Frozen Apricot Mousse

Frozen Apricot Mousse

Pinenut Puree

All Spice Scented Creme Fraiche

Lemon- Lime Basil

DIRT

This dish was inspired by two chefs I look up to with the up most respect. Both Sean Brock and Rene Redzepi have a done a dish similar to this. This was for our wine dinner as well, its meant to look like vegetables still in the soil. Unfortunately I think this might have went over the heads of some of our guest tonight, but a beautiful dish nonetheless.

Roasted Baby Beets

Spring Onions

Calamata- Chocolate "Soil"

Wood Sorrel

Yellow Beet- Sherry Vinegar Reduction

The Color White

We did a wine dinner for Krupp Brothers tonight and the wine for the first course was called Black Bart's Bride. So I wanted to do a dish symbolic to a bride, keeping it mostly white and add some color of a few flowers. As a chef we are trained to produce dishes with lots of colors to contrast with different textures and flavors. It was cool to approach a dish in a totally different light and try to keep it all the same color.

Asian Pear

Shaved Fennel

Fennel Frond Gelee

Marcona Almonds

"Shattered" Honey Comb

Amaranth

Hamachi

I have been here at Bin 555 for about six months and I feel like I am starting to hit my stride. This dish is the newest edition to our menu. Showcasing this beautiful Japanese Hamachi. We serve it on a puck of ice that has herbs and pink peppercorns suspended in it.

Hamachi Crudo

Macerated Pineapple

Pickled Cucumber

Frozen Buttermilk Powder

Cilantro

Fleur de Sel

Deconstructed Strawberry Shortcake

This is the first dish we made with the liquid nitrogen and it is a hit. Last night was its first night on the menu and the guest loved it.

Deconstructed Strawberry Shortcake

Frozen-Liquid Center Strawberry Mousse

Strawberry Coulis

Strawberry Jam

Frozen Strawberry Powder

Sweetened Sour Cream

Graham Cracker- Candied Walnut Nougat

Vanilla Ice Cream "Popcorn"

Our New Toy

We recieved our tank of Liquid Nitrogen this week, and what a week it has been. This is something that I wanted to get my hands on for long time. For those of you who are unaware of its perks it "boils" at -320 F so basically you can flash freeze anything in a matter of seconds. You ask why would you want to do that? You can turn things into powder, or break a raspberry into to individual pods or have a frozen crust around a creamy mousse or even make ice cream in 20 seconds. Since it arrived on Tuesday we have put just about everything imagiable into it just to see what happens, some results were good and others were just funny. It also makes me very happy to know that Bin 555 is the only restuarant in San Antonio that has one... Come in and check it out!!!!

Poached Lobster and Blood Orange Salad

Poached Lobster

Blood Orange Coulis

Blood Orange Segments

Blood Orange Emulsion

Shaved Celery

Celery Leaf

Red Olives

Dill Pollen

Olive Oil

Its been a while! Welcome Back!

Sorry for the lack of recent post as of late. I have no excuse. I started this blog a while back as a way to try and get my name as a chef out. After a while of posting all the time, the new wore off and I became a little lazy with it. However with the Christmas gift of a new camera I am back blogging again. And will make sure that I keep it up. All of these new post are from a Ravenswood Wine Dinner we held tonight, so the dishes and flavors might sound a little wierd to some but it was all about bringing out the dominate flavors in the wines. Hope you enjoy. Also should be getting our tank of liquid nitrogen this week so I'm sure I will have a lot of fun and interesting post dealing with that.

Deuces and thanks for checking it out!

"Cherry Pie"

Black Cherry- Port Gelee

Pecan- Pie Crust Crumble

Black Pepper Whipped Cream

Bing Cherry- Maple Coulis

Twizzler Glazed Duck Breast

Twizzler Glazed Duck Breast

Toasted Farro

Pickled Strawberries

Wild Sorrel

House Cured Lomo Wrapped Sweetbread

Lomo Wrapped Sweetbreads

Charred Red Onion Pancake

Salted Blueberry Caramel

"Mole Negro" Chicken Noodle Soup

Mole Consomme

Roasted Chicken

Egg Noodle

Cilantro

Peanut

Scallop: Honey Crisp Apple: Vanilla Brown Butter: Bibb Lettucs

Seared Diver Sea Scallop

Vanilla-Brown Butter Emulsion

Three Textures of Honey Crisp Apple

Puree, Chip, Raw

Hydroponic Bibb Lettuce

LOMO

Pork Loin that was cured with Smoked Paprika and Cayenne. Then hung to dry for about 6 weeks. Melt in your mouth delicious

My first dish at Bin 555

So this is going to be a busy next couple of days, maybe next week as I am developing about 6 new dishes to go on the menu. And what better time to do it than the beginning of fall. Which is equally as exciting as the first of spring to me.

So the idea of a roasted root vegetable salad as been a great fall and winter staple of nice restaurants and not so nice ones for a long time. But here is my take on it.

