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WHY EAT TILL YOU BLEED?

For a long time, friends referred to me as Bacchus because of my larger than life love of life, food, wine and general merriment. The inspiration for Eat Till You Bleed came during a recent bacchanalian dinner party. We were slightly drunk having finished off several bottles of wine and home crafted brews and perhaps, just maybe, eaten way too much. At one point Jack blurted out what sounded a bit like a toast or perhaps a command, ‘Eat Till You Bleed!’ As the night progressed the line was repeated and repeated till it sounded more like a battle cry from the front lines of debauchery. It came to encapsulate life at my house. Yes, the transition from professional Chef to a home cook has been rough on the waistline and liver, but great for the Soul.

Grab a pint of your favorite beverage, pull up a chair and join the party! Together we will explore the world of FOOD one bite at a time!

LIVE LIFE TO IT’S FULLEST, BACCHUS STYLE

Chef Francois

Leaving La Quinta

“Man cannot discover new oceans

unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

–          André Gide

 

We are in the final moments of an impending major life change.  The material acquisitions of a hard working life have been sold, given away, discarded or packed neatly into labeled boxes lined up in what used to be our dining room.  Looking at the stack makes me contemplate how one’s hours are easily measured by the amount of stuff accumulated.  It’s hard to break away from these thoughts but my post isn’t about materialism it’s about choosing to live life deliberately and enjoying every second of it.

The first time I literally walked away from a restaurant in my prime was at Pili Pili, a wonderful Mediterranean restaurant near the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. I can vividly remember my bosses face changing to a ghostly white as the color left it when I told him of my decision.   We were at the top of our game, recently named top ten in the world by Food and Wine magazine, and I was leaving for reasons that astounded him.  I had to go for a walk, a very long walk, a 2,167.2 mile walk on the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine.

Gastronomica magazine published my story chronicling the thought process of how I had lost the desire to trade my life for a handful of dimes and needed something more spiritually significant happening in my life.  At the time I was experiencing what Phil Cousineau described as soul loss.  “There is another call, the one that arrives the day when what once worked no longer does. Sometimes people need a shock; sometimes a tocsin call. It’s time for a wakeup call. A man fired from a job; a child runs away from home; ulcers overtake a body. The ancients called this “soul loss”. Today, the equivalent is the loss of meaning or purpose in our lives. There is a void where there should be what Gerard Manley Hopkins calls “juice and joy.” The heart grows cold, life loses its vitality. Our accomplishments seem meaningless.”  I craved more significance in my life.

Sometimes to find yourself you need to let go of your perceived safety net, float freely away and completely lose sight of the shore.  Only amidst the turmoil of a stormy sea can you rebuild your life and find your way to your island paradise.

“There are many things that seem impossible

only so long as one does not attempt them.” 

― André Gide

I am leaving the kitchens of Figue Mediterranean and hanging up my toque looking for new challenges and goals to strive for.  I could list one hundred valid reasons to go and perhaps another hundred reasons to stay, but none will repay time lost with my three year old son Beaumont and my wife Lisa.   I am thankful for all the cooks and dishwashers I had the privilege  of working with over the last two years.  I am thankful to Lee Morcus for bringing me on to help realize his dream.  I wish continued success to everyone there.  And my biggest thanks to all our customers… without you a restaurant can never be.

At age 50, following my lifelong passions of food and photography I am reinventing myself as a food photographer and blogger and am hopeful to one day write a book, maybe turn it into a TV series and continue to explore the world one plate at a time.

Join me on the journey at http://www.EatTillYouBleed.com  The journey beginsin July 2014.

 

Francois

 

Chef François grew up in a very French household in Chicago. His earliest attempts at cookery began with the filleting of his sister’s goldfish at age two and a braised rabbit dish made with his pet rabbits at age seven. He eventually stopped cooking his pets and went to the highly esteemed New England Culinary Institute where he graduated top of his class in 1985.

Chef François de Mélogue has over 20 years of cross-cultural culinary experience, Chef François brings an impressive culinary history and a unique Mediterranean cooking style. After graduating top in his class from the notable New England Culinary Institute, Chef François began his career in a number of highly acclaimed kitchens across the country, including Chef Louis Szathmary’s restaurant The Bakery in Chicago, Old Drovers Inn, a Relais and Chateaux property in New York and Joel Robuchon Gastronomie restaurant in Paris, before opening award-winning restaurant Pili Pili in his hometown of Chicago, rated in the Top Ten new restaurants in the World by Food and Wine magazine in 2003. While working with Robuchon, Chef François began to shape his personal culinary philosophy of “Cuisine Actuelle,” which showcases the natural flavor in the ingredients he uses to create his dishes. Chef Francois specializes in simply prepared Mediterranean-inspired cuisine that is enhanced by his appreciation and knowledge of fine wine, craft beer, charcuterie and cheese. In line with his belief that food should be prepared without unnecessary distractions or alterations, Chef François creates honest, healthy and delicious cuisine that is approachable and always delightful.

