Max's Blog

Last Tuesday I met Rick Jackson at Brugger's Bagels in Nottingham Plaza. Pook and I wished him and the team good luck in the Tournament... that didn't work out too well! Their emotional loss put the whole restaurant morel down. But business on Saturday brought us back to working mode again.

I was so distracted by all of the Tournament goers that I forgot to write my blog on Thursday. So lets pick up where we left off...

We got in whole Black Bass (about 2lbs each) on Thursday. I slashed off their heads, trimmed their fins, flash fried the rest and topped it with my chili tamarind sauce. Believe it or not it was the best fish in the History of Man Kind! We sold them to fish connoisseurs and Pook and I ate some too!

This week I went back to the whole baby corn still in the husk and I wish that it will be here to stay. It is a little more work but well worth it. I should be able to get it year round.

Saturday afternoon we had a tasting for "My Best Friend's (daughter's) Wedding." It took a good three hours to go through all the food. Everything went really well we just have a couple of minor adjustments to make with the stuffing for the quail and we are going to change the sauce for the artichoke ravioli. Thank you Dave, my Bistro chef, for working so hard on the tasting.

This week there is still a lot to do with seafood. Lately my Godzilla scallops turned out to be Iguana again. They used to be huge now they are getting smaller and the price keeps going higher. I really hate these suppliers that try to fill their pockets and do not care how the end user will feel. They really SBT...sucks big time!

Your Angry Chef,

Max

The NCAA Tournament is coming to town and the whole city is buzzing about SU and Cornell making the Sweet Sixteen. All the headlines about Tiger Woods and Sandra Bullock... no one cares this week its all about the Orange and the Big Red!

Even though business was light last weekend during the Tournament we are looking good for this weekend with all of the out of towners coming in. We are hoping they will stop in for an early dinner before the games or maybe to watch the games on one of our TVs.

As I predicted last week the Pacific Halibut sold very quickly and the seasonal greens were great. For sure I will get in more Pacific Halibut. Also we will get some fresh whole calamari, Black Bass - two pounds each, and some Colorado Lamb. We are still waiting for the fresh green peas and I have started to look for wild leeks and sea beans. I know it is still early but I am hoping we can find some from the Southern states. I found some morel but it is too expensive to even dream about getting. It looks like we will have a great season ahead of us.

Your Chef,

Max

Yesterday morning Sue, one of my floor captains brought in a crocus from her garden. For the past ten years she has brought in her first flower so she can brag to me that her garden is better than mine. But for me it is just nice to see that spring is finally here!

Some of my favorite greens will be here soon... Fiddle Head Ferns, pea shoots, green peas, and baby corn. My good friend Norm is trying to get the Fiddle Heads in early from the Southern states. I can't wait for the fresh peas to come in. There is nothing like biting into a fresh pea, you can feel the little crunch and when it pops in your mouth you can taste the starch on your palate. Last week the asparagus price was so reasonable that we decided to use it for our seasonal greens.

I know it is a lot easier to buy from the Syscos of the world but it is a lot more fun to buy from my local friends. They have given us such great service over the years, always putting their heart and soul into their businesses. Spring is always a good season for them and it is always fun to see what they will be getting in next!

The Pacific Halibut came in yesterday. It is the first of the season and wow is it amazing! Pook and I tasted it last night and it is so light and flavorful. It is so good that I am afraid that we will sell out of it by Friday night.

Your Chef

Max

Saturday was the St. Patrick's Day Parade. This brings thousands of people down to Armory Square. However, green beer and Pacific Rim Asian with a steak twist isn't exactly everyone's idea of a perfect match! This year was no exception. After bragging about how well we did the last few weeks it is now time to cry about how mediocre we did this past weekend. But we take the good with the bad and we are always glad to see our friends doing well.

So in the spirit of the holiday...

Long live the Bar

Long live the Beer

Long live the Leprechaun!

John, my fish guy from Boston is back from his vacation and he told me yesterday that he can get me West Coast Halibut. It's the first of the season! He made my blood move again this is so great I can not wait to see it!

Your Chef,

Max

Spring is in the air and this week has been all about the food. I have had meetings all day everyday about what we need to be getting in and how we are going to update the menu for spring. So to get in the mood I will start with seafood.

Our new seafood distributor sent Palmer some J.P. Shellfish from Maine. They are really serious about their oysters too. They have almost 20 different kinds from both the East and West coast and they come in fresh everyday.

This week for oysters I chose the Begaduce Oysters from Maine, they were featured at the James Beard House, and French Kiss Oysters from New Brunswick, Canada I chose them because they sounded sexy! They both have a high meat yield and are extremely consistent in both size and shape... just what we were looking for!

