Blue Duck Tavern Blog

A Day at the Farms!

Yesterday, Chefs Sebastien Archambault & John Melfi organized a trip for the restaurant's culinary team to visit 2 of our suppliers in PA - Pipe Dreams and Earth N' Eats.  Embracing Hyatt's new philosophy, "Food. Thoughtfully Sourced. Carefully Served.", the team enjoyed meeting with the producers, personally touring their farms to see where our ingredients come from, how cheese is made, goats are milked, lettuce is grown, and chickens are raised to produce eggs. 

Enjoy our photos from the farms!

Chefs John Melfi & Sebastien Archambault with Brad Parker of Pipe Dreams Fromage. For almost 20 years, Brad has been making goat cheese using traditional methods he learned in France on his 16-acre farm in Greencastle, Pennsylvania.

We took a walk with the goats around the farm.

Chef Sebastien makes a new friend.

Brad teaches us how to make fresh goat cheese with rennet.

Milking the goat.

Next, the group drove several miles down the road to Earth N' Eats, an Amish food co-op in Waynesboro, PA. We spent a few hours touring the farm with father & son owners and operators, Samuel & Josiah Martin.

Tomatoes grown on the vine

Chef John picking cucumbers with Josiah.

Fresh basil

We also source our eggs from Earth N' Eats.  

Wine Tasting in Charlottesville!

This past Monday, BDT General Manager Lucas Moncho, along with Food & Beverage Director German Broggi and Public Relations Director Renee Sharrow, attended the Central Virginia Winery Tour with Virginia First Lady Maureen McDonnell and Secretary of Agriculture Todd Haymore.  As a huge proponent of the Virginia wine industry, First Lady McDonnell has incorporated her support of the industry into her FLITE plan (First Lady Initiatives Team Effort).  The tour was open to all Virginia Wine Trade partners, providing them with an opportunity to experience the vineyards and of course, sample the wines! 

The tour started at Pollak Vineyards, followed by lunch at Palladio at Barboursville Vineyards and concluded at Keswick Vineyards.  Thank you to wine makers Jake Busching, Luca Paschina and Stephen Barnard, respectively, as well as Annette Boyd, Amy Ciarametaro and Mary Catherine Searson with the Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office.  Such a lovely day and unique experience.  

First Lady Maureen McDonnell, Winemaker Jake Busching & Sec of Agriculture Todd Haymore

Pollak Vineyard's Gravity Room

Barboursville Vineyards

Barboursville winemaker Luca Paschina

Keswick Estate

Wine tasting under Keswick's beautiful tent

A Taste of Park Hyatt

Recently, I had the pleasure of traveling to Tokyo, Japan to participate in A TASTE of PARK HYATT, a private reception hosted by Rakesh Sarna, COO, International Operations and Chuck Floyd, COO, North American Operations, Hyatt Hotels Corporation and the General Managers of Park Hyatt Hotels. 

The event was held on September 9 at Park Hyatt Tokyo's New York Grill. Those in attendance were treated to culinary delights prepared by my Park Hyatt colleagues Jack Aw Yong (Executive Chef, Park Hyatt Beijing), Fadi Kalkosh (Pastry Chef, Park Hyatt Dubai), Filippo Gozzoli (Executive Chef, Park Hyatt Milan), Jean-Francois Rouquette (Executive Chef, Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome), Ho Cong Quyet (Sous Chef, Park Hyatt Saigon), Gerhard Passrugger (Executive Chef, Park Hyatt Shanghai), Jean-Marc Nolant (Sommelier, Park Hyatt Shanghai), Andrew McKee (Executive Chef, Park Hyatt Sydney), Nadine Waechter Moreno (Executive Chef, Park Hyatt Tokyo), Kenichiro Ooe (Chef de Cuisine, Kozue at Park Hyatt Tokyo), Tadayuki Kawuchi (Pastry Chef, Park Hyatt Tokyo), and Stefan Resch (Chef de Cuisine, Park Hyatt Zurich). 

For the dinner, being the only US chef present, I wanted to showcase the country's best comfort foods, including Braised Short Ribs, Jumbo Lumb Crab Cakes, and Lobster Mac and Cheese.  The Lobster Mac and Cheese is a great dish for entertaining or hosting a party. Below is my recipe which is very simple to prepare at home. 

