Winter Menus

As the board seems to be getting bogged down with discussions by wanna-bes and self-promoters, I'd like to drive the discussion back to food. This is a working copy on my Winter Dinner menu (December volume prohibited changing with the season). I'm forcing myself to focus on simplicity and ease of execution with cost control as the major theme, trying to stay creative, and doing my best to play the game to win.

beginnings

cheese plate
white figs, candied blanched almonds, dried apricots, balsamic cippolinni onions, spanish stuffed olives, caper berries, and a selection of three weekly rotating domestic and imported artisan cheeses – available with cured meat selection

buffalo carpaccio
shaved buffalo tenderloin, chopped sage, grated horseradish, orange reduction, balsamic cippolinni, carrot sorbet

crab rangoons and chicken fritters
lump crab, cream cheese, ginger and green onion rangoons with chicken cilantro corn fritters, orange chili sauce, sirachi and wasabi aioli

mussels
steamed mussels, white wine garlic butter sauce, tomatoes, parmesan cheese and grilled sourdough bread

soup & salad

daily soup

mixed greens salad
pickled ginger vinaigrette, baby greens, english cucumber slices, spiced candied almonds, red grape tomatoes

caesar salad
Shaved parmesan regganito, romaine heart, croutons, and traditional Caesar dressing

baby spinach salad
baby spinach, cranberry-mango vinaigrette, walnuts, shaved red onion, chevre

entrees

grilled portobello
grilled portobello, roasted red pepper sauce, goat cheese, jacket smashed gold potatoes, sautéed broccoli rapini

tequila lime rock shrimp linguini
linguini, shallots, fresh herbs, tomatoes, green onions, cilantro, court bullion and sauza silver sauce

pan seared corvina
blue cornmeal dredged, lemon, shallot, caper, parsley, brown butter sauce, rapini and whipped sweet potatoes

grilled ahi
Jasmine sticky rice, wasabi apple salsa, wilted frisee, orange thai sweet chili sauce

braised beef short rib foyot
Maltaise, ginger glace de viande, jacket smashed gold potatoes, braised greens

grilled lamb sirloin
Poblano, boniato and Asadero empanadas, sautéed broccoli rapini, chimichurri, pipían Ortiz (lead day cook getting his due)

grilled pork chop crécy
Single bone – double chop, wasabi peas, crisp carrots and yams, balsamic onion jam, gold potatoes and carrot demi-glaze

chicken saltimbocca
Seared serrano ham and provolone roll, wild rice pilaf, asparagus, sage aioli



What are the rest of you professional chefs doing this season with your menus?

Like I said, in progress, I need to add a couple items and iron out the redundancies. The restaurant is ranked one of the top 25 in Denver during my tenure, the dining room is on the top of the country's largest single unit book store in Cherry Creek (Tattered Cover). As to theme, I do food which I know will sell to the clientele and which utilizes flavor combinations that I find interesting, with some European, Latin, and Asian influences. The biggest thing for me is staying in season and making distinct plates. I did go overboard with the rapini, and chili sauce-I'm probably going to fix that today...I'm considering utilizing Kale and still looking at books and sheets to refine the work, I'll post a final when I'm ready to go to print (and after I've costed the beast).

I'll also post my new pastry cook's menu, she's a badass.

It's not costed yet, but the spreadsheets are written.

beginnings

cheese plate
white figs, hazelnuts, dried apricots, balsamic cippolinni, stuffed olives, caper berries, artichoke hearts and a selection of three weekly rotating domestic and imported artisan cheeses – available with cured meat selection

buffalo carpaccio
shaved buffalo tenderloin, horseradish, orange gelee, balsamic cippolinni, carrot sorbet

coconut crab fritters
smoked pineapple sambal, meyer lemon aioli, frisee

mussels
steamed mussels, white wine garlic butter sauce, tomatoes, parmesan cheese and grilled sourdough bread

soup & salad

daily soup

mixed greens salad
pickled ginger vinaigrette, baby greens, english cucumber slices, wasabi nori cashew brittle, red grape tomatoes

caesar salad
Shaved parmesan regganito, romaine heart, croutons, and traditional Caesar dressing

baby spinach salad
baby spinach, cranberry-mango vinaigrette, walnuts, shaved red onion, chevre

entrees

tequila lime rock shrimp linguini
linguini, shallots, fresh herbs, tomatoes, green onions, cilantro, court bullion and sauza silver sauce

blackened corvina
andouille, crawfish, red beans and rice, rouille

grilled ahi
Jasmine sticky rice, wasabi apple salsa, wilted frisee, orange thai sweet chili sauce

braised beef short rib foyot
Maltaise, ginger glace de viande, jacket smashed gold potatoes, glazed baby carrots

grilled lamb sirloin
Poblano, boniato, and Asadero empanadas, sofrito black beans, chimichurri, pipían

grilled pork chop crécy - 3 ways
Single bone – double chop, wasabi peas, crisp carrots and yams, onion jam, glazed carrots, gold potatoes and roasted carrot demi-glaze

chicken saltimbocca
Seared serrano ham and provolone roll, wild rice pilaf, asparagus, sage aioli


I've highlighted changes with italics and I'm particularly fond of the brittle idea, and feel it and the sorbet are the two most forward steps in my development of my menu writing skills.

