Category Archives: Top Chef

Dinner with Eric Ripert and Fabio Viviani!

October 9, 2018 elisha Leave a comment

A couple of years ago, I finally convinced J to take me to Le Bernardin. I have been a fan of Eric Ripert for many years, and longed to try his food. It did not disappoint. I don’t remember what everyone else at our table had, but the tuna carpaccio and dover sole that I ate are forever in my memory. Never in a million years did I think I could make that tuna in my own kitchen, but I was reading the Le Bernardin Cookbook and the recipe for Tuna Carpaccio with Chives actually looked doable. I had also just made a big batch of Fabio Viviani’s Tomato Sauce with Garlic and Oil, and had planned on making his Tuna with Tomatoes and Capers last night (from his new cookbook, Fabio’s Italian Kitchen), so I decided to use some of the sushi quality tuna I had to attempt the carpaccio as well.

When H was still at home, I always had to worry about preparing something for her that had protein, but was vegetarian, so I probably wouldn’t have attempted such a fish-heavy meal, but that’s one of the benefits of having an empty nest-I’m just cooking for me and J. We just arrived in Lake Toxaway, for the first three months of summer, and I had just re-stocked the kitchen. I got the extra large cart at Ingles, and it looked like I was buying for a family of ten!

This cart doesn’t look too healthy, but I promise the bottom is filled with produce!

I went to the local organic food market, Food Matters, and picked up some nice tuna. I’m still learning what types to avoid in an attempt to buy sustainable, but it’s very confusing. For now, I trust this market, because they’re committed to sell organic food grown in the region to protect and preserve natural resources. And I won’t ever eat or buy bluefin, orange roughy, shark and shark fin, or chilean sea bass. All I needed for the carpaccio, in addition to the tuna, was fresh chives, scallion, extra virgin olive oil, and good sea salt and ground white pepper, which I already had.

I took one of the two pieces of tuna I was planning on using for the entree, and cut it in half. (I’m only cooking for two people, and I always make way too much). Then I took the half and sliced it horizontally, to make two 1/2″ thick pieces. Put a little olive oil on the cutting board then a slice of plastic wrap on top. Then covered the tuna with another slice of plastic. Next, I carefully pounded the piece of tuna, starting in the middle and sliding the pounder outward, until it was very thin but still intact. Since my piece of tuna was small, I had to make smaller circles than the recipe called for, so I found a round plastic top from a container from the deli to use as a guide (about 4 1/2″ diameter). If you’re using a larger, 4 oz. tuna steak, you will need a guide about 9″ in diameter. I placed it on top of the plastic covered tuna and carefully cut around it, plastic, tuna and all. Did the same thing for the second piece of tuna. Then, the coolest thing…I had all those little pieces that were cut away from the circles, combined them to make a little ball, put between two plastic sheets, and carefully pounded it out and I had a third circle, which after chilling remained completely intact. No waste!

Leaving the tuna in the plastic, I stacked them together and put back in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. When I was ready to serve I just took them out, carefully peeled back the plastic and gently placed on large dinner plate, overlapping in a circular shape. Then, brushed olive oil generously over all three, sprinkled with salt and pepper, then the shallots and chives. Squeeze lemon juice all over, cleaned up the plates and served with the toasts.

It was surprisingly easy, I made it at the same time I was working on the entree, and it was delicious! Download the full recipe here.

I started Fabio’s Tuna with Tomatoes and Capers while the tuna was chilling. It was done in basically 30 minutes, since I had already made a huge batch of Fabio’s tomato sauce that morning, a really easy recipe. (saved 2 cups for dinner and froze the rest in ziploc bags). Both recipes are here.

The only things I changed on the recipe were that I seared the tuna really quickly in a really hot pan with grapeseed oil to get a little sear on the outside, and I served it over pasta.

