What a wonderful day it has been, watching the joy on Noah's face as he opened his gifts and by gifts I'm talking about half an isle at a toys r' us worth ..its been peaceful... and relaxing ..i got more than i could ever imagine in gifts and i am very grateful. The restaurant was open until 8 pm. last night and people loved the whimsy menu .unfortunately i didn't take any pictures but Paulo came by in the middle of service and snapped a few. The New Years eve menu and our Australian food and wine dinner is next on my list and I'm realey excited at the ideas i got for both...new years will have allot of playing around with classics like my version of steak " Oscar" with spruce roasted bacon wrapped fillet , saffron Bearnaise , white asparagus, and king crab ..or a lobster 2x a shelled lobster stuffed into another lobster, Meyer lemon butter, persillade, Parisian potato...need i say more. have a great, safe, and happy holiday!
"The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity, Than the
discovery of a new star" - Brillat Savarin
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
NoRtH EaStErrrrr!
Friday, December 19, 2008
New Additions
One of the new entrees on the dinner menu, and probably the prettiest(and Sarah's fave.) is my play on duck duck..goose. the legs are cured in Indian herbs and smoked salt then confit for 14 hrs. then chilled . To serve i rub a little 5 spice on the skin and roast it. Margret duck breast and Hudson valley foie gras round the dish out . It is served with a sweet Israeli cous cous, and a carrot puree mounted with a little red curry paste and coconut milk. Topped with a sweet and sour kumquat jam and our cranberry "sauce"
This is the winterized version of the dessert that got us allot of attention in the Boston globe. It is a pumpkin/hazelnut panna cotta We do ours with a 2% solution of bloomed agar agar as opposed to the traditional gelatin or leaf gelatin, On the bottom of the plate is a mix of crushed Graham cracker and ginger snaps. To simulate a pie crust ,there are also pressed filo crackers that taste exactly like cinnamon toast crunch. The sauce is a creamy spiced egg nogg.
This is the one that has everybody turning to a kid again.. Its also one of the only desserts that the kitchen staff gets real excited to do.We call it the ultimate sundae 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream and each scoop has a Little something different than the next. we have crushed macadamia nuts, milk chocolate" hot fudge" , hazelnut peanut brittle, white chocolate and peanut butter powder, grand marnier caramel ,maraschino's. whipped cream and edible 23k gold.The sundae is server in 50 yr old original sundae glasses my boss has had since his first restaurant , so its kinda like an homage to his love for antique and nostalgic items.... I think its a great addition to our menu.. .On other notes We still have reservations for Christmas eve and new years eve.
Both menus limited, New Years menu is based on couples while X-mas is A la Carte. Some of the Christmas options will be Candy cane encrusted Lamb Loin. ,Lobster and King Crab "Minced Pie",
Elm smoked sea scallops with holly scented buerre blanc ..to name a few ...The New Years menu will be a bit more classically revisited cuisine but just as delicious it will be comprised of 5 courses
Both menus limited, New Years menu is based on couples while X-mas is A la Carte. Some of the Christmas options will be Candy cane encrusted Lamb Loin. ,Lobster and King Crab "Minced Pie",
Elm smoked sea scallops with holly scented buerre blanc ..to name a few ...The New Years menu will be a bit more classically revisited cuisine but just as delicious it will be comprised of 5 courses
A couple will pick a appetizer to share ,than they both get there own either soup or salad from 4 to choose than there will be a champagne intermezzo before there own entree (lobster thermidor,veal rib chop,swordfish champagne..etc.) is presented ,followed by a choice of there own dessert for $120.00 per couple and $65 per single how could you go wrong. ...........There has also been allot of requests for cooking classes Me and Don have been bouncing ideas off one another about when and where. I would love to cooking classes maybe once a month as long as we can get the classes to at least 2o plus people . I will teach them some recipes they can bust out for there family and friends and we 'll match wines and get everybody involved in the process of making really wonderful food...Which brings me back to a blog i published a while back about gathering recipes for a cook book and selling the book at the restaurant I've probably invented 500 dishes since i started back in may. maybe 200 of them were incredible the rest good but not memorable,why not start putting although recipes together ,have one of photography friends snap some shots and document the process until we have enough to do a crane brook yearly volume...I never have a problem giving away any recipe or talking about a trick or technique to make a dish incredible it makes me strong as a chef to push myself for the next technique. The restaurant gets allot of e-mails with requests for recipes ......So its a win win....
Taylor Bays
I CALL AT 5PM AND THEY PLUCK THEM AND BAG THEM BY 9AM BY THE TIME IT GETS TO THE RESTAURANT THERE ONLY 2 HRS.OLD AND YOU CAN TASTE IT IN MY CHOWDER.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Anatomy of a Menu Change
Saturday, December 13, 2008
cool runninings....
Surfin and Turfin
Having always been asked to make at least one meal that would be hearty enough to satisfy a manly man..lol i figured why not. king crab a product i have always veered away from is in abundance as of late so doing some last minute experimentation's before my winter menu goes into effect.I have done 3 runs with batches of king crab and to my surprise i have sold out each run. The market price that crab is at currently allows us to give a larger product and still not leave the customer feeling like they got robbed. In this application we took one whole crab leg with lump joint cut in half on both sides to remove the cover creating a crab boat if you will then warm the meat with melted yuzu butter and persillade. stuffed the boat and baked it with our butter parsley crumbs.served it as a surf and turf with aromatic butter basted prime strip steak,
roasted garlic mashed potato,sweet and sour green beans, smoked tomato butter and Gouda stuffed onion rings...it looks a little heavier than it actually was. this is by far the ultimate surf and turf....maybe a king crab cake in the near future?? king bisque?... you can enjoy the stuffed crab alone at the restaurant you get 2 for for $17 a meal in its self.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Going bananas!

