The ART of FOOD – Alinea

As I mentioned before, the series Chef’s Table is not your run-of-the-mill cooking series.

A dish containing duck, huitlacoche, strawberry & white corn on an acrylic art piece designed to act as a plate. Photo: Nathan Weber for the New York Times — A dish containing duck, *huitlacoche, strawberry and white corn on **an acrylic art piece designed to act as a plate. Photo**: Nathan Weber for the New York Times.

I just finished watching the series on NetFlix. Many of the restaurants in the series are Michelin star or at the very least, way above average. Some are destinations in that they are in very remote locations. They all take food to a whole other level. It’s a total experience for the senses. They are among the 50 best in the world. If you love food then prepare to be inspired!

I loved all the shows but I think my favourite was the one which appeared the most artistic – that of Alinea Restaurant in Chicago.

Chef and Restaurateur Grant Achatz is more than another rock star chef; he’s a true artist.

Restaurateur Grant Achatz, left. Source: Alinea Restaurant

Plateless dessert. Source: Alinea Restaurant — Plateless dessert.
Source: Alinea Restaurant

Helium balloon dessert made with apple. Source: Alinea Restaurant — Helium balloon dessert made with apple.
Source: Alinea Restaurant

The opening scene shows him staring at an abstract art painting and appreciating what he sees. He tries to incorporate art into his food while retaining the integrity of the taste and overall dining experience. He offers something unique. You’ve got to appreciate that.

Alinea is a three-Michelin-star restaurant.

If you’ve never eaten at Alinea – where diners must purchase a ticket in advance rather than pay on the day – you may have a long wait: every meal for the rest of the year (apart from New Year’s Eve) is sold out.

Alinea’s tasting menu costs diners between $210 and $295 per person, depending upon availability and demand and excluding beverages.

“There is a difference between dining and eating. Dining is an art. When you eat to get most out of your meal, to please the palate, just as well as to satiate the appetite, that,my friend, is dining.” – Yuan Mei

Website: http://alinearestaurant.com/

*What is Huitlacoche?. Pronounced whee-tla-KO-cheh, huitlacoche is also known as corn mushroom, corn smut or Mexican truffle. It is a fungus, which randomly grows on organic corn (not sprayed with any fungicide). It is rare, as it develops on the corn ears as they ripen after the rainy season or an errant rainstorm. Huitlacoche will consume the corn kernels and push itself out through the corn shucks, easily visible in a cornfield.

Your guide to Michelin Star Restaurants around the Globe:

https://www.viamichelin.com/web/Restaurants

Food + Drink, Girl Who Would be King

Fun for Foodies

Have you seen Chef’s Table?

I’ve been watching the series on Netflix. It’s not your run of the mill cooking show. It’s so much more because in each hourly episode the series focuses on a particular chef that will inspire the hell out of you.

From Chef Meets BC Grape

You find out their story: what drives them, how they shop, about their relationship to food and their style as they prepare a culinary specialty. And it all looks so pretty….even something so simple and singular as a carrot. But it’s not just a carrot, it’s a carrot from the chef’s family run farm that tastes unlike any other carrot. And it makes everything you make seem so……...well, ordinary?

Anyway….just wanted to tell you about two upcoming chef inspired events in my home town, Vancouver because I really feel that Vancouver is becoming a world class dine out city. So much so that I just found out about a dine out week taking place next month that is very inspiring (UPS – upcoming post soon). But in the meantime:

#1 – Chef Meets Truck:

On September 13, the Chefs’ Table Society of BC, in partnership with the Yaletown BIA and the Streetfood Vancouver Society host the inaugural event Chef Meets Truck in Yaletown at the intersection of Hamilton and Nelson. The event will run from 6:30pm-9:30pm and consists of Vancouver restaurant chefs hopping on board local Food Trucks to serve up the foodie event of the season. This collaborative event brings Vancouver’s hottest restaurant and food truck chefs together for the first time ever.

Purchase tickets to the inaugural event for $69 + taxes and fees here. Tickets include food samples from the eight participating food trucks, as well as, wine and beer samples from Nichol Vineyard, Lock and Worth Winery and Brassneck Brewery.

A portion of the ticket sales will be donated to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.

