Blog
Chef Series with Alon Shaya | October 25 2011
From left to right: Alon Shaya, Henry
1. What memorable experiences from Italy do you try to capture at Domenica?
I hope that when people leave Domenica they have the same feelings I felt after some of my great meals in Italy. I fell in love with the food in Italy because of how many layers there are in each dish. I'm not talking about flavors, I'm talking about the history of the dish, the meaning behind its name, and region it comes from, and the family tradition of learning how to cook it from you mother, father or grandparents. That is how food there ends up on a plate. Each time I would go out to eat, I would try to ask those questions and research the dish before I ordered it. It would spark something more than just hunger inside of me. I vividly remember thinking to myself "this is unlike anything I have ever had. I would have never paired these ingredients together, but its amazing. There is such a rich history and tradition that goes along with their cooking, and food is just as much a part of life than it is nourishment. If I can bring people to that little trattoria I fell in love with in the countryside of Parma, even with just a taste of something, I feel like I have achieved my goal.
2. I've read that your mother and grandmother are a great inspiration to your cooking. What is it about them that has inspired you?
My family immigrated from Israel when I was four. We would spend lots of time cooking the Israeli and Bulgarian foods that my mother and grandmother would cook in Israel. I think it gave them a sense of normalcy and comfort in a foreign land. So through the years we could keep it up and it became our family bonding time. I can remember coming home from elementary school and smelling my grandmother roasting bell peppers on our gas range. I still think of her today every time we roast peppers on our grill. She taught me how to cook and it became my favorite thing to do. I did my first cooking demo in 3rd grade. I made borekas (they are puffed pastry turn over stuffed with spinach, feta cheese and lemon). So it was a part of my life from a young age.
3. Are there any techniques that you learned from them that you still use today?
To this day I still make the bourekas that my mom made for us. Also, latkes! My fiance and I throw latke parties at the house in December. We serve them at the restaurant the week of Hanukkah. During passover she would make matzoh brei, which are like fritters served with honey syrup and black pepper. I make them for my friends in New Orleans and they call them matzoh beignets. How can I argue with that. One of my favorite things that my grandmother made for us was fried eggplant rubbed with tomato pesto, served in between two slices of white bread with Philadelphia cream cheese. Today at Domenica, we serve house made ciabatta, with local goat cheese mouse, fried eggplant, tomato pesto and arugula. Its a little fancier than the one she made, but its the same flavors and our most popular panino on the lunch menu. I think she'd be proud.
4. Everyone talks about inspiration from all over the world, but is there any part of New Orleans that really inspires your cooking? The culture? The people? The food?
All of those things about New Orleans inspire me. People here are serious about their food. You can stop anyone on the street that's from southern Louisiana and ask them about their family gumbo recipe and you would get a list if ingredients and a detailed method of how to make it. There are so many great natural resources here like our amazing seafood, wild boar, venison, chanterelle mushrooms, okra, etc. I'm inspired constantly about what I see at the farmers markets. Ive become friends with many of our farmers and I'm proud to serve their products in my restaurant. Those are things that to me are priceless. Oh, and crawfish!!!
5. What does the food you cook, or the ingredients you use, say about your personality?
That I am a simple guy that loves big flavors. I like to cook food that makes sense. I could care less about paring soy sauce with something on our menu. I think Israeli and Italian food make sense together so I play off of that in terms on bringing out my personality on the menu. We also have an amazing staff of people working at the restaurant that have influence on what we cook. Lisa White our pastry chef, makes amazing stuff that is true to who she is. And our sous Chef Phillip Mariano continues to show his great technical abilities with the menu. Our mixologist Michael glassberg makes really classy interesting cocktails. I enjoy letting passionate people around me be passionate about what they do. It makes us better as a restaurant.
6. What is it about being a chef that appeals to you most?
Cooking great meals for people.
7. What is soul food to you?
Anything that makes me feel good when I eat it. Is been lasagna, its been gumbo, its been my moms chicken liver pate. The list can go on and on.
Everyday Exotic The Cookbook | October 24 2011
Its finally here. Ive been bitchin' that its taken a while to actually land in my hands but here it is. For many months I have been viewing this thing from my computer and writing, tinkering, tweaking, and re tweaking. It feels surreal for it to finally be a real thing in my hands. Very excited today, this is my first book and one of my dreams has come to life. Love when that happens. Big up to Al Magee.
