Yesterday morning, I went over to Serious Pie Westlake to meet up with my young friend, Haley. Haley is mulling over the idea of a future culinary career, and I had promised to give her a tour of our swanky new pastry and bread bakery. Since her high school is on vacation this week, the time was right.
First I checked in with one of my favorite people, Chris Field, Westlake Pie Sous Chef (photo top left). He was busy at the Biscuit Bar. (Of course I had to have a ham biscuit first in the interests of “quality control.”) Then I introduced Haley to our Pastry Chef, Stacy (photo top right), who was hard at work cutting rectangles of dough for cannoli!
Carol (photo above left) was rolling out coconut pie dough for pastry shells on our amazing dough sheeter. (Oh yes, I remember the days when I rolled out all those shells myself with a rolling pin. Of course, back then I wasn’t making nearly so many. Remember that we now have 7, soon to be 10 joints that require pastries and breads everyday plus the Dahlia Bakery and Catering!) I’ve never seen such a big container of pie weights! (Photo above right, with the parchment papers stacked on top ready to re-use.) The weights are dried beans- lentils in this case- that the bakers use over and over to weigh down their pastry shells so the bottoms don’t puff up while being blind baked.
Pastry Sous Chef, Katharine, was at work measuring and cutting dough for fig bars (photo above left, though you can’t see Katharine except for her hands). The concentration and detail that goes into each of our pastries is a good reminder to me of why it’s not an easy task to write the Dahlia Bakery Cookbook! These are professional recipes, and we go to a lot of time and trouble to make each and every one of our products as perfectly as possible, but at the same time, we don’t want to make the recipes for the book too intimidating for the home cook. It is a balancing act!
But my favorite moment was watching Haley help the very kind and welcoming bread bakers roll a few hamburger buns! I love her youthful energy and enthusiasm!!
I just happened to stop by Serious Pie Westlake this morning for an amazing breakfast sandwich on a perfect biscuit with egg, ham, cheddar, and the genius touch- apple mustard. Linea and Carmen are the gorgeous, gracious gals who make it all happen for you when you pop into the Westlake Pie for your breakfast sammy.
But don’t forget that Tom Douglas Restaurants started serving breakfast sandwiches on our own handmade English muffins at the Dahlia Bakery and you can stop by any morning to pick one up. (And don’t forget you can also get a little “English Muffin Love” at Seatown for breakfast or brunch. ) Our English Muffin Breakfast Sandwiches were just honored by being called One of the Best Breakfast Sandwiches in the Country on the well respected blog, Serious Eats!! Check it out here.
Last Tuesday, some of us Tom Douglas employees, including many of our chefs, were invited to the Intellectual Ventures Laboratory in Bellevue to take a peek into the world of Modernist Cuisine, the hotly awaited tome on molecular gastronomy. It was a true pleasure to get a tour of the lab with co-author Maxime Bilet. (The other authors of the book are Nathan Myhrvold and Chris Young.) Our Tom Douglas team headed to the lab to learn a few fun recipes for our upcoming event at the Palace Ballroom tomorrow,Tuesday, February 22. At our event, we’ll be serving four dishes including roasted corn elote (photo top right), fried pear, pickle and watermelon chips (photo top left), pastrami (photo below left), and a grilled chicken skewer. The chicken skewer is the same one that the Modernist Cuisine authors have served at the 30 course tasting menu which was recently featured in this article in the Wall Street Journal.
The information we learned while at the lab was absolutely fascinating (I added the photo of food in test tubes, above right, because it looks so, well, laboratory-like), and I have no doubt that Tuesday’s event at Palace Ballroom will be equally captivating and amazing. See you there! (Editor’s note: our Modernist Cuisine event is sold out.)
WHAT A WEEK! In the last few days, I’ve been hanging out at the new Dahlia Workshop on Westlake and Harrison in the South Lake Union neighborhood. We’ve been open a few weeks now and business has been brisk! Everyone that I’ve talked to are estatic that there’s a quick and new breakfast / lunch option in the ‘hood. If you make it over, make sure to order the *AMAZING* Chicken Biscuit (picture by LovelynLanvin!) or the “WORKCHOP” salad and say hi to Linea and Carmen – they’re the heart and soul of the joint!
