Over and out

It has been my pleasure to see the learning occur this semester.
The fall 2011 semester is behind us and really behind the tray.....thank you all and learn something new every day and pass it on. Make the world a better place. Peace out! Dr. Green

Japan

My week as “G.M.”/owner was a little nerve wrecking. I have had previous front of the house classes but nothing that prepared me for that. It is a completely different style of serving and the only thing that I knew how to do before I got in there was carry a tray (which I wasn’t that good at) and refill drinks. It was our professors first semester and I give her all the credit in the world, I never could have done what she did. She has expanded my views past the south east into a more globalized view. I have learned different techniques that I didn’t even know were out there and she has taught not only how to do them but to almost hone them to perfection. People ask me how I like my classes and I honestly don’t even know what to tell them we have become a family in our own over time and you can tell just by the way we interact with each other. Over all it has been an amazing class and I couldn’t have asked for a better professor or classmates.

Cuisines of Italy II

On October 18th, we had our second week of the Italian menu, and I must say it was one of my favorite meals of the semester. I was fortunate enough to be in the "Sous II"(floater) position, so I was able to float around different stations and learn how the different plates were prepared.

Appetizer

Ravioli di Magro all Salvia

Delicious tri-colored raviolis filled with spinach and cheese, topped with a sage butter sauce

Val was back in the bakery working hard on the tri-colored pasta dough! They turned out awesome.

Entree

Ossobuco alla Cipriani

Braised veal shanks with a rich tomato, mushroom and wine sauce

 This was my first time braising veal, so I was a little nervous. Thankfully, Nikki and Mike  were able to tear away from their potato fritter flippin' to give me a few pointers that helped me out a lot.

 

Dessert

Torti di Tiramisu 

A rich, sweet torte filled with rum & espresso flavored cream

Kristin piping the ladyfingers needed for the Tiramisu. It was soo good!

Like I said, this was one of my favorite menus of the class. I think everyone got to do something they haven't done before, and everything ended up coming together very nicely. 

World Cuisines (China)

Hello, My name is Mike. I was General Manager the week of one of the Five Asian Cuisines, China. I had a nervous experience with the management position. The thing that made me nervous the most was presenting the menu in front of 24 people. Our service was perfect and food went out really smooth. We had 4 courses for this menu. Our first course was a Hot and Sour Soup. It consisted of shredded pork butt, eggs, chinese cabbage, bamboo shoots and garnished with scallions. For the hot appetizer we had Egg Rolls. It consisted of bean sprouts, shrimp, garlic, pork meat, celery, mushrooms sauteed in peanut oil, rolled up and then deep fried. Our Entree' meal was Barbecued Spareribs slow smoked with a hot and spicy rub, then dressed in our homestyle BBQ sauce. Our two sides were Fried Rice, it consisted of ham, celery, onions, green pepper, eggs sauteed off and mixed with a rice pilaf. The second side was a Buddha's Delight. It consisted of broccoli, snow peas, red pepper, celery, mushrooms, dried bean curd, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts satueed in oil, and then seasoned with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. For our dessert we had a Banana Nut Cake which had bananas, cashews, and coconut. It was garnished with whipped cream and a "sugar tower thingy." Trust me on this. When I said "sugar tower thingy," The entire restaurant laughed and I was so embarrased. I have to say for my first experience as General Manager, I will never forget it.

Cuisines of Italy I .. October 19, 2011 (Denise Crider)

The original service date for Cuisines of Italy I was supposed to be Monday, October 12th.
But just like in a the "real world", we had a situation that closed service for the day and
we were delayed until the following Monday.  No one was too disappointed that service
was shut down, because it allowed it to have Columbus Day off.

When the following Monday rolled around we hit the ground running.  The class was
familiar with the menu, as we had prepared it for the previous Wednesday service. 
The Cuisine of Italy Menu was:

Antipasti: Pizzette
(a roustic-style Neopolitan Pizza with roasted red peppers, eggplant and oven-dried Roma tomatoes)

Entree: Ossobuco ala Cipriani
(a braised veal shank with a mushroom and wine sauce)

Postre: Tori di Tiramisu
(espresso and rum flavored cream torte with lady fingers)

I have a Love/Hate relationship with Banquet-Style Service.  Considering that we are working
from a set menu allows for easy service of each course.  This particular day we had no special
menu requests (ie: vegetarian or allergy concerns), so getting the meals plated in the back of the
house was simple.  Load it up, get it out :)

The downside to Banquet-Style Service is that the Servers sweep the room, meaning serving or clearing all at once.  All food is served at the same time and cleared for next course at the same
time.  When this works, it works well.  However, we seem to often have a guest who fails to realize
that service for the entire dining room is dependent on his/her finishing their course.  They continue
to offer the rest of the table their expertise on whatever topic is at hand .. or even better still .. they
give their revue of the menu.  They don't seem to notice the six sets of eyes watching for the moment
he or she finally puts down their fork for more than 45 seconds.  Once that happens .. we swoop in!

Cuisines of Italy was a good day .. Service was done quickly and flawlessly.  The Servers, Expo and
Dining Room Assistant made me look good that day as the General Manager!  Thanks to All!!

The British Isles

My name is Val, and this week I was scheduled to be the General Manager for the British Isles menu at La Friandise. I think it was one of our most successful Cuisines of the World menus, because it was very palatable to anyone. The guests ate everything on their plates, which is the best indication of how good the menu is.

Our first course was an Asparagus and Wild Mushroom spring mix salad, which was comprised of a jumbo asparagus spear and a variety of marinated mushrooms, tossed in a tarragon vinaigrette. Served with it were fresh blueberry scones.

