# The Restaurant you work in...



## cheftorrie (Jun 23, 2006)

I just thought it would be interesting if you guys can post your Kitchens best entree's, appetizers, desserts, etc. They can be a house specialty, or maybe just a few of your favorite items on the menu!

Post away!


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## cheftorrie (Jun 23, 2006)

WOW, guess I suck at starting threads!


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## ras1187 (Oct 3, 2006)

Smoked gouda quesadillas with montreal seasoned chicken, artichoke hearts, and bacon. Served with a caramalized leek sour cream

Smoked salmon, caper, caperberry, red onion, chive, and extra-virgin olive oil "bruchetta". Served on crostini.

NY Strip dusted in powdered porcini mushrooms, served with a warm arugula, spinach, vidalia onion, and bleu cheese salad.


Of course we have things like burgers, wings, and other typical "diner & pub" food on the menu, but I wanna list some of the more stand-out items.


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## cheftorrie (Jun 23, 2006)

Sounds awesome, especially the smoked salmon.

Since I started the thread, I will tell you some of my kitchens specialties...

Chicken Oscar - with fresh crab meat, asparagus, and fresh Hollandaise, served over red skinned mashed and veg of the day.

Cranberry Crusted Chicken- over red skinned mash or pistachio rice pilaf, veg of the day, with a lemon caper sauce. 

Sesame Salmon - With vegetable couscous and a wasabi-soy drizzle. 

Southern Special - 3 Meat Meatloaf, Veal, Lamb, and Beef. In a wild mushroom sauce with red skinned mash.

Esgargot and Wild Mushrooms in a brandy cream sauce.

We also have a wood fired grill that cooks up, 7 oz mignon, 10 oz mignon, 10 and 14 oz ny strips, ribeyes, tuna, shrimp, swordfish, scallops, mahi mahi, and an ever changing fish of the day.

What you guys think. This is not the entire menu, just our most popular.


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## salliem (Nov 3, 2006)

I work for a sports bar/restaurant, our "signature" dish is a crunchy grouper sandwich~ grouper is coated with crushed corn flakes, almonds = our best seller.

A lump crab sandwich with remoulade sauce


All the typical fare that you find in such a place, but everything is made fresh daily including our hamburger rolls, soups, etc.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

In my working days my best sellers were

Smoked salmon and goat cheese quesadilla

Scallops with orange butter and shallot jam

Lamb "ribeye" in various forms

Lobster wontons w/ nage

Carpetbagger steak  (Imagine that)

Giant fried pork chop with creamy hamhock gravy (pounded out twice as big as your plate)

Lump crab and avocado salad


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

That makes my mouth water :bounce:


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## psycho chef (Feb 1, 2007)

Our most popular item is undoubtedly duck l'orange, followed by Dover sole meuniere, colorado rack of lamb with dijon breadcrumb crust and sea scallops with lobster veloute. Dessert favorite is floating islands. We sell about 60/40 our menu items/specials because we do a lot of daily's. Here's Saturdays specials:

Amuse: Brandade d'morue puff pastry, tomato coulis
Soups: Gazpacho, Roasted pepper and crab bisque
Kummamoto Oysters
Tuna tartare with green apples and corn relish
Frisee and Lardons with poached egg and black truffle viniagrette
Grilled lamb chop with fresh papardelle, roasted yellow tomato and green olive sauce.
Lobster L'Americanne
Whole roasted bronzino with sauce l'estragon
Butterflied rainbow trout with champagne grapes and champagne sauce
Bone in escalope of veal, roasted pepper, shallots, white wine and shaved reggiano
Hudson Valley Poussin, rustic egg stuffing and foie gras nage

That's actually not that bad. On the weekends I try to keep it simple. During the week our kitchen is like a science lab sometimes...Most of our competition is high end northern Italian so you may notice we lean that way sometimes. I managed a pic of the Tuna tartare, Lobster L'Americanne and Frisee salad but other than that I was slammed. There is an older pic of the trout which I have been running all summer(It's a food cost dream at $28). Most of you know how much that piece of trout cost me....(insert maniacal laughter here)

Keep those fires burnin
Chef Brian


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## salliem (Nov 3, 2006)

The cranberry crusted chicken sounds wonderful.


