The day after
Tuesday, January 23
Had another great day interning at Millennium restaurant! Started at 10 am and the prep chef Stephanie was there (very nice and a grad from our school) to direct me and give me interesting work to do all day, including work on the entree dish called the Seared Indian Spiced Potato Cake with chard-tofu-coconut saag, which is served with roasted pear and cauliflower and sweet onion-methi chutney, then prep on seared shitake mushrooms for the Vietnamese Rice Flour Crepe recipe, then roasted potatoes of three different colours (purple, pink, yellow... absolutely beautiful), and then the aji-amarillo cream sauce (made with almond cream and a delicous hot pepper salsa) that comes with the Chimichurri Grilled Portobello Mushrooms. I started the morning by making an extremely large pot of white vegetable stock (was about one third my body size) that took buckets and buckets of water to fill. It's one of the first things they do each morning. The other prep chef in the kitchen prepared the brown stock, again one of the first things they do each morning. So, I felt that I accomplished a lot during the day and could find my way around a lot better than the day before. What a difference a day makes.
In the afternoon, they had two other student interns in the kitchen. One person was 18 and half way through his Cordon Bleu School training in San Francisco. He said he's the only vegetarian in the school and is interested in opening an organic restaurant in his area (southern California). There was also another intern from the local culinary school who is in his last term. It was strange to have the student from Cordon Bleu be so young that every time he was asked to do anything or someone said anything his answer was always "cool". Also, although he had been in school since August, I was amazed that he had little knowledge of the common ingredients at the restaurant, i.e. he had never used ginger before, he had limited experience cutting vegetables such as red peppers, etc. I still think of myself as a beginner but after watching him I could definitely say that I felt far ahead in my cutting skills, general culinary knowledge, and confidence, so taking the Natural Gourmet course and wisdom from age must count for something. The other student was interested in working at a number of different restaurants in the area for experience. I was impressed that chef would take on students that had limited knowledge of the products that are used and junior skills, but I believe that is all part of his open approach and philosophy to the restaurant and allowing students of all kinds to train at his restaurant. Also, he has a number of events to encourage different kinds of people to come to the restaurant who would not normally not try a gourmet vegan restaurant such as bringing a meat eater for dinner and getting a discount on your dinner and he just gave a course on the weekend focusing on interesting Super Bowl Sunday treats. The restaurant also says that it promotes health and wellness for the body and soul through a number of different courses such as the Digestive Yoga Series, which is a monthly workshop with yoga instructors offering a class to specifically target digestive health followed by herbal tea and a light snack. The head chef and many of the restaurant staff take yoga classes, which is easy to do in the region, filled with yoga classes of all kinds everywhere. They also hold an inspiring speaker series co-hosted with Veg News Magazine, where an inspiring figure in the community is profiled, followed by a Q&A, and an informal mixer with appetizers and beverages.
The restaurant strives to have a positive impact on the community by providing philanthropic support to community organizations such as CHEFS (conquering homelessness through employment in food service) that gives under-privileged adults the education and training necessary to develop the skill-set needed to find employment within the food and beverage industry (www.ecs-sf.org/programs/chefs.html). In addition, the restaurant has a relationship with the District and Rooftop Garden project located a top of a YMCA in town, which provides a community sanctuary for growing produce, trees and flowers. Also, the restaurant is dedicated to organic food production, including sustainable agriculture, supporting small local farms, as well as composting and recycling. They cook with only the freshest, organically grown produce and the restaurant proudly states that it is free of genetically modified foods.
This is one of the may reasons I wanted to intern at Millennium. I am, and continue to be, impressed by their philosophy, involvement and outreach to the community, promotional efforts to bring in new audiences, and living what they preach.
After the shift, everyone encouraged me to do the customary thing, which is to sit at the beautiful and comfortable bar (very large and where most people eat dinners) and order 2-3 courses. I tried the lovely Cara Cara & Marinated Baby Artichokes salad with shaved fennel and radish, parsley-pine nut tabbouleh, parsley pesto, and dried lemon seasond crisp chickpeas, a new dish from Chef Eric and absolutely beautiful and complex in look and taste. Then, I had the Stuffed Truffled Yuba, stuffed with french lentil and barley pilaf, roasted chestnuts, black truffle butter, served with brandy-pink peppercorn cream, roasted chanterelle and exotic mushrooms, sauteed broccoli di Cicco with currants and pine nuts, and mushroom syrup. I was encouraged (well didn't take much) to have the complimentary wine or beer that the chef offers staff with their meals. How nice and civilized! I had dinner with my colleague Stephanie who was able to disect each dish to let me know what she had made or I had helped to make. It was interesting to see how all these different and separate elements and tastes come together into one dish and so beautifully. Back for more tomorrow...
