Cocktail Chefs. Honestly, its true

drew — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:43:48 +0000

During our reno period I had a chance to hang in NYC with some chef friends,
both in their respective kitchens and socially. Quickly I noticed the
cocktail trend has grown significantly during the past two years. Clearly
NYC was, and now still is, one of the pioneer cities for creating some of
the legendary drinks. To this day there still are a lot of old school
bartenders out there pouring signature drinks and sometimes the simple route
can be so the way to go. But this new wave of bartenders are really trying
to push the bar higher. Honestly, these guy are working, well, like
chefs, creating, mixing and mulling their own concoctions. Some taking a
refreshing sting on retro drinks and some using molecular techniques for
both the “wow” factor as well as flavor. Now let me clarify something: I am
not (or shall I say, was not!) a “cocktail ” type of person, until I saw the
amount of love these bartenders were putting into their drinks. I know what
it’s like to pour my heart and soul into a dish, so respectfully I opened my
mind and starting putting my faith into their creations. Night after night
I became hooked and found myself going to certain bars for a certain drink.
Even if I had to wait in line for an hour in a stinky hot dog diner in a
basement waiting to be escorted through a phone booth into a tiny bar that
seated maybe twenty people…(no, I am not kidding)… Yes, I slowly became
one of those people who would say, “oh you have to go to this bar and try the
bartender’s version of a Manhattan”. After trying just about every place in
the city that had a cocktail program, my brother and I decided we need to
have a serious program at Ame as well. Off we went around town here in
Toronto and we quickly decided the only guy who would really “get” what we
were looking for was Frankie, the owner and head bartender of Bar
Chef. Frankie used to work at rain as a bartender and we always admired his
passion to create and serve cocktails. Now at Bar Chef, he hasn’t stopped
with his passion, and it seems he is one of the founding fathers of a
movement happening here in Toronto. Frankie graciously put us on to our
current bartender, Moses. I remember our first interview with Moses and
Michael and I were very clear as to what we are looking for… the boundaries
were simple: the drinks had to have a Asian influence, be original, made in
-house from scratch, and, obviously, tasty. I said he could have full access to
the kitchen and our knowledge of techniques and suggested he work with us to
get a basic understanding on how to treat fruits and vegetables with some
love so they may return the favor in his drinks. And that he did, he also
compiled a team of fellow bartenders that share his passion. This team of
bandits are starting every day at the same time the kitchen starts, juicing and
creating everything by hand and heart. Now I realize we are not the only
game in town with a serious cocktail scene, but I feel we are now part of
that culture that is growing and I for one am proud to say clearly we are
doing our part to help this “movement” along… let’s hope it just continues
to blossom into the norm as we all need a good drink now and again…..g

What Do Coal, Blue Fin, Hostess Stands and Incoherent Babble Have in Common???

guy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:19:36 +0000

Okay am back now and the grill rocks, I ordered some Binchotan Japanese coal from Korin in NYC and when it arrives we will see what she is made of… Kool thing about this coal is the crazy flavor it brings to whatever you are cooking, think of the old school bbq at the family picnic and your half way there, the coals are derived from organic mountain forests in Japan and Korea….again sooo much stuff going on hard to keep my head straight. I suspect opening restaurants are a lot like having children, you forget and are reminded quickly how much work it is every time you have another……

Have been making some trips down to see my fish monger Danny Soberano from All Seas where he has been diligently sourcing Yellow fin and Blue fin for me. On this visit stunning Yellow fin from Costa Rica (see picture below).

The first thing I realized about going all Japanese is the the menu is all product driven clean and simple…but wait a minute that’s not me…Mr. everything 3 ways, 20 million garnishes, 6 cooks hovering around just to finish one plate…well guess what? New brand, new philosophy….I would be lying if I haven’t told you its been a struggle, translation on my 7th attempt at writing a menu without the the 3 way junkie cheering on the side lines asking the coach when he gets to play, yes indeed old habits die hard……will get back to you on this later when my hands stop shaking….

So if u thought I was crazy, u should meet our designer Sandro from Munge Leung…i had mentioned how rocks were featured in almost every Japanese restaurant we hit on a recent Made To Order media tour in Asia..he decides he will go for a drive to the boonies north of the city and have this piece cut from the side a massive rock… Ummm it weighs 3 tons…hence our hostess stand was born…the picture below shows how this monster was hauled in from the street with a crane and “gently” dropped at the entrance and I suspect will stay there till eternity….which leads to the next bizarre event….

I was on Ossington looking at some potential lights for the hostess stand re Sandro’s direction and decided to grab some Pho at my fave spot. Look up and I see this vision of talent/grace and beauty walking down the street I am like no…can’t be..but in my head I am thinking I know they have a recording studio around here so I suppose its technically possible…then I look down see those boots and am convinced its her…I run not even thinking about what to say or do, but I love this band and she is a big reason why and cannot pass this one up….I stop say “hi Emily (voice is cracking at this point)…my name is Guy ” and blah blah blah I don’t even remember now what came out of my pea brain mind….I have met plenty of musicians, actors,athletes and chefs I have idolized over the years and nada nothing calm as miso soup, coherent and even amusingly entertaining (I hope) ….but this time voice cracking, knees shaking….what hell is wrong with me….???

Later looking back now I realized what is happening to me and its all about CHANGE (I know its been used) but whatever… In reality the old me wouldn’t even have made the effort to say hi…I am changing and its exciting…and I just hope that mind set transcends to AME’s service design and of course the food… “help I am alive”…and btw my apologies to Emily Haines of Metric who had to listen to my babble so graciously and politely…

AME Cuisine » Food

Cocktail Chefs. Honestly, its true

What Do Coal, Blue Fin, Hostess Stands and Incoherent Babble Have in Common???