Spice Market, NYC!!!

Spice Market: http://www.spicemarketnewyork.com/
We stumbled on this restuarant while shopping in the meat packing district of NYC. It reminds me of one of my favorite restaurants in DC called Mie N Yu (http://www.mienyu.com/). Great service, yummy delicious food in a sexy environment.
Excerpts from website below:

A timeless paean to Southeast Asian sensuality, Spice Market titillates Manhattan’s Meatpacking District with Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s piquant elevations of the region’s street cuisine served in a casual, sexy atmosphere.

Inspired by the street food Mr.Vongerichten enjoyed while traveling in Southeast Asia, Spice Market’s menu authentically uplifts its inspirations while offering guests the additional delight of family-style dining – food comes continuously throughout the meal and is placed at the center of table for all to share. With each new dish, patrons are transported to the idealization of a Vietnamese street market or a Thai food stall. Regional fish sauces, curries and spices are tweaked to tantalizing effect in dishes like chicken samosas with cilantro-infused yogurt, a vinegar-infused pork vindaloo and halibut cha ca la vong.                                                  

The celebrated chef collaborated with designer Jacques Garcia to create a transporting interior of Eastern exotica. A valuable collection of artifacts were imported from Rajastan, South India, Burma and Malaysia to transform the airy two-level space, including antique wall carvings, screens and pagodas. Custom-made colonial style furniture appointed with white leather is mixed with Oriental period pieces such as wooden Thai and Chinese porcelain garden stools. Plush embroidered curtains made of French fabric from Lelievre, upbeat ambient music and the soft, mood-enhancing glow of Herves Descottes’ lighting complete an Oriental cocoon worlds away from the neighborhood’s bustle. A rich color palette of violets, indigos, ochres and deep reds balance the former warehouse’s raw timber beams and teak floors from a 200-year-old Bombay palace.

The Pican Experience!!! My favorite restaurant in the Bay!!

http://www.picanrestaurant.com/


The Picán Experience: The following is an excerpts from the website. There is a one week waiting list for reservation mind you but you can also eat at the bar. I always get a reservation as I know peoples who knows peoples...My favorite restautant in the BAY!!!


California infused Southern Cuisine. “What?” you say! We’re always pleased to see the reactions of our guests when they peruse our menu…familiar, traditional Southern food…but with a twist.

Take our Buttermilk Southern Fried Chicken…a three-day journey in the kitchen from brining to batter. It arrives at the table crispy, moist, perfectly seasoned. Kick it up a notch and order it with tableside truffled honey service, local organic honey with the earthy scent of truffles. Your server expertly dips the honey dipper into the old-fashioned honey jar, holds it high over your plate and a fine stream of honey slowly, and artfully melds with beautifully browned chicken. The combination of flavors unique…inspired by “Chicken and Waffles,” beloved by the many people influenced by traditions of soul food passed down through generations.

Collards are another food with history, expectation and anticipation. Traditionally, collards are prepared by boiling or simmering for a long time with a piece of salt pork or ham hock until very soft. The greens are served with freshly baked corn bread to dip into the pot-likker (the highly concentrated, vitamin-filled broth that results from the long boil of the greens; the "liquor" left in the pot). Here at Picán, we switch it up, applying a decidedly California methodology. Our California Collards™ are sautéed, the result being a textured, leafy green side that resembles chard. Flavorful, healthful and defying expectation!

Picán’s foods allow you to savor the South, bite by lovely bite…

“Low Country” Shrimp and Grits –– a traditional South Carolina “Low Country” (coastal South Carolina, Georgia and extreme Northeast Florida) dish of succulent shrimp in a rich sauce, using authentic Logan Turnpike stone-ground grits which require thorough cooking and careful preparation, yielding real Old South flavor and texture.

Charleston She Crab Soup, the signature dish of its namesake. Requiring the freshest crab and the roe of a "She Crab" for that sweet, delicate flavor, this classic bisque is elegant, refined –– Old World Southern.