So much to do. No time to do it in! With Christmas just 15 days away,a new menu in 5 days, no shopping done, my new angel that's about a month away and the overall ups and downs of the food industry it's amazing that i haven't reverted back to an ape like ave dweller. Our globe review has brought us a positive response and the parties are booking like crazy but... will it last? i tinkered with the idea of trying to do simple food. but simple food ain't gonna cover our overhead considering we don't advertise ever. we advertise in the restaurant ..so say...you wanna sell tickets to a wine tasting and barely anybody comes to eat. who's gonna even know its going on...now i cant fault the owner ,god knows he loves this place and his staff more than any owner i have ever worked for...i fault these publications that charge $2500.00 for a two week add.....i feel his pains... and i know it will get better. i just pray we all have the patients.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
missing summer
Snow piling up and a winter menu on my mind amongst many other things ,i sat back and asked my self jokingly "Remember Summer" the smells ,the breeze that i never felt as i slow cooked in a 145 degree inferno of a kitchen aha!! seems like it was just 4 months ago..oh yeah it was .I guess some times things are hard to give up. Like a 10 yr old with a nasty over bite from years of dedicated thumb pacification i have a hard time kicking my summer mind state i like fresh,i like light, even when i try to create heavy food for colder seasons i try to do it using lighter applications. so one of my chefs was breaking down a beautiful loin of yellowfin and with Sarah not being able to eat raw fish due to our being pregnant (mind you me and sarah are sushi fanatics) i started day dreaming of tuna sashimi with lead me into a whirlwind of summer senses.the smells the tastes the visuals. everything that i have learned to love so much about our New England summers. so here you go....Sashimi of fennel and soy marinated Tuna, edamame sea weed salad compressed watermelon, yuzu,nigiris togarashi , tobiko caviar, spicy preserved kumquat ,and chili threads
Monday, December 8, 2008
Blue light Speacial!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
First snow ..First reveiw

you have to be excited living in New England.. when the first snow hits a little late until the season i might add...but maybe a white one this year?? .. i woke up to Sarah's mom clutching my review in her hand ..Noah pounding on the windows trying to catch the extra large snow flakes. So far so good. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/12/07/culinary_magic_in_carver/
Monday, December 1, 2008
depressing..

