Tag Archives: Cooking

DList Magazine “Chef of the Future”

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Dlist Magazine here in Seattle did a Q&A with me and it ran in their 51st issue called, “The Future Issue”. In it they called me “chef of the future” which is a tremendous honor.  Also in the magazine is one of my favorite restaurants, Spur, and a very cool information about canning from Kathy Casey. Also, the best ever, Seattle Food Geek!  Lots of good stuff so check it out for yourself online (click here for link then click on magazine for full screen view).

How cool is it that the person on the cover is Lil’ Jon?!?!  YEAH!!! WHAT????? OK!!!

Thanks again Evan and the rest of the crew over at DList Magazine, congratulations on 4 years!!!

Eric

Bob Kramer- Master Blade Smith (3 of 3)

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Part of the deal for meeting up with Mr. Kramer was for Jeth, Scott, and I to do a little cooking for Mr. Kramer at his house.   “So, we get to tour his shop and cook for him………..AWESOME!”.

The following pictures are from Scott and his fancy new camera.

First up Scott’s Caramelized Carrot and Coconut Foam Soup (the glass is tilted, you’re not that drunk yet).

Next up was my pickled dish.   Pickled golden beets, pickled sea beans, pickled purple asparagus stem, black tobeko, frisee, and Jeth’s sous vide applesauce with ceylon cinnamon.

Jeth’s spruce portobello marmalade.

A dish that I’m working on was up next.   Seared scallops, white bean/caper ragout, pear, wood sorrel, fried nettle, and saffron gastrique.

A little pause to cut my cured pork prosciutto with a KRAMER KNIFE!!

And the final course:   Seared Halibut, Asparagus puree, saute of asparagus tips, prosciutto lardons, roasted potatoes, fava beans, moss, and kale flowers.

Dinner was a success and we all had a great time.

Thanks again Mr. Kramer (click), Mr. Tate (click), Jethro (click), and Scott (click) for making all this happen.  I can’t thank you guys enough.  My piggy bank is now accepting cash towards purchasing my first Kramer knife one day!

Eric

Post # 1 (click)
Post # 2 (click) 

Bras (Cookbook)

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(Keanu Reeves impression)  Woah…….

I’ve been waiting a long time for this book and then Rivera Claus’ bought me this for Christmas……best parents ever.  Michel Bras is an absolute genius and I talked about him before on this little blog o’ mine (click here!).   The book was actually considerably less than the $400-$600 price tag that I found it for a year ago so that’s a bright spot for this lovely economy.   Like I said before in my post, if I had my own restaurant then this is definitely a book I would snatch up immediately.

Why?  Dishes like this.

Not only are the pictures amazing in this book but the story behind the restaurant is absolutely incredible.  He features ingredients local to his area and has really forced himself into cooking from the land….the way it’s supposed to be.  I would love to tell you more about the book but #1 I’m being selfish #2 it’s in French so it’s going to take me some time to translate it (hellloooo google translate!).

If you ever come over to my house I’ll let you look at it but you can’t touch it.  :)

Eric

Revel (Seattle, WA)

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Mindy and I went out last weekend to Revel.  I’ve been waiting for this place to open and originally had an invite to attend a soft opening for it but I had to work so instead of whining and crying about it Mindy and I went out for lunch on the weekend.  We walked in and we were the first ones there at 11AM and I immediately fell in love with the set up of the restaurant.

IT’S OPEN!!  I love that.  If I were to open a restaurant then this is the way I would want it to be.  When we arrived chef Chirchi gave us a tour of the restaurant and showed us the patio space that Eric and Mindy will be spending some time at this summer and also showed us the bar that is attached to Revel called Quoin.

I can stay here for hours bouncing between the restaurant, bar, and patio!  Another great thing that is coming down the pipeline for Revel is that they will be serving brunch in January so that is another reason for the Rivera’s to get out there…..we love brunch!

Let’s eat!

First up was the corned lamb, arugula, and nuoc cham.  I’ve never had corned lamb before and it completely blows the doors off of corned beef. Corned lamb….where have you been all my life?  Oh, in this salad…..right.

