Results tagged “charliepalmer”

     

Have you ever dreamed that you could have a multi-course lunch at the home of an amazing chef, hang out in his kitchen while he prepares it and pick up some cooking tips and recipes along the way? It’s possible. One way is to befriend (or maybe even date) a chef. Another is through By Invitation Only events, open to platinum American Express card members. Chef Cyril Renaud of Fleur de Sel opened up his Brooklyn kitchen to some Platinum AmEx cardholders, many of whom had used their reward points to attend the event. If you've been saving your reward points for a rainy day, now's a great time to use them.

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? Next Sunday is the finale of The Next Iron Chef (9pm on the Food Network). Michael Ruhlman has a comment from Chef Chris Cosentino on his blog about the airplane episode—he was clearly getting crowded by cameras, but for him the crowding was to the degree that he couldn’t work, and he wanted to clarify that fact “now that 1/2 the country thinks i am an asshole.”...

For almost two decades, the 35 year-old chef Alex Ureña has been quietly working behind the scenes at some of New York’s most well regarded restaurants: His very first kitchen job was at The River Café during Charlie Palmer’s tenure. A few gigs later, Ureña was translating the contents of Ferran Adrià’s first cookbook for David Bouley, a chef he spent 7 years with and considers a mentor. Alex Ureña later served as executive chef of Blue Hill, Marseille, and Suba and between gigs in New York managed to clock time in some of the highest rated restaurants in France and Spain. Ferran Adrià’s approach informed the menu of the short-lived Ureña, the chef’s first go around as owner (with wife Martine Gren). The New York Times food critic Frank Bruni awarded the restaurant 2 stars but complained about its interior, calling it “the ugliest restaurant with great food that I know,” and singling out the dining room’s bright lights as an impediment to a good meal. Ureña closed in August and re-opened last month as Pamplona, with the light fixtures now a little dimmer. We spoke with Alex Ureña last week at Pamplona as the chef prepared for dinner service.

If you have been reading along you know that last week the column covered tips to successfully producing a moist turkey and the week prior it was about how to select a turkey. This week the topic is what you can to serve with the Thanksgiving turkey.

Even as the stores sport back to school sales (which depress us, even now), summer lingers on your friends the -ists. This week's collection of links provides some of the best, worst, and oddest bits of summer fun. So, bring your laptop up onto the roof, make yourself an umbrella drink or ten, and enjoy this week's choice posts from across the Gothamist network.

We'll never deny being interested in wine but Metrazur takes it to another level. Since opening Aureole in Las Vegas with a four story skyscraper like sculpture made entirely of wine bottles and then CP Steak in Washington DC with the 10,000 bottle strong wine cube there had to be something here. The wine case at Metrazur is beautiful, sleek and sophisticated with wine at all angles against the sweeping curve. The most prominent and eye-catching labels are the ICS (International Conspiracy of Sommeliers), the California wines chosen and mixed by a group of sommeliers just for Charlie Palmer's restaurants. Everything, actually, is specific to the restaurants, down to the label with a chef modeled on the designer's husband- the DC restaurant's chef.

And it's a Wednesday Addams doll in the image...get it?

Gothamist is grateful to be within walking distance of a great concept in neighborhood dining. Chef Charlie Palmer, who made his bones at Brooklyn's River Cafe before launching to super-stardom through his Upper East Side flagship Aureole, is the author of the idea: a short-menu 3-course prix fixe for $25, offering the same skill of preparation that you might find at one of his pricier restaurants but with less fussiness. There are five choices for each course, each of them drawing on seasonal ingredients -- the central philosophy of Palmer's cuisine. The result is a pair of restaurants - Kitchen 22 and Kitchen 82 -- that put much of the "neighborhood" restaurants they compete with to shame. Although the desserts seem less inspired and less inspiring than the rest of the menu, on the whole Palmer's "Kitchens" are a bargain for the quality.

Sausage Stuffing With Caramelized Onions from Tom Colicchio of Gramercy Tavern and Craft; Braised Brussels Sprouts With Pancetta and Toasted Bread Crumbs from Suzanne Goin of Lucques and A.O.C, Los Angeles; Mashed Sweet Potatoes With Maple Syrup and Chipotles from Bobby Flay, Bolo and Mesa Grill; Corn Pudding With Herb-Braised Chanterelles and Spicy Greens from Charlie Palmer of Aureole; Creamed Red and White Pearl Onions With Bacon from Barbara Lynch of No. 9 Park, Boston; Roasted Parsnips With Orange Zest from David Pasternack of Esca; Wild Rice With Mushrooms, Cranberries and Walnuts from Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar and Grill; Roasted Maple-Glazed Baby Carrots With Dried Grapes from Chris Schlesinger of East Coast Grill, Cambridge, Mass.; Jerusalem Artichoke Pancakes from Michael Romano of Union Square Cafe; and Mixed Mushroom and Sweet Potato Stuffing from Charlie Trotter of Charlie Trotter's, Chicago.