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## cheftorrie (Jun 23, 2006)

It is awesome, I love it myself, AND it is the biggest seller on our menu besides steaks...


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## cheftorrie (Jun 23, 2006)

Yes, and its my own brandy cream sauce, and the escargot is FRESH.

It is actually listed as an appetizer on our menu, but if the customer wants, we will up the portion, (and price) and serve for dinner.


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## thetincook (Jun 14, 2002)

Wow, fresh escargot! I am impressed. Maybe I can get you to start a thread about the snails...

My favorite dish was this composed beet salad at an old job.

Mache
Fresh chirve.
1/2 slices of roasted yellow beet
Braised baby beets (red, gold, and candy striped)

This was placed on a little bed of a red beet puree (roasted red beets pureed while still warm with brown butter and some balsalmic vinegar. It was so fricking good!)

The plate was finished off with a drizzle of beet gastrique (reduced red beet juice. You need to simmer slowly and skim the foam or it gets bitter)

We used square frosted glass plates, it looked drop dead gorgeous.


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## cheftorrie (Jun 23, 2006)

Sounds awesome tincook, the colors of all of the beets on the plate must be amazing!


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## thetincook (Jun 14, 2002)

That they were. I was hoping for more the candystripes but they always seemed muted in comparison.

The same chef had this baby vegetables in escebeche salad that was served on a bed of cauliflower puree. The pickled veg was tossed with some shaved carrots in a vinegrette made with reduced sherry. We garnished with fired parsley leaves (What a PITA. Each individual leaf had to be flat)


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

Where are you from? I remember retrieving fresh snails of the mustard tops in Burgundy.


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## cheftorrie (Jun 23, 2006)

I am from Southington, Connecticut. TONS of snails come from Niantic Connecticut. Many of the ones that you buy anywhere.


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## andyg (Aug 27, 2007)

Torrie, you owe us all pics of yours. I don't have pics at the moment, but my kitchen smells of very good food right now


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## cheftorrie (Jun 23, 2006)

You got it. Tomorrow I will try to take some pics of the dishes!


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

latest menu for a casual wedding reception....

Cheese Table:
Manchengo
Cheddar
Brie with cranberry tangerine goo
housemade lavosh, crackers, grapes, nuts, other crackers

Veg Table
heirloom tomato platter, buttermilk herb and vinagrette
roasted veg with evo herbs


Pork table
Heirloom pig, pulled and sliced
coarse grain mustard, chutney, onions
rolls

Shrimp Remoulade Table
with melba toast

Wedding Cake

Budget wedding for a white linen chef friend that just quit his restaurant.....no job lined up, but as he's one of the best in town that will not be an issue. It was interesting working out the menu with him.

So, that is fairly typical....local good quality food cooked fairly straight forward......
Though I love twisting too...ie shrimp creole arincini or sweet potato crepes with orange cream filling and bourbon praline pecan sauce.

Most wednesday dinners (farmers/cheese makers/chefs/chocolaters/foragers) are out in my back yard and are usually monstrous seafood salads with local sunflower sprouts, tomato salads, last week was southern smothered okra with lardons, cheesy biscuits.....watermelon, pesto.....straight forward usually big flavored food.


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## cheftorrie (Jun 23, 2006)

Shroomgirl, what kind of chutney did you serve with the pork?
Sorry to bother, just curious.


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

not decided....could be apricot/orange with mustard seeds,onions, garlic chili flakes, cider vinager, brown sugar.....dried or/& fresh apricots

Apples....same rift

Not done grapes but think concord would work too..... 

I'm not crazy about pear chutney.....in spring it's rhubarb, YUMMMMM YUMMMM......


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## cheftorrie (Jun 23, 2006)

Permission to try your dish out as a special one night next week at my restaurant?
Sounds like it would be awesome!


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## thetincook (Jun 14, 2002)

If you're serving manchego you've got to serve quince or gauva paste (membrillo) alongside. I think it's a Spanish law. It's a tasty and classic combo, and the red of the membrillo looks stunning with the white of the cheese.