Baby Beets, Turnips, Rutabaga all slow roasted

"Mole" Vinaigrette

Pickled Lime Zest

and you know I had to put some watercress on there.

Stayed tuned over the next week or two I should be updating a little more frequently than I have been!

New Things to Come!!!

As of today I am now the Sous Chef at Bin 555 under Chef Jason Dady. So from here on out all post on the blog will be from new things we are doing at the Bin. It should be an awesome experience. However it might take me a while before I post anything new as I get adjusted to my new responsibilities, crew and kitchen. I also want to take this time to thank all of my guys who have been so dedicated to me for so long. Luis and Julian I love you guys and wish you guys the best of luck at Ciao2.

Pistachio Salami

Duo of Ribeye

"Eye" (Cooked Sous Vide then Seared)

Aspargus Ragout

Toasted Pinenut Puree

Slow Poached Egg Yolk

"Cap" (Grilled)

Red Wine Braised Portobello

Gorgonzola Crunch

Watercress

Red Wine Syrup

Nutella: Banana: Caramel

So the idea of the flexible chocolate ribbon has been on my mind for a while. But havent had any cargeenan in order to do it. Still dont but somewhat duplicated it by making a basic Nutella custard, then added gelatin and xanthan gum and set it in a hotel pan. It worked smooth custard texture but stability from the gelatin.

"Nastro di Nutella"

Nutella Ribbon

Caramel in 3 Textures (Powder with Tapioca Maltodextrin, Cajeta Caramel and Chantilly)

Banana (Chips and Parisenne)

Crushed Hazelnuts

Roasted Pheasant Breast

Pheasant Breast

Broccolini- Broccolini Puree

Crispy "Canneloni" stuffed with pheasant offals, bacon and mushrooms

Roasted Garlic- Roasted Garlic Puree
Balsamic

Pheasant Jus

Pheasant Confit Ravioli

Not the most photogenic dish but this thing was so good I had to post it anyway.

Ravioli of Pheasant Confit

Summer Squash

Squash Seeds

Foie-Pheasant Emulsion

Sage- Meyer Lemon Gremolata

Heirloom Tomato Salad

Heirloom Tomatoes

Baby Arugula

Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette

Goat Cheese Crisp

Basil Seeds
Fleur de sel

"Coffee and Doughnuts"

So here it is. The doughnuts in the stock pot a few post ago became doughnut conssomme. Line cook Josh Kirk and I have been brainstorming this dish and this is what we ended up with. "Coffee and Doughnuts" It is a chocolate doughnut shooter with espresso glazed coffee cake and dried cherry strusel.The shooter is the conssomme with a chocolate spherification. So we Reduced the doughnuts with water and pureed the mixture. Then we used gelatin clarification, to end up with the clear liquid. This process takes some time as you freeze the gel, and then wait for it to defrost in the refridgerator. Some people say it takes two days, but from my expierience it really takes about a week.

The chocolate sphere in calcium chloride bath.

Daniel Boulud

This man is one the most famous and renowed chefs in the world. We went to his most casual concept DBGB and he was so gracious to us. Staying late to send us pretty much everything on his menu. Don't get me wrong when I say his most casual concept everything here is still made in house with the best ingredients he can find, it is just presented to you in the form of 10 different sausages and probally 5 different hamburgers, with a little pigs foot and bone marrow mixed in. This is a chef's restaurant. Once we finished here he removed his chefs whites and took us to one of his secret spots somewhere in China Town. Which had a sign of a chinese restaurant but among entering and seeing bar tenders in lab coats you soon realize there will be no Peking duck here. For all of us this absolutely was a night we will never forget. Every single one of us has a tremendous amount of respect for Daniel and were blown away at his hospitality.

The James Beard House

Monday morning after the market. Lots of butterflies at this time, walking into a kitchen where so many amazing chefs have cooked. Wow!

The crew. What an experience it was working with all of these guys. Some I have worked with before and others not but this was a very beneficial trip for all of us.

Robbie Nowlin and Daniel Patino making cherry- foie macaroons. These things were so good. Chef Patino made an extra 50 or so for us to munch on in the kitchen.

Meeting with Chef Dady the first morning we arrived.

It's not normal for a chef to help prep and see a dinner come together and then sit down and eat it. For most of us we were lucky enough to do this at the James Beard Dinner "A Cook's Reunion" on Tuesday August 25. The dinner featured my good friend Chef Dady, Chef Daniel Patino of Arcadia a Michael Mina restaurant in San Jose, CA. and Chef Christopher Lee of Aureole in New York. All three of these guys are top notch chefs and I was able to see alot of techniques that were new to me. I dont have pictures of the dinner because at our table was a board member of The James Beard Foundation and I thought it would be tacky, but it was wonderful. Reception with six different hors d'oeuvre and then six courses followed by petit fours.