This is the pork belly pancake.  This makes all other pancakes unequal.  I can’t believe I’ve eaten other pancakes in my life and nobody ever put pork belly in it instead of trying to put a thousand toppings of fruit and whipped cream on them.  Pork Belly Pancake……

Speaking of toppings… These condiments rocked my socks off.  I wanted to take them home with me but instead I went home and tried to duplicate them at my house….pretty close but definitely worth going back to Revel to taste the master recipe of these great condiments!

These are the dumplings you are looking for.   Chorizo, jicama, and cilantro dumplings.  A nice little sear then steam, then eat, and a little bath with those condiments I was talking about earlier……yes please thank you!

This is the five spiced duck balls with lacinato kale and smoked chili.  Sorry for the blurry pics on this post, my cell phone camera was having a hard time capturing the awesomeness of this meal.

All of these dishes were fantastic but this was my favorite.  Short rib with sambal daikon, mustard green, egg, and sticky rice.  I could eat this every day and be a happy man. Add a little kick of spice (to the condiments!) and I’ll high five you a few times and tell you how awesome it is.

“Mindy, how is it?”   See, she’s happy :)   At this point we really couldn’t eat anymore but then the server told us about ice cream sandwiches…..if you ever turn down ice cream sandwiches then we can’t be friends……plain and simple.  Make ice cream sandwiches like this and I’ll be your friend forever!  Chocolate chip cookie, chili, and caramel!

Revel (click)

Eric

Life at 40,000 BTU: Salmon in The Trees Event.

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Sometimes they let me out of the restaurant….. :)

A few weeks ago chef Kevin asked me to work an event held at the Burke Museum on the University of Washington campus for a book release by Amy Gulick. Her book, “Salmon in the Trees: Life in Alaska’s Tongass Rain Forest”, showed her journey through Alaska while she snapped photos of wildlife in the Tongass Rain Forest. Buy her book here (click)

I was asked to serve a geoduck ceviche which I believe was the hit of the party for the more than 150 people that attended.  I didn’t have much time to snap photos and I was using the phone on my camera so these aren’t optimal pictures but oh well….you get the idea.

There was an enormous ice sculpture filled with dungeness crab.  As you can see Jon Rowley (he arranged the event) found a nice spot for himself.

Earlier in the day I helped prep that crab and cut up the geoduck according to chef Kevin and Jon’s specifications.  It was a great event and now I can prepare geoduck with the best of them.

Eric

Restauranteers.com (Sponsored Post)

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I hope this won’t come off as sounding like a sales pitch because I genuinely am excited about what the people over at Restauranteers.com are about to bring to Seattle.  I’m in super secret mode with them and they have told me exactly where they want to take this idea of theirs but they asked me not to tell you yet but they wanted me to write a post about it anyway…..soooo what do I write about?  I mean….how??

Restauranteers.com is about to build an online community that will bring fans of food together in one place.  Restaurants, bloggers, diners, and anyone interested in having new places to eat will use their site as a source of discovery, culinary expedition, and gastroenlightenment (salesman smile).  I know some of the restaurants they have talked to and a few have appeared on my site so they’re “Eric Approved (insert two thumbs and a high-five here)”.  I wish I could tell you how they’re going to pull this all together….I wish I could tell you why it makes sense and how exciting it’s going to be……it’s ok though….you’ll find out soon……(more periods)……

One place where you can check out their developments and news from their site is on their blog (click).  You’ll see more and more features of their site before it launches in January 2011.   On the blog you can check out some tips and hints for diners and news on restaurant openings and closings.

Yesterday they started their final four style restaurant bracket challenge where their Facebook fans can pick their favorite Seattle restaurants.  Check it out here (click) and become their friend because if you don’t then things will get a little awkward next time you see them….”Hey, remember me?” Yeah, ummm but I can’t remember your name.  ”Oh, it’s Eric!”  You cook or something right??? “Yeah, something like that (aaaaawwwwwkkkkkwwwwaaaarrrddd).

Whew, I think I made it through the first post. See guys, this is what happens when I have to keep secrets. Hurry up and launch the site!!

Restauranteers (click)

Eric