Specialties: incredibly focused cuisine actuelle mixed with a deep appreciation of fine wines, beers, charcuterie and cheeses

Alain Passard’s 90 Minute Asparagus

Asparagus’s first shoots have been popping up all over fields and gardens in Southern California for the last few weeks. They are a food lover’s early Spring harbinger telling us Winter is almost done and soon our tables will be overflowing with morels, fava beans, ramps, Alaskan halibut and other culinary delights.  It’s especially good news for those who live in parts of the country still buried under mountains of snow not believing that Winter will actually end soon.

I pre-ordered Michelin three star Chef Alain Passard’s highly anticipated vegetable book “The Art of Cooking with Vegetables”  from Amazon as soon as it was offered.  When it arrived, I leafed through it, loved the simplicity, then put it on a shelf and promptly forgot about it.  That’s one of the problems facing a cookbook addict who owns more than 2,000 cookbooks.  There ought to be a 12 step program for book hogs like myself who cannot refuse new releases.  Just the other day I picked it up again and became enthralled with Passard’s recipe titled “Stand Up Asparagus”, a recipe genius in it’s simplicity though it sounds a tad like a dish DeNiro would have ordered in Goodfellas.

The recipe called for “the freshest possible asparagus with tightly closed tips and firm stalks” so on Sunday we went to the La Quinta farmer’s market and picked up a few bunches of just picked asparagus.  I trimmed off the bottoms, wrapped them in buttered parchment and bundled them together with kitchen twine.  I clarified 5 ounces of fresh sweet cream butter and put it into a one quart pot along with the asparagus bundles and slowly cooked  it for 90 minutes on super low heat, basting every twenty minutes.

The result is asparagus nirvana.  The stalks are perfectly cooked and tender with the tips still bright green with a light crunch.  Alain suggests serving with a poached egg and all that delicious asparagus butter.  Certainly you cannot go wrong with the classic combination but if you are adventurous and your arteries are not in imminent danger of clogging, you could poach an egg AND make a Hollandaise with the resulting asparagus butter.  For those of us pushing the limit of rich dishes consumed over a lifetime of eating great food you may want to consider charging the defibrillator prior to tackling this dish!

Chef F… Eat till you bleed!

Polite Provisions: Manufacturers of Local Tonics, Elixirs and Cures

Polite Provisions is the brainchild of Erick Castro and the guys behind famed San Diego bars Craft and Commerce, Underbelly and Noble Experiment.  The interior space  has the feel of an old time drug store with it’s tiled floors and faux tin ceilings mixed with fitting but eclectic touches like old street lamps and fire extinguishers.  The space is absolutely cool, hip and well thought out but the real draw is the amazing cocktails made from a selection of over 50 different bitters and forty six taps pulling everything from craft beers and sodas to draft cocktails and spirits.

We had to drive to San Diego to pick up our beloved VW Westfalia from Pete at SD Westy.  When we arrived he told us we would need another hour or two to button up some loose ends and get our vanagon ready for the voyage back home.  Lisa had come equipped with a list of places to check out and things to do.  Polite Provisions on 30th and Adams was at the top of the list.  We stood outside in the rain waiting for the bartender to unlock the doors and let us in the gold framed wood and glass door.

We sat down and checked out their amazing cocktail and beverage menu with so many great choices of pre-prohibition influenced libations I knew we were in trouble.  Go to their web site to check it out: http://politeprovisions.com/menu/politeprovisionsmenu.pdf  We started with two cocktails, one rum based and the other with Champagne.

Now that we had drinks we needed to order food from Soda and Swine, the sister restaurant next door.  The premise is a meatball shop offering six basic meatballs which you can get in a variety of guises from a sub to pasta and back again.  They have amazing sides, like the Scotch Egg pictured below to over the top dirty fries topped with pork belly and other tasty treats.  They kindly deliver food to your table so that you won’t have to leave your cocktail unchaperoned.  The food is plentiful, fatty and deliciously served on half sheet pans.

While eating Pete called and said it would be a few more hours.  What a terrible place to have to sit and wait for your car to be serviced!

