Planning for the 2nd annual Tom Douglas' Culinary Summer Camp is well underway!! Last year’s camp showed me how much the word “foodie” describes so many of you. We thought five days of food challenges, guest chefs, cookbook authors and field trips might overwhelm your senses, but you came out swinging and ready for more.
This year's camp will focus on the cooking of our restaurants with hands on chef-ing at both the Palace Kitchen and Serious Pie. Campers will find out what it's like to work in one of our kitchens - grilling on a full flame apple wood broiler or a 32,000 btu burner while waiters are waiting for their pickup. Planning and designing menus for your very own restaurant might seem easy until there are hungry diners staring and wondering when their vittles might be showing up! And working the 650 degree stone encased pizza oven at Serious Pie is sure to thrill you backyard grillers.
All of this in addition to a compliment of new guest chefs, new cuisines, and new culinary challenges. Last year I thoroughly relished getting to know all of our campers, which is a rare treat for me as I’m a back of the house guy. This year I look forward to doing the same.
On another note...I'm admittedly computer phobic; however, I must say there are some great food blogs that I find fun to read. One of which is Ed Levine’s blog, seriouseats.com. You may have seen Ed as a judge on Iron Chef or know him from the several books he has under his belt. Basically, Ed searches the world for the best "tastes," be they soup dumplings, or pastrami sandwiches. The best part about Ed and his blog is that he’s not a food snob, he just believes in his palate. A classic New Yorker, Ed will defend his favorite pizza or bagel joint with vehement verbal jousts until you can make your case to prove him wrong. Let’s just say I’ve only won a single battle with Ed and he wouldn’t cry uncle until he got on a plane and tried the place for himself.
On the local dining scene, I’m looking forward to trying the “new” Virginia Inn restaurant, delicious meals at Rover’s, a ten course extravaganza and a first rate steak at Daniel’s Broiler on Lake Union.
One last note to toot our own horn: If you don’t try the rabbit pasta with English peas, baby carrots and sweet salad onions at the Dahlia Lounge for lunch, you may never know that spring has truly sprung in the chilly and soggy Northwest.
Cheers,
Tom
|