so far.

If any of you are around NYC during August, please stop by and let me know what you think. Its my official cherry pop in the NYC restaurant circle, so I am as nervous as I am excited.

Any other proper tips, recommendations or ideas? Let me know.

A year later... Where are we now?

Working hard with my amazing partner, best friend and wife! What an amazing first year of marriage it has been!

In May of 2010, Tamy and myself begun an amazing and totally unpredictable experiment which turned into Worth Kitchen. We promised you one full year of dinners at our house and we completed that promise plus we added awesome dinner parties for up to 60 people.

Here are some quick stats for you number lovers:
We have had about 252 people at our house. Out of that 252, about 75% were total strangers
I cooked 151 different dishes (most were a great succes, but not all!)
Created 48 different menus
Generated about $1,560 for various charities through some of our dinners

The year has been crazy!

It started as a hobby, but here I am one year later doing this for a living! Who would've thought?!?!
So It is now my responsibility with all of you to share what has been going on in my life and with Worth Kitchen the last couple of months and since our little Department of Health visit...

As of recent I am working with an East Village legend, Sidewalk Cafe. This place is a live music institution, one of those places that still has the '80s East Village grit, in a good way. As of March 2011, Sidewalk closed for serious renovations. I was approached with the amazing opportunity to come in as a consultant chef and develop the menu for this restaurant. You see, they want to step into a very new direction as far as the food is concerned. I took this as an fantastic opportunity to be able to practice more seriously in the restaurant industry before I took the huge risk of opening a Worth Kitchen restaurant. The menu at Sidewalk Cafe is taking shape and the food that will be coming out is something that I will be very proud of! (I call it "what happens to American food once it has gone the NY treatment") We will also be hosting an event at the Sidewalk Cafe soon enough, so please send me an email so I can send you an invite. Least to say, I am very excited.

And following that... well I guess you have to wait and see. I will be posting regularly from now on. Focusing on the adventures of creating a menu and launching a restaurant. Also, I will be tweeting for Sidewalk Cafe for a while, so follow me on my adventures here.

I know I have said it many times, but Thank You. Thanks to all of you for believing in what we do together and joining us on this amazing road.

The Intimacy of Dining

Image courtesy of Tom Ajello via Instagram

During our latest dinner, at one point, Tamy and myself took a step back and asked, how did this work out so well?

Well, previous to this night we had come to the agreement that we needed to bring the dinners back to its roots. What was it that made our original dinners so amazing? It wasn’t just the idea that you were entering a stranger’s apartment to have a dinner with unknown people, but it was the idea that you were going to enjoy a great meal in an intimate setting with strangers. Well, this time around we decided to try something new. Instead of having a dinner for 50 people (as we have had done various times in the past) all seating in 6 different tables, we invited 26 guests and sat them all in one long table. The results were amazing.  Finally it felt as if we could somehow interact with all the guests easily and the feeling was very intimate, almost as if everyone got a chance to meet each other.

We never influence the interaction that all the guests are having amongst themselves, but we can definitely add the catalyst for the best interaction. The more intimate settings helps to break down the social barriers easier. Even though we love having the dinners for 50 or 60 and will continue to have those in the future, we loved having these intimate dinners and you can expect many more to come your way!

Next dinner, July 28th... stayed tuned for much more information.

Small Productions Big Taste!

The menu for the June 2nd dinner.

On June 2nd we had the privilege of being hosts to an extraordinary wine distributor called Noble Grape Wines. They have stepped out of the traditional distribution model and really done something amazing. When I think of distribution, especially in the US, I think of a huge white semi rig transporting huge pallets of items. And in many cases, this has been the process for wines in the US. More volume, more sales, more profit. What you miss out on though is the bare essence of the wine making experience. The hard working families that spend their entire lives working on the spectacular wines, every single grape that is in their vineyard goes through their hands. The quality that results is usually spectacular. But we never get to see them because the distribution network is too vast for them to ever make an imprint.

This is where Noble Grape steps in. Their mission is really to take true value in the small wine producer and bring the product into the market and into the hands of the everyday consumer. Their mission statement is:
At Noble Grape Wines, we hand-select high-quality wines produced in limited quantities from the very best regions of the world. For two generations and over three decades, we continue to embark on discovering artisan wineries led by single wine makers that must practice indigenous fermentation methods, sustainable farming approaches, and organic and/or biodynamic principles. The result is our edited selection of thoughtfully made wines of the highest quality and integrity, which are well-balanced in alcohol, acidity and tannins and predisposed to helping nurture and sustain a healthy body and lifestyle.


On our June 2nd event, we had the honor of receiving 4 of the wines they represent:

1. Mandragola 2006 by Azienda Agricola Paolo Cali' (Frapato)
2. Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi DOC 2009 by Azienda Santa Barbara (Verdicchio)
3. Terra de Casteani 2007 by Tenuta Casteani (Super Tuscan)
4. Tatti 2009 by Tenuta Casteani (Sangiovese, Alicante & Merlot blend)

The wines were simply amazing and their reception amongst our guests was phenomenal.

Usually what I try to do is pair the wines with the food, but in this case, after having tried the wines before preparing the final dinner, I modified the recipes to fit the flavors of the wine. Not many times does this happen, but when it does, it usually offers an amazing experience overall.

Overall we were very happy with the results from the wines and the night turned out to be extremely memorable!

More on the night to follow.

Thank you Noble Grape Wines for allowing us to try your amazing wine selections. Keep your mission alive!

Think big of the small...

Join us for Dinner!

Our next event is getting closer and we still have some seats available. The 5 course meal will be influenced on Peruvian cooking, so you can expect to have some amazing and very different food!

Click on this link to purchase your ticket or copy and paste the following URL https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/177751

Hope to see you there!