BLOG LOBSTAHHHHHHHHHH!

Homarus Americanus........ the great American Lobster

Lobsters live on rocky, sandy, or muddy bottoms from the shoreline to beyond the edge of the continental shelf. They generally live singly in crevices or in burrows under rocks, they typically eat live food, consisting of fish, mollusks and other crustaceans. Occasionally, they will scavenge if necessary, and may resort to cannibalism in captivity. Lobsters grow throughout their lives and it is not unusual for a lobster to live for more than 100 years. In fact, lobsters may exhibit negligible senescence, in that they can effectively live indefinitely, barring injury, disease and capture, they can get Gianormous. According to the Guinness World Records, the largest lobster was caught in Nova Scotia Canada, and weighed 44.4 lb.

Why all the wikinonsense you may ask? Well for the last 36 hours I was in Nova Scotia Canada at the Clearwater Seafood Plants. They are the largest single processor of scallops in Canada and one of the biggest with lobster. We had a chance to see their facilities, they were impeccably clean and amazing. They are the only processor in North America with the technology to do raw unshelled lobster!The way they process the scallops assures freshness processing on the boat within an hour of being pulled from the ocean...Check out the pics.....

Waiting..........

Have you ever seen the picture of a menu item or food item in the paper that just looked so staged that it didn't look like real food?? Well, meet Paul and Kate whose job it is to make food look better than it would normally look if you took a picture of it while not making it look staged.

The last time I had done photographs for a Magazine at a food studio it was at least 15 years ago... before digital, My how things have changed, Although many things still stay the same with the mechanics of it, Lighting, last minute placement and lots of Windex for the plates. It shoots quicker because you don't have to develop test shots. But can I tell you it's still like watching paint dry especially for all of us who thrive on deadlines and action.

We brought 5 of each dish and in some cases used all that we had for the picture, you never know what will happen under the lights. Correct that, you know EXACTLY what will happen under the lights of the cameras. We also had to order new plates for the shoot. The plates once they get commercially washed, show up pitted in the photos.


Chef Mark did a great job with the food and Keeping the tempo up and I want to give a shout out to him. We may do another shoot soon to capture some more of the Bravo Classics, anyone have any coffee?

Finally!

Well.....it's out, yes, there are things which did NOT go smoothly and continue to be short term issues. But never the less I feel extremely good about the content and the direction the menu continues to go in. For the first time ever, I think I can say that our lunch menu is actually a lunch menu! For years it was simply, not the dinner menu.

I have had the great opportunity to share the last few days with the team from Glenview. It has reminded, confirmed and grounded me, frankly it was that I needed. Being in the Glenview store just makes even more poignant the fact that body of Bravo is not the shiny new penny Deerfield or the Monster of Lehigh Valley or the Phoenix reborn Oaklahoma City and their SSS gains (which, by the way are FANTASTIC and incredible all rolled in a 3 calorie mint). It really is about Glenview and your store, places where the teams work as a team, where ego and posturing take a back seat to the guest experience. In this time, with consumer confidence, and all the other blah, blah, blah the way it is these teams are winning. Winning in Loyal, Lifelong Guests, Winning in guest counts, Winning in creating experiences, little bits of time that the outside pressures feel just a little bit less.....more bearable after the experience.

So THANK YOU for all the hard work that you are doing everyday, in spite of any obstacles that, in the doing of your job, gets thrown to you.

Please take the time to thank the people in your store that make your successes possible. We are all pulling in the same direction.

Matt

This one thing I've been thinking about.

Since the contest ended on Wednesday and we all said our goodbyes I've been thinking a lot about our chefs. If you look at the group shot of all the contestants on the stage, there is over 45 years of Bravo culture and history there. That's good and bad. We need to be true to who we are but if we don't grow in every way, we won't find ourselves on the top of the hill when the dust settles.

We now have that shot.

As many of you know I am a passionate person and feel very strongly about Bravo, It's where I've hung my hat for 14 years, and many of you feel the same way I do.

Thank you, I consider it a privilege to work for you and this company.

Matt

What a day and a half............

The last day and a half has been pretty amazing. A lot of hard work by a lot of people, but still pretty amazing.

We had over 15 judges for the event. Lori Daniel from Two Chefs on a Roll ran the dessert breakout session with all the judges and winning chefs. Chef Bruno from Barilla returned as well as Chef Eric from Sartori. We also had Chefs from Joseph's Pasta, Taste It Tiramisu, Culinary Concepts, Hormel, Alto Sham, Jade Range, last years winner Jason Frabotta and Chef Phil. Sue Doody was also in attendance in the judging panel as was Jason from the CW, and our special guest judge, Nancy Silverton, a founder of the West Coast artisan bread baking movement, founder of LaBrea Bakery, James Beard winner, 7 time cook book author and Restaurateur. Her 2 new restaurant (of 3) Mozza and Osteria Mozza with Mario Batali is on my best of eats for 2007 list.