• Click HERE to find out how you can get a copy too
Gator Girl | October 23 2011
This is some real back woods ish.
Chef Series with David Haman | October 19 2011
1. How did you get involve in farming?
To be honest, I've always had a passion for farming. I'm passionate for simple food and growing that kind of stuff. I was young when I was studying and working at El Bulli, it gets finicky. I was that pro bane kid, always asking how can you grow these seeds, and kept asking David Cohlmeyer (Owner Cooks Town Greens) for a job. My Mom was a caterer and gave me a good understanding of growing vegetables, but until David hired me to manage the farm, even without experience, my deep genuine interest was the reason for me being hired. I knew a lot of Chefs, I was the go to guy.
2. What do you think will be your next project after Woodlot?
I am 32 now, I own a little restaurant, we are relatively successful, we are having fun, we are happy, but you cannot do this forever, maybe some people can...I won't, I am not that guy, I am not gonna stand on my feet for 8 hours a day for the rest of my life. And although farming per say is not easy, it's definitely for me, I see that it as a natural progression going back to farming.
3. Do you see Organic as a trend?
I think personally, if you want to buy organic that is great, but there are so many issues that come first like hunger and starvation. I think the biggest problem is our population growth which organic farming cannot sustain. Chemical agriculture on the other hand can out grow the population and help with political issues like hunger.
4. Is cooking an art or a craft?
In the hands of a precious few, cooking can be an art. Personally for me cooking is a craft, I see much stronger correlation between architecture, cooking and fashion. These things are a necessity, we need to make them in order to survive and because we are human beings with intelligence we can add a spin to it and make it more pleasurable. I think a lot about nourishment when I eat, I think about harmony of flavors and I think less about constructing dishes.
5. What do you think of Soul Food?
Soul food and cooking with soul are two very different things. Soul food for me is, people's common mental image of Southern United States, beans, molasses, corn and smoked Virginia ham. Cooking with soul for me is totally different. It's someone from anywhere, any race and any background, cooking with their hands and most importantly their heart.
6. Music and Food, are they somehow connected for you at all?
I don't know if it is true for everybody. It certainly is for myself, I can see a cohesion more in my own taste. I'm not naive to the fact that my taste in food, music, architecture, fashion and art are connected whatever I see, I see a cohesion with all of it.
Heat Seekers Philadelphia TONIGHT on Food Network Canada | October 13 2011
• Click HERE to learn more about this episode of Heat Seekers.
1. What memorable experiences from Italy do you try to capture at Domenica?
I hope that when people leave Domenica they have the same feelings I felt after some of my great meals in Italy. I fell in love with the food in Italy because of how many layers there are in each dish. I'm not talking about flavors, I'm talking about the history of the dish, the meaning behind its name, and region it comes from, and the family tradition of learning how to cook it from you mother, father or grandparents. That is how food there ends up on a plate. Each time I would go out to eat, I would try to ask those questions and research the dish before I ordered it. It would spark something more than just hunger inside of me. I vividly remember thinking to myself "this is unlike anything I have ever had. I would have never paired these ingredients together, but its amazing. There is such a rich history and tradition that goes along with their cooking, and food is just as much a part of life than it is nourishment. If I can bring people to that little trattoria I fell in love with in the countryside of Parma, even with just a taste of something, I feel like I have achieved my goal.
2. I've read that your mother and grandmother are a great inspiration to your cooking. What is it about them that has inspired you?
My family immigrated from Israel when I was four. We would spend lots of time cooking the Israeli and Bulgarian foods that my mother and grandmother would cook in Israel. I think it gave them a sense of normalcy and comfort in a foreign land. So through the years we could keep it up and it became our family bonding time. I can remember coming home from elementary school and smelling my grandmother roasting bell peppers on our gas range. I still think of her today every time we roast peppers on our grill. She taught me how to cook and it became my favorite thing to do. I did my first cooking demo in 3rd grade. I made borekas (they are puffed pastry turn over stuffed with spinach, feta cheese and lemon). So it was a part of my life from a young age.