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## psycho chef (Feb 1, 2007)

Sid Wainer's quince paste is to die for...and yes I believe it's a law in Spain...lol


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

yes I have 3# left of the 6.6# tub....1/2 wheel of 3 mo manchengo (actually prefer the older but this is what I've got....marcona almonds, some great dried figs.....last week had tons of fresh figs, champagne grapes and some tiny thompson grapes (first time I've seen them so little) that went with the housemade lavosh, wheat biscuits and very very expensive raisin, rosemary, nut thins from Whole Foods that I've not figured out how to make yet. 
And the wheel of D'Affinoise.....

I sell alot of cheese tables, guess it's easy to sell what you love.


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## cheftorrie (Jun 23, 2006)

Sounds awesome shroomgirl. Let me know if you need any help with ideas or a menu plan.


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## andyg (Aug 27, 2007)

Sometimes I regret visiting a thread because my mouth is watering for what was mentioned and there is no way for me to get it at the moment.


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

cheftorrie.....thanks!! there is a thread with specs for a women's halloween "heavy cocktail food" event....with Dracula as the theme.....the ideas are just not fully flowing yet.....but if you'd enjoy the exercise I'd love the help....(should be on that thread though) don't wanna hijack this one.

on the chutneys don't cook the fruit too much, I like some tooth to the fresh fruit.
saute onions, garlic, mustard seeds, add vinegar (prefer apple cider vinager in most cases) brown sugar, chili flakes....fruit....salt.... oj concentrate with apricots works very well. Heirloom dbl cut pork chop....life is good!!!!
I've got a pork supplier that raises phenominal pig, oh man this shtuff has got a outer layer of fat, marbling, flaver and is so tender....I buy 1/2's and wholes and break them down myself. really really good prices.
Last Oct I had a heirloom pork tasting with 7 varieties, most heirloom pigs...ossabow, red whattle, berkshire, tammworth, mutt mixes that are great, duroqs, ......next to a Sam's pork loin....you know it's night and day, but when you are tasting them side by side it's trully unreal the difference of varieties, what their fed......etc.....good pig is a beautiful thing!


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## cheftorrie (Jun 23, 2006)

No problem shroomgirl.
Thank for letting me know how to make it, but would you mind if I used it in my restaurant for a special one night this week?


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

don't mind thanks for asking.....enjoy!


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## cheftorrie (Jun 23, 2006)

Thank You! 
And I will always ask first!
I will let you know how it sells!


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## coregonus (Aug 10, 2007)

Is it far from Mohegan? Would enjoy visiting..

P.S. That was such good thread idea. Too bad we should start it over :bounce:


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## cheftorrie (Jun 23, 2006)

about 45 from Mohegan.


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## chef bacchus (Sep 9, 2007)

* Chioggia Beet Salad *

Oven roasted beets, frissee salad, tarragon vin
Humbolt Fog goat, beet emulsion

Chicory Salad 
Organic Marin chicories, shallot confit vin,
Point Reyes Blue, pomegranate seeds

Caesar
Happy Boy Farms baby romaine, house made
Caesar dressing, garlic crouton, parmesan
 boquerones

Dungeness Crab Cake
Frissee salad, shaved icicle radish, epazote vin,
Meyer lemon essence, blood orange emulsion 

Prince Edward Island Mussels
Coconut curry broth, cilantro, ginger, ****** lime
garlic crostini

"Kobe" style sliders 
Toasted brioche, horseradish cream, pickled veg
pomme frites

Ahi Tuna Carpaccio
Sashimi grade ahi carpaccio, fried caper, frissee,
Watermelon radish, extra virgin oil, sea salt


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

YUMMMMM.....

SO Bacchus, what is a parmesan
boquerones? 
Interesting to see epazote vin on the crab cake......just don't see it too much, and usually in Mexican beans.


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## thetincook (Jun 14, 2002)

It's just boquerones. 

They're sort of like anchovies. Really plump things too.


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## chef bacchus (Sep 9, 2007)

It's a typo...lol...parmesan, boquerones aka spanish white anchovies.


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