A long week, with a good ending..

Well it might be appropriate (somehow) that today is the Ides of march.  The feeder’s world has kind of been disrupted lately.  It’s been over a week since I have put pen to paper, or more realistically finger to keyboard.  A lot has transpired betwixt then and now, not the least of which was a nasty cold/flu/virus thing that knocked me out for most of the time.  Nonstop coughing feeling like, well…..  Anyway it pretty much took over.  A week ago we went up to Baltimore (Ball’mer) so MFO could attend a workshop on preservation of archive stuff in the face of a disaster (sea level rise, zombie apocalypse, etc.).  She is developing the disaster plan for the St. Mary’s County Historical society.  Probably that journey warrants a blog of its own, which we will get to eventually.   Quiz: where is Waldo (The Feeder)?

Writer’s note:   what follows is kind of long, but I wanted to make sure you realize what goes into a/the Gala, where you sit down, have wonderful food, and enjoy yourself.  Behind the curtain:

Fortunately I rallied enough that we were able to attend the Ryken High School Gala this past weekend.   It turned out really well.  The “theme” was “The Chef’s Table” which was meant to allow guests to see an “open kitchen” and get a peek on how something like this gala works. Delivering food to your table as we have said, takes a lot of hard work by a lot of people.   You don’t just show up and get food ready for 400 people.  So, the day before, tables must be set, 

(salad) plates laid out

And in the back of the house (aka Kitchen) the culinary team gets to work,

Prepping the food  

Making soups and sauces

not your light duty Immersion Blender!

Straining the result

Check on the (peekeytoe) crab in the walk in

Et cetera!  All of which makes for a long day.  Has to be ready for the next day.

So the day of the event might start with a “staff meeting”

And then the work begins as (400) guests start to arrive

I could go on for pages and you would be asleep, but let’s look at a couple of things, first the

ANATOMY OF THE SALAD

and....Voilá

Same for the Peekeytoe crab cake with Fava Beans

plate by plate

The first two courses could be prepared that way, but for the main course of Red Wine Braised Short Rib, you can’t much do that except kind of a la carte.  For that, you kind of need an assembly line approach. 

Assemble all the ingredients (short ribs, potato gratin, asparagus)

Then, plate by (all 400) plates

Plate it, hand it to staff and out they go.

who serves it to you moments later...

It was quite an evening, I hope those that attended were able to watch the precision that brought everything to you.  I of course enjoy that.  I was very appreciative of the Ryken folks to allow me to poke around.

Again thanks to our Chefs Michael Kelley (Canard’s Catering) and Mike Price from NYC (Market Table and The Clam, and the whole Canard's staff for their time, hard work, and exceptional skills.

And oh boy were we 

DFD

Your Menu, Sir...

Hors D’oeuvres

Truffled Arancini

Spicy Lamb Skewers with Tzatziki and Mint

Burrata Cheese Crostini with Arugula, Balsamic and Strawberry

Tuna Tartare with Pinenuts, Asian Pear and Crispy Wonton

Shrimp and Avocado Campechana on Tortilla

Parsnip, Hazelnut Brown Butter, and Roasted Apple Soup

First Course

Gem Lettuce Salad with Shaved Beets, Soft Herbs, Pumpernickel, and Green Goddess Dressing

Second Course

Peekytoe Crab Cakes with Fava Beans , English Peas, French Breakfast Radish and Cream Dijon

Third Course

Red Wine Braised Black Angus Short Rib with Crispy Potato and Mushroom Gratin, Asparagus, and Horseradish in Natural Juices

Dessert

Crème Fraiche Panna Cotta with Blood Orange, Pistachio, and Candied Fennel

A menu for a Prix Fixe dinner at a four star restaurant?  Options at a fancy hotel dining room?   Nope! THIS is the menu to be served TO YOU at the aforementioned Ryken Gala.    While this would be a daunting task even in an a la carte restaurant such as Market Table, think about passing the hors, then serving the courses to hundreds of people who all want it at once, hot, cooked just right, and gracefully served, (ladies first).  How in the world do you do that?  Well, that’s why there are people in the world like Mike Price and the Kelleys who operate Canards Catering.  They know how to order the food, how much and what, when to cook what, and so forth.  A lot of the preliminary cooking is often done off site, and transported to the event in "hot boxes", and finished there.  How all that is done is really amazing.    Once there, you gotta have lots of plates (duhh….) and maybe the garni ready

Meanwhile the hors are set out, and salads are being plated

Sidebar: the worker above in the white hat is none other than your Bottom Feeder who gets enlisted from time to time to help  

 Salads along with dressings

Then main plates are laid out, and the food is placed on each one, one by one, down the line till they are all ready to go out, and "ready" means eyes have been laid on them to look for that stray green bean trying to escape…

Then there is pickup, and things are delivered to your table for you to enjoy, oblivious of what a lot of it took to get that plate in front of you.  And maybe while you are enjoying your meal, dessert is being constructed (and in this case being “torched”)

Believe me, it is a lot of work, requiring things to be in the proper place, arranged in order, and a lot of dedicated people who fill all those plates (sometime I'll tell you the story of the Feeder and the "400 Salads").   It is hard work and needs an experience team to pull it off.   Having experienced the operation, I think I actually prefer the front of the house, although there is a certain satisfaction in participating in the dance that brings good food to your table.

