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NYC: Empellón Cocina: The Push Project: Part II (Mar. 2013)
Authors: Victor and Jessie
Restaurant: Empellón Cocina (Push Project II)
Chefs: Jordan Kahn and Alex Stupak
Date: March 8, 2013
Victor’s Notes:
I follow Empellón Cocina on Facebook, and they’re one of the more interesting NYC restaurants that I like to keep track of, especially because their chef is Alex Stupak. He used to be known as one of the top pastry chefs in the country, and he was Alinea’s original pastry chef.
Every few months, Alex Stupak collaborates with a chef he strongly respects to create guest chef dinners under the name of “The Push Project”. Part I of “The Push Project” involved Enrique Olvera. For Part II of “The Push Project”, Chef Stupak decided to collaborate with Jordan Kahn, who Stupak worked with at Alinea. Kahn is currently the Exec Chef of Red Medicine, and he’s worked with pastries at Per Se, Alinea, and Varietal. You can find info on this collaboration at http://www.empellon.com/cocina/single.html?id=1591236.
Because the two chefs were superstar pastry chefs, there’s a huge focus on sweets. The meal consisted of four savory courses and five sweet courses. I think you have to really like desserts to be able to really appreciate all of the desserts as the sweets might be too much for some people. Overall, the savory courses were great, and the desserts were AMAZING, both in terms of taste and conceptually.
NYC: Per Se (Mar. 2013)
Author: Victor
Restaurant: Per Se
Exec Chef: Thomas Keller
Chef de Cuisine: Eli Kaimeh
Date March 3, 2013
Notes:
My friends Ava and Fangda are celebrating their birthdays this month, so we decided to go eat here to celebrate!
The server spilled water on Ava twice while pouring water :(. She even spilled a little water on Ava’s “Fish and Chips” course and left as if nothing had happened. It was kiiiiiind of awkward, and it was a rare instance of less-than-perfect service here :(.
I would add more food commentary and whatnot, but… I’m really, really full. I somehow found myself eating at Minetta Tavern two hours after finishing this meal :(. (We sat near Common and Vanessa Williams at Minetta Tavern, though, so that was pretty cool!)
Also, I feel compelled to mention this: Ava somehow finished 20 of the 24 chocolates. That was kind of REALLY impressive.
SF: Chapeau! (Feb. 2013)
Exec Chef: Philippe Gardelle
As part of my trip back home to the bay last week I was able to stop by Chapeau! and catch up with an old friend. I’ve been on this quest to broaden my experiences with French cuisine and Chapeau! was a great addition. The menu had a cute story about how chapeau without an exclamation means “hat,”, whereas Chapeau! means “wow.” I ordered a glass of Cabernet and it went wonderfully with the food. The Chef even came out at the beginning of the meal to shake our hands and thank us for coming. It was definitely a sign of good things to come.
Here is the menu (sorry the room was super dark and almost romantic, so the pictures are QUITE dark and I couldn’t really take great pics. Trust me though, the food was pretty amazing overall.
Monte
Victor
tadv3
Happy Noms 