Wednesday, November 26, 2008
gotta love the gobble!!

turkey time...boy do i got mixed feelings about thanksgiving ..for one it's realy hard to be a chef and thankful on this day.It is a holiday i have not celebrated in a very long time ....little thanks allot of giving...second restaurants usually die down allot , land book solid for this glorious day meaning 4x the amount of work..all in all i do take a allot of pride on serving this meal being able to give a part of me to every family that attends. And this year our meal is down right incredible and to have a gourmet three coarse meal at only 39.95 per is amazing....I'll post pics of food tomorrow....
Thursday, November 20, 2008
30 Second Cake
START WITH A PLASTIC CUP..NOT TO FLIMZY
MAKE SEVERAL SPLICES..
TAKE A BASIC SPONGE CAKE OR GENOISE BATTER
ADD 4 CHARGES OF FLAVORLESS NITRIS
COOL FOR 2 HOURS ...
MOIST COCOA FLAVORED SPONGE CAKE
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Quail Wings
Cavendish Farms Quail, Sweet Siracha, Maytag blue, Celery leaf
On another note i just decided today to release my winter menu
two weeks earlier than planned, between that and the construction
of our new cafe on the side of our building it will make for a pretty
interesting winter tune into the website for more info cranebrook.com
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Tasting Menu-11/13/08 Backwards....Oops...
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
That time again!!

Being a chef..I'm proud of the fact that I'm a culinary nerd. I research trends,i buy cook books and magazines....I'm infactuated...One of my favorite shows is Top Chef the only reality based program that i love..Me and my fiance have a ritual that we've done since we met 2 weeks into season uno..every wed. is bravo night we grab dinner and drinks and watch the show and criticize the shit out it..."i would of made this.." "she should of done that.." we decide on performance halfway through who should go home...we have even noticed production faults that kinda give you who's going home in the first 4 or 5 minutes of the show... usually the second person you see talking is the one that gets the boot...the third or first wins the challenge..if there in the middle you most likely wont see there face. ... Yup I'm a nerd ...told you...TC's season premier is kinda like new years eve for me(as i sip a cold 16oz bud light the bravo count down clicking away the final hour to season 5's debut)..Let me give you my predictions (did i mention i did an extensive menu background on all contestants) so here it is........in the order that i think they gonna go.......
17. DANIEL ...this dude is dumb
16. Mellisa
15.Patrick.. ....gimme a break!
14.JILL.. I'm not sure how she even got picked working at a mom and pop
13.Gene ..skill less
12.radhika
11STEFAN
10 & 9 LEAH &LAUREN.. i gotta feeling with 17 there gonna pull the double axe this season.
8.HOSEA ..first HIS JOB NOW THIS
7.ALEX....
6.Carla... her hair Finlay got to Padma
5.FABIO...after William Shaetner lost 30 lbs he bribed his private chef to come home.
TOP 4 ..RICHARD JEFF JAMIE ARIANE
4.RICHARD
3. ARIANE.
2.JEFF
1. WINNER . JAMIE LAUREN ..
That's all i got don't be surprised if I'm right on the money!! then again don't be surprised if Daniel takes it home.......
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Rainy Days...
Today..hm mm a inspirational day. Felt great to be in the kitchen after missing a few days..My Organic Poussin came in and i was eager to play. I brine the Poussin in juniper,vanilla sugar, and smoked maldon sea salt..I THEN took a Very yummy chocolate and sun dried cranberry dressing my sous chef had made the day before and stuffed the bird...with the bird stuffed and trussed i massaged rosemary butter under the skin and let it set.Next i took sous vied chestnuts pureed them into a spaetzel batter with a little pumpkin spice. i roasted the bird and pan basted it with tons of rosemary butter...and gave it about a 7 minutes to rest.i saute the the fall chestnut spaetzel with a bit of braised cippolinni and young arrow head spinach...We paired the bird with a red Cali. Zinfandel.....you gotta love them rainy days.
Monday, November 3, 2008
it's been a while
to catch up a bit i just finished moving ..Back to my hometown of Fairhaven ,MA .. I love it here ...the restaurant is doing awesome .my fall Ala Cart menu is getting rave reviews,and like i always do when i release a menu have started looking at the winter menu my dinner menu now features 29 dishes from raw bar to entree a choice of 8 tapas selections at the bar ,7 dessert choices, and sun-Thur an additional 8 entree selections for the dinner for two .....that may be a little to much the prep work load is exhausting at the least . and having to trim staff hours and food cost..and ordering has me beckoning for an easy menu instead of focusing on the quantity of choices ....I'm gonna focus on making a smaller menu all that much more tasty..winter ideas as of this morning...Poisson stuffed with roasted mushroom .pearl barley risotto .Bordeaux redux ...simple yet freaking delicious ..I'm contemplating the veg..and maybe a bacony element to lift the umami in the mushroom. or what about the old cocoa nib and cauliflower trick..hm mm. I'm also in deep thought of tweaking iconic American cuisine i.e .. tomato soup ..A-1 steak sauce..i found a supplier that sells pop top aluminum cans ,and steak sauce bottles .. i could find the fonts that are used and create my own restaurant inspired labels. crane classic in the Campbell's soup font. D-2 steak sauce ...and present both to the diner as an interactive element of a dish..imagine if your waiter or waitress comes to your table places a bowl in front of you with a honey ricotta cannolli nestled at the bottom and pops the top on a can of gourmet soup canned 1 minute before in the kitchen . this could spark some child hood memory of mom fixing up some soup with snow gathering on the windowsill....aha nostalgic...i could also sell the bottled steak sauce at our gift shop..I've been flirting with these ideas for a while and i think its time to start.. curds,jams,jellies,we can do it all i just got to work out the kinks...I'm also thinking about doing a cookbook with each menu to give away the recipes .or accumulate the year in review and start releasing crane brook volumes 08' 09 ' etc....I'm a busy man and a very happy man. i will start posting gain daily ..so check back to see things unfold
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
THANK GOD