Lobster Mac and Cheese 

Ingredients

120 ml Blond Roux

.95 l heavy cream

3.8 l whole milk

150 g shallot confit, chopped

150 g garlic confit

30 ml Tabasco or hot sauce

4 g cayenne pepper

salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

5.5 l Gruyere cheese, grated

2 l Sharp Cheddar, grated

1.8 k orrechette pasta, dry, cooked and refreshed

.5 l creme fraiche

1.4 k duck confit, shredded

2.8 k lobster meat, cooked, diced

fresh breadcrumbs

chives, chopped

Method

Bring milk and cream to a simmer.  Temper in the Roux, thicken.  Add shallots, garlic, Tabasco and cayenne.  Remove from heat and melt in cheeses. Pour over pasta shells and mix. Add duck and lobster. Fold in creme fraiche.  Adjust salt and pepper. Butter inside of ramekins lightly.  Place pasta mixture in ramekins and refrigerate. Before baking to order, sprinkle with breadcrumb chive mixture and drizzle with clarified butter. 

Here a few images taken from A TASTE of PARK HYATT. Enjoy! 

Blue Duck Tavern Travels to Korea

Next month, chef de cuisine, Michael Santoro, will travel to Korea to share the tastes and flavors of Blue Duck Tavern with our friends at Park Hyatt Seoul.  From October 14 to 24, Michael will serve as a guest
chef at Park Hyatt Seoul's main restaurant, Cornerstone.

Michael's farm-fresh, American cuisine will be presented through a series of events, including a la carte menus, special lunch and dinner set menus offering a fine dining experience, weekend brunch, and a cooking class presenting step-by-step recipe secrets of several signature dishes.  

The wide selection of menu items include starters such as Foie Gras Candy Bar and Crumble of Clams with Apple and Lemon Emulsion; main entrees of Parmesan Tortellini with Potato Veloute, Toasted King Prawns with Roulade of Chicken Thigh and Braised Wagyu Beef; and Apple Tart Tatin with Cinnamon Ice Cream and Spanish French Toast with Goat Milk Ice Cream for dessert. 

For additional information, visit #. 

First Lady of VA Wine Tour

On Tuesday, we had the pleasure of attending a Northern Virginia winery tour, hosted by First Lady Maureen McDonnell, Secretary of Agriculture & Forestry and the Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office. The tour highlighted several exciting Virginia wines, while promoting Virginia's incredible wine country.  First Lady Maureen McDonnell is a huge proponent of the Virginia wine industry and has tied her support into her First Lady initiatives plan.

One our of current initiatives at Blue Duck Tavern is to increase the number of local wines on our growing wine list and to also incorporate these products into our next Masters of Food & Wine event, to be held in early summer 2011.

The tour started at Pearmund Cellars where we learned the history of not only Pearmund, but also of Virginia's Wine Country, by owner Chris Pearmund.  Did you know Virginia wines are a popular sell in London? After a brief tour of the vineyard and geothermal winery, we moved on to the tasting, which included 2009 Riesling, 2009 Cabernet Franc, 2009 Late Harvest Petit Manseng, 2009 Petit Manseng (the largest producer in the US) and 2007 Ameritage.

We next visited Rappahannock Cellars in Huntly, VA, owned by the Delmare family. John Delmare, a father of 12, left his family vineyard in California to start Rappahannock in 1998, providing his family with a better farm life and the opportunity to help run the vineyard.  It is truly a family owned and operated business.  For this wine tasting, Tom Kelly, Vineyard Manager, led on a journey of whites and reds, including 2009 Viognier, 2008 Chardonnay, 2008 Noblesse Viognier, 2007 Meritage (their best seller), a new release of 2008 Vidal Blanc and 2007 Port Styled Red Dessert Wine, aged for 18 months.

Lastly, we visited Philip Carter Winery, awarded "Favorite Virginia Winery of 2010 & 2009". The Carter family carries a 250 year legacy as producers of the first internationally recognized wines in America. Located in Hume, VA, the winery is situated on 27 acres of rolling hills and gorgeous vineyards in the heart of Fauquier County. At Philip Carter, we had the pleasure of sampling 2009 Chardonnay, 2008 Governor Fauquier, a white wine with highly acidic notes and a nutty ending, 2009 Cabernet Franc (not even released yet), 2006 Meritage, their oldest vintage, 2008 Cleve and 2008 Late Harvest Vidal. 

