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!! 

Tribute to the past vol.XI: Nomad

According to my R&D log, I have made 30-40 dishes including some spontaneous restriction substitute, bar special, weekly chang-ish fish/meat garnishes, but unfortunately I don’t have any pictures(*I work/cook in the kitchen, don’t take much pics, not high priority in the kitchen;;; ), so no more -tribute to the past- from Nomad. I want to close my Nomad chapter with this post.

I restarted this blog back in the end of July. I just needed something to keep my motivation maintain while my restaurant ‘Nomad’ was ‘temporary’ closing due to Covid-19. Back in April when the restaurant closed, I thought it gonna be just a couple months, but whohooo;;;; the cases keep staying high here in Oregon, and time just keep passing by ridiculously….

bout 2 months ago….. the end of September, I got a text message from the owner chef, I instantly had a bad feeling. And…yes, it was brutally right, the owner decided to close down Nomad permanently least at the location where it was called ‘my home’. Spending a week, we cleaned up n’ emptied out the restaurant. I did some opening in the past, but this was the first time do closing, boxed up everything, cleaning….. was simply heartbreaking, in fact it was sort of ‘funeral’ of my child.

Hmm… Face it; those Covid-19 affected closing happening all over the world; totally not something I could handle, but…… thinking the fact: took me nearly a year to find this job, ‘right’ job I could spend two years and…. -GONE-, It just make me realize….. remind myself that I just DON’T HAVE IT…. just a failure, huuuuuuuu;;;;

Anyway….. As for -Nomad-: The owner planning to find a new location, most likely outer Oregon or possibly other states. He mentioned going something casual which totally understandable; Covid-19 regulation kill those small dining tasting menu format what Nomad was offering.

As for me; as long as I stay in Oregon, I could break -even- with my current unemployment benefit, so just keep looking for a new job, but kinda no -jumping-, stay calm n’ steady and wait for the hospital industry revive which I’m assuming next spring.

If the situation staying bad, I’ll most likely go job-hunting in Asia/Australia which looks much better situation than the U.S. and Europe least at this moment. Or I may f*ck everything, start my Africa-Europe tour, sounds VERY possible, knowing this hot potato////. Well, I just simply do what I want to do, true to my heart just as always. Don’t wanna work just for money or lie to myself and the rest.

My culinary vision staying same; small team, small dining room, degustation. Money, fame, title,,,, not my interest, just cooking my food as playing heavy metal! I mean it’s always SUCH a pain in the ass to find and now even worse//// BUT do hope find “right” answer eventually….. hopefully soon, sick of staying home n’ watching youtube///// Like I did before, I may do contract menu consulting or ‘something else’ for “fun”, but expecting -now we talking- vaccine float back the world soon, yes!!!

As for this blog; I’m not too sure…. I may keep posting randamnly , but most likely going deep down to hibernation for while…. Well, best wishes whoever read this blog and the rest; Stay safe and well; there’s no rain neverlasting…….

Thanks list: Chef Fox, Casey, Patrick, Megan, Swanson, Kevin, Luke, Brendan, Eliza and all the diners came to Nomad

Last; dedicate this song to Nomad:R.I.P.; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BtC3hnea0E

Tribute to the past vol.X: Iggy’s

197.Iggy’s

August 2016-August 2017: Sous-chef

So… before moving on talking about “Nomad” my current job, I’d like to look back my previous job. Well, I had 2 months gig between Nomad and this, but scratch it since it was too short to talk about.

Clock back a bit; after I quit Journeyman on 2014 I have traveled and job hunt in the world for one year, but I couldn’t find “right” answer. Back to the U.S., I retired from cooking a little(3rd time), worked for Japanese supermarket about 5,6 months, then did short term menu consulting gig for steak house in Brooklyn. And)!! I flew to Singapore, got this gig.

It was the timing Iggy’s got new chef Aitor Jeronimo Orive and looking for a new sous chef. The restaurant closed for renovation for a month, then I started with a brand new team(cept Pastry team and one savory cook from old team). So.. when I started, it was grand zero which I liked. My main focus was systemize, organize, building operation engine and training staff members.

If I remember correctly Iggy’s got 10 on BOH team. It was 4 savory cooks(2 on snack, 1 hot app/entramet, 1 main), 2 on pastry, 2 stewards and 2 management. I run garde manger, expo and pass at the beginning. The menu consist of 3 tasting menus, no a la carte, 3 lunch, 6 dinners. As the time goes by, we got 12 seat tapas bar menu, get junior sous, part time “joker” for R&D/food cost, open 5 lunch/dinner….. some changes.

One big difference from the past would be I hold off my “fire”. cooks complained “d*ck”, “abused”, ignore me, sued by working union… got enough shit in the past, pushing as usual, but no screaming. No F word, but mothertrucker which I used all the time///. first come-last to leave, act before talk, I do/you do/everybody do… classic she jay method, I think it all worked out overall…. I mean those guys gonna prove me if I trained them right in next 5 years!

