starstruck...hmm?
A few things have happened this week...
I am another year older...or something...
I had a great dinner to celebrate at Parkside...a bottle of Alsatian bubbly, a couple platters oysters...a great corn soup with house cured bacon, good crab puffs, decent tomato trio, awesome beet and local peach tartar, fabulous black eyed peas and really good fried okra...we tried the donut holes...the 'signature' dessert....a real let down, we should have had one of the others...they sounded better...but all in all a great time...we didn't order entrees just nibbled across the menu...although they had pork jowls as an entree and halibut with house cured bacon and corn sounded good.
And then yesterday at the bakery, Tyson Cole and his partner and his sous chef came in for lunch. I just happened to see them as I turned one time. I threw them some sweets, but I didn't catch them in time to influence their menu selections...they ordered some of the not best sandwiches and salads...but what can you do. I went out and talked to them. He said he remembered me from some where(although he cold say this to everyone, or it could be that he does remember me from the stage 3 years ago I did at his restaurant). I was a little nervous and fidgety and rushed as we talked...you know nerves...kinda like I will be if I ever meet Thomas Keller...I mean, this dude is the 'best' chef in Austin, one of the 'best' in the country, and maybe one of the 'best' sushi chefs in the states....maybe...anyway...the Beard likes him, and Food and Wine, and a few other nominations and awards. So it was kinda hard to chat him up and make small talk. We talked about my other job a little to and I invited them in to eat dinner...so we'll see....it would be nice to parlay all this back into another stage and a future job. But who knows.
BTW...the Restaurant is UCHI.
Have you ever had someone you respected a lot, or who you have felt is out of your league come visit your restaurant? What did you do? Did you chat? Did you hide in the kitchen? I mean, I have fed the ex-president(as former governor), a former first lady, Nolan Ryan and other numerous sports figures, and a few celebrities...but I didn't care...were the nerves just because he was a chef? Why was I quakey and excited and gibbering? Who knows...
Or maybe it is just that I don't want our bakery to be know for the same stuff the sister restaurant across the street is known for. Not so good food and high prices. I cant affect them, but I don't want their rep to affect us. And the peoples opinions I value the most are fellow chefs. We make good food and worth the money. That I can affect.
Coming soon: a new artisanal cheese program in our deli.
I am another year older...or something...
I had a great dinner to celebrate at Parkside...a bottle of Alsatian bubbly, a couple platters oysters...a great corn soup with house cured bacon, good crab puffs, decent tomato trio, awesome beet and local peach tartar, fabulous black eyed peas and really good fried okra...we tried the donut holes...the 'signature' dessert....a real let down, we should have had one of the others...they sounded better...but all in all a great time...we didn't order entrees just nibbled across the menu...although they had pork jowls as an entree and halibut with house cured bacon and corn sounded good.
And then yesterday at the bakery, Tyson Cole and his partner and his sous chef came in for lunch. I just happened to see them as I turned one time. I threw them some sweets, but I didn't catch them in time to influence their menu selections...they ordered some of the not best sandwiches and salads...but what can you do. I went out and talked to them. He said he remembered me from some where(although he cold say this to everyone, or it could be that he does remember me from the stage 3 years ago I did at his restaurant). I was a little nervous and fidgety and rushed as we talked...you know nerves...kinda like I will be if I ever meet Thomas Keller...I mean, this dude is the 'best' chef in Austin, one of the 'best' in the country, and maybe one of the 'best' sushi chefs in the states....maybe...anyway...the Beard likes him, and Food and Wine, and a few other nominations and awards. So it was kinda hard to chat him up and make small talk. We talked about my other job a little to and I invited them in to eat dinner...so we'll see....it would be nice to parlay all this back into another stage and a future job. But who knows.
BTW...the Restaurant is UCHI.
Have you ever had someone you respected a lot, or who you have felt is out of your league come visit your restaurant? What did you do? Did you chat? Did you hide in the kitchen? I mean, I have fed the ex-president(as former governor), a former first lady, Nolan Ryan and other numerous sports figures, and a few celebrities...but I didn't care...were the nerves just because he was a chef? Why was I quakey and excited and gibbering? Who knows...
Or maybe it is just that I don't want our bakery to be know for the same stuff the sister restaurant across the street is known for. Not so good food and high prices. I cant affect them, but I don't want their rep to affect us. And the peoples opinions I value the most are fellow chefs. We make good food and worth the money. That I can affect.
Coming soon: a new artisanal cheese program in our deli.
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