A quick visit to Merida Yucatan

Today Roberto Solis came to our school.  He is a chef from Merida Yucatan and he is here on the behalf of the Mexican embassy to promote his country.  Roberto is a chef who owns the restaurant Nectar in Merida.
Two weeks earlier the Mexican embassy sent some representatives to show off some the Mexican wines [...]

Powerpoint Presentation: a Brief History of Haute Cuisine

My student’s had a hard time getting down all the names of the key players in my lecture on a brief history of  Haute Cuisine today, so I decided to post the presentation for all to access.  Trust me it is very hard to narrow down some of the most influential chefs to a one [...]

Day 3: The storm takes a new direction across town, Wild and Rare

There was only one scheduled class on Friday and that was Extreme Cooking with Andrew Dwyer from Australia.  I had taken care of every major detail the day before so I was fairly confident it would run smoothly.  He had a group of Johnson & Wales students to assist him and some of them were [...]

180° Dining: Burgundy Cream

We put on our second 180° Dining event last night and it went extremely well.   The students totally jumped in the preparations for the event and kept their focus at every step of the way.  We are in the final stretch of  this class and everyone understands each others capabilities.  We are beginning to [...]

The Michelin Guide’s Verdict for 2009 Provence Alpes Cote d’Azur

Every year the Michelin Guide is awaited with anxious anticipation.  Fortunes are made or lost based on who gets in this book and who gains or loses a star.  I was surprised to see a few changes that I know will rock some boats in the French culinary world.
My friends at Hotel d’Europe in Avignon [...]

Paris the “City of Lights” and a gastronmic epicenter

I have been wanting for some time to post some of my favorite addresses and grazing grounds in Paris. This is without a doubt one of the world’s most exciting cities. I lived there for three months in 1989 (France’s Bi-centennial). It was a mind blowing experience . I experienced so [...]

Piedmont wine dinner

Yesterday, I was hired to cook a meal for a bunch of cork dorks at my brother in law’s house. By cork dorks , I mean people that have been in the retail end wine and liquor sales for many years. Enough time to acquire vast portfolios in their personal wine [...]

Week 1: Educational tsunami

The fighting geoducks are probably wondering why I have been so remiss in my blogging. They were used to my daily bleetings on their dishes.  So why have taken the foot off the accelerator?
Two reasons: 1, the first week of culinary instruction was really busy and kind of tiring and 2 I felt [...]

The new Michelin guide for France 2008

A good friend of mine, Julie Mautner,  who is a food writer living in St. Remy de Provence just sent me the latest update of who gained and lost Michelin stars in France for 2008.  Every year the French culinary world waits with baited breath to see what will appear on the guide.  Fortunes can [...]

Top Restaurant Websites

I wanted to share the websites to some of the world’s top restaurants. It is always interesting to see how these different restaurants market themselves and it always fun to dream about going to some of these places or to reminisce about past dining experiences. I’ll organize them into 3 categories. Worked at, [...]