Another very cool thing about this Timpano is that Stuart said basically every member and department of the kitchen helped create this masterpiece for our Cuoco Sicily dinner.
Brian roasted the fennel and peppers and boiled the eggs.
Erik and Jack made the sausage.
Erik and Drew made the meatballs.
Team Pasta made the tortelllini
Joe made the bechamel.
Stuart made the crust
It was a big team effort and it turned out delicious!!
Chef Stuart Lane made this fabulous Timpano for a special Sicily dinner at Cuoco last Tuesday night.
This is a step by step of the process:
First we have special bowls that we bake the Timpano in.
Then the dough.
For the fillings, in this order:
Grilled fennel
Housemade sausage
Roasted red peppers
Bechamel
Boar tortellini
Pecorino
Braised beef meatballs
House made sausage
Grilled fennel
Pecorino
Crust
Here’s Catering Chef Matt Anderson making haggis for the 2nd Annual Slainte- a celebration of Scottish fare- that’s happening tonight at the Palace Ballroom!
First Matt made his haggis broth from lamb livers and hearts. Then he made the haggis filling from beef suet and steel cut oats seasoned with herbs, salt, and pepper and well moistened with haggis broth. Now he’s putting the haggis filling into the stomach. (Sheep stomach is traditional but it’s not available, so Matt is using beef cow stomach). Then he ties up the stomach and boils it in water flavored with aromatics for three hours. After the haggis is cooked it will be served with the traditional “neeps and tatties,” which means parsnips and potatoes mashed together with butter and cream. People loved it last year, says Matt. Of course, a wee dram of Scotch plays a part in the enjoyment!
Tom Douglas just came back from Hawaii bragging about the Hawaiian libations he enjoyed on his vacation.
Here is Dahlia Chef Brock Johnson’s favorite pineapple infused drink:
1 1/2 cups crushed ice
1 1/2 ounces white rum
1 1/2 ounces coconut milk
1 ounce pineapple juice
5 to 6 leaves Thai basil
Float of dark rum
I’ve been curious about what happens over in the adorable farm-style kitchen at The Pantry at Delancey, so I scooted over there on Sunday to learn “How to be a Pie Ninja.” I’m not sure how I was lucky enough to snag a space- the classes sell out on the regular, but there I was, getting an intensive on lemon meringue with almond crust, banana cream pie with oat crust, and peanut butter pie with chocolate wafer crust (and roasted peanuts and sea salt if we’re really hitting the highlights here). (Peanut pie in photo above).
Lemon meringue pie has been the bane of my Thanksgiving existence for 4 years running now. Every year, either the meringue or the curd fails (doesn’t set, sets too hard, weeps, won’t slice, etc), and I keep trying because it is my most favorite pie in the world. (See photo of perfect meringue from the pie class above.) I recently realized my long-held affinity for this pie began at lunches at Chick-Fil-A with my dad when I was young. If you Yankees out there are not familiar with this temple to the chicken nugget, there’s really no use in me telling you about it. Go see for yourself sometime when you are in my hometown, Atlanta, or other Southernly spot, and wash the pie down with a sweet tea if your teeth haven’t fallen out yet.
Anyway, fast food pies aside, my love has endured, and I was determined to master this fluffy pile of happiness…. after all, I need that lemony vitamin C right now.
(Peanut, lemon meringue, and banana cream pie on a plate in the photo above.)
If you missed Seattle Kitchen on KIRO 97.3 radio last weekend you’re in luck because you can listen to it right here!
Here’s a summary from TDR CEO Pamela Hinckley on our work with the Seattle Public Schools lunch program:
“In the summer of 2010, Seattle Public Schools Nutrition Services was awarded a federal stimulus grant to work on improving school lunch.
Their stated goals are to:
1. Get kids excited about eating fresh, unprocessed food
2. Evaluate the existing systems to incorporate fresh food
3. Get the school and kitchen staff excited about these new foods
4. Get parents and community involved
We (Tom Douglas Restaurants) were asked to collaborate on the development of these new foods but first needed to learn all about the meal preparation facility and the distribution methods from the central commissary kitchen. The per meal lunch budget is $1.10 and needs to include protein entree with vegetable sides, bread, and low fat dairy. In the 85 schools they serve 19,000 lunches daily.”
