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Thanks,

Nemo & Jenny

Wow,  we've been terrible with the blog.  The good news is that we are very, very close to signing a deal for the restaurant.  We should be closing the deal within 10 days, and are shooting for an opening date of no later than March 1st (but preferably February 20th or so).  Also, since we can't seem to get it together with the blog we've decided to go with a facebook page for the restaurant for now.  Once we sign all the paperwork we'll get a page up and running and hopefully we'll be more consistent with updates.  Thanks for following along thus far.

Cheers,

Nemo & Jenny (& Omen) 

Hey All,

Sorry we've been absent for so long.  We're still basking in the new baby glow and trying to enjoy the time while we can.  As far as the restaurant is concerned, the hunt continues.  We decided after months of failed talks to ditch the space that we were originally interested in.  Oh well.  It was actually refreshing to move on and take another look around.  There are some interesting and somewhat promising new leads out there that we're exploring.  We are going to take a second look at two spaces in particular this week.  Wish us luck.  We will make every attempt at being more diligent with the updates to the blog.  As mentioned before, it is somewhat difficult to write about the process until we actually find  a space and sign on the dotted line.  However, we will put some recipes on the blog soon and we'll also be adding some more photo's of things that have inspired our vision for the restaurant.  Until next time...

Cheers,

Nemo and Jenny

Wow, what an amazing and intense day.  We had a boy, Omen Thunder Bolin, after 19 hours of labor.  7 pounds 10 ounces, 20 inches.  We're in love.  A truly profound experience.

Nemo and Jenny

Current Reading

I wanted to post something that I read recently and thought was very interesting:  

"Culinary snobbery used to stress expense and show.... Now it's moved toward ingenuity and surprise-and incidentally, toward cheaper cuts and neglected fish. In the present gastronomic furor, restaurant chefs the world over are reaching in all directions for novelty-often with good results. We are not thinking in the same stiff categories that we used to. Meat can be a seasoning, not a prime ingredient. A main dish of grains, or a robust combination of vegetables, sufficiently anchors a meal. More and more we're composing menus by instinct rather than by rule."  

I think that this truly captures the food world at the present moment in both the restaurant world and in home kitchens. The amazing thing about the quote is that it comes from James Beard circa. 1981 in his wonderful book "The New James Beard". This is a book that I have picked up dozens of times but it really struck me this time through. Obviously this goes to show how brilliant James Beard was but also how much the food world, and world in general, lives in a constant state of cycling back on itself. As they say "The more things change...."

Website Home Page

The home page for the website is officially up!  Check it out at www.cookandbrown.com.  We're keeping it simple for the moment but will be working behind the scenes to put the rest of the sight together.  For the time being you can still check out the blog for all updates on the restaurant and anything else going on in our lives.  Still no baby, but it should be any day now.

Cheers,

Nemo and Jenny

Trip to NYC, Catering and Some Restaurant Info

I took a great trip down to NYC for some restaurant research and staff meetings this past week.  Quite a whirlwind of activity as I only had about 36 hours in the city but got quite a lot done.  I met with a good friend of mine, Adam,  who was in town from the Bay Area and is officially on board as the sous chef for the restaurant.  He has spent the last 2+ years working at Oliveto, a great restaurant in Oakland with impeccably sourced ingredients.  We're really psyched to have him on our team at Cook & Brown.  We spent the first night trekking all over Manhattan and stopped at Resto for a chicory salad with poached egg and crispy pig's ear, moules frites with saffron and chorizo and a couple Belgian beers.  We also sat at the bar at Balthazar and had some drinks and finally ended the night at Fatty Crab for some Malaysian food (great as usual).  Pork belly and watermelon salad, assorted pickles, charred squid salad, chicken wings, kang kong belacan (really spicy chinese water spinach) as well some nice wine (gewurztraminer and scheurebe).  In the morning we enjoyed some bagels and smoked fish (lox, whitefish and sturgeon) from Zabar's and once again hit the streets.  Perused through cookbooks at Kitchen Arts & Letters, checked out some fish markets in Chinatown and went to a bunch of restaurant supply stores in the Bowery.  I also picked up some fantastic wines at a great little Italian wine boutique on Clinton St. called De-Vino.  Awesome selection of small producer, esoteric Italian wines.  In the evening I met up with my aunt and we went to a gorgeous Japanese restaurant called EN and had a spectacular tasting menu paired with craft sake and shochu (Japanese distilled liquor similar to high quality Gin or Vodka).  I ended the trip with a visit to the Union Square Greenmarket to pick up supplies for an intimate catered event the next evening.  The market was really great, full of berries, summer squash, herbs, greens, a wide variety of alliums and some small early season tomatoes.

The party could not have gone better (well maybe 5 degrees warmer would have been nice) but the sun was out and the grill was hot.  Here's the menu:

Shrimp Ceviche with Fresh Corn Cakes

Cilantro, Champagne Mango, Aji Amarillo

~ Drusian Rose “Mari” NV ~

Vietnamese Summer Rolls

Charred Pork, Pickled Vegetables, Herb Salad

~ Bruno De Conciliis “Selim” Brut NV ~

Steamed Cape Littlenecks with Grilled Bread & Rouille

Smokey Bacon, Rainbow Chard, Purslane

~ Campi Flegrei Falanghina 2007 ~

A Study of Grilled Prime Steaks

Ratatouille Gratinee, Salsa Verde, Blue Cheese Butter

~ Bruno De Conciliis “Donnaluna” Aglianico 2005 ~

Strawberry Granita

Red Wine Syrup, Black Pepper, Crème Fraiche

In addition to the menu we offered fresh watermelon and meyer lemon-ade as an apertif as well as sour cherry preserves (from my mom's sour cherry tree) and whipped lemon curd with some small shortcakes to take home for breakfast in the morning.  Guests got to sit out on the patio and enjoy a nice summer evening on the Cape.  The party was an interactive dinner/cooking class set up in the style of a cooking show.  As we cooked they got to watch and ask questions as each new menu item was prepared.  Along with Jenny (who is 9 months pregnant, I have to add), my good friend and bread maestro Vance helped with all of the cooking  (he also provided fresh bread for the party, delicious).

Onto a little restaurant info.  We seem to really be moving forward at this point.  We've handed in credit information and should be giving some investor info next week.  After that I think we'll begin sit down meetings and hopefully get down to business.  Until next time, Cheers!

Nemo