Participating food trucks and chefs include:

Community Pizzeria with guest chef Angus An (Maenam)

Feastro with guest chef Lucais Syme (Cinara)

Fliptop with guest chef Vikram Vij (Vij’s)

Kafka’s Coffee Truck with guest chef Christophe Bonzon (Chez Christophe)

Mom’s Grilled Cheese with guest chef Travis McCord (La Pentola)

Roaming Dragon with guest chef Scott Jaeger (The Peartree)

Tacofino with guest chef Frank Pabst (Blue Water Cafe)

Via Tevere with guest chef Phil Scarfone (Nightingale)

This event would not be possible without the support of:

Bella Gelateria, Biota Fermentation, Brassneck Brewery, F.I.S.H (Fresh Ideas Start Here), Kins Farm Markets. La Grotta Del Formaggio, Lock and Worth Vineyard. Nichol Vineyard. Windsor Meats

#2 – CHEF MEETS BC GRAPE

Thursday, September 15
Vancouver Convention Centre East
999 Canada Place, Ballrooms A, B, C
7–9:30 PM

Tickets are selling fast to the largest tasting of BC VQA wines in Vancouver! This popular fundraiser is a unique opportunity to taste a selection of more than 300 wines from 90 of BC’s top producers.

A tasting event for both novice wine tasters and connoisseurs—you can expect to sip and savour vintages of established labels, and find new favourites from an abundance of up-and-coming, family-run, and boutique operations. Guests will also have the opportunity to taste specially prepared pairing dishes from 12 BC restaurants!

Participating restaurants include:

Chicha Restaurant
Fable Kitchen
Hart House Restaurant
Lift Bar and Grill
Miradoro Restaurant
Provence Marinaside
Torafuku Modern Asian Eatery

Tickets are selling fast—buy now to avoid disappointment!

$90 Regular
$75 Groups of 10 or more (by phone only)

Bon Appetit!

Food + Drink, Girl Who Would be King

Food: CHEFS’ Table – CURRY CUP challenge

FOR CURRY LOVERS ONLY. Here’s something that may pique your interest if you live in Vancouver. For those not able to attend, I’ve posted one of my Indian curry recipes below.

CHEFS Confirmed for 3rd Annual Curry Cup

[Vancouver, BC] On March 7, 2016, the *Chefs’ Table Society of BC’s third annual Curry Cup returns to Heritage Hall, 3102 Main St., Vancouver from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

Each ticket includes samples of curry from all the teams (listed below); wine from Evolve Cellars, beer from R&B Brewing, alcoholic & non-alcoholic drink samples created by Lauren Mote, and an entertaining evening.

For many chefs and their brigades, curry is the ultimate family-style meal, the proud product of a cook’s cultural heritage.

Photo: d. king (my recipe below)

This year’s COMPETING CHEFS will present their version of a Curry dish:

Trevor Bird, Fable Kitchen
Clement Chan, Torafuku
Justin Cheung, Longtail Kitchen
Jonathan Chovancek, Cook Culture/Bittered Sling
Tret Jordan, Homer St. Café
Roger Ma, Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar
Frank Gort , Marriott Pinnacle (Showcase Restaurant & Bar)

Last year’s winner, Rob Ratcliffe, Hawksworth Restaurant, will be back this year but this time as a judge, along with Sonia Beeksma, Global BC, Meeru Dhalwala, Vij’s, My Shanti, Rangoli, Barbara- Jo McIntosh, Barbara -Jo’s Books to Cooks, and Mijune Pak, Follow Me Foodie.

Emcee for the evening is once again Vancouver’s “Man About Town” Fred Lee.

Proceeds from the event go to support Growing Chefs, an organization that teaches children how to grow and cook their own food.

Tickets, $60 (+ taxes & fees), are now on sale and moving quickly. Get yours here. The first 80 tickets purchased will also receive a Chefs’ Table Society of BC organic cotton tote bag (to be picked up at the Curry Cup).

About the Chefs’ Table Society:

*The Chefs’ Table Society of British Columbia is a non-profit society comprised of BC’s leading chefs and culinary professionals. It is a chef-administered, province-wide collaborative dedicated to creating a foundation for the exchange of information between culinary professionals. The Society supports innovative and sustainable programs that will inspire, educate and nurture BC chefs, producers and the local food industry. The Chefs’ Table Society secures apprenticeships for and bestows bursaries to emerging local chefs and also finances culinary education programs in BC schools. For more information or to become a member visit chefstablesociety.com.

Not to worry, we all love curry especially those on the jury. — *Not to worry*, **we all love curry** especially those on the jury who are in no hurry (because they want to keep sampling…*.just to make sure*).

Oh; I’m also a poet, but I bet you already know it (or a rapper – ha, ha goofing around)

What I’m not is an official judge of this CC, however my consolation prize is to be a judge of an upcoming new annual Barn Burner BBQ (yeah; bring it on!) event. I’ll tell you about that later. In the meantime….

My “crazy for curry” Indian recipe

https://girlwhowouldbeking.com/2015/04/20/cooking-crazy-for-curry/