Here’s some really great reading material from Grist that details what our company is doing for the Seattle Public School lunch program.
Hooray!! Tom and Thierry’s radio show is coming back!!
The first show, which is called Seattle Kitchen, will air on KIRO 97.3 this Saturday, January 7, at 8am and again on Sunday, January 8, at 10 am. The show will air weekly.
We will keep you posted as Facebook and Twitter become active under the name Seattle Kitchen.
Tune in this weekend!!!
Everyone needs that home away from home restaurant, where the only difference between eating there and home is you don’t have to cook or do the dishes. For me, it was Seattle’s only Czech restaurant, Labuznik. There the waiters knew that I liked my martini wet and my roast pork with extra gravy. They knew that here wasn’t a choice between soup and salad; I wanted both. They knew that I always wanted a side order of sweet carrots and creamed spinach instead of dessert. In fact, Labuznik was the kind of restaurant we all dream about finding, where the waiter brings you waht you want before you ask for it.
For me, chef and owner Peter Cipra was Labuznik. Peter had fled Czechoslovakia during the Russian invasion in 1968. He opened his first restaurant, Prague, in the underground of Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square in 1972. Five years later he moved and opened Labuznik (Czech for gourmand, or the lover of good food) in the then seedy First Avenue neighborhood, surrounded by sleazy bars and porno theaters. He turned out to be just a little bit ahead of his time, as the neighborhood became the precursor to the now trendy Belltown.
As a young chef, I was simultaneously drawn to his restaurant by knowledgeable foodie friends and intimidated by his legendary temper and brusque demeanor exacerbated by his thick accent. And yet Labuznik quickly became my home away from home restaurant. Watching his wife Susan run the dining room was a lesson every chef-restaurateur should take heed of. Her remarkable grace in the dining room, her diligent care of the customer, and her nurturing demeanor made her the best host in the city. Peter never threw me out, he never threw a pan at me (I can’t speak for others), and he ended up being a trusted friend and mentor.
Labuznik served the type of cuisine in which meat is slowly roasted until it falls off the bone, and most dishes are served with sauerkraut and dumplings rather than mashed potatoes and peas. I always started my meals there with the ground veal soup that had just a little slick of oil on top for extra flavor. My standard was the vepro, slow-cooked pork roast studded with caraway and drenched with gravy made from the caramelized chine bone and drippings. Jackie would invariably get the roast duck, its skin crisped golden brown, the richness of the duck lightened by the zesty sauerkraut. And oh those dumplings! Literally the best I’ve ever had. This was Czech soul food of the first order. Peter’s amazing Bordeaux wine list was better than that at almost any restaurant in town; it complemented the meat-heavy menu perfectly.
In the end Labuznik closed because Peter Cipra’s unyielding vision for the restaurant meant he refused to be a slave to food fashion. When everyone else was doing Pacific Rim, Peter was still serving schnitzel, incredibly delicious schnitzel at that. When Peter wasn’t in the kitchen, Labuznik wasn’t open. So when he was ready to retire, there was really no way for my favorite restaurant to carry on. For us, Labuznik is all about indelibly etched food memories. In fact the recipes on the menu that follows are a blend of those food memories, long phone conversations with Peter, and mysteriously disappearing emails. They are inspired by our memories of a spot we truly loved. We hope we do Labuznik’s food justice, because if we don’t we’ll hear about it- from Peter of course.
Editor’s note: this is the intro to the Labuznik chapter of our cookbook, Tom’s Big Dinners. The menu features slow roasted pork with caraway onion gravy and bread dumplings
To read the first part, click here! To read the second part, click here! And now to the third installment:
With temporary citizenship our goal and relaxation our quest, it turns out rejuvenation was and is our final destiny. Spending five straight weeks in the city of light wasn’t intended to and didn’t change our lives. Our stay/vacation did however put some much needed perspective on the very hectic life that we lead. Seems it was a chance to mentally evaluate decisions we make everyday and have made for the last thirty years together. A chance to let the mental pressure of everyday business subside a bit while evaluating a path forward. I suppose we all need to do this from time to time don’t we?