I could not more highly, or drunkenly, recommend Polite Provisions!

Cheers!

Diavola: Maybe the best restaurant in the World?

Dino Bugica has something incredibly and edibly special going on in Geyserville, California.  Dino is the Chef owner of Diavola, one of my favorite places to eat in the world.  What I like most is that it is a regular spot featuring amazing farm to table cuisine with an Italian touch.  The food is mind blowingly simple yet so rich and textured in it’s flavors and combinations.  The menu offers everything from amazing pizzas baked in his wood fired oven, like our perennial favorite the Cha Cha Cha, a house smoked pork belly pizza to pan seared Iberico pork loin in a white miso and mustard sauce.  Even dishes I would rarely if ever order, like tripe or tuna heart, are brought to majestic new heights at the Chef’s talented  hand.  If it is on the menu, I am ordering it.

Next time you find yourself in Northern California and you are wondering where to eat go visit Dino at Diavola Pizzeria http://www.diavolapizzeria.com/

braised Beef Tripe alla Fiorentina with a sauteed Farm Egg

Here is a gallery of photos I have taken over the last few years of eating there, enjoy!

TV Chef Beau Macmillian

Me and Beau loving life

My son Beaumont

Charcuterie hanging at the bar

incredible Sardines

Beaumont reaching for his grape juice

Beau and his favorite Grissinis

old sous chef Mike Fratis

one of two dining rooms

Spaghettini with Pork Cheek Ragu

Iberico Pork Loin with Miso Mustard Sauce

Bambino Pizza

Mendocino Uni Crostini and an amazing Charcuterie board

Figue’s Figs

Our baked figs at Figue Mediterranean is undoubtedly the most requested appetizer on our menu.  It is the culmination of what Figue is in one bite, charcuterie, figs, labne, Provencal honey and Sicilian pistachios.  The melding of cultures and cuisines.  The inspiration originated when I bought Greg and Lucy Malouf’s excellent and inspiring book ‘Arabesque’ and saw a similar dish.  Ours is modified from their original recipe but still pays tribute to it’s origins.

Please click the link below for a printable copy of the recipe:

Figs by Francois de Melogue at Figue

The 9th International Alsatian Wine and Food Festival 2014

Wow!  It is that time of year again! Time to don our festive Alsatian outfits and drink our way through a legion of unpronounceable white wine varietals while eating delicious pork and Asian inspired dishes.

Bob and Claudia Klindt,
Claudia Springs Winery

For me it is something far more, something more akin to a spiritual homecoming to a place where my heart and soul still resides.  My family lived in Mendocino for seven years and I still think about those beautiful experiences often.  I had the good fortune to work with Bob and Claudia Klindt at their amazing micro winery, Claudia Springs Winery for three years. I was their cellar rat performing whatever task that needed to be done on that date.  One hat I wore remarkably well was marketing, basically a license to torture them electronically with imagery and pictures only a twisted kitchen mind could conceive.  In their good nature they actual let me run with a few of them and never fired me, though the picture of Bob in Alsatian attire came awfully close.  I had a lot of fun working there and learned a lot from Bob and Claudia.

Every year, the Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association host two great festivals, Pinot Fest and the other celebrating the wine varietals commonly found  in the Alsace region of France.  My great grandparents are from Alsace so the thought of eating steamy bowls of choucroute while downing glasses of Gewurztraminer almost sounds sexy.

Chef Francois with Shirley Londer, Londer Vineyards

The International Alsatian Wine Festival was one of the highlights of the year  I looked forward to.  Dozens of winemakers and restaurants from all over the world converged on our sleepy little valley and uncorked some of the world’s most amazing white wines.  I eventually got involved with some of the inner workings of the festival culminating with me coordinating the food side of the event in 2011.

I got bitten by the Chef bug and returned to man the ranges at Figue Mediterranean in the Palm Springs area of Southern California.  For a year and half I have been deeply immersed in all things Mediterranean from beautifully poetic seafood stews like Bourride, Bouillabaisses less elaborate cousin to Moroccan Chicken Tajines to perfecting the art of spit roasting and everything in between.

Like the prodigal son I am returning to the Anderson Valley this Friday to do a demo of my Moroccan Seared Sea Scallops that I formulated especially for this event.  It is a quirky fusion of Moroccan and Italian tastes that simply work well together with off-dry Gewurztraminers.  My thought process was to create something that not the typical foods paired but would fit the bill.  I consulted Evan Goldstein’s book ‘Perfect Pairings’ and took his wonderful pairing advice.