I told many randamn things to the staff members, but if I pick one quote; “YOU CAN DO IT, YOU JUST DON’T KNOW YET”

Damn G,,, Too kind for the man used to be called “dragon”/a bitter smile (reference; https://culinarymetalvagabond.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/my-spirit-pt-iii) I did told this word over and over to one cook when I taught him quenelle, roulade, cleaning monkfish liver, fish fillet and bunch of others. I mean I believe everything I could do, anybody can, Fair dinkum, mate!! I guess I got this from Mr.Mcfly, yeah, yeah…. A bit too sugary for mean person like me, but good quote, uncle She jay!

Food-wise… We got things from Europe and Japan, using local market as well… say modern European, Slightly heavy on Spanish.. I guess. I say I was backing off menu development compared with previous jobs due to multiple reasons, but nnn, let’s see….

Did Parsnip cornf(l)ake(Pic above), I say this is one of my “signature”, it’s the concept of soup serving in cereal format with variety of fixing with textures. I always trying to do it once wherever I worked as “footsteps”. Not something innovative or shit, but I just like the title of the dish and who don’t like crispy, ‘m Mr.Crunch as my hair is!! I came up the title back in time, google it, nobody done, it’s mine, copyright!!

Jamon bouillon (recipe; https://guide.michelin.com/en/article/dining-in/食譜_西班牙火腿湯底) was pretty banging broth I made. Ow, the recipe was “about” right, but I’d add side notes; 1. shio koji was added last, more like 80g depending on salt level. 2. depending on ground jamon (how dark and fatty), could be up to 75g per liter. Over it; erase dashi-ness. 3. mid-high simmering, never boiling. If it’s done right; looks like Clarified mushroom consommé. Could be use for anything, but I say all you need is simple drop of forestic oil, could be birch, pine, angelica… It just porky devilicious!!!

Transparent leche tigre also awesome one. Leche meaning milk, so should be cloudy, but I guess my French blood from LG does///. The base is pretty standard, citrus jus, fish trim, red onion, herbs, chili… but I also add palm sugar, fennel and lemon grass as twist. The result giving extra aroma, depth and layers in flavors and comes clear. The picture above is made with carabineiro, it’s mixed tith jus from head, so reddish. Will post the recipes if I get 10 comments, jajaja!

Else… duck carpaccio did it for tapas bar was also good. Serving with arugula, soy balsamic, pecorino, almond and mangosteen. Love using tropical fruits on cooking! Not mine, but white asparagus with bak kuh teh broth was very interesting one, SG tribute. Bak kuh teh is pork rib cooked in Peppery tea broth, one of my favorite SG local dish. For this I made bak kuh teh first time, it was fun. If I get chance, I may do something with it here in Portland!! I can go on and on, but… let’s stop here; put the web links Iggy’s’16-17 from cyber world; get you the idea what it was like….

Iggy’s’ 16-17 web links;

https://citynomads.com/iggys-singapore-review/

https://sg.asiatatler.com/dining/Season-With-Creativity-The-Secret-To-Iggy%27s-Success

https://www.nodestinations.com/blog/iggys-singapore-gourmet-restaurant-japanese-fusion

http://doyenne.sg/timeless-fine-dining-iggys/?doing_wp_cron=1598985327.3434259891510009765625

https://bibikgourmand.com/2017/07/28/iggys-singapore-with-chef-aitor-jeronimo-orive/

https://www.spiritedsingapore.com/2017/08/iggys-gastrobar/

https://thehoneycombers.com/singapore/review-of-iggys-gastro-bar-in-hilton-singapore-we-check-out-the-new-concept-of-the-michelin-starred-restaurant/

What else I remember; family meal was quite fun, an American pasty chef was complaining we did too much Asian foods with rice, no salad, but//// I did tonkotsu ramen made with pork scrap, chicken chashu and gyoza, clam chowder, Hainanese chicken, Some Vienamese… those were good ones. Did monthly guest chef series with FOH, picnic out to Michelin star soy braised chicken and bunch of other places….. I remember some cooks had hard time at the beginning, but making family is always best way to learn, they got better as time goes by. I actually think the way how cooks make family meals reflect cooks mentality, if he/she care about things. Anyway we had a pretty good family regularly, was good memories.

Ok-lah, time to cut off: Now Iggy’s headded by 2 chefs I used to work and seems doing take out menu for now. I do hope they survive this difficult time and things back to normal soon. Not sure would be 3,5,10…but I’m looking forward to visit Singapore one day, eat bunch of goodies and meet team members again!! I hope they be successful and take me to Infinity pool////. WILL C…. Singapore rocks!!!

Thanks list: Mr.Chan, Ms.Wong, Aitor, Teresa, Sheiles, Looney, “Yummy, curry, yazzy;Prok judai”, “Pumpkin; chihuahua life lessoned”, “Brother of caramel brioche)collapsed” “Gymholic smiley muscle”, ”Metalhead/Sleepyhead”, “muscle oyabun; feel da smokiness”, “Tsunami -h’u’rry potter- cowboy ”, “Black belt naughty -kid-“ “Ba(d)nana” “Mr.Nee tai wan mei lah”, “Aunty; the best barista in SG”, “Skippy not PB”, “Rexy, Sexy, dreamy boy” “Sheryl;permanent lethal weapon of FOH” , Farrah-chan, Mr.Pawan and the rest of BOH n’ FOH team.