Our good friend Steve Fraum from Palmer sent us some fabulous Kobe NY Strip. He aged some of the 9 - 12 grade ( the best on the market) for us. I tasted it the other day sooooo delicious! Our dry aged NY Strip from "our new old guy" has been very well received by our customers. Steve told me yesterday that we have our very own small private shelf at the Palmer Dry Aged House with our name on it and everything... not bad, not bad at all. I can breath easy knowing they will take good care of me.

Wait I'm not done yet. I got some blue fin tuna in from a company called North Coast. They deal with tuna from around the world. We are not very familiar with them yet so we just ordered 10 lbs. to try them out. They will also send us four whole snapper 3 - 4 lbs each... we will see how good they are.

Well this is a start for now. We will be changing our regular menu soon to reflect the season.

Your Chef,

Max

We were amazed by the turnout this past Saturday night. Ali was out of town this weekend so Victoria, my experienced hostess tried her very best to keep the restaurant floating. The reservations poured in after the game and the weather was so nice that everyone was out. Imagine if SU had beaten Louisville.. ha ha Victoria would have drowned at the door!

Friday and Saturday were tough on my kitchen staff and dishwashers. On Saturday we ran our kitchen with nine cooks. Three on the appetizer and Pad Thai line, one on sushi, and one on dessert. On the entree line there were two on the Lemon Grass saute line and "Downtown Dave" my Bistro chef was holding the line along with my grill and pan man to his right.

The Grass and our Elephant have had the best four consecutive weeks ever. For me this is the best four weeks of my working chef career in the 20 years I've been in Syracuse. Thank you Syracuse and everyone who has contributed to our success. I will talk food in a day or two.

Your Chef,

Max

This is not the best week for seafood. My man Jonathan is on vacation so I had to buy from a new guy. Actually he wasn't bad at all. He can get me my Beau Soleil Oysters that I've been looking for and some wild stripped bass by this Friday. This is the same company that will fly me to Boston in early April to take a look at their operation.

We are looking to build strong relationships with new suppliers. I keep telling my salesman that no matter how good the suppliers products are if we cannot work together we will not get a good result. If this new partnership works out well we will gain a great seafood supplier. I am excited to see how this turns out.

Our new dry aged beef is in. It looks great and you can really taste the dry aged difference... yummy! We also added grilled Japanese eggplant to our menu. It is served with Yuzu-Soy, toasted sesame seeds and roasted seaweed. I got this dish from an old friend of the family about 48 years ago. He was a serious Japanese gourmet chef. His name was Morio Kutsura. Thanks Morio!

Your Chef,

Max

So we all survived dining week! My front staff worked so hard. Poor Ali has been married to the phone the whole month of February. I have barely had time to talk to her! The whole staff is so grateful to the restaurant and to all the customers. Thanks a million to all of those who came in to support us. We would also like to thank the Downtown Committee and and AmeriCU for arranging the most successful dining week ever, at least for "The Grass and our Elephant."

My kitchen staff was great too. We went through almost half a ton of Filet Mignon and chicken, 300 lbs. of fresh forest mushrooms, 250 lbs. of shrimp, 450 lbs. of raw jasmine rice and I don't even know how much salad!

March is always a slow month for us. We will see if this March will start like a lion and end like a lamb or finish up like a dragon...

I will let you know more about food in a couple of days.

Your Chef,

Max

Only 4 days of dining week left to push through. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! It has been fun to be able to serve a new crowd.

Spring is just around the corner and we are so excited! We will start hunting for new stuff for our menu... really can't wait...

I am looking to get white French asparagus from Provence. Some that are nice with a diameter exceeding 1" - 1 ^1/4"  but I don't know how long the season will be. We have a really nice wedding coming in early May that I wish to use them for.

This week we will get Hawaiian Sea Bass. This is new to me so we will see in a couple of days how good they are. I know for sure that the fat content in this fish will not be as high as the Chilean Sea Bass so the meat may not be that silky but will the flavor be better? I will let you know next week.

The Soft Shell Crab season will hopefully start in mid April. They will come from the Gulf of Mexico. The crab will be huge, fat and the price will be much more reasonable that those from Maryland. The season will be a lot longer too. We've been using this crab since 1994.

We just talked to Tony from the MOST last week about the menu for the Annual MOST Charity Gala in July. I can't believe its that time of year already.

Your Chef,

Max

Well we survived the first week of dining week. The staff is pretty tired but happy to be busy. The kitchen is bored with the menu already. It is so small and very predictable. Good thing we are changing it up a little this week. About 80% of our guests last week came in for the dining week menu which is great. We are so happy to see so many people come out to support us and our neighbors during this harsh winter stretch. Thank you to all those who make dining week such a success!

Now lets talk about food... I sat along with some old friends of mine on their 25th wedding anniversary dinner. I noticed a difference in our dry aged steak I didn't like it as much as I did before. So I decided to sell it on a big discount. We will go back to my guy in Rochester, he is the one who first got us the dry aged beef. He has made a strong commitment to me that our quality and price will not falter. They will send their first batch the first week in  March.

Your Chef,

Max