What an incredible experience it was for us to visit these incredible wineries and to meet such lovely people. We look forward to working with these wineries and many more at Blue Duck Tavern and for next year's Masters of Food & Wine.  

  

 

Masters of Food & Wine

Next week I leave for Paris to participate in the first Paris-based Park Hyatt Masters of Food & Wine event, September 21 - 25.  I was invited by Executive Chef Jean-Francois Rouquette of Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome's Michelin-starred Pur' restaurant to work alongside Jean Sulpice, executive chef of L'Oxalys, a one-Michelin star restaurant in Val Thorens, France, and the up-and-coming Benjamin Toursel of L'Auberge du Prieure in Moirax, France.

The festival begins with a welcome reception at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome, where guests will have the opportunity to meet the six participating chefs, including myself, followed by a series of exclusive dinners over the next four nights. In addition to the dinner, the hotel will also host a cultural program, Discovery of Paris, which includes cocktail classes, a trip to Billecart-Salmon Champagne House and a tour of the Boucheron factory.

Au revoir!

Viva Las Vegas!

Recently I traveled to the Bellagio Hotel in fabulous Las Vegas to participate in the Park Hyatt Culinary Experience, a dinner for sixty of Park Hyatt Hotels' best customers. Fernando Beteta, Master Sommelier of NoMi Restaurant at Park Hyatt Chicago, joined me for the event, and put his personal spin on the wines and pairings.

Fernando and I gave the attendees a touch of the Blue Duck, while dining at Tuscany Kitchen, a restaurant at the Bellagio.  Similar to Blue Duck, Tuscany houses an open kitchen, giving all who attended a great view of each dish as it was prepared.  The dinner was interactive as we shared our cooking techniques and why we use sustainable farming and farmers markets to purchase our ingredients.

Some items from the evening's menu included Pressed Chapel Hill Farm Veal Breast with a Summer Tomato Tart, Elysian Fields Lamb Loin with Humboldt Fog Cheese and Potato Gratin and Maine Lobster Salad with Yellow Beets, Pole Beans and Carrott Broth Vinaigrette.

  

 

Mushroom Hunt

Every Spring when the wild trillium start to bloom in the Blue Ridge Mountains, nature's most elusive wild mushroom, the morel, begins to come up!  So finally, with a few hours to spare last week, I made the two-hour journey from Alexandria, VA to spend a day in the woods looking for these tasty morsels. 

It's such a neat experience because each year is different from the year before, as you never know what will be found!  Below are some photos from Old Rag Mountain.

 

Shown here is the source of a mountain spring which flows right out of the rocks. The watercress growing here is some of the sweetest I've ever found. (I filled my bags before leaving!!)

Stepping across the creek, not five yards into the wilderness, I looked down to see the scene before you. It was a bit difficult to spot this mushroom - in fact, I saw two!

Needless to say, finding two at the start of my hunt was very encouraging. Sadly though, these turned out to be the only two of the day. But hey, spending the day in nature and finding at least one mushroom is a day well spent! The cress made an amazing salad.

My Trip to Argentina

As you know, I recently spent 9 days at Duhau, one of the restaurants at Park Hyatt Buenos Aires.  I worked closely with the culinary team, focusing on organic ingredients and presenting new items, similar to the family-style of Blue Duck Tavern. Grass-fed beef products were truly amazing as well as their local produce.

A special nod to the restaurant's waitstaff, managers and culinary team whose professionalism and focus truly made the whole trip a success.  Below are a few pictures from my visit.  I'm already to go back!

 

culinary team

 

breads from the organic market

 

hotel/restaurant terrace

 

market

Destination: Buenos Aires

Tomorrow I depart for Argentina, participating in a guest chef series at El Palacio Duhau, Park Hyatt Buenos Aires.  From March 14 to March 21, I will be preparing organic, farm-to-table dishes, similar to those found at Blue Duck, in the kitchen of Duhau Restaurant & Vinoteca. Duhau is the hotel's signature restaurant, offering international cuisine with an emphasis on seasonal and fresh products, similar to the concept we have Blue Duck. 

Throughout the trip I will be posting about my experiences in and out of the kitchen and perhaps share a few great Argentine wines that I am tasting!

Chau, suerte!