So, finally, at this special Gala, a lot of this will be done INSIDE the curtain and you can see it done. I am anxious to attend, go to the link above if you want to also!  A unique experience to be sure.  And, hope there are no dropped plates or spills, which occasionally occurs behind the curtain.  Believe me.  Nuff said. 

Chefs of the evening.. 

Michael Kelley                         Mike Price 

NOTE TO REGULAR READERS

Which also might be of some interest to those who just started looking because of the Gala.  For those new readers, I posed the question to the regulars as to whether when they are planning a trip to a new restaurant, do they go on line and look at the menu.  Traditional old me, I prefer to wait until I am at my table, and even then I don’t usually look at the menu until after a cocktail.  It gives me time to observe plates going to other tables, and get a general feel for the staff.  That sometimes drives me to one choice of the other.  Of course, you can arrive with pre-conceived notions, but to me opening and perusing the menu is part of the experience.   

Well, I was surprised to learn that I am in the distinct minority(!) in that approach to dining.  Those (few) readers who did respond (thank you) I think unanimously preferred to peek ahead.  Another branch of this twig is that I will NEVER stand outside and read a menu posted there..

But you can be sure I will arrive

DFD

A Gala with a star!

Most of us have been to Gala’s over the years, benefitting this cause and that, you have pretty good food you dance (not us), and generally have a pretty good time.  There is a Gala of (what I consider) a different sort coming up.   Like other galas it does benefit a good institution, in this case our local Ryken High School, but also has a theme not often seen (enough, IMHO) around here.   It’s going to celebrate the food, which is why I was asked to be involved.  As I said, has a couple of features I thought you might like to know about it and hopefully want to attend, I know we are.  Feature number one, the chef:

 Mike Price grew up in our area and worked on his family farm near Redgate and was surrounded by food preparation and developed a love of cooking as his grandmother was constantly cooking and baking.  His Grandfather was a butcher at McKay’s for years. and eventually he began cooking at the Maryland Way restaurant on weekends while attending high school, and hung out at (the old) Evans.  As a result he valued food and simple and seasonal cooking, which led to an appreciation of hard work. 

He graduated from Ryken in 1993, and pursuing his love of food he attended the prestigious  Culinary Institute of America, graduating from the CIA, he did the usual chef thing, learning by doing externships and a tournant (home work assignment) position, mostly in New York city in several restaurants there, then went to Miami for a while, came back to Maryland to learn about the “corporate” side of things doing a stint at the Asbury facility on the Solomons.   He worked with one of our local culinary legends, Bill Taylor for a while.

Then with all the experience gained in 2007 he and a friend opened one of his current venues The Market Table 

very classy

These days a lot of chefs and restaurateurs give lip service to  buying local “Farm to Table” and so forth but here’s a chef actually out in the local markets getting stuff, at a local market.  Every day...

After that success, he opened recently another place, called “The Clam” 

As one might suspect, it is a seafood based restaurant where there is actual seafood, actually prepared

And of course the namesake is available

I don’t know how many of you have had the opportunity to be in the back of the house, although with an “open kitchen” concept you can come close.  In a well run kitchen there is a I (hopefully) quiet rhythm of prepping ingredients

and cooking

And finally plating the result

And, despite the pretty "headshot" of Chef Price at the top, I know enough about these guys that their real passion is to be right here doing what they love

Why all this about MIke?  The people from Ryken contacted him about helping with their upcoming annual Gala.  He graciously accepted, and created a menu for the evening reminiscent of his New York restaurants.  More on that later, but have you heard of “Peekytoe”?   How about a “Peekytoe crab cake with fava beans, English peas, French breakfast radish and cream Dijon” (that’s only course two of four)

The dinner will be executed by Canard’s Catering (Michael and Lisa Kelley) along with Chef Price, who have planned a unique evening, giving you a glimpse into how a menu that might appear in a la carte restaurants can be prepared and served to hundreds of people.  More on that later..

Oh if you’re interested (as you should be) in participating in this unique experience you can go to this link and find out about getting tickets.  Not only will you have a foodie experience not seen before, you can support a local high school that has contributed so much to our community.

Another Ryken graduate, Christian Jarboe (Class of 2013), was kind enough to share some of the stills used above from his video that will be playing during the dinner, it’s a foodie movie for sure.

And I am positive that (along with the Feeder) both the Kelley’s and Chef Price would urge you to

DFD