Everyday someone says to me “I don’t know how you do it, how do you find the time, where do you get the energy, and when is enough enough?” Well I can tell you, without question, in my mind (Jackie will have to speak for herself), until I’m dead, there wont be enough. ”It’s not about the money” sounds cliche, and probably is, but it really is about the excitement of running our business. The day to day interaction with you, our customer, the 650 or so folks I’m privileged to call my coworkers. The charge I get out of thinking of new ideas and then seeing them through from prospectus and blueprints to living, breathing businesses never dims. This obsession was reaffirmed every time we sat down for a meal in Paris. It was fun to dissect their business plans from location and menu, to service standards and socialist workers’ rights. Many meals ended with a friendly waiter or owner chat about local liquor laws, tip pools, taxes, etc, etc. Love that!!
Rejuvenation, turns out for me, was an affirmative of my passion for the restaurant business. Do you still care when you don’t have to? Is the food and service good just because you are overwhelmed by the magnificence of this city? Are restaurants great because the guidebook says so, or because you’ve tried enough of them to know what is what? Am I being overly competitive to suggest that restaurants in Seattle match up just fine with this town and that Parisian chefs as a whole, obviously with exceptions, could use a little bit of our organic passion for ingredients, our commitment to sustainable ingredients and a dose of reality that without 100 million tourists a year they would have to work much harder to stay in the black?
That said, we ate handsomely on many nights and were rewarded with delicious meals when we took the time to plan our destinations rather than simply walking in and hoping for the best. Our trip was intended to be a freestyle, with no “stars” and no reservations. After the first week, which happened to be Fashion Week, Paris was packed to the rafters so we moved to plan B. Research and reservations immediately improved our options, and in turn, our meals. Dining “in” at our cool flat in the sixth overlooking the Luxembourg Gardens and the Eiffel Tower was a competitive option because of the lovely Marche St. Germain located nearby. It was studded with two butchers, two fish stalls, 4 produce stands, an award winning cheese shop with butter and eggs thrown in, a Greek and Italian deli, a chi chi flower shop and a sweet, well curated wine shop/bar.
Without a doubt the most pleasant dining surprise of our stay/vacation was having the charming Cafe Tournon right across the street from our flat. Olivia and Ludavic, owners of our apartment, said in their house notes that it was decent and well worth a try, a typical neighborhood joint. Problem was it just didn’t look that way. Too bright, too plain, too yesterday to be relevant. Beginning with an espresso and baguette for breakfast moving to a grilled leg of lamb lunch with wok fried veggies and a surprisingly light blanquette de veau dinner- each meal we had was better than expected, nicely served and just the kind of place I hear my friends wishing they had in their hood (where everybody knows your name as the jingle goes). Tournon gained fame in the fifties as the Paris home of a few American jazz greats like Dizzie Gillespie and Duke Ellington. Now it is owned by an ex three star Tour ‘Argent chef who is “back to reality” cooking for the denizens of the French Senate and other neighbors in the sixth.
Christian Constant’s restaurant Les Cocottes was a delicious spot to stop for lunch after one of many miles long walks through the city. A long counter runs the length of one wall while communal seating occupies the other half of the restaurant. Blackboard menus adorn the walls with selections ranging from woodcock to veal liver. Christian owns two other restaurants on either side of Les Cocottes which I am told makes him the “Tom Douglas” of Paris…. ha ha!
Braiden and Laura, Seattle expats, now ensconced at their new wine bar and restaurant, Verjus, located in the 1st are killing it. Braiden worked with us at the Dahlia Lounge as a waiter and Laura was a tour and retail host at Theo Chocolate in Fremont. They had a classic bee in your bonnet moment when both decided to give living in Paris a shot, supporting themselves by offering beautifully cooked dinners in their apartment. ”Hidden Kitchen” became a media darling, appealingly secretive and bolstered by an adoring photosphere. Soon every weekend was booked out months in advance. Smartly heeding the practical advice offered by local friends, they have now gone legit and opened this sweet three story spot around the corner from the Palais Royal and the infamous three (now two) star Le Grand Vefour.