Gewurtraminer goes well with aromatically spicy dishes.  You need to be aware of the level of heat, but exotic cuisines that stress curry, ginger, clove, cinnamon, allspice and cardamom are very happy tablemates.

Claudia Springs Winery on a misty May morning

I thought about the cuisine we are doing at Figue (www.EatFigue.com) which really is a fusion between classic, traditional flavors and bold and experimental interpretations fusing different cultures.  The Mediterranean is the first true fusion cooking the world has known.  The menu of Figue is the story of the Mediterranean.  It is the story of conquests, invasions, immigrations and discovery.  Each wave of change brought new foods, cooking techniques and dishes to the table.  I look at the range of typical recipes, ingredients and techniques and see an artist’s palette full of beautiful colors and sensuous flavors waiting to be reimagined on a canvas.

my Seared Moroccan Sea Scallop with Preserved Lemon Farrotto, Green Charmoula and Gewurztraminer recipe

Guy’s Grocery Games, 98% Excited, 2% Scared or is it the other way around?

Anyone else remember Michael Bay’s 1998 movie Armageddon starring Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Owen Wilson and several other stars?  The scene I am thinking of is when Oscar Choi, played by Owen Wilson, is getting strapped into the space shuttle and is describing how he feels.  

I applied for a spot on season two of Guy’s Grocery Games, the insanely cool cooking game show on the Food Network and happily got a call back.  If there are any folks who have never seen it it is pretty much Chopped mixed with a touch of insanity.  I almost crapped on myself when they did the Aisle Four game.  I think it was aisle four.  Whatever aisle number doesn’t matter.  What does is that you had to race to the candy aisle and cook a meal out of it.  Or the frigging bag switch? Only a madman with a twisted sense of humor does that to another human being. Owen Wilson correctly describes exactly how I feel on the very hopeful verge of getting onto that show.  “I got that excited scared feeling.  98% excited and 2% scared, or maybe it’s the other way around.”

I am going to represent the crazy anonymous folks that choose the restaurant business to carve out a living.  I suppose it was cooking or end up in some random padded cell to bounce off of in my straitjacket deep into my twilight years.  If I had to describe to my three year old son Beaumont what I do for a living it would simply be: “Daddy wears pajamas with a tall paper hat (lovingly refereed to as a Culinary Condom by Garrett Blackstock in the wildly popular BBC program ‘Chef’) experiencing moments of perfect calm punctuated by periods of unspeakable madness.  I race to get food cooked for 40 to 280 people depending on how many people walk in unannounced, barking out orders for an hour and half interlaced with obscenities and adolescent random comments about penises that would make Red Foxx blush, and perhaps legally classify me as having Tourette’s syndrome.  Sorry son, Daddy is a madman.”

Sorry to burst the bubble of those of you who think of Chefs as a serious bunch of artists and craftsmen wearing clinically white pristine Chef coats quietly contemplating each and every combination that goes on your plate. When I did my stage for one of the world’s greatest Chefs to grace the planet, Chef Joel Robuchon, I thought to myself now if there ever will be a serious kitchen this has got to be it.  By the end of the first service I saw all the same shenanigans I have attributed  to the lowly kitchens I have crewed (or maybe crude).  Oh we are a crazy bunch of culinary clowns, but damn I love it and wouldn’t do anything else!

I sent the casting agency my information followed by a short clip I filmed after a cocktail.  I suppose I should add part of my bio as a form of introduction to the 19 second clip that follows.  It also may explain my character a bit better and perhaps why my sister is still in therapy 51 years later.  “Chef François grew up in a very French household in Chicago.  His earliest attempts at cookery began with the filleting of his sister’s goldfish at age two and a braised rabbit dish made with his pet rabbits at age seven.  He eventually stopped cooking his pets and went to the highly esteemed New England Culinary Institute where he graduated top of his class in 1985.”  Do you think there is another profession anywhere in the world where you can write that you ate your pets and somehow it is perceived as a benefit?  I guess I was way ahead of the tail to snout foodie movement.  GEEZ LOUISE! Or as my French family might gasp “Mon Dieu.”

Moroccan Donuts with Harissa Hot Chocolate

Who doesn’t love a great donut?  Mmm, those sugary feathery light deep fried puffs rolled in sugar warming your belly and soul.  Donuts are pure magic.  They transport me back to an earlier time when food could cure all that has gone wrong in life.  Donuts, confectionery alchemy at it’s best.  Flour, sugar, butter and eggs transformed into sweet delectable pillows.  Donuts, proof that God does exist.  All this donut talk has nearly caused me to short out my keyboard from the anticipatory drool.  I do understand why I am fat.  I love food and quite honestly food loves me.

