Last week was really hard for me. We had parties everyday from Monday all the way to "My Best Friend's Daughter's Wedding" on Saturday. 50 - 55 hours is normal for a full time chef.

From the second week of January, most of our new staff (2 - 15 months) stared to leave, some of them left us to different places that needed the Grass's staff to bring their restaurant to the "next level".. yes, this was their actual words that they told me.

Good for them! Every cook wants to be a chef, every young chef wants to have their own restaurant. They want to show the world this is what they have, some of them very good, but 98% of them are not ready.

Of course I'm training a new batch of staff again. They are more willing to listen and learn than the ones I had before. They make mistakes like everybody does but they are making a lot less of them!

We are using them for fabrication on the line service. Now all we need from them is speed and precision. They will be good in less than two weeks.

Since we are talking about the kitchen today, may I clarify what I mean about my Number 1 guy in the kitchen...

Number 1 in the Grass's kitchen is the guy that takes the position as the saute man. He can read and manage the tickets wisely, most likely running the Grass's entree line which is the most expensive line but not the hardest line to run. You must be a good line cook to be successful. You will work along with one other cook, two on a busy night.

Some restaurants may call him the line chef which is okay by me, but I'd like to make it clear this position is not the Grass's Chef.

Chef is not just a title. A chef has to know how to manage his kitchen - labor, food cost, marketing (which comes with hundreds of things to learn), and it requires their whole heart and soul.

Your Chef,

Max

Last week I made several adjustments to my kitchen because of the problems we had the previous Saturday. Thursday night was a good test for the line with Anthony Bourdain's show at the Landmark. By 6:30 the whole restaurant was full. And as to be expected, most of the guests followed his theme of "No Reservations" ha ha!

If we compare the kitchen Thursday night to Tom Hank's new series "The Pacific" it would go something like this...

There was bloodshed all over the kitchen. All the lines were trying their best to fend off enemies from overrunning their base. Orders were flying all over the place as they poured in like rain. Several times they ran low on supplies but they made a good recovery with the backup they had at their base.

A lot of scallops, fish, Kobe beef, Dry Aged and Rib Eye steaks, chicken and an uncountable number of shrimp sacrificed their lives for this battle. We will remember all those we lost.

Even though we won the battle, there are still more to come. I will let you know if we nail this war down.

Your Commander and Chef,

Max

PS. Soft Shell Crab is on its way! it should be here on Wednesday.

The past week was so hectic for me. My kitchen hasn't gotten hit this hard since the Billy Joel concert many years ago. I apologize to any of our guests that had to wait for their food on Saturday night. Its a rare occasion that my kitchen can not keep up with the floor.

The menu will change this week.

Mostly we will focus on salads. We have been working to redesign and change the look and taste to be more spring like.

Here is one of them:

My new Goat Cheese Salad with French Vinaigrette:

The salad itself has frisee, baby arugula, roasted red peppers, Belgium endive red and white. It is garnished with marinated goat cheese (just some salt, pepper and some vinaigrette), spicy micro greens to create extra acid and balsamic reduction to complete the triangle on your palate... salty, sweet and sour.

The French Vinaigrette is a basic dressing.

White vinegar, light oil, salt, pepper, garlic, shallots and mustard.

A friend of mine asked me about Kobe beef on Sunday and we got talking about the different ways it can be prepared. He asked me what I thought about cooking Kobe on a piece of flat rock at a constant heat of 350 degrees. This is not a simple question. It depends on how thick the Kobe is, how many pieces on the rock and very importantly how big is the rock. This is what I think but this is just me...

I love Kobe beef. I've been eating it for over 45 years and have learned how to cook it to perfection. I think that all chefs know that extreme heat on a thin slice of Kobe will be good for the flavor of the high fat content piece of beef.

If the surface of the beef did not char enough, the correct fragrance and flavor will not appear.

350 degrees on the rock... is the heat good enough to contribute enough flavor for this expensive piece of meat?

Will there be enough heat to cook the meat enough to get the right amount of melted fat for the first appearance on your nose??

Will you get that thin coat of fat on your tongue???

Then will you feel the passion in your mouth as it melts with a fighty surrender????

If people like to apply the Japanese technique of using a hot stone and cook Kobe beef, they should understand to slice the beef thin enough to cover the basic cooking ground. To successfully apply Eastern cooking techniques to Western food is a real charm, but did you bring the best out in your materials from your charming technique?

Now a days marketing comes first before flavor?

I don't think so!

That is what I told my friends.

Your Chef,

Max

Sorry that we missed Tuesday's Blog. We've been swamped with all kinds of work. Ali has been so busy with reservations for Graduation Weekend. We have sold out of all the early dinner times on Saturday now we are only left with late lunch and late dinner. Ali even asked me to stay open all day on Saturday so we can take reservations from lunch straight through dinner. Friday at Sunday still look good but are going furiously fast! I wish her well and hope that she will still be in one piece after graduation is over.

