Tribute to the past vol.Xll: Soseki modern omakase

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218.Soseki modern omakase

February 2021-February 2022

https://www.sosekifl.com/

…. So it was about 10 months ago!!?  Feels like easily couple yrs ago;;;  20+ African journey pushing over all the memories miles away;;; 

   Anyway, on previous posts, I quickly went through the dishes I have done at Soseki.  It started slow, first 2 months focusing on organize, systemize and make basic structure of the operation from m.e.p. / 1st service / reset /2nd service/ break down.  Same time I I need time for the rehabilitation coz I didn’t work over 6months due to COVID-19.   Once the operation was programed & I got my groove back, wen on building up the relationship with the farmers & purveyors.  Then I geared up, 7/7 no mercy.  Except winter break, I probably had 7,8 days off, except those I was always in Soseki, workaholic with no cure;;;

   Cuisine-wise; considering the name of the restaurant, The food should shift on more Japanish direction, but I did went totally opposite;;;   I defined “modern omakase” into market driven nomadic cuisine.  I just wanted to make the place into the platform where chefs showcase whatever awesome with no limitation. 

   “There is no single dish perfect in this world.” Something I believe. (*will digging through about this some time soon). So I told chef Mike we don’t “keep” any dishes, changing every single dishes every months.  It helps keep ourselves pushing and make this place exciting where people can come back, have completely different experience every time.  During my one year we had quite good number of repeating guests, I guess we succeeded the mission.  

   It seemed Soseki shifted to more Sushi/Japanese focus direction after I left.  But I believe that was chef Mike’s original plan, so it’s totally understandable.  If I defend myself I warned chef Mike before I signed this job, “I am not Sushi chef, western chef.”, he told me do whatever I want. (*Or I didn’t take this job;;;) Probably I smacked down “East meets west”, made it more chaos than he imagined, but least “I” had fun;;;

  Just as normally;; I fired up every single colleagues… *maybe not Joshua, assistant sommelier…. lucky guy;;;   Focus, details, push ~no mercy~ doing my job whoever, wherever, every seconds…. never change over 10ths….  I do hope I left my fire, drive & me(n)tal and still carry on in Soseki!!

Soseki randamn web links:

https://winterparkmag.com/2022/04/01/class-with-some-sass/

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/food-drink/soseki-a-cozy-10-seat-modern-omakase-brings-creativity-and-spectacle-to-winter-park-29553157

https://tastychomps.com/2021/10/first-look-soseki-modern-omakase-by-chef-michael-collantes.html

https://www.scottjosephorlando.com/reviews/71-sushi/5933-soseki-modern-omakase

Thanks list

Soseki family:  

Chef Mike / “Castlevetano” / Avanilla / Bang x2 / Denni-san / Stone-san / Joshua / Stella / “Doc” & Big Mac / Bread / Kylie / Justin / Jill / Past, present & future Taglish group family

Farmers & Purveyors:

Brad & Edible education experience / Colin & Sublime oyster / Greg & Cbi / Jessica & Freshpoint / Allison & Halperns / Josh & Josh’s premium meat / Michelle, local butcher & Swine&sons / Pastry chef resource / Mark & Samuels seafood / Kelly & Simple seafood / Mary & True world / Spiceology / Kevin & Tarufo prestige 

Winter park farmers market / John & Frog song organics / Jorge & Dicuru mozzarella / Fungi Jon / David & King harv’s imperial coffee / William, Shanon & Lake meadow naturals / Mike & Mannix vanilla / Risher & Seven rivers foods / Nikki & Sprout up urban farm / Jordan, Jessica & Sugar top farms / Melanie, Roger & Waterkist farm / Janet & Winter park honey / Mason & Winter park urban farm / Chris, Eddy & Thirsty husky

Maitland Sunday market / Andrew & Florida shroom king / Sergio & Italian hills / Kelli & Yoga lawyer holmstead

Audubon park night market / Nick & Blodgetts produces Lockhard / Johnson, Dawson & Fleet farming /  Richard & Heart of christmas farms / Audrey & second breakfast / John & Slow turtle farm / Brandon & Tribal acres 

Thank you all!!!   I did 94 dishes@Soseki, would be great to go back 1night pop up to make another 6 dishes, but… will see about that…..  I wish all the best to Soseki!! 

Mergination & Inspiration: Drssert pt.lll

Soseki desserts 10-15/15>>>

66.Autumn grace

European gastronomic trilogy final, France!!  The concept was very autumn, in fact decided this title before composing this dish;;  I saw the chestnut & persimmon on the market, so it became the core of this dish.  

Standing out persimmon was my goal, quite popular fruit in Japan, but not too much in the U.S., I think.  I came up this ice cream, Roasted persimmon brown butter ice cream, it came out the bomb, one of my favorite from Soseki IC parlor;;;

First I thought about spiced persimmon ice cream, kind of “apple pie”-ish flavor with all spice, cardamom, cinnamon, star anise… but it may weaken persimmon flavor, so I changed into this one.  Just infused bay leaves, but no other spice, roasting and brown butter drew out distinct natural persimmon flavor and worked awesome!