FINALY A DAY OFF...17 STRAIGHT DAYS ...I NEEDED IT. THE BEST PART OF TODAY WAS PICKING UP MY COPY OF "ALINEA" MY FAVORITE COOK BOOK OF ALL TIME. CONGRATULATIONS TO GRANT AND HIS STAFF FOR PUTTING OUT SUCH AN AMAZING PEICE OF LITERATURE... RESEARCHED SOME MORE CHEMICALS TODAY ITS ALMOST TIME FOR ME TO ROCK OUT ....PEACES
Monday, September 29, 2008
Now where to run.. to tired to hide
So the menu is done and for the last week I've been implementing it..trying to figure out short cuts and line schematics..but all in all i am proud of my kitchen and the overall product. even though i am pretty sure the owner is slipping farther into a well of "crazy"... he keeps comparing our small ass kitchen to these hotels and wanting to start selling fruit pies that he picks up from SAM'S CLUB ...or doing dinners starting at $12.95 ..he wants to create a situation where a tobacco chewing redneck with his incestuous wife/sister/cousin combo can be splitting a $12.95 meal while the elderly couple at the table right beside them is eating foie drinking dom....in the restaurant business its very important to maintain your integrity and your ability to be unique.you don't want to seem desperate and you don't want to run so much shit that your fucked IE. dinner for 2 ,brunch buffet, Italian night every Wednesday, wine tasting ,dinner with don on top of the 5 menus.. come on gimme a break "hey whats today???...isn't it two dollar taco Tuesday at the crane brook??" ....Thursday from 5:00 -5:30 all you can eat Dim Sum ...Last Night was dead at the crane brook we had a really kick ass brunch then it died we were all done at 7:15 then i decided to get shitty drunk so me,Sarah,Kim and mike went to mikes local watering hole it was fun..Except when i called Mike stupid lol he kept saying all slurred 'DON'T SAY THAT MAN..JUST DONT..DONT.....DO IT'...Im sorry i did not mean to call you stupid lol.there was this cat there that was a cook at Lindsey's i thought it was cool to see some one else who does what we do , end up in the same spot as me....on a side note when i drink my dreams are always crazy its like a culinary battle royale.... I'm thinking tobacco smoked lambs lung, figgy pudding, chlorophyll jus , raw carrot , and quince. or a Cesar salad soup or better yet a chicken noodle soup defined with agar agar in three stages .one stage to clarify a rich stock with gelification , then take some of the original stock gel it then cube to match your cut veg. then stage 3 when you got to give it to the customer hand them a squirt bottle of cooked chicken pureed with agar so they can make instant noodles Alla Wylie Dufresne by squeezing the mix into the hot see through liquid.....ah the power of bud light
Friday, September 19, 2008
Meet my better half
Enough about me , lets talk about my family.this is Sarah my wife and best friend and overall greatest moral support a man has ever had.we have on son (11 MONTHS) and one on the way in january both boys .And i also have a 3yr.old son That im going to court to try to get visitation rights and joint guardianship from his piece for a mother...anyways there my everything...and my reason for getting out of bed every day...
Monday, September 15, 2008
SHIT OUT OF LUCK