Lets talk about the new fish company. I raised the question to North Coast last week in Boston about if we are too small for them to take care of us? Actually they said no. We started to get shipments from them this week. No question they are one of the highest quality fish companies since Brown Trading. Their quality is great but their product list doesn't make my blood move. No ooooohs or ahhhhs so far. We will see in about 2 weeks.

This week we got in ordinary good fish like Alaskan Salmon, fresh calamari, superb U10 scallops, really good looking and HUGE PEI Mussels, and oysters which were passed through a purified tank. No soft shell crab yet even though the guys in NYC had them 2 weeks ago. I tried to get lobster roe in frozen tube, they didn't know where to get them ha!! I used to get them from Cousins Fish Company in Albany before they sadly closed.

Of course like old Asians say "You never know how good your horse is until you run them for a while." So far we still love these guys even if their product list is boring.

Your Chef,

Max

On Tuesday Palmer Foods flew me and several other area chefs to Boston to visit a new seafood company they are purchasing from. I was soooo impressed with their operation!

They are fully committed to the highest quality of product, their facility was spotless and their cutting edge technology was amazing. So far I like this company a lot. Their price might be a little higher than others but if they can deliver the quality they promised I will pay for it. My one and only question... Are we too small for them to take care of us?

If this all works out it will be great... the clouds are starting to part on our seafood battle. No more scallop war, not more shipping problems just great high quality stuff! We will see when they ship us some stuff next week.

Your Chef,

Max

March came in like a lion and left like a Colorado lamb... very delicious ha ha. This has been the best March and the best quarter in the history of man kind! And Governor Paterson's sales tax office can be my witness.

I've been working so hard to get seasonal produce in and as a side effect we have been running a lot of specials. I think at one point we were up to about 20! My wait staff told me that the customers start to laugh at them after 8 so we cut it down to 10 specials for now.

It looks like the giant diver scallops are done. We keep trying though. I will go back to Jon in Boston again I wish he can get me U8. There are two boats that might have them. We are also keeping an eye on the Alaskan King Crab market. The price is about to soar. The quality is still fantastic but the portion is smaller. We usually get about 14 straight legs which is the "filet mignon" of crab, now they cut down to about 11 straight legs and that's all we can get for entrees. This needs to be fixed or we won't be able to have them on the menu anymore.

Tomorrow I will fly to Boston along with my brother Lex and a few other chefs from the area. We will check out a new seafood company to see what they have to offer. They will show us their facility, capability and efficiency... lets see how good they are!

Your Chef,

Max

Spring has sprung and we have all the goodies to prove it... Fiddle head ferns, baby wild leeks, colossal asparagus, wild mushrooms and fresh baby corn still in the husk. It has been the best spring ever! Today is Good Friday so the restaurant is loaded up with all kinds of seafood. Pook is going to kill me when she sees the bill!

Yesterday I got in 10 whole Black Grouper about 2 to 3lbs. each. We are serving them the same way we did the Black Bass last week. The Pacific Halibut is still going strong. A new batch will be shipped in today. My new old guy Ken got it from the North Coast and its quality has been fantastic. Every time we get more in I am thrilled with it.

Jonathan, my guy from Boston sent us Blue Fin Tuna yesterday. It came from a 545lb fish. Last night we sold a lot of sashimi and Blue Fin steaks. We also have fresh squid that we will grill and serve with our double roasted peppers sauce for my good friend Nick. The squid appetizer special has been selling very well with our famous Prig Pow sauce.

As for the Oysters... Today we are getting in Melpaque and Wellfleet both from Maine. They are big and very good.

Now I am just waiting for soft shell crab. My best friend George keeps asking me about them. I always give him the first ones of the season but its still a little early.

Your Chef,

Max

One of our regular customers asked me how the basketball tournament has affected our business. Very honestly for the past few weeks from the Big East Tournament all the way through the Elite Eight we only had one good Saturday. The bars and University area do very well but not fine dining.

Monday was a different story... It seemed like everyone flocked in from hibernation. It was Neil's (the Grass' sou chef) first night on the Bistro line. He was filling in for DDT's day off. I watched him prep the line before service and when I walked away I smiled... he did such a good job! I could tell he really cares about the products and their preparation. I knew he was the right guy for the job and at the end of the night he proved it.

The scallop war is still going on. There was a meeting in Portsmouth, NH earlier this year and the scientist agreed that the stock is being under fished. They restored a 5 million pound quota to the scallopers. But why does the price keep going up? In Boston all of the scallops U10 and under are up to $16 -$17 per pound. I'd like to see who is getting rich on this one. I know its not us we can't jack up the price. The overall market is still soft, to increase the cost to the customers would be so stupid!

I will give you an update for the weekend soon.

Your Chef,

Max

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