There are many more recipes that I want to try in both cookbooks…they really are user friendly for home cooks! I seriously recommend you pick up a copy of both books. Next up, I’m going to attempt homemade pasta…

Empty Nest, Food, Top Chef

blvd nashville…like an old friend in a new dress!

October 9, 2018 elisha Leave a comment

People who know me know that I judge restaurants by the bread. Give me a basket of warm, delicious bread and something yummy to spread on it and I instantly fall in love. On that basis alone, Nashville’s blvd is my new favorite spot. My friend and I sat down last night and ordered the signature cocktail, the “Pinky Lee” (Mine with gin, hers with tequila)…a pink grapefruity concoction with a sweet/salty rim. It was the perfect way to start a girl’s night out. Then our waiter (who was so good-looking it was hard to look away) plopped down this.

Who can pass up a soft, steaming, just salty enough pretzel with stone ground apricot mustard? But the cornbread waffle underneath was my favorite. Just slightly sweet, with a little salt, it almost didn’t need the soft, creamy vanilla butter served along side. Almost…but a small smear of butter melted into the edges and it was pure heaven. We could easily have devoured the entire basket but wouldn’t have had room for the rest of the menu, which consisted of french bistro food with a uniquely Arnold Myint southern flair.

Myint is a Nashville native whose parents own the local International Market, which introduced Nashvillians to Thai food back in 1975. As a college student down the street in the early 80’s, I have fond memories of stopping in to grab inexpensive noodle dinners, which were very exotic at the time. Arnold hit the restaurant scene hard here in Nashville, after a stint as a professional ice skater and a little time in NYC, and many people know him after his WAYYYYY too early exit from Top Chef season 7. (He was way too nice to point fingers, but his partner on his final competition refused to cook the pasta early enough, and although the judges loved the taste of their dish, they were both eliminated because the pasta was too al dente. )

Arnold has a passion for international food, as is evidenced in his four Nashville restaurants…PM, Suzy Wong’s House of Yum, AM@FM (Arnold Myint at Farmer’s Market), and now blvd nashville, the metamorphasis of Cha-chah, which he closed last fall to renovate and transform into a bistro/bar/market. I loved Cha-chah, but Myint recognized that the concept wasn’t a perfect fit for Nashville, thus the reorganization, and in my opinion, it’s a home run!

Thankfully, our friends joined us before I ate the entire basket of bread and we began ordering. The warm brussels sprout salad…thankfully kept on the menu from Cha-chah, “le french fries”, a perfectly crisp stack of hand cut fries with six choices of coatings (We opted for the hickory salt and pepper, but I can’t wait to try some of the others, like the truffle oil and chive, or madras spiced curry), and the lamb meatballs. The portions are large enough to share, so we plopped them down in the middle of the table and enjoyed. And enjoyed. When the waiter came to take our orders, we were stuffed, but still ordered the salmon and grits (rare but crispy, with grits and a drizzle of Tobasco gastrique), mashed parsnips (a parsnip/potato mash that I was happy to see on the menu after trying it at a fundraiser at Cha-chah last year), and wilted greens (yummy arugula, lightly wilted, highly flavorful).


Photo from The Tennessean

I honestly loved every bite. We ate until we couldn’t eat any more. But I will be back. There were many menu items I still want to try…Walnut Gnocchi, Quinoa Falafel Wrap, Tuna Nicoise sandwich. There were many yummy looking dishes for you meat eaters out there as well, Cassoulet, Shepard’s Pie, Steak Frites, Croque Monsieur, etc. Also, it’s nice to know that their food comes from many local artisans and vendors. The only negative I could possibly say is that they were out of the premium chardonnay by the glass. But to be honest, the house chardonnay was just fine.

I wish I had taken photos of the interior…the warm picnic tables with cushioned chairs, the cozy seating area in front, or the exterior wood, which all combine to make a very inviting, stylish, charming atmosphere. I wouldn’t expect any less from Arnold.

celebrities, Empty Nest, Food, recipes, Top Chef, travel

Cruising with Top Chef!