Smoked Gouda “Mac ’N Cheese” a contemporized California spin on a dish popularized by Thomas Jefferson, Virginian and Founding Father, and a few ingredients beyond an early recipe published in 1824 by Mary Randolph (Jefferson's cousin) in "The Virginia Housewife” calling for just macaroni, butter and cheese. Skillets of bubbling “Mac ‘n Cheese” at Picán still serve the comfort needs of guests, as the dish has for hundreds of years.

Amina's Traditional English Roast Dinner Challenge

Amina’s traditional English roast dinner challenge.

So hanging with my daughter, Amina, one evening and I was compelled to ask her what your favorite dinner to eat is. Well since she has Caribbean and African parents, I was thinking something along those lines but she said a traditional “English Roast Dinner” with Roasted Chicken, Roasted Potatoes, White Rice and Gravy. I said really that’s it, she replied that’s it Daddy and I want it on Thursday night if you don’t mind, please, ever so polite.

So late Thursday afternoon, I set out to Publix on Biscayne for my weekly therapy and relaxation session, I love groceries shopping, fresh fruits, spices, vegetables, the meat, fish (though I go to Casablanca on the river for my fresh fish) and the personalities you encounter along the way with their various pickings in  their trolleys. You can always tell the single ladies, single guys, couples by the way they shop and those looking for dates in Publix, I must say there are a lot of fine women in that Publix, so fellas, you know where to go. So I digress, so what, it’s my blog lol.

I started off picking a big enough whole chicken and moved along to pick up some small red potato bags, cloves of garlic, red onions, and my favorite. In the spice section, its Parsley, Jamaican curry, I use curry for everything, lol. Basil, Oregano and close by comes Lemon Pepper marinade. I threw a bag of Basmati rice, Classic Chicken gravy and two cans of coconut milk in there. Wondering where that comes in hey be patient.

Moved along home now with Amina helping me with the dishes as I always like a clean kitchen and sink before I cook, I started the preparations for the English Roast. Washed the chicken and take out all the parts like neck, heart, gizzards etc into a sauce pan, with some water, garlic and maggi cubes (bullions), let it cook away. I bet you are wondering for what, patient is a virtue.

Next up is marinade the chicken with basil, oregano, and curry dry rub inside and out. Stuff the inside with lots of garlic cloves, I love garlic. Then I massaged the Lemon pepper marinade all over the chicken, moved this to my roasting tray and heat the oven to 400 degrees for the first 30 mins. Next up, the potatoes. Cut all the baby red potato in half, wash and add some sea salt and then parsley, move this into baking dish with Olive oil in the pan and on the Potato, in the oven they go. While my chicken parts are still boiling, by the way I added some garlic to that too.

I then proceeded to wash the basmati rice add some water just to cover it a little then add a can of coconut milk, stir it all up and add some salt to taste. I normally cover this with a dry cloth or towel and then the cover to really slow cook it, this brings out the fluff in basmati rice and it does not become sticky.

The whole house smelled with all types of deliciousness and in walks in the queen herself, my Brie, hmm, smells good in here and I am hungry as if I am her Private Chef, some women do have all the luck and fun. I am not mad at you babes. They helped me set the table at least.

Now back to the cooking. I poured out the chicken parts through a sieve to drain the stock and save the onions I added later, with the same pot back on the stove, I added some olive oil, lots of garlic, the cooked onions and some cut raw onions, let this fry for about 3 mins, then add the classic chicken gravy with some of the stock from the chicken parts, by this time the chicken is calling my attention with crispy skin and very juicy parts, especially the breast and Mr. Basmati is whistling for attention too. Had to wait for Mr. Potatoes to be roasted for another 10 mins. It all came together very nicely. Left the Roasted chicken out to breathe a little after cooking then I carved out to my waiting ladies. Coconut Basmati rice, Roasted parsley Potatoes and Roasted chicken!! 

Dinner was served and the ladies enjoyed it. Amina had a big plate and finished the whole thing with a big smile and Brie made a smart ass comment that I should cook more traditional English cooking with this type of spices often, who asked you, but this took me back 12 years as the last time I made this Roast dinner was in London with Beef. I got thumbs up from my dinner guests. Job well done. LOL in my big haha deep voice.