I throw in chocolate, cocoa and walnuts to complete this dish.  I used St.Elizabeth allspice dram for chestnuts cream chantilly, taking the dish into levels up.   It’s Frenchy, and full of autumnness.

Roasted persimmon brown butter ice cream / Gateau chocolate / Chestnuts cream chantilly / Cocoa dacquoise cookies /  Walnuts tuile dentelle / Raw persimmon / Zinnia

*Persimmon is from High springs orchard & Second breakfast

*Chestnuts is from High springs orchard distributed by Frog song organics.

*Zinnia is from Winter park urban farm.

71.Indian delight

Finishing 3 consecutive European dessert, I wanted something Un-European.  And around same time we got beautiful aromatic curry leaves from best friend, Edible education experience.  Curry… meat, seafood, vege…. why don’t I make curry dessert?  That’s how it started.

I was not sure if it become “intermezzo” or full dessert, I started list up Indian dessert same approach as previous 3 desserts.  Since I saw beautiful baby carrot at Winter park urban farm, I decided to set gujar ka halawa as the center piece(*kind like carrot pudding). Serving with 2 different ice creams.  I think overall flavor are unique, one of my favorite desserts from Soseki.

Gujar ka halawa / Marble coffee basundi pound cake / Coconuts curry kulfi / Pistachio nankhatai / Green carrot glass / Salted caramel lassi sheet / Micro carrot

*Baby carrot is from Winter park urban farm.

*Burrata butter is from Dicuru mozzarella.

*Coffee beans is from King harvs imperial coffee.

*Curry leaves is from Edible education experience.

*Micro carrot is from Sprout up urban farm.

84.Holiday treats

For NYE 2021, we decided to run special menu.  I did “Re:shade of orange”, “ The cliff at the ocean”, “Surf n’ turf” and couple other dishes.  And this was the last course.  The dish concept is “celebration” of holiday & special occasions.  Thought about doing “Souffle”, but switched my plan due to the operation and the equipments.  

There are many American classic holiday sweets, I picked up 2 things, eggnog & gingerbread.  Now I am thinking maybe because of starbucks;;;  Just as “Surf n’ turf”, my answer to “classic” with my own touch.  Can Americans hate this dish!?? Think not!

Whipped eggnog cream / Frozen gingerbread sponge cake / Compressed strawberry / Cream brulee cookies / Meyer lemon strawberry ice cream / White chocolate snow / Star flowers

*Vanilla powder is from Mannix vanilla.

*Meyer lemon is from Avanilla wowganic.

*Star flowers is from Sugar top farm.

91.Me-so crazy!!

January’22 dessert; Since I decided not to involve menu changes on February(*staff training purpose), I knew this one gonna be my last dessert@Soseki.  I had the idea of Turkish/African dessert, but…. I decided to going Japanese to answer restaurant name since I keep ignoring the name, kept making nomadic dishes across the globe;;;

Yakionigiri(Baked rice ball) is one of my favorite JP bistro snack.  But I have been thinking “it’s always savory, why not doing dessert?”  So I made it, I guess this is like my dessert pizza.

Same time I had the idea I want to use miso for dessert, so I mixed up those concepts, utilize what’s on the house to clear up goodies in the kitchen.

For ice cream, I decided to do miso rolled ice cream(again enough quenelle!), and came up this Nutella miso ice cream, another home run!  Kind like twisted salted caramel, I guess;;  

Unfortunately it seems not many diners enjoyed this one…. but can’t make everyone happy, I like this dessert!!

Coconuts yaki onigiri with maple red miso glaze / White miso nutella rolled ice cream / Matcha castella / Frozen Kurikinton / Sesame tuiles / Torenia

*Key lime honey is from Winter park honey.

*Chestnuts & Sweet potato is from Frogsong organics.

*Torenia is from Sugar top farm

93.Omotenashi ~Valentine~

Omotenashi, our opening idea is finally on the menu and I left 2wks later;;;   Just for one day, valentine day’22, we did this gift to go for one night only.  February I was retired from cooking(*again for training purpose);; Organizing / cleaning / polishing / inventory / dishwasher during the service / helping Taglish UCF….  but just get back for seconds to whip up those!! 

Caramel popcorn biscotti is something I have never seen, so why not?  Phat Elvis macaron is peanuts shells with roasted banana curd, sprinkle with pancetta powder, pretty banging!

Caramel popcorn biscotti / White bonita cashew nuts yokan / Phat Elvis macaron / Chestnuts truffles

*White bonita potato, Sweet potato & Chestnut are from Frog song organics.

*Banana is from Edible education experience.

*Meadow foam honey is from Winter park honey.

*Pork is from Cheshire pork distributed by CBI.

Next up: Tribute to the past:Soseki, randamn backstory and closing this previous chapter….