Sunday, September 14, 2008
Sunny Saturdays

Fairly decent day today, my meat cook has been out all weekend with herpes of the rib cage...
we pulled off to realy strong days of cooking, with a wedding and brunch function, so with that im stoked... my cousin got married and i was'nt there but,did i realy want to go?? i dont feel it inside ...when it comes to my biological family inside im ice cold...all of them all of my blood..i have know interest in anybodies life,..,"do your thing".. just do it with out me....they never realy did nothing to me...it was'nt like my family beat and raped me...i was just butchered inside by all of the fun stuff the world did to me...,and they did't give 1 shit about me....screw you all...and back to workfor a second ...there is this ladie at my restaraunt that im hating more and more each day...she acts like shessome kind of manager...everyone is afraid of her...not me stay the fuck out of my kitchen...if youy can stand around and stare at me. then you can run food for someone other than yourself......get over yourself....on a bright note fall menu ideas that i ran for saturday speaicals went realy good .im excited as shit to switch the menu ,even though im hearing alot of shit from mthe owner about having to pay people on the day of the new tasting witch is plANNED FOR 9-22... fuckit ill cook the whole thing by myself.....LETS HOPE TOMMORROW IS GREAT...GO PATS!!!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
ThE rEaSonS ArE sImPlE
Just another day in the kitchen...have you ever had one of those days where you got the uncontrollable earge to just cry, Or better yet Knock your Sous Chefs Teeth clean out his mouth ?? well that was today for me...everything was great all prep was done well before service . My poisonnier was sick so i had a little bit of catch up ,but not much..then my favorite time of day that i only see once in a while 'DOWN TIME' the time i get to work on my menu, the nights speacials ,or ordering. see i utilize these very sacred moments...,but what does my sous do
he sneaks liquor.what a freaking idiot I would of fired his ass long ago If i did'nt beleive in him.. But theres only so much you can do for someone before you gotta be like fuck it...and that day is coming quicker than i imagined.
twice is a ch...cut the shit!

Some times after everything is said and done and what littlebit of my sanity is left, all that i have other than my family is my love for new england sports. my little get away. After having cooked for some of mine and my fathers heroes and being a fan since i could crawl...i kinda find myself in this depressive funk .First tom brady,now the redsox cockteasing me with a chance to take the helm on top of the A.L east.. jesus someone give a break....aahhhh on a bright note it was sarahs mothers birthday today so the whole family (i.e sarah's family) who i love dearly went out to celebrate. A nice meal , great conversation ..Sarah's lil sister made the coolest fondant tootsie roll cake. It was bad ass .Noah was an angel other than the bread plate he smashed..lol All in All a perfect day off, if only the sox could of pulled it off for me. theres always tommorrow. on another note my fall menu is almost complete...im hoping to have my dinner for two menu and bar menuy by friday with my lunch, dinner, and dessert menu done by the following tuesaday.Im stoked...CANT WAIT FOR THE LIQUID NITROGEN
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
SHORT AND SWEET
It seems like yesterday i was a kid ,no worries... no yearning to provide ....oh those care free days watching foodnetwork in its infantility and gourmet chefs of the world on the travel channel.those tiny moments in time that would later define me as a man. Im a libra ,a 27 year old self taught chef from the south coast of new england and this is my blog a digital diary of my day to day rambles,thoughts,ideas,and feelings...helpful to some...ummmm not so much.But therraputic as fuck for me and just about anyone else that has ever devoted the time and passion to this craft that at times takes you away from all that you love...my 2 sons and my third on the way,and my wonderful wife ...so welcome to the tangled web that ihave woven......
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