April 24th, 2009 Chef
You young bucks wont remember that sweet little old lady shouting ” Where’s the Beef”……..Well if she was at my back door she would be standing right next to me saying the same thing….WHERE’S THE BEEF?
I will leave names out of this blog….but when i was fabricating the steaks the other day in the back kitchen, I was shocked to see what I cut into …….I first thought my Chefs ordered the wrong speck of Rib-eye. I looked closer to the side of the box at the sticker and there it was….USDA Choice…( upper 2/3rds Choice is my speck) that means all my steaks are right on the border of being USDA PRIME. They should almost have the great marbling as Prime but half the cost. This is a great way to serve really good steaks to my guest and not have to charge an arm & leg for it..
Ya know, I never get a straight answer when I have a problems….Yes I fully understand that cattle don’t come from a punch press and they are growing ALIVE animals. I also fully understand that this picture of steaks…is no where close the USDA Choice or even near my Blue Canyon meat speck. This my friend is what SELECT looks like….
The problem is the restaurant biz has been slow for the whole nation…Cows don’t just stop growing…but we all did just stop ordering steaks and that hurt someones pocket big time.. And things can get passed for things they are not. I also was noticing that the Ribeys where coming in a lot larger then my speck and what I wanted….
Oh ya I also noticed that someone was putting larger Ribeyes in the box so they could tag on a couple extra pounds to my invoice… its simple math 1+1=2 and if you keep doing that, it will end up in the millions and now the the slow down period wont hurt as bad $$$$…..get it??? See what I am seeing……Now I dont want to think that people would really try to steal from others and maybe this was a simple mistake. 
I guess I cant blame them for trying…but they learned fast that we have high standards at the Blue Canyon and we do watch the back door very close. ( just ask anyone that sales to the Blue Canyon kitchen. I am sure they will tell you I am a ball of fun to deal with…lol
( I do want to say, that this wasn’t done by my company that delivers this product.)
I am heading up to Canada in a couple of days to learn about Canadian Grass-feed cattle…Stay tune..am sure I will have more info on this…( the competition is so quick to throw each other under the bus, sad but so true)
So to all my great Blue Canyon Steak lovers, no need to worry !! We take a lot of pride on serving great products and I wont allow this B.S to happen……. Boy, all this steak talk sure makes me want to go and order some of that Great first of the season Wild King Salmon we have tonight….yummmmmmmmmm
Chef Brandt… ( If you have kids dont forget to tell them that they are very important people)
Forgiveness does not change the past but it does enlarge the future.
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April 17th, 2009 Chef
This will be the new great thing on menus….BLACK GARLIC…I have been beating up my food vendors for the past three months to get this stuff to me. When it finally came, I know exactly what my 5yr old feels when she is running around the house looking for Easter eggs….I was Pumped!!!
As Jed would say thats BLACK GOLD, Its produced in Japan, China, Korea and California. The process now have machines that are all temperature controlled and all patented. Long long loooooooooooooong time ago this stuff was stored in caves, clay jars and other cool areas to let the fermenting process begin.
I am going to go Dr Brandt on you here…. It has ten times the antioxidants then regular garlic has ( Superoxide Dismutase, and important antioxidant) when allicina powerful antibiotic and anti-fungal compound naturally occurring in garlic is fermented it turns int S-allylcysteine, The body can process it easier. S-arylcysteine that raw garlic doesn’t have is produced and helps the fight against cancer,alzheimer’s disease inhibiting cholesterol, sclerosis and heart diseases.
The flavor reminds me of a balsamic, roasted garlic, molasses . It doesn’t have that strong in your face flavor that regular garlic has. I know this is going to sound weird,but it’s a very sexy garlic taste on your tongue….silky, smooth, deep mysterious flavours….hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…ohhhhhh…ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Sorry……anyways……. I am so pumped to add this to my arsenal of weapons in my cooler and have this to battle with. I love being able to find things like this and sharing it with my employees and guest.
When I first used it, It was very simple but a flavorful pasta dish. I simply sauteed the great flavors of the Del Cabo heirloom tomatoes, breakfast radishes, shallots,mixed olives, Greek olive oil and BLACK GARLIC… I swear it sang like a Baptist church choir on a Sunday afternoon….loud and proud……This hugged my tongue and wouldn’t let go. It was making love to your taste buds in full force…
I think you all can guess what am going to have tonight for dinner… YUP>>>my wife’s Tuna noodle casserole!!!! I cant wait… Come on, I see and eat this great stuff all the time….I like going home and eating the good stuff..plus I had this Black Garlic Pasta for lunch……….
Cheers,
Chef Brandt
Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely (New Summer menu release date 4/20/09)
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April 7th, 2009 Chef
Asian Chicken Wraps
Yields 4
Ingredients
16 Bibb leaf lettuce
2# shredded left over roasted chicken
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoon sweet soy
1tablespoon minced pickled ginger
1 tablespoon Thai Chili Sauce
2 bunches of Scallions
2 Cucumber
1 diakon radish
1 large carrot
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Method
Shred carrot, diakon, cucumber on a mandoline place in a bowl, add ingredients and toss set aside for 15 minutes to soften. Place on bibb lettuce wraps and serve.
** What a great Demo!!! I have to start off by saying sorry if hit any of you ladies in the face with an egg…( you had to be at the demo to understand) and for those in the back row, Great hands!!
I want to thank everyone that came out to the demo and hope everyone walked away learning something new and wanting to try something new in your kitchen. I hope to see everyone at Blue Canyon soon….The Patio will be opening up soon….ya I know its snowing out right now!~! -
Cheers,
Brandt
You can do anything in the world…………..but not Everything!!!!!
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April 5th, 2009 Chef
I -we have been in a rebuilding period in the kitchen of the Blue Canyon. It’s always hard to start over with an employees after you put so much time and effort in to them…….how to explain it….you go threw Break phases…MAD-SAD-REGRET-REBUILDING….
There are things that the public doesn’t really get nor understand(Chefs haters…that’s you too out there) WE are Blue Canyon…(Ohio)We do large numbers every day every week……..the BC Train doesn’t stop for nobody, if you want to get off ,you have to jump and be ready to drop a roll…….. I have a free pass rail for anyone who wants to ride with me anyday any week…….You will work……….I MEAN WORK, not sit around and watch. (My Chef had one of those mileage clickers one day that to see how far he walks, he clocked in 10 miles!!) those guys work their tails off.
We still make 90% of our stuff from strach, I am very proud of that, it cuase heart burn some days also……..
I have some new BC seals in the kitchen…..and boy am i happy with this last group, the fire in there eye’s are inspirational, they are hungry, they are pissed! they want to cook!!!! It reminds me of two brothers that I worked with back in day…and they are now the Executive Chefs of the BLue Canyons in other States…
I had some great customers that would come see me at Kostas back when i was young on fire!! skinny did i mention on fire….lol and i don’t mean in the kitchen. But They told me last night how excited they where with their meals and how great the food was.. just like the old days….I had three newbies on the line….don’t get me wrong I have had my generals and tank comanders running up the beach taking the hill all night. We ran 25 minute tickets times when 165 people hit us all at once. ( we try to stay around 14 minutes) we ended up doing 570 for the night
but over all We took the hill and won the battle!!
Great Job Everyone Last Night…..now get back to work…we have 300 on for brunch 250 for Dinner…..900 screaming down the track at us for Easter………All AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Board!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I look forward to working with you everyday, i welcome the newness and welcome the new culinary branches to be developed and grown on my tree.
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