3. Are there any techniques that you learned from them that you still use today?
To this day I still make the bourekas that my mom made for us. Also, latkes! My fiance and I throw latke parties at the house in December. We serve them at the restaurant the week of Hanukkah. During passover she would make matzoh brei, which are like fritters served with honey syrup and black pepper. I make them for my friends in New Orleans and they call them matzoh beignets. How can I argue with that. One of my favorite things that my grandmother made for us was fried eggplant rubbed with tomato pesto, served in between two slices of white bread with Philadelphia cream cheese. Today at Domenica, we serve house made ciabatta, with local goat cheese mouse, fried eggplant, tomato pesto and arugula. Its a little fancier than the one she made, but its the same flavors and our most popular panino on the lunch menu. I think she'd be proud.
4. Everyone talks about inspiration from all over the world, but is there any part of New Orleans that really inspires your cooking? The culture? The people? The food?
All of those things about New Orleans inspire me. People here are serious about their food. You can stop anyone on the street that's from southern Louisiana and ask them about their family gumbo recipe and you would get a list if ingredients and a detailed method of how to make it. There are so many great natural resources here like our amazing seafood, wild boar, venison, chanterelle mushrooms, okra, etc. I'm inspired constantly about what I see at the farmers markets. Ive become friends with many of our farmers and I'm proud to serve their products in my restaurant. Those are things that to me are priceless. Oh, and crawfish!!!
5. What does the food you cook, or the ingredients you use, say about your personality?
That I am a simple guy that loves big flavors. I like to cook food that makes sense. I could care less about paring soy sauce with something on our menu. I think Israeli and Italian food make sense together so I play off of that in terms on bringing out my personality on the menu. We also have an amazing staff of people working at the restaurant that have influence on what we cook. Lisa White our pastry chef, makes amazing stuff that is true to who she is. And our sous Chef Phillip Mariano continues to show his great technical abilities with the menu. Our mixologist Michael glassberg makes really classy interesting cocktails. I enjoy letting passionate people around me be passionate about what they do. It makes us better as a restaurant.
6. What is it about being a chef that appeals to you most?
Cooking great meals for people.
7. What is soul food to you?
Anything that makes me feel good when I eat it. Is been lasagna, its been gumbo, its been my moms chicken liver pate. The list can go on and on.
Everyday Exotic The Cookbook | October 24 2011
• Click HERE to find out how you can get a copy too
Gator Girl | October 23 2011
Chef Series with David Haman | October 19 2011
To be honest, I've always had a passion for farming. I'm passionate for simple food and growing that kind of stuff. I was young when I was studying and working at El Bulli, it gets finicky. I was that pro bane kid, always asking how can you grow these seeds, and kept asking David Cohlmeyer (Owner Cooks Town Greens) for a job. My Mom was a caterer and gave me a good understanding of growing vegetables, but until David hired me to manage the farm, even without experience, my deep genuine interest was the reason for me being hired. I knew a lot of Chefs, I was the go to guy.
2. What do you think will be your next project after Woodlot?
I am 32 now, I own a little restaurant, we are relatively successful, we are having fun, we are happy, but you cannot do this forever, maybe some people can...I won't, I am not that guy, I am not gonna stand on my feet for 8 hours a day for the rest of my life. And although farming per say is not easy, it's definitely for me, I see that it as a natural progression going back to farming.
3. Do you see Organic as a trend?
I think personally, if you want to buy organic that is great, but there are so many issues that come first like hunger and starvation. I think the biggest problem is our population growth which organic farming cannot sustain. Chemical agriculture on the other hand can out grow the population and help with political issues like hunger.
4. Is cooking an art or a craft?
In the hands of a precious few, cooking can be an art. Personally for me cooking is a craft, I see much stronger correlation between architecture, cooking and fashion. These things are a necessity, we need to make them in order to survive and because we are human beings with intelligence we can add a spin to it and make it more pleasurable. I think a lot about nourishment when I eat, I think about harmony of flavors and I think less about constructing dishes.
5. What do you think of Soul Food?
Soul food and cooking with soul are two very different things. Soul food for me is, people's common mental image of Southern United States, beans, molasses, corn and smoked Virginia ham. Cooking with soul for me is totally different. It's someone from anywhere, any race and any background, cooking with their hands and most importantly their heart.
6. Music and Food, are they somehow connected for you at all?
I don't know if it is true for everybody. It certainly is for myself, I can see a cohesion more in my own taste. I'm not naive to the fact that my taste in food, music, architecture, fashion and art are connected whatever I see, I see a cohesion with all of it.
Heat Seekers Philadelphia TONIGHT on Food Network Canada | October 13 2011
• Click HERE to learn more about this episode of Heat Seekers.
