Technically today was the last day of level 5. I know, insane- I can’t believe it is already almost over also. After weathering a heck of a snow storm all weekend, you can imagine how slow the restaurant was today and on top of that the holidays are officially over (sad- I know), so people are back to work. We only had around 11 covers today, so for the most part I was just gossiping with Carlos about who knows what and watching Chef Joe make butternut squash ravioli. No joke, every restaurant during the winter season has an abundance of butternut squash on their menu. I’m okay with that and I’m sure most of you are too. My roommate and I went to Union Square Café last night for dinner. We ordered the most incredible tortelli filled with butternut squash in a brown butter sauce and reduced balsamic glaze with dried cranberries. We couldn’t get enough because every bite was a different explosion of flavor. We even took bread and cleaned the plate completely. We figure we’d help the dishwasher out.
In total, I made two hanger steak dishes and Pandora made one short rib dish. We also baked the focaccia bread, but this time I didn’t eat half of it… not even close. It’s only the first day at every station for some reason, but then I get all the hungry cravings/ having to try every dish out of the way, so I am fine after the first day. Tomorrow we move to garde manger where we will be making the appetizers. Chef John who we had in level 4 during buffet will be moving to that station. He’s fabulous, so I am happy.
My-Tree came up with a brilliant sandwich of the day today. A sandwich made of goat cheese with thyme and dates wrapped in prosciutto- seared a little on the stove and then put in between two pieces of focaccia bread with arugla on top. It was so tasty—I was like wow My-Tree… I need to come to India for some more tips. She then told me, no I don’t and I believe her because I’ve been and had to live off naan bread (which happens to be incredible though). It was like having bacon wrapped dates, but getting the bonus addition of goat cheese.
Happy Monday!
Eliana