That's where the dinner menu is at, I'm certainly open to more feedback, particularly from the teachers on the site, as you can see the development and the gaps, I'm looking to improve in both those areas.

I focused the lamb dish better regionally, but I'm unsure if I'm breaking a code with a Mexican sub-sauce on a Cuban plate.

I'm looking to get rid of a prep position entirely with this menu, so it's been difficult to determine what to write that will put ingredients, rather than prepped items, in the hands of my line cooks. I'm closer, and I can visualize execution.

I think all that's left is to train my entire staff how to make every one of those dishes, thankfully I employ a number of highly competent cooks, who will once again prove they are cabaple of executing every menu I write.

Thanks for you time.

what is the smoke point for powdered wasabi?

Once I know that I'm going to let it come down as low as needed after taking it up to hard crack. I'm going to pour the brittle onto toasted and salted cashews, then sprinkle nori-furikake over the top before the sugar sets, then scoring the sugar while it's still warm (probably the other order to ensure a natural look to the falling pattern of the bits of seaweed and sesame seed). I'm goint to serve a right triangle (a thin layer, 3-4 mm) upright against the salad, supported by the cucumbers, with some toffee crumbles next to it on the plate. I'm planning to make the vinaigrette particularly direct with it's flavor profile simply following it's name. I will probably wind up setting the cucumbers flush on the plate, with the only the edges supporting the toffee, in order to slow down the effects of water on the caramel, and work in favor of my own sanity.

Desserts

Rootbeer-chocolate cake
bittersweet chocolate sauce, malted milk balls, malted milk ice cream

I'll get the rest from my new pastry cook tomorrow, I have to get back to costing.

Thanks for the feedback

I like the aioli against the asparagus, and the sage is in the sauce, rather than the roll.

As to Foyot, I've been running one all fall and early winter with tenderloin and lobster, balsamic bacon green beans, and shashed red potatoes, and it's done very well. The staff is well versed in what Foyot means, as well as Saltimbocca, and will be so after training on crecy. I am making baby steps with the staff, and this menu may be better understood as a transition by looking at the fall menu on the tattered cover website.

As to an inept ability to cover the globe, I don't cook what I don't know will work together, and I was (and still am) concerned at the way my clientele will react to raw frisee, but prehaps it's time to take that step as well.

Thank you for the feedback, your opinions are appreciated and will be taken seriously.

DB

Per Panini's request

Here's the dessert menu-

Ginger spice cake
Meyer lemon curd, cranberry coulis, and cranberry ginger gumdrops

Kahlua crème brulee
Cocoa nib-cinnamon sable and chocolate covered coffee beans

Brioche and butter pudding
Rum soaked raisins, braised pineapple, and vanilla bean crème anglaise

Blood orange variations
Blood orange cheesecake, gelee, segments, and caramel sauce

Passion fruit tart
Tropical fruit and bittersweet chocolate sauce

Chocolate rootbeer cake
Chocolate sauce, malted ice cream and malted milk balls


And, to answer kuan's query - I have a couple of cooks (including myself) who are proficient with sugar work.

And to answer even stephen's request, I have no hesitation in telling you where I work, it's the Fourth Story Restaurant (2955 E 1st Ave, check it out at http://www.tatteredcover.com/NASApp/...=localinterest), if that means my menu is known before it's printed, so be it!!

I've dropped the balsamic cippolini off the carpaccio, I'm going the eliminate the redundancy of the "shaved", I agree with the point on cilantro, that was more a designation for my line cooks, but it won't make it to print. As to the rouille, my intention is to use it as a drizzle over the fish (garnish sauce), and continue to do one plate that's dedicated to the lost city of New Orleans.

Thank you again for the feedback, I believe listening to others opinions forces me to evaluate my own ideas and I genuinely appreciate the time you've all taken to offer it. If I can't defend an opinion it's not worth attaching myself to (not that I believe I'm merely the sum of my opinions, but that's a discussion of personal philosophy, not cooking).