For our entree, we offered a medium rare, melt-in-your-mouth prime rib. A horseradish cream sauce was provided to dip it in. The sides were English chips, Brussle sprouts, and Yorkshire Pudding.

Dessert was just as delicious. Served in an elegant wine glass, this raspberry trifle was to die for. Pound cake layered with vanilla pastry cream, real raspberry jam, and topped with Chantilly cream and toasted almonds!

Unfortunately for me, this week had a slight hitch to it... Below is three pictures of the classroom I came into after the Thanksgiving break.

Needless to say, my fellow classmates and I had to fix it up before service. This is my wonderful team, and what we all accomplished.

Enough of the front. What goes on in the mysterious kitchen? I have managed to capture a picture of the elusive, evasive Chef Redd. I also snapped a few pictures of what goes on during service on the line, and the expo area.

 Chef Redd

 Expo Duties

 Some More Expo

 Preparing Food on the Line 

 The Line

The Bakery

I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience as General Manager during the British Isles menu.

Cuisine de France

October 31, 2011.
This week of service La Friandise featured a French menu, which was met with very good feed back from the guests. For front of the house this week I was manager, and can say that service went pretty smooth, even with being down two in staff.

This class's service day happened to fall on Halloween, so as a special touch we all dressed up to celebrate. Some characters serving the guests included a witch, a French man, a football referee, and some kind of hobo-clown.

The menu was quintessential French fare. It was a respectable snap shot of the food one would find in France, even though a three course menu at lunch is not nearly enough time or space to grasp the entire French cuisine.

First course was a French onion soup; slow cooked sweet onions steeped in very earthy beef broth. To finish it was topped with a melted, gooey, cheesy crouton.




























For our second (and main) course, a classic Beef Wellington was prepared. For my kitchen day I was chef of the day and had joint responsibility in preparing this dish. It involved making a duxelle (which I was fond of since the main ingredient is mushrooms), topping that on a seared beef tenderloin fillet, then wrapping that in a puff pastry, and baking it off to perfection. The result is a beautiful golden-brown pouch filled with tender meat and mushrooms.

Our final course for this menu was a rich chocolate mousse. To elevate the mouse it was piped into a expertly made chocolate dipped twill. Then to add even more beauty to the plate sauces and coulis were arranged and piped around the mousse.


























So all in all, a pretty fun menu to prepare and serve. It was a well constructed menu that showed that French food is not all intimidating for those who will be eating it, or for the chefs to be who are preparing it.

FIESTA!!!

This week in La Friandise we dove into the cuisines of Mexico. Service on Monday went smoothly and the food disappeared like magic. We started off a little shaky thanks to a nervous General Manager (yours truly) and a lost first course, but once we got under way things began to fall in line nicely. I did notice a few things that we, as a group, need to work on. For example, our communication with one another and our execution of certain things still leaves a little something to be desired. Since this is only our second service, I have every confidence that we will have ironed out the kinks and be running like a well oiled machine by the end of the semester.

Now, on to the fun stuff. Let's talk about the food. After seeing the way the guests practically licked their plates, I was really excited to be back in the kitchen on Wednesday and being in the dish pit gave me the opportunity to really see what was happening at each station. The first course, home-made guacamole and tortilla chips, was a festive kick-off to the day and Dylan did a great job with the presentation. Next up we had Denise's delicious Chili Relenos, which I think we can all agree were absolutely mouth-watering. Our main course was the Grouper Vera Cruz, accompanied by fried plantains, black beans, and cheese grits with roasted corn. Millie really got down and dirty fileting the grouper and getting it ready to be grilled while Val started on the salsa that would go on top. It came out looking beautiful on top of small tortillas that were handmade by Mike and Nikki in the bakery, nestled against the vegetables that Sara had spent the morning pouring all her energy into. The final course of the afternoon were churros, beautifully arranged by Ben in wine glasses and served with a chocolate sauce.

Unfortunately for me, I got sick and wasn't able to make it to the end of the day and I really appreciate you guys stepping in and bailing me out. I know that sometimes we get so caught up in our own tasks and stations that we forget that we are a team and we are all working towards the same end goal. And while our individual efforts deserve props, none of us would be able to truly succeed without the efforts of the rest of the group as well. So thank you all for being such a great team this week and making it a pleasure to be the GM.

Adios!

Caribbean Week!

So, of course, the day I am assigned the GM position, catastrophe strikes...a ceiling tile and apparent leak from the storm over the weekend disabled service Monday. However, this gives me an opportunity to address more experiences I've had serving in La Friandise. The theme for our menu was Caribbean...difficult word to spell... and all our dishes were more or less inspired by okra, which is the African word for gumbo or "gumba" as they pronounce it. Caribbean dishes most often present sweet, spicy, fresh, crisp flavors that are vibrant and colorful in plate presentation, which i hope you will see in the pictures I am posting. I was also able to take some pictures of the dining room, which is very formal. We definately go above and beyond within our capacity to surprise our guests with upscale fine dining. From a wait staff perspective the issues i have run into are getting enough ice in the glasses (which i learned if I tilt the pitcher to the side, more ice comes out and it splashes less), polishing silver ware (best done with coffee filters), and guests not knowing proper etiquette in the way to eat certain dishes (such as corn on the cob, they will cut the kernals off the corn, causing theyre fingers to become slippery, instead of just picking it up with your hands and eating it...which is perfectly acceptable). 

And so it starts

This blog will follow the journey of students from Gulf Coast State College through a semester of service in La Friandise, which is the Culinary Classroom or better well known to the professor as a "laboratory".  This class will share the cuisines of the world and as part of the class will talk about it  from the view of the student.  So, come along for the ride, it is a great bunch of students and will hone their fine dining skills as we go.