Had another great day interning at Millennium restaurant! Started at 10 am and the prep chef Stephanie was there (very nice and a grad from our school) to direct me and give me interesting work to do all day, including work on the entree dish called the Seared Indian Spiced Potato Cake with chard-tofu-coconut saag, which is served with roasted pear and cauliflower and sweet onion-methi chutney, then prep on seared shitake mushrooms for the Vietnamese Rice Flour Crepe recipe, then roasted potatoes of three different colours (purple, pink, yellow... absolutely beautiful), and then the aji-amarillo cream sauce (made with almond cream and a delicous hot pepper salsa) that comes with the Chimichurri Grilled Portobello Mushrooms. I started the morning by making an extremely large pot of white vegetable stock (was about one third my body size) that took buckets and buckets of water to fill. It's one of the first things they do each morning. The other prep chef in the kitchen prepared the brown stock, again one of the first things they do each morning. So, I felt that I accomplished a lot during the day and could find my way around a lot better than the day before. What a difference a day makes.
In the afternoon, they had two other student interns in the kitchen. One person was 18 and half way through his Cordon Bleu School training in San Francisco. He said he's the only vegetarian in the school and is interested in opening an organic restaurant in his area (southern California). There was also another intern from the local culinary school who is in his last term. It was strange to have the student from Cordon Bleu be so young that every time he was asked to do anything or someone said anything his answer was always "cool". Also, although he had been in school since August, I was amazed that he had little knowledge of the common ingredients at the restaurant, i.e. he had never used ginger before, he had limited experience cutting vegetables such as red peppers, etc. I still think of myself as a beginner but after watching him I could definitely say that I felt far ahead in my cutting skills, general culinary knowledge, and confidence, so taking the Natural Gourmet course and wisdom from age must count for something. The other student was interested in working at a number of different restaurants in the area for experience. I was impressed that chef would take on students that had limited knowledge of the products that are used and junior skills, but I believe that is all part of his open approach and philosophy to the restaurant and allowing students of all kinds to train at his restaurant. Also, he has a number of events to encourage different kinds of people to come to the restaurant who would not normally not try a gourmet vegan restaurant such as bringing a meat eater for dinner and getting a discount on your dinner and he just gave a course on the weekend focusing on interesting Super Bowl Sunday treats. The restaurant also says that it promotes health and wellness for the body and soul through a number of different courses such as the Digestive Yoga Series, which is a monthly workshop with yoga instructors offering a class to specifically target digestive health followed by herbal tea and a light snack. The head chef and many of the restaurant staff take yoga classes, which is easy to do in the region, filled with yoga classes of all kinds everywhere. They also hold an inspiring speaker series co-hosted with Veg News Magazine, where an inspiring figure in the community is profiled, followed by a Q&A, and an informal mixer with appetizers and beverages.
The restaurant strives to have a positive impact on the community by providing philanthropic support to community organizations such as CHEFS (conquering homelessness through employment in food service) that gives under-privileged adults the education and training necessary to develop the skill-set needed to find employment within the food and beverage industry (www.ecs-sf.org/programs/chefs.html). In addition, the restaurant has a relationship with the District and Rooftop Garden project located a top of a YMCA in town, which provides a community sanctuary for growing produce, trees and flowers. Also, the restaurant is dedicated to organic food production, including sustainable agriculture, supporting small local farms, as well as composting and recycling. They cook with only the freshest, organically grown produce and the restaurant proudly states that it is free of genetically modified foods.
This is one of the may reasons I wanted to intern at Millennium. I am, and continue to be, impressed by their philosophy, involvement and outreach to the community, promotional efforts to bring in new audiences, and living what they preach.
After the shift, everyone encouraged me to do the customary thing, which is to sit at the beautiful and comfortable bar (very large and where most people eat dinners) and order 2-3 courses. I tried the lovely Cara Cara & Marinated Baby Artichokes salad with shaved fennel and radish, parsley-pine nut tabbouleh, parsley pesto, and dried lemon seasond crisp chickpeas, a new dish from Chef Eric and absolutely beautiful and complex in look and taste. Then, I had the Stuffed Truffled Yuba, stuffed with french lentil and barley pilaf, roasted chestnuts, black truffle butter, served with brandy-pink peppercorn cream, roasted chanterelle and exotic mushrooms, sauteed broccoli di Cicco with currants and pine nuts, and mushroom syrup. I was encouraged (well didn't take much) to have the complimentary wine or beer that the chef offers staff with their meals. How nice and civilized! I had dinner with my colleague Stephanie who was able to disect each dish to let me know what she had made or I had helped to make. It was interesting to see how all these different and separate elements and tastes come together into one dish and so beautifully. Back for more tomorrow...
posted by Caroline at 9:40 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home