Poilane bakery bread was delicious as remembered from earlier visits to Paris and made for a daily dose of the perfect breakfast… two slices toasted to a dark brown edge still yielding its famous yeasty aroma and chewy long fermented crust soon slathered with salted Bretonne butter and topped with just a dab of Pierre Herme Montmorency cherry jam. A well aged stinky camembert from Normandy, thick slices of our butcher’s picante salami and steaming cups of thick French press coffee finished off the perfect mornings on our fifth floor terrace. Ready to hop on a plane yet?
It’s important to remember the mission for our 5-week Paris staycation when reading down the list of places that we recommend… freestyle, no “stars” (I think we actually ended up in 3 one star joints and 3 three star hotel bars because they are just so damn grand) and few reservations. Most are just local joints known for nothing more than delicious duck confit, maybe a great cheese service, economical yet deep wine list, or bio-sensitivity. Some were luck of the draw, others out of guide books on classic Paris restaurants. towards the end of our trip we referenced some of the many suggestions you all sent after our first newsletter hit the website (we enjoyed the thoughtful reviews of all of these.)
I have to say one of the best meals of our trip happened in our very own kitchen. Jackie made an impromptu omelette wth chanterelles, shallots, thyme, and chevre. On the side were crispy duck fat fried potatoes and lightly dressed watercress salad. So simple, satisfying, and soulful.
Cafe Comptoir Tournon…. the best version of everyday Parisian food- nothing fancy but when you’re stay-cationing you want a place like this.
Le Dome… classic seafood brasserie, expensive, fun. Try the butter fried sole.
Fish la Boissonnerie… part of the new wave wine bars in the tradition of Willie’s and Juveniles, try the lamb confit.
D’chez Eux…..cuisine traditional, nice wine list, gotta love a place that drops free salami as an introduction and moves you into their signature duck confit with duck fried potatoes.
Les Cocottes… perfect spot for a hip lunch or dinner. Feels a bit like dining in London and the food is delish. Try the monkfish with salty butter and crayfish.
Aux Lyonnais… What every American version of a classic French cafe tries to look like but happens to be missing a hundred years or so of patina. Try the boudin with onions and vinegar.
Mon Vieil Ami.. unexpectedly pretty, terrible service, communal tables, delicious food. Try the red and black radish and mackerel tart to begin then jump to the breast of pork.
J’go…. a chain but fun, hip, and happening. Try the rotisserie lamb leg plate.
Chez Louisette… at the Clingincourt flea market. Worst food and service we’ve ever had in France,…. but the singing chanteuses were worth the painful meal. Try…a glass of cheap wine.
Ze Kitchen Galerie… French Thai fusion that I liked more than Jackie. Right next door to the fine Les Bouquinistes. Try kabocha broth with sweetbreads and citrus then move into rabbit confit with peanut pistou. Finish with corn-soja soup, caramelized coconut, miso, vanilla marmalade.
Miroir…. a fine cote de boeuf for two and fun wine list.
Astier… fabulous marinated smoked herring to begin, then a silky roast veal chop and a not to be missed cheese tray to finish. All anchored by nice service and a well curated and priced wine list.
We had many more tasty treats including homemade soba at Yen, buckwheat crepes at Brettone, hot chocolate at Angelina near the Louvre, macarons at the delicious but snooty Lauderee, falafel at L’As du Falafel, Berthillon ice cream in most any flavor at the home shop on Ile Saint Louis, anchovies and spicy pepper pasta at Marco Polo, etc etc. Bon Appetit!!
RSS SubscribeWelcome to Family Meal, a blog that examines all things new and noteworthy in the world of food, wine, and dining.
At family meal, otherwise known as staff meal, there’s no hierarchy; you’re breaking bread with your friends. For those 30 minutes, everyone is equal- and hungry. Family meal is our version of the water cooler- but with better food.
I’ll be sharing my thoughts, tips, and observations, and, in the spirit of family meal, I’ve invited our creative, energetic staff- everyone from line cook to bartender to bookkeeper- to have a say. I hope you’ll add your own comments and join in the conversation.
-Tom Douglas
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