I won’t kid you, making these donuts at home will take some skill and patience.  Anyone can do it.  Just set aside some time, follow the recipe and prepare to enter Food Nirvana.

Makes Four Servings:

Moroccan Donuts

1 /2 cup        Milk

2 1/2 t.           active dry Yeast

3 cups            all-purpose flour

8 T.                  cold unsalted Butter, cut into 12 pieces

1/4 cup         Sugar

1 t.                   Sweet Paprika

1 t.                   Cinnamon

Pinch             Cayenne

1 t.                   Sea Salt

2 large           Eggs

2 large           Egg yolks

Heat milk in a small saucepan until it is just lukewarm.  Your body temperature is 98.6 degrees.  If you stick your finger into the milk it should be just slightly warmer then you.  Pour the milk into a small bowl and add yeast. Use a spoon to stir in 1 cup of the flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside until it is bubbly and slightly risen, about 20 minutes.

In a food processor, combine the butter, sugar, spices, salt, eggs and egg yolks. Pulse till butter is finely chopped and equally distributed throughout the mixture.

Add yeast mixture and pulse to mix. Add 1 cup of the remaining flour and pulse until the mixture is smooth. Scrape down the bowl. Add the rest of the flour and pulse again until well-mixed. Let the dough rest in the food processor for 10 minutes.

Weigh out two ounces pieces and roll into a log shape.  Pinch the ends together, put in a warm place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and let rest till it doubles in size.

Deep fry in 350 degree oil till brown and crispy on both sides.  Roll in granulated sugar mixed with cinnamon.  At the restaurant we are lucky to have deep fryers.  At home I use a large heavy gauged pot filled half way with vegetable oil.  I use a deep fryer thermometer to check temperature.  Be careful not to crowd pot with too many donuts because they will cool the oil and cause the donuts to soak up more fat.  Drain donuts on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels.

Harissa Hot Chocolate

2-1/4 c          whole Milk

¼ c.                Water

4 oz                grated Valrhona bittersweet Chocolate (Manjari)

¼ c.                Sugar

1                      Cinnamon Stick

1                      Star Anise

1 t.                   Harissa, or to taste

Pinch              Saffron

Combine everything, boil, pour into a mug.  Caution this hot chocolate is rich and full of flavor.  Your favorite powdered version will not taste good anymore.

Panigacci: Ligurian layered Pasta with Pesto

In my researching interesting dishes for the menu at Figue Mediterranean I came across this dish in Carol Field’s excellent book “In Nonna’s Kitchen”.  I was taken by the rustic simplicity that I had to try it right away.  I made it first for my sous chef Keith Schneider and former manager Frederic Watson.  All of us were consumed by the simple flavors of basil married with tomato married with the soft pasta layers.  I tried finding references in other Italian books and couldn’t really find much.  The only other reference to it was a form of ancient flat bread baked directly in the hot coals of a fire.

Making Panigacci is more like making crepes than rolling pasta.  The first step is making the batter.

9 ounces Flour ( I used all purpose)

pinch Sea Salt

2-1/3 c. filtered Water

Mix the ingredients and strain into a four cup glass measuring cup.  Heat a small amount of oil in a Teflon pan and pour just enough batter to make a “crepe’.  If you have never made crepes google it.  The technique is the same.  The recipe should yield enough crepes for one panigacci.

Next make a simple pesto with basil and pine nuts.  I never measure ingredients and go more on feel and flavor but I will offer these helpful tips.  Do not buy store bought pesto because it sucks.  I start with a small boiled fingerling potato, garlic, Parmesan and olive oil pureed in a food processor.  The addition of a small potato came from an Italian chef.  The potato keeps your basil from turning brown and adds a level of creaminess that is amazing.  If I had to guess quantities I would say one fingerling peeled, 1/4 cup of pine nuts, 1 cup Parmesan (I used Reggiano) and one cup of extra virgin olive oil.  With the motor running I add about one pound of basil leaves that were blanched and shocked and I puree till smooth.  To me pesto should taste creamy, basilly with a hint of garlic.

Spoon one tablespoon of pesto over each panigacci till you are done.  Roast the whole panigacci in your oven, or wood burning oven as we do.  Cut into wedges and serve on a San Marzano tomato sauce.  Try this immediately.  You will absolutely fall in love with it.  Thank You Carol Field for publishing such a great recipe!  I strongly suggest finding her books and buying them all!