October 9, 2018 elisha 4 Comments

I am a Top Chef fan. I’m talking, big, HUGE, annoyingly fanatical. I own all 10 seasons of Top Chef, 4 seasons of Top Chef Masters, and 2 seasons of Top Chef Just Desserts (eh, not nearly as good, but when there are no new regular shows, I watch it). I watch them over and over again. I listen to them when I’m jogging. I can’t explain it. I just love the show. I love the personalities in the kitchen. I learn something new every time I re-watch an episode. But unfortunately, none of my close friends watch it with me. I’ve had to turn to bloggers and recaps for my after-show discussions.

So last fall, when I saw there was going to be a cruise, not just any cruise, but TOP CHEF THE CRUISE!, I started working on J to go with me. After multiple discussions (begging), he finally cracked. He had no desire to a) cruise, or b) cruise with me dragging him to Top Chef events. So in order to get me to shut up, he offered to pay for me to take a friend for my birthday/anniversary present.

I didn’t really care which chefs were going to be on board, to be honest. I just thought any kind of Top Chef related events would be really fun. But I have to say, the chefs that participated couldn’t have been better. Not sure if Bravo hand selected them, or if their schedules worked out to allow them to come, or they had new cookbooks they wanted to promote (it was probably a combination of the three), but hosts Tom and Gail, Masters Hubert Keller and Tim Love, and past winners and contestants Richard Blais, Chris Crary (Malibu Chris), Tiffany Derry (“I’m from Beaumont, Texas”), Mike Isabella, Kristen Kish, Spike Mendelson, Paul Qui, Hosea Rosenberg, Angelo Sosa, Casey Thompson, Fabio Viviani, Brooke Williamson, and Top Chef Just Desserts winners Yigit Pura and Chris Hanmer were on board with 2,000 other top chef fans...just like me!

Me and C 24 years ago and now

It’s hard to explain, but when my girlfriend, C (who I last cruised with as a single girl 24 YEARS ago) and I joined a dinner table with eight other Top Chef fans who became our new best friends for the duration of the cruise (well, 6 fans and 2 ‘drag-alongs’ like C who had never watched an episode), I felt like I had been dropped into heaven. We spent the first night talking about the chefs, the seasons, the episodes, their restaurants, their drama…all while C and the other drag-alongs looked at us like we were speaking Greek. I was surprised that the chefs were mingling with us, enjoying the cruise (some of them really enjoying the cocktails!), taking photos, signing books, dancing, etc. I thought they’d stay in their VIP quarters, come out to do quickfires and other events, but stay away from all the fans. But they were out there, lapping it up. Someone pointed out to me that they were huge celebrities to us, but maybe not to most of America, so maybe they were enjoying the attention. I still think it must have been tiring, or annoying at times, but they were always very gracious.

After dinner the first night we attended a Cocktail Party and DJ set led by Hubert Keller…and there’s no way to explain the pure joy on his face as he played Electronic and Top 40 songs until the wee hours. It was so cool to see this master of cuisine (who hosted the first quickfire of the first season of Top Chef, by the way) relax and enjoy himself like that!

Thanks to the Hollywood Reporter for this pic

As we tired of dancing we made our way to the bar for a drink and snapped some photos with Fabio, Mike, and Angelo, who were also definitely enjoying themselves.

Something weird happened to my biological clock that weekend, because we didn’t make it to bed until 3 a.m….and that was the earliest we made it back for the rest of the cruise! Thus began our pattern of going to bed late, getting up early to squeeze in a workout (a necessity because of the sheer amount of food we ate!), relaxing during the day, and starting our adventures at night. Since we had late seating, we normally attended the Top Chef “entertainment” at 6, then whatever was going on after dinner…we were there. The dinners were, for the most part, incredible. We had our choice of selecting items from the regular cruise menu, or dishes that were designed by three of the chefs onboard. As the cruise progressed, and we realized how good the Top Chef recipes were, we all started ordered two or three each of the appetizers, entrees and desserts…just to make sure we didn’t miss anything. Thanks to Tim Love, whose lobster cake was my hands down favorite. I could have eaten that every night!