The evening brought a wine dinner at Lindey's German Village on the newly remodeled terrace. Our evenings guest of honor, Chris Doody spent some time with us, told some very funny stories and reminded me why I signed up for the ride. It was great to see and old friend and someone who I respect immensely. Dinner from the hands of Chef Steven Fusaro was magnificent, he brought his experience at Esca in New York to all of us. One of my favorite courses was the Grilled Sardines......Reminded me of, ... Forget it it's too long of a story.

A huge thanks to Judith Anter from Icon Estates and Dan Frey from Solera Imports for creating the perfect wine pairings.....


Morning came and the drawing of the spoons to see order of presentation, Maynor first, Jorge, then Mike Minch, John Leonard, Leon and finally Jordan.

Nerves were frayed. Presenting 5 dishes at the allotted time, in front of 15 judges, many of whom they had only briefly met!

From the get go Maynor came out swinging with his Chicken Magnifico. The dish is a straight down the middle total home run Bravo fit.................

Jorge was second out and he basically summed it up by saying that the reason he chose to make that dish was because Bacon and Mushrooms were just plain delicious.

Dr. Minch had one of the most daring entries into the competition with his Peach and Prosciutto Flatbread. I know.... Trust me, you just need to taste it. That dish was wild in it's scoring getting the most first place votes.

John's dish was a picture of perfection. Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breast stuffed with orzotto. Really stong presence on the stage and great spiel.

Chef Leon's dish the Banana upside down pie was flawless in its flavor, interesting in it's texture and very original.

Jordan came out with his Ravioli Ratatouillo with a Chef's White Toque on his head and a stuffed Ratatouille sticking out the top. The dish itself was very fresh, loaded with vegetables. it had an intense fresh flavor.

Scoring was close. There was 1.05 points between 1 and 3rd and 3 points between the top score and the bottom score!!!!!

In the end it was Jordan who triumphed, congrats Jordan Eback you are Bravo's 2008 Top Chef!!!




I would like you all to know that there was an amazing amount of energy in the last week to pull this event off. I would like to personally thank Tim Kenrick, Tom Barnett, Alison Peters, Lisa Gillenwater, Mary Arnholt, Stephanie Dubois, Chad Howell, Tina Davis, Mike McCoy, Shelia Wiley, Lady Di--Diane McLaughlin and Karen Brennan for making this event a huge success.

I also would like to thank our sponsors for the event. Joseph's Pasta, LoPiccolo Brothers Produce, Produce One, Icon Estates, Solera Imports, Wasserstrom, and Zink Marketing








And finally I would like to thank every Executive Chef and our entire chef teams for their hard work, creativity, dedication and passion. Thanks for playing in the Bravo sandbox.





Matt

The Final 6

Here it is the final 6 that will compete for the honor of Bravo's Top Chef!!!

John Leonard -Virginia Beach














Leon De Leon - La Cantera - San Antonio










Jorge Martinez - Belden Village - Canton



Jordan Eback - Cranberry - Pittsburg



Mike Minch - Willowlake - Indianapolis



Maynor Hernandez - Deerfield (formerly Cincinnati)

Wish them all Luck and Proper Preperation!

Best of luck Gentlemen. We have Corporate Chefs from all around the country flying in to spend time with you, taste and Judge your dishes.

See you soon.

Matt


p.s. If you want to see the dishes up close; follow the flickr link.

PORKAPALOOZA 2008

Holy Grain Fed Heirloom Variety, Berkshire, Kurabota, Feedlot pork Batman!!!!!!!

Seriously; we all ate the following pork products............

Prosciutto
Bacon
Pork Chop (S)
Pork Shoulder
Sausage....And veal & beef and the winner was chicken but that doesn't play into the rant.


Serious eating. We had two guest judges for the event; Melissa McCrady -WTMJ-NBC Affiliate and Terry Love (Love After Dark) WLOB. Both Judges were brilliant and spot on on their observations and opinions.

There were some great great entries and in the end it was the Rookie Chip Feggert (from Evanston) almost taking the top spot!

.9 of a point separated first from third!!

John Leonard (Virgina Beach), was his regional winner and will compete for all the marbles in Columbus in the second week in May. His dish Orzotto stuffed Romano Chicken with Green Beans was a panel pleaser.

.4 of a point separated John from runner up Jason Capella (Jordan Creek). His dish Porchetta del Mio Muse - Braised Pork Shoulder was outstanding! Jason actually travelled to the corners of Iowa to find the particular breed of pork for his dish!!!!!

.5 back was Chef Fegert with his Fennel Roasted Pork Chop stuffed with prosciutto and fontina which one Judge described as "Floral and Liberated" (Gary)

Enjoy the pics and keep an eye out for updates before the finals in May.