DB

Final copy

Thanks for the feedback, costing and prep lists are finished, order guide got it's first use today.. Here' lunch first

beginnings

cheese plate
white figs, raw almonds, dried apricots, balsamic cippolinni onions, spanish stuffed olives, caper berries, and a selection of three weekly rotating domestic and imported artisan cheeses – available with cured meat selection

buffalo carpaccio
shaved buffalo tenderloin, micro arugula, grated horseradish, orange gelee, carrot sorbet, breadsticks

garlic butter mussels
available with linguine
steamed mussels, white wine garlic butter sauce, tomatoes, parmesan cheese and grilled sourdough bread

soup & salad

daily soup

add on to any salad
grilled chicken breast
5 grilled tiger shrimp
grilled 5 ounce tenderloin

mixed greens salad
pickled ginger vinaigrette, english cucumbers, baby greens, nori-wasabi-cashew brittle, red grape tomatoes

caesar salad
parmesan reggianito, romaine heart, croutons, and traditional Caesar dressing, marinated white anchovies

baby spinach salad
baby spinach, mango-raspberry vinaigrette, walnuts, chèvre, red onion, mandarin oranges

Coconut crab fritter salad
Frisee, smoked pineapple sambal, meyer lemon aioli, red grape tomatoes, English cucumbers, sirachi

sandwiches

all sandwiches available with small salad

portobello mushroom sandwich
balsamic marinated grilled portobello, roasted red pepper, goat cheese, basil aioli, mixed baby greens, tomato

steak sandwich
grilled strip steak, ciabatta roll, balsamic onion jam, gorgonzola

bbq pork sandwich
braised pulled pork, Carlos’ homemade ancho chili BBQ sauce, asadero cheese

fourth story burger
With lettuce, tomato, & red onion

curried chicken pita
grilled chicken breast, feta, lime aioli, tomato, red onion

specialties

chicken saltimbocca
Seared serrano ham and provolone roll, wild rice pilaf, asparagus, sage aioli

grilled ahi
Jasmine sticky rice, wasabi apple salsa, frisee, orange thai sweet chili sauce

tequila lime rock shrimp linguine
linguini, shallots, fresh herbs, tomatoes, green onions, court buillion and sauza silver sauce

empanadas
boniato, plantain, spinach, asadero and raisin empanada with blood orange couscous, grilled asparagus, and orange chipotle reduction

squash noodles, marinated portobello and sun-dried tomato pesto
zucchinni, yellow squash, raw vegan pesto, baby spinach

And Dinner

beginnings

cheese plate
white figs, raw almonds, dried apricots, balsamic cippolinni onions, spanish stuffed olives, caper berries, and a selection of three weekly rotating domestic and imported artisan cheeses – available with cured meat selection

buffalo carpaccio
shaved buffalo tenderloin, micro arugula, grated horseradish, orange gelee, carrot sorbet, breadsticks

coconut crab fritters
lump crab, smoked pineapple sambal, meyer lemon aioli, frisee, sirachi

mussels
steamed mussels, white wine garlic butter sauce, tomatoes, parmesan cheese and grilled sourdough bread

shish tauk
curry marinated chicken skewers, grilled pita, lime aioli, feta

soup & salad

daily soup

mixed greens salad
pickled ginger vinaigrette, english cucumbers, baby greens, nori-wasabi-cashew brittle, red grape tomatoes

caesar salad
Shaved parmesan reggianito, romaine heart, croutons, traditional Caesar dressing, marinated anchovies

baby spinach salad
baby spinach, cranberry-mango vinaigrette, walnuts, shaved red onion, chèvre, mandarin oranges

entrees

tequila lime rock shrimp linguine
linguini, shallots, fresh herbs, tomatoes, green onions, court buillion and sauza silver sauce

blackened corvina
red beans and dirty rice, crawfish, andouille, rouille

grilled ahi
Jasmine sticky rice, wasabi apple salsa, frisee, orange thai sweet chili sauce

braised beef short rib foyot
maltaise, ginger glace de viande, roasted parsnips and onions, rapini

grilled lamb sirloin
Poblano, boniato and Asadero empanadas, sofrito black beans, chimichurri, pipían Ortiz

grilled pork chop crécy variations
Single bone – double chop, wasabi peas, crisp carrots and yams, carrot demi-glace, glazed baby carrots

chicken saltimbocca
Seared serrano ham and provolone roll, wild rice pilaf, asparagus, sage aioli

squash noodles, marinated portobello and sun-dried tomato pesto
zucchini, yellow squash, raw vegan pesto, baby spinach, and marinated portobello

beef tenderloin
marinated portobello, balsamic onion jam, port syrup, grilled asparagus, smashed Yukon gold potatoes

fourth story mixed grill

squash noodles

Yes, it's squash that I'm running through a Japanese rotary mandoline, then salting. The plate is completely vegan, completely raw.

Demand is here for vegetarian plates, I just wanted to offer one that was more interesting to me and my staff as well. I'm garnishing with micro-arugula, and the plate cost is still only $2.98 which leaves me a fat margin at $12 for lunch and $15 for dinner.

DB

Have you made the pate before? Are you poaching in a Grand Marnier court bullion or chicken stock?

DB