The first night’s quickfire was with Casey, Richard, Hosea, Malibu Chris, Spike and Kristen for our group, and the next night we had the much rowdier group-Fabio, Angelo, Mike, Brooke, Tiffany, Paul and Chris H. The second day our quickfire was AFTER dinner which, according to Fabio, “…having this quickfire at 11:30 after our captain’s dinner, was a BIG mistake.”

Fabio at the late night quickfire

They had obviously enjoyed their captain’s dinner, but Fabio, Mike and Angelo had started their celebration around lunchtime surrounded by their closest fans all day at the pool. I had decided my mission was to be selected to join one of them on stage (they chose audience members to “sous” with the chefs during the quickfires). So thanks to C cheering me on, I made a fool of myself, jumped up and down in the aisle and Fabio pointed to me and said, “OK, sparkly dress, YOU.” So me and my sparkly dress joined Mike at the quickfire table, where he gave me a giant can of dented artichokes and an old rusty can opener and I spent most of my time onstage opening a can. So much for showing off my mad kitchen skills.

That evening was filled with so much heckling (the chefs who weren’t cooking were sitting in a box above the stage), f-bombs, and questionable actions that they never aired it on the in-cabin TVs, which they were doing 24 hours a day…just re-ran the calmer, less fun group’s challenges. I laughed so hard I don’t even remember what Mike cooked. I think I chopped a few things, but I honestly don’t remember. I do know I’ll probably never forget that night!

Angelo was having so much fun in the lounge, dancing to Salsa music. I was standing at the bar, watching, kind of moving to the beat, when he came over, and grabbed my hand. I proceeded to try to follow him, but since I have NO ability to salsa, I looked pretty stupid. Oh well.

The third night was a deck party with Tom Collichio’s friend Milton and his band. They were great, but it was even better when Tom came out and joined them wearing a Panama Hat and looking cool. He strapped on a guitar and played and sang a few songs to the crowd of adoring fans, whose cheers rivaled those for any major rock star. He was actually really good!

Our day at sea was spent recovering in a lounge chair by the pool while the chefs rotated all day long, doing cooking demos, and Q&A sessions. Their banter with each other is really adorable. They seem to all get along and respect each other, but it’s funny when they give each other s&*t! I managed to oversleep and miss both autograph sessions, but lugged the six new cookbooks I bought on board with me all day (some of them not released yet) and snagged an autograph whenever I could grab someone. On the last day I had all the signatures except Angelo’s. I was walking down to shower after working out and spotted Angelo (a beautiful man, by the way) sitting in the jacuzzi, all by himself. He looked at me, nodded, and said hello. So I promptly pulled his book out of my bag to have him sign it. I was struggling to act cool, because I don’t normally do well with celebrities. I thought I did OK, though, until I walked into the cabin, glanced in the mirror and realized I had something hanging out of my nose. So I’m sure I made a lovely impression on the lovely Angelo!

Of the cookbooks I purchased, Fabio’s Italian Kitchen, Mike’s Crazy Good Italian, and Tim Love’s Journal were the ones I read from cover to cover. Angelo’s Flavor Exposed is beautiful and his passion for food and flavors shines throughout, and the recipes are sophisticated and easy to follow. The chefs were all very gracious and accommodating, and other than the ones who brought their small children with them, spent a large amount of time socializing and enjoying the cruise. I’m not a huge cruise fan, but have done a few of them through the years. I think being on board with so many like-minded people made all the difference in the world. I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Hosea

Tiffany…love her!

Malibu Chris

Richard

Paul

My beautiful friend who now might watch Top Chef with me!