Wi-Fi Is For Shit...

Will have to give my daily food tour updates from Ireland when we get better WiFi.  So far I am impressed with two ingredients Butter and Potatoes....

Fun Facts

Looking forward to Experiencing Michelin Two Star Restaurant

When researching my culinary trip to Ireland, I looked at the top restaurants in Dublin.  The city is flooded with great restaurants. They have many haute cuisine restaurants as well as neighborhood bistros and pubs that do serious good local food. But I had to have one indulgence.  One knockout, that really sets the bar for food in Ireland.  

My indulgence for this trip is to eat at RESTAURANT PATRICK GUILBAUD. 

You may wonder why I want to go to an Irish restaurant with a French chef.  Well, this is the only two star restaurant in Ireland.  Enough said.  Look Below. Local Irish flavors with French Technique. His reputation as an innovator of fine cuisine really excites me. I look forward to tasting dishes like these below.


Looking forward to meeting with Chef Guilbaud and learning from him. This is how you improve as a chef by learning from your peers.

A legend dies...

Very sad.  Culinary world crushed.  Anthony Bourdain committed suicide.  He woke up the
world to the life of a chef.  The hard life, long hours, the sex and drugs and great food and friends.

He will be missed.  He brought a unique style and openness that few can deliver honestly.  He brought the food of the world to the masses and gave us a taste of what is out there.  We are all now hungrier for those experiences.  Thank you Anthony.

Getting ready...

Count down...minus 31 days and counting...First culinary trip.  Ireland.

Can't wait to explore the food, the people, where my ancestors came from.

I think this will broaden my horizons as a chef.  See how other chefs in different countries interpret the same ingredients.

I come with eyes wide open and hope this trip helps me to become a better chef and that I come away different ideas for my catering company.

It is all about growth.  You can never stop growing in life, professionally, spiritually, intellectually.

Be inspired, and be the best you can be!

Sum of the Parts....

Some restaurants hit at every level.  It is emotional, it is energizing, it is delicious, it is comforting, it is unforgettable, he service is great, the ambiance is marvelous and food is out of this world....You get the point.  Some only hit a few notes, some strike out and some gently touch most if not all.

I am always looking for standouts in every city I visit.  I want that true dining experience that encompasses a city.  When you say, name your favorite restaurant in every city, you have a name or more.  Well I have been to Miami dozens of times and quite honestly no restaurant ever resonated with me there.  It was all very blah.  Nothing memorable.  I knew a city of that size had its gems, but I needed a local to help me out.  I called my nephew who is in the process of getting his law degree down in Miami.  He is from West Palm but now lived in Miami with his lovely soon to be bride.  I told him he had to help me out.  He had to find a place that was Miami, something you can't get anywhere else in the states, something unique.

He proceeded to ask me what kind of cuisine.  I said, I would guess something seafood related as we are surrounded by water.  Made sense to me.

He asked to give him some time.  An hour later, he called.  "I've got it!" he said.  "I haven't been here but it has been on my bucket list for the longest time!"

JOE'S STONE CRAB

Light bulb moment. Why yes, Joe's Stone Crab!  Why the hell didn't I think of that place.  Miami's oldest running restaurant.  Iconic South Beach haunt. A place that celebs, politicians and the common man collide over the seasonal stone crab.  Man I was pumped.  This is what I was looking for, a true legend, a unique food, in a great part of the city.

The place is a food palace.  Located in the trendy and fashionable South Beach, Joe's occupies almost a city block.  It is old world but still hip.  They don't take reservations so we met up with our family an hour before they opened at 10.30 am.  There were already people waiting.  No one cared, it was beautiful day and we were all hungry for the experience.  The waiters were attired in real retro suave wait jackets and bow ties.

These waiters work 9 months of the year and have 3 months off when the restaurant closes.  They do so well that they have enough dough to carry them though the downtime, Very cool. 

You feel you like you were transported in time back to the days of the swinging 20's.  It has that vibe.  It is formal but not pretentious.  The service was very warm, affable but professional.  They struck the perfect balance.  They had been trained well.

The menu was quite small and not too pricey, except for the stone crabs that are worth their weight in gold. One of the interesting menu items was the half fried chicken for $6.95.  What a deal.  Joe believed in having something anyone could afford on the menu.

I had the crab cakes and stone crab claws.  Some at our table ventured out to Lobster Rolls and Crab Salad. 

The stone crab was the real scene killer.  Fresh, lush, sumptuous.  Their famous dipping sauce was like a remoulade and very tasty.  The crab cakes were light and very nice. 

We indulged and had their key lime pie.  Great crust, tangy filling, delicious.  The food was very well executed.  The whole experience was just great.  I will definitely be back and would recommend it to all.  It is one those special places where the whole experience is better than each part, but when you bundle it together you end up with a great experience.

Part Deux....

I want to say Nothing, I really do. And maybe it is true, but I will not say it absolutely for fear of misleading you, but almost Nothing gets me more excited than eating good food.