You might already know that we’ve got Michael’s Soul Wine right next to us and our latest Serious Pie upstairs, but did you know that our the pastry and bread kitchens have moved over to this space as well? It’s honestly a great mix of culinary minds packed into one large space.
Above is a video of Shawn, a member of our Bread baking team knocking out our very own english muffins that we serve at many of our restaurants (and Spring Hill’s brunch too!). Youtube link is here. Isn’t that Guyon oven GINORMOUS?
Come stop by and see us, there’s a lot going on over in South Lake Union!
Take a look at this profile of our amazing pasta maker, Martha Francis, on the Weekly’s Voracious blog, by food writer, Leslie Kelly! Martha is currently stationed at Palace Kitchen, but will be moving to our newest joint, Cuoco, soon. (Here’s the second part of the story about Martha.)
Much as I would like to say that it is always tons of fun to work on the upcoming Dahlia Bakery Cookbook, the truth is, sometimes it is a long, hard, uphill slog. Sometimes recipes don’t work the way they’re supposed to and have to be tested again (and, alas, again). Once in awhile, we (myself and cookbook test team extraordinaire, Julie Hartley and Beth Minker) have a day where it seems like nothing went right and nothing got done.
But the last few test sessions have been BRILLIANT, so I’m feeling energized again. I wish everyone could have a taste of this crazy good chocolate tart for Valentine’s Day!! (photo top) Rich and deeply chocolate, but also balanced and subtle, with the best ever flaky crust. I’m taking a couple pieces home for myself and my Valentine tonight.
I like making apple pie, but with pastry chef extraordinaire Garrett Melkonian’s guidance this is the best one (photo above) I’ve ever made. The apples have a lovely soft texture with juices that set up just right, laced with the flavors of rum, butter, spice and vanilla, and the crust is flaky but tender and melts in your mouth.
Also, Garrett showed me how to make a beautiful batch of orange marmalade and a clear, garnet colored cranberry jelly, subtly flavored with hibiscus and star anise, both recipes are for our jams and jellies chapter (photos above). Now, I just need some time to sit in front of the computer and get these edited …
My birthday was last Sunday, and after careful consideration, I chose the Book Bindery for my celebration dinner. (Though, since the restaurant is closed on Sunday, my husband, Frank, and I dined on Saturday night.) My birthday dinner would be our second visit to this new restaurant which is co-owned by my friend, Patric Gabre-Kidan, and it turned out to be the perfect pick. I love the romantic room, for one thing, with big windows overlooking the Ship Canal on one side and wine barrels on the other side. Patric came over and chatted with us just enough to make me feel special, the service is polished, and the kitchen is run by the talented chef, Shaun McCrain.
It isn’t often that one of the highlights of a restaurant dinner is the amuse bouche, but the flavors of this little shot glass of garnet yam soup (photo top left) really popped! We also scored a hit choosing a bottle of Sicilian wine (photo top middle). The wine alone made the evening special.
Frank ordered the sweetbreads, on a pool of cauliflower puree with a narrow strip of caramelized cauliflower and golden raisins carefully arranged alongside. Who knew that sweetbreads and cauliflower make a divine match?
Patric sent out the hand made smoked cavatelli with foraged mushrooms and pickled pearl onions (photo top right). I had almost ordered this, but I was wary of the “foie gras emulsion.” The dish was, however, probably my top favorite of the evening- impeccable pasta and luscious sauce filled with savory mushrooms and brightened with the pickle-y flavor of the onions. I will absolutely order this again.
I also enjoyed my perfectly medium rare lamb rack with excellent ricotta gnocchi and a suave piperade sauce. A great match with our fabulous bottle of wine.
We were too full for dessert, but Patric came by with two French macarons from a little box that a friend had just given him. Those melt in your mouth morsels ended the evening sweetly.
OH BOY. January was QUITE the month! Through our tweets on Twitter and our Facebook page (give us a *LIKE* if you can!) we managed to post up 26 delicious pictures in the first 31 days of 2011. Click the picture above or right here for details!
Whoop whoop! Here’s to a great 11 more months of the year!
Welcome 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.
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