Where do I begin? When I left off, I was the Sous Chef at the Lobby restaurant in Denver and I lived in a lonely box on 18th and Williams.
On February 15th, Michelle and I moved into a fantastic 8th floor apartment in Denver. It's just far enough west to be able to skip back to Golden or Lakewood, but also a short walk, drive or taxi ride to anywhere in Denver.
My 25th birthday was on March 3rd, 2010. It was on this same day, at my birthday dinner, that I had the honor of announcing that I had officially become the executive chef of the Lobby American Grille. Charley had acquired a new position at another restaurant, and the owners approached me about being the new executive chef. I accepted, without any hesitation.
Today, March 23rd, was my first day off since my birthday. Well, I actually took in a Depot order, so it wasn't even a full day off :)
I had worked 12 days straight when Charley went to Burning Man, and it was exhausting. I knew taking this position would mean about a month without any days off, but hey, it's the perks of the job and the industry!
There's a huge difference between working long weeks for someone else, and doing it for yourself. I mean, I don't own the restaurant and still have owners to answer to, but it's finally my chance to make a name for myself, and because of this, 20 days actually flew by! With training new people and deciding my courses of action to get the restaurant running how I chose, I had plenty on my plate!
Going into it, I thought adding my own creations to the menu would be the very first thing I would do. Not the case at all! I hired on two new cooks, and worked on training. Unfortunately, one of my two new hires (the one that seemed most promising, actually) didn't work out so well. Two steps forward, but thanks to my awesome crew, it was hardly any sort of step back! After some slight rearranging, we covered all of our bases without having to hire and train yet again.
With training done, it was time to figure out our food situation. Charley and I took turns doing Depot food runs with minimal ordering from Sysco, but after about 2 weeks of daily Depot runs in my car, it was time to try and figure something else out! I got together with my food rep and we are in the process of figuring out what else we can order without spending too much more. Turns out the Depot really is a helluva lot cheaper than delivery...
However, it's definitely not all work and no play! I had my first wine dinner as Executive Chef on March 15, and it was an absolute blast! California vs Italy was the theme, and I had a lot of fun with it! I took typical italian dishes, and for the first two wines from Santa Barbara, I added my own "California" flair to them.
For the first course, I made a California "Caesar" salad. Romaine tossed in an aioli made with plums and peaches, rather than cheese and anchovies. Mandrine oranges rather than crutons, and lemon and orange zest instead of parmesan cheese.
Second course was a Strawberry-basil bruschetta atop a crustini. Diced strawberries, fresh basil, a little diced onion, and plum vinegar. Finish with just enough salt, and you have the best summer bruschetta ever!
Third and fourth courses were paired with the italian wines, so I went more traditional. The morning of the event, I chopped up fresh sage and put it in a pan with red wine and sirloin steak. Adding a splash of red wine vinegar to help tenderize the meat, the pan went into the cooler for 8 hours. A quick sear and finish in the oven, the steak as sliced and put over basil mashed potatoes and drizzled with an au jus made from the red wine marinade, garlic and onions.
Fourth course was a fried italian dessert. Plain and simple, it was an easy vanilla dough, twisted into bowties and served with hibiscus simple syrup over a hibiscus whipped cream. The flavor of the syrup and whipped cream were not as strong as I had hoped, but it came out delicious nonetheless!
I digress. This has become more of a ramble than a blog post :)
Baseball season is a week away. Summer is right around the corner. The future is bright, friends! I look forward to seeing you all in at the Lobby to come say hi, and look for my new menu to be out mid April!
Stay hungry!