I really get worked up about it.  I dream about it.  I tell all my friends and family about it. It is glorious and it makes me happy, except for my bulging waistline. So when I have bad food I really go to a dark place.  All this pent up excitement for the upcoming dining experience falls quicker than a souffle.  You don't want to be around me after a bad meal, the day, the night is ruined.  I sit and stare at the television in a comatose state.  I am not nice to be around (ask my wife and kids).

So with that out of the way, let me introduce to you the step brother of Brennan's Houston, Brennan's New Orleans.

My wife had been there before with her family when she was young.  She went  there for brunch and had their famous eggs hollandaise.  She had great memories of the place and remembered the food being great.

After my experience with my son in Houston, I was super pumped to try the original Brennan's in New Orleans.

We stayed in the French Quarter.  It is a place we love, but my son hates.  While we wandered to Cafe du Monde for some pre-dinner beignets he stayed in the hotel.  New Orleans is a great place to people watch, so walking around is fun, especially when eating beignets and slurping hurricanes.

We got dressed and picked up our party pooper son and headed off to Brennan's.  Along with the sugar high, my adrenaline was pumped for Brennan's.  Our experience in Houston was just awesome and I wanted to have it replicated and perhaps even surpass its sibling.

The first thing I noticed when we entered the restaurant was that this was not as fancy as the Houston outpost.  It didn't alarm me because this was the French Quarter.  It was old and had character.  The second thing I noticed when we were escorted to our table was how not busy it was.  It was Saturday at 7.00 pm.  You would think it would be jumping with activity, it wasn't.  It was like a half bloomed tree.  We were greeted by a very young waiter.  He didn't look a day older than 18.  I found this strange.  When I ate at other peers of Brennan's like Galatoires, I had always been served by very seasoned professionals.  This was a food city and being a waiter was a real good paying job.  This wasn't like being a waiter at Applebee's.

The waiter was very nice, but he didn't know much.  He took out his pocket book and rehearsed his prose.  Everything was scripted.  He made no eye contact with us as he paraded through the lines, all dull and monotonous. What a buzz kill.

I was getting this funny feeling in my stomach that we weren't in Kansas anymore.  Something was odd, and not it a good way.  This wasn't what I had in mind.

We were given our menus and my concerns passed as the menu looked quite pleasant but much different than the one in Houston.  At this point I didn't know they shared nothing but the iconic name.

I was so ready to tell me wife and daughter what we had eaten in Houston and what I recommend for them to eat, but nothing looked familiar.  We were then brought bread. Oh yeah I thought, you guys are going to love these carb ridden delights.  Uhh no.  They weren't the same bread as in Houston.  In fact, they were nothing short of blah!  I started to sweat.  Houston we have a problem.  The evening was off to a triumphant thump.

JACKSON SALAD (me)

A Brennan's Original - Quail Eggs, Nueke's Applewood Bacon, Valdeon Blue Cheese & French Dressings $9

ROASTED VEAL CHOP (me)

Strauss Farms "pastured" Veal, Preserves Horse Mushroom, Creamed Salisfy, Sauce Chasseur $47

"BLACKENED" REDFISH (wife)

Sweet Gulf Rock Shrimp, Yellow Squash, Zucchini, Lemon Beurre Fondue $34

GRILLED PRIME NEW YORK STRIP (son)

Creekstone Prime Prime New York Strip, Short Rib Debris, Sweet Potato Dauphine, Duck Egg Béarnaise $40

PARSNIP AGNOLOTTI EN BRODO (Daughter)

Parsley Agnolotti, Parsnip & White Truffle Puree, Parmesan Broth $24

Sounds good doesn't it.  It painted a nice picture and gave me hope that we can get back on the dining track. My wife has a shellfish allergy so she asked for no shrimp.  The salad was decent.  Not horrible.  It was small and not memorable.  Unlike the salad we had in Houston which was just fabulous with the shaved egg...hmm...I was the only one who had anything to start with, as we are all quite full on beignets.  Our food came out quite quickly.  I generally like a nice meal to be paced, but this felt rushed.  Here is when everything went bad to worse.  My wife who asked for no shellfish also received no sauce.  The fish was stone cold and had an unpleasant smell and sans a sauce.  My son's steak was overdone and under seasoned.  It was as tough as nails and tasted like a paper napkin.  My chop was fatty, and unappetizing. The plating was a mess.  My daughter's pasta was just weird. Words cannot describe the disappointment.  I had been looking forward to this for weeks.  Nothing was good. It was an outright stinker. It was so bad that my son and wife told the waiter to take it back and that they lost their appetite. The waiter asked if we wanted dessert.  We politely said no.  When the bill arrived, they had only taken off my wife's entree, not my sons.  We asked for the manager. And then asked for the manager.  Finally someone came around.  We told them this was unacceptable.  They tried arguing with us.  I threw out my chef's card and said this type of service was unacceptable.  If I did that to our customers I would be out of business.  Another manager came over and apologized about the other manager.  After a few minutes of jostling he gave in and we paid only half the bill.  Still an outright rip off.  Spoiled evening, horrible food and bad service.  Next time you think Brennan's, don't think NOLA think Houston.