*Special thank you to Justin Wu@EightySix media 

Mergination & Inspiration: Dessert pt.ll

Dessert@Soseki  June-October’21>>>

29. We meet again!

One of my favorite summer vegetables is corn, so as for June, I decided to start with corn(previously posted “Corn on the cado” (https://culinarymetalvagabond.wordpress.com/2022/07/26/mergination-inspiration-corn-on-the-cado-how-bazaar/) finish with corn.  Since corn is going well with coffee, I decided to make coffee dessert.  Swing around the idea, I decided to refine “coffee jelly” which is Japanese cafe classic.  It is break up agar coffee jelly serving with cream.  Not too sweet, but fresh up the mouth & great finish.  I kept the composition, but sprinkle over corn elements.

Instead of cream, I made caramel popcorn milk and also made Frozen whipped corn cream as a garnish.  It is frozen whipped cream mixed with corn jus reduction, piped out, freeze it, then dusted with dehydrated corn powder.  Also I made honey syrup candied corn silk which looks like sugar thread, but made with corn silk.  I’ve seen many chefs using deep fried corn silk for the garnishes, but not this way, think pretty cool idea!  The title got dual meaning, 1. Corn came back after courses, 2. Dear diners, come back again!!

Peruvian coffee jelly / Caramel popcorn milk / Frozen whipped corn cream / Ethiopian coffee roasted corn ice cream / Honey syrup candied corn silk / Flower

*Both coffee beans are from King Harv’s imperial coffees.

33. Stone cold killer

This one, I intended to make something very Japanese dessert.  Use Japanese soy bean, making soy milk, presented 3 ways including okara(soy bean pulp).  The presentation became sleek and neat, kind of;;  I could imagine made it more “zen” garden with rock/stone/moss, but I saw those multiple places, so I like the way I finalized as the picture.  Benjamino came up this title, well done, buddy!  U METAL!!!  Sometimes, I mean sometimes…….

Black sesame soy milk ice cream /  Hojicha biscotti / Okara financier / Soy milk kinako mochi / Extra virgin olive oil fluid gel / Viola

38. Sunny side up

Coffee & corn / Japanese….. this time August dessert, I decided to make something fruity with one rule: no ice cream/sorbet quenelle.(don’t need to do every single times, Sick of quenelle;;;)  Market explore; I decided to make papaya dessert.(*soon switched to mango due to the market availability)  I finalized this into papaya/mango key lime verbena espuma, kinda semi frothy fruit soup course, I guess;;;  This was served with 3 different garnishes with different textures.  My favorite garnish was oeufs a la neige, French classic poached meringue, looks like cloud and melt in the mouth.  The title just popped up my head right after I plated it!!

Papaya/mango key lime verbena espuma / Snowball cookies / Oeufs a la neige / Frozen cheesecake disc / White pansy for the garnish

*Papaya is from High springs orchard farm

*Mango is from second breakfast.

*Orange blossom honey is from Winter park honey

*Lemon verbena is from Waterkist farms

55. Italian gangsta a.k.a ”I know it was you, Fredo….”

September, I decided to do trilogy dessert, dedicated to 3 European gastronomic kings, Italy! Spain! France! *All heavily rely on their national language, not English friendly also in common;;;  Starting with Italy!  The way I composed next 3 dessert is; list up their national dessert > divide by flavors and textures > mix/match up and make buffet plate into one composed dish. I guess not common way, but I guess it all worked out and the most importantly the process was so much fun.

This one turned out cross over between Italian & Japanese, reflecting autumnness such as persimmon, seminole pumpkin, sweet potato and pistachio!  Well, this was “September” dessert, kinda summer I consider, but Florida seasonal crops is mess, far different from East coast;;;;  Little tweak points would be

1. Cassata(Sicily frozen ice cream cake) supposed to make with ricotta, I made with burrata cream.   

2.Zabaione is traditionally made with masala or moscato, but I substituted to Japanese plum wine, it actually came out delightful!!

For serving this last course, I explain the dish and said “….. and I named this dish “Italian gangsta”!! , but someone wanna say something….”  Then Castelvetrano(Italian GM of Soseki) whisper “I know it was you, -Fredo-, you broke my heart….“ and playing “that” soundtrack of Godfather quietly.   It was hilarious, very cinematic and great ending for 20-ish degustation with sad song!!  I wish we video shoot this;;;

Cassata(burrata, seminole pumpkin, persimmon & toasted pistachio) / Matcha amaretti / Purple sweet potato imoyokan / Plum wine zabaione / Viola

*Burrata cream is from dicuru mozzarella.

*Seminole pumpkin / Purple sweet potato is from Frog song organics.

*Persimmon is from Sugar top farms.

63.Sinfonia de postres

European gastronomy trilogy continues, this time, Spain!!  One of my favorite country to travel!  Same as Italian gangsta, listed up all Spanish desserts, match up puzzle pieces.  It turn out pretty straight forward, not “unique” or “innovative”, but everything was so right and great!!  Struggle to making right recipe with cheesecake and churros, but eventually I found those.  The “key” of this dish was Leche merengado, kind of Spanish milkshake which binding all the components and finishing the dish lighter.  Instead of making quenelle, I piped out to make it look like white churros.  I think this became one of the diners favorite desserts.

Crema dulce de leche / Basque burnt cheesecake / Turron / Churros / Leche merengada ice cream 

*Special thank you to Justin Wu@EightySix media

4 more desserts to go, to be continued >>>>