Separation

Some vinaigrette's are easy and some are not. A lot of of our recipes use very few emulsifiers to bind our dressings together with the idea of keeping our flavors as pure as possible. But this often results in line cooks (and myself) breaking the vinaigrette. So we used to start over and try and re-emulsify. Thanks to cooking for engineers we saw a better way to start over. Of course using a basis from chemistry we force the separation to speed up using a zip lock bag. Hanging the bag allows for a complete separation and when the mixture is finished we cut a small whole in the bottom of the bag and allow the mixtures to drain into separate containers and then we can start anew. It is a great method for separating any liquid.This is our pomegranate vinaigrette. A constant source of frustration.

NC Snow

We've been really busy recently until we had a NC snow day. It doesn't happen often in NC but when it does it sure shuts things down, including our restaurant. I came in with our dishwasher only to work on a few things and make sure all was well. I thought I'd let the rest of you see our fantastic view from the window in our kitchen. I hope all had a happy sledding day. My children sure did!

Valentine's Day

Valentines day is right around the corner. I thought I'd post the menu.

Amuse Bouche

Dark chocolate dipped Hazelnut with Fleur de Sel

Soup

Lobster Bisque

with house made crème fraiche

Salad

Rocket ArugulaGreens,

Raspberry-Vanilla vinaigrette, sweet pickled fennel,

whipped Saint Andre cheese and toasted almonds

Appetizers

Grana Padano Crusted Asparagus

with Garland Farms Shaved Truffle

Crispy Fried NC Oysters

with bacon-tomato ragout and fresh shaved horseradish

Entrees

Chateaubriand For Two

Served with sauce Béarnaise, Roaring Forties Cream,

Sauce Bordelaise and roasted fingerling potatoes

Lavender Dusted Wild Striped Bass

with sorrel cream and braised baby spinach

Berkshire Pork Osso Bucco

Creamy Guilford County Grits, bourbon jus

and bacon-thyme Brussels Sprouts

Dessert

Banana Split For Two

Roasted and bruleed banana, banana gelato, raspberry sorbeto,

bing cherry compote, chocolate ganache and almond brittle tuile