Please don’t call me for a recipe, cooking it’s the way you feel that day and you should always cook with your soul and love, anything else is not cooking or food. I always know when someone cooks without a soul; it’s an insult to the ingredients and the people you are cooking for. Remember FOOD FUN PEACE & LOVE. Where is my Jacobs Creek Shiraz!!

Hamachi Kama - What is it?

What is Hamachi Kama?


Well it's the neck of Hamachi or Young Yellow tail Tuna. It is the most fatty and delicious part of the fish. Imagine dipping in soy sauce and some Kim chi sauce, you will be in heaven as it melts into your mouth.

There are lots of rich, juicy, meat around those bones in the neck of this fish, the crispiness of the skin, depends where you go and how it is prepared makes you want to slap somebody due to the yummy deliciousness.

This is one of the most prized items in sushi bar or restaurant, it’s not on most menus, you will have to request it as most chefs keeps it for themselves for after hours chef suares and drinks!!

My favorite place to eat this fish are Ozumo restaurant in Oakland (http://www.ozumo.com/oakland/) and Sushisamba (http://www.sushisamba.com/)in Miami. If you have not had Hamachi Kama, you have not eaten fish or been to sushi bar..Yummy deliciousness….

Now I have to go meet Brie and Precious for the Le Chef Planning meeting!!!

7 Fish

For my next Le Chef Moses dinner series, I decided to go with the concept of 7 fish which are some of my favorites. I wanted to create a variety of dishes around the following 7 fish chosen after careful deliberation: sea bass, grouper, tuna, tilapia, Mangrove snapper, Salmon, Red Snapper.

 I conducted an experiment by asking my friends including some chefs to send in varieties of menus around fish, the response was great and I selected the top 7 which some are my signature fish dishes.

This will be my attempt to create a perfect blend of fish cuisines, sauces, fruits, spices and vegetables, staying true to a vision of sexiness that will serenade the palettes of my guests for the upcoming August dinner event.

From my travels around the world and through 3 continents and various countries, I have discovered that you have to make food in the simplest and purest forms with spices and fruits that will put a smile on someone’s face. When I cook I envision the people who are going to taste food, what will their reaction be to mixture of spices and fruits, the various sauces without even tasting what I cook, I can picture the moaning, the smiles, the “OH MY GOD” statements, if I can get those reactions, it will be a successful dinner.

People often asked me about cooking and what I think about? Well for me it’s an art form, a journey into life and all its imperfections, a journey into happiness. I think about a beautiful lady, often my LADY, Brie, her sexiness and curves, the way she smiles, the way she walks and imagine how sexy most ladies are. That vision of beauty, sex, curves then becomes the ingredients for my cooking and recipes. I experiment and make up recipes with no cookbooks and I don’t write anything down, I have most of my recipes in my head afraid to write it down as it’s not been perfected.

So when I retire into my kitchen, I am in Zen like state with my ingredients and the kitchen, a place of relaxation, happiness and peace, so when I cook I think of a SEXY LADY…

The seven fish mentioned above will transform into menus that will describe my vision or the way I see a sexy lady. Its 4.30am flew in from San Francisco at 1am and I have insomnia, two shots of patron later, it’s time to hit the sack.

FOOD FUN LOVE & PEACE!!!!

LeChef Moses First Blog

Thank you for coming by and checking out my very first blog.  I have been coined "LeChef Moses" by some my friends and patrons of my monthly dinner series that began over 2 years ago.  Throughout the journey, I have met some amazing people who have become some of my closest friends.  Food and drinks are an amazing combination, because in every culture those are the two things that bring people together, along with music and laughter as well, which the dinner series provides also.  People ask me all of the time, "Why do you do it?" and my response is simple, "I enjoy the smile on people's faces when they have eaten and enjoyed my food, and the connections that are made through a simple gesture such as cooking."  I hope that through this blog, you will feel my love and passion for cooking and for pleasing people through their palettes.  I will add photos of my dishes, share recipes, and some of my cooking secrets.  My hope is that you will be inspired to cook and entertain not only for those closest to you, but also someone that you may not know so well.  Amazingly enough, a good meal and genuine conversation can be the difference in someone's day, week, month, or even their life.  I look forward to sharing myself and hearing from others.

Peace Love Food Fun
Bless