The Extern Test

Mongo, Extern at Baraka , With Sunglasses At Night

Ever since I have cooked in San Francisco, I have been in a relationship with the California Culinary Academy to host externs that are finishing up their schooling and are about to step into this nasty world of "hospitality". I feel like a natural teacher and love mentoring young cooks just like my Chefs mentored me. At Postrio, we used to have five externs at once and they would spend most of their time pureeing and passing soup in the back prep kitchen. A few have since moved into Executive Chef and Sous Chef positions here in SF but most end up not in the business at all. I try to give these externs a real experience, because there are way tougher Chefs out there than myself, as I am a self proclaimed sweetheart, ha! As I moved up really fast in the cooking world, and without an official culinary education, I had mixed feelings about the culinary students.

At Baraka, I used to give these externs a mid way evaluation. It was part fun for me and the rest of the staff, and part a kitchen IQ test if you will. It raised morale and tested the sanity of the student extern as well, overall a lot of fun...

Extern Test:

1. Draw a carrot monster:

2. Name the original members of the Backstreet Boys:

3. What is the sum of two apples plus two oranges?

4. Did you experiment while in college?

5. What is your name? Fast, you only get three seconds...

6. Does your girlfriend/boyfriend eat pork?

7. Who is the official entertainer of Baraka ?( Now Fish & Farm)

8. Name the four mother sauces:

9. What animal does Pork Belly come from?

10. What is Tim Lincecum's middle name?

Answers:

1. Subjective question, we hope its interesting though.

2. You actually lose a point for each right member.

3. Two apples plus two oranges, yeah I flunked Algebra but still know this one.

4. Again subjective, we had great, differing responses from this one.

5. Mongo got this wrong.

6. It works either way, just be honest, we are an equal opportunity employer.

7. Lil Wayne, always killing it

8. Trick question, there are actually five: Béchamel, Espagnole, Hollandaise, Tomato sauce, Velouté.

9. A pig, hello?, hello?(in a Richard Reddington tone)

10. Leroy, just like my prized puppy, its better to be a Giants fan in the kitchen!

Little Know Facts About The Fish & Farm Kitchen

-On occasion, you might just hear an "interaction" between my self and a new cook all the way in the dining room

-Tongs are not allowed in the kitchen, however, one pair is kept on hand in case a Gray Kunz spoon needs to be retrieved from under the burners during a busy service

- It takes at least six months for a new cook to be allowed to mince chives for the line

-You might very well hear cheesy R & B and lots of Lil Wayne playing all day long

-In the summer we use a lot of good olive oil, while in the winter we use a lot of butter

-My novella: The Nautical Themed Restaurant was started before I knew about Fish & Farm, yet is a funny coincidence

-During a regular service we go through two 1/9 pans of chiffonade parsley, one 1/9 pan of minced chives and two 1/9 pans of picked fines herbs, I don't know? I like the freshness and balance they bring to bigger dishes

- Bandannas are prohibited

-Dear FOH staff: I do have a sense of humor, no really I do; I think...

-You will receive a nickname, some examples from the past: Mongo, Sparky, Moustachio, Captain, Gracie Jones, One Job Bob, Spanky, The Cannon, the list goes on and on...

-If it is slow, we must hold a moustache growing contest

-My Chateau, or Chatto nickname was given to me at Postrio because my Latin friends could not pronounce Chad properly

Welcome To The New Fish & Farm Restaurant!

Pole Bean Salad, Dill Cream



Grilled Rib Eye, House Steak Sauce




Country Pork Chop, Worcestershire-Shallot Pan Sauce

Slow Roasted Pork Ribs, Harissa BBQ Sauce

Buttermilk Fried Chicken, Gracie's Cornbread, Tabasco Butter

Peanut Butter Mousse, Sea Salted Chocolate

Newly Refreshed Interior

Halibut, Wild Mushrooms

Newly Painted Dining Room

Fish & Farm

Cheesecake In A Jar

Great Cheeseburger!!!

Farmers Market Salad

Welcome everyone to the new Fish & Farm Restaurant! After some refreshments to the decor and some new energy in the kitchen we are alive and kicking! Please come and join us soon for dinner, I am betting that you will have a great time.

Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

Chef Richard Reddington, Redd Restaurant, Yountville, CA

"Anything you can do, I can do better"...You will often hear me quoting this in the kitchen, talking shop with other chefs or explaining my philosophy on running a kitchen to my owners, investors or Sous Chefs. What does it mean to you? For me its not an egotistical statement, but one that explains my approach at being a successful Chef in this awesome food city. To earn the respect of your crew, to have them follow you into war on a nightly basis, to have minimal problems day to day,( which we all know that in a restaurant there are far more problems than successes and good times, we don't need more) you have to be better than everybody around you. Again, please do not confuse this with being competitive with your coworkers. This is about your dish boy showing up drunk, sending them home to more Modelos, jumping in that dish pit and cleaning those plates, pots and pans, faster than they would even if they were at the top of their game. And that's why I wear a snappy in the kitchen instead of a Chef coat(also because Fish & Farm is the hottest kitchen I have ever been in!), you never know when you will have to get down and dirty. Its about bringing on a new dish or bringing in a new animal to break down, and being able to figure it out and break it down with no hesitation or problem. Its about breaking down your station faster, cleanlier and more organized than your best line cook. Its about having to yell at your cooks to get the food out faster and when they cant, instead of just standing there and yelling more, kicking them off their station and putting up hotter, more soigne, perfect plates in a fraction of the time. Anything you can do, I can do better...


My most personal experiences with this ideal is still etched in my memory from my time at Redd. I helped Chef Richard Reddington open up his award winning restaurant in beautiful Yountville as a Sous Chef and got beat down every day. It was so tough at the time, but now I look back on how helpful it was to my career, especially with managing people. For the opening, Richard hand picked his crew from across the country. It was an amazing group of cooks and Chefs, and everyone there was there for a reason, they were all so talented and so driven. So, for me, trying to manage cooks that were as talented and often more talented than I was, it was a big problem. I could not butcher better than them, I could not cook harder and faster than them. I could not organize a walk in to Richards tight specifications. I could not be the Sous Chef I needed to be. I could not do it better than any of them.

This all changed for me when I started as the Chef at Baraka. It was a intimate entity with only 6 people total in the kitchen, including dishwashers. It gave me a fair chance to manage a kitchen, a crew, a restaurant, the right way. That was two years ago and since then I have really focused on this element in my career. It was a great start,but I know I still have a long, long way to go, to be better than everyone else around me...

The Importance of Blue House Farm

Ryan Casey, Owner/Farmer, Blue House Farm

Ned Conwell, Owner/Farmer, Blue House Farm

Bachelor Buttons



Beautiful Baby Lettuces

Last summer, I brought a mixed box of Blue House Farm vegetables to San Francisco Chef Great George Morrone as a gift for him and his girlfriend Karen to cook with at home. It was an amazing selection of different varieties of eggplant, tomatoes, elephant garlic, basil, peppers, etc. When I talked to him next, he excitedly told me of his three days of cooking at home using these organic vegetables, and exclaimed, "you inspired me". That is a lot coming from Chef George, who I had the chance to become close friends with while at Baraka. Well, actually, I wasn't the one to inspire him, the vegetables did, and that is a big compliment to my boys over at Blue House Farm, located in nearby Pescadero. I have known the owners/farmers Ryan and Ned for years now and I am so pleased to be able to work with them and see them as much as I get to.

What they are doing over there on their small, intimate, beautiful, well run farm is pretty amazing. Blessed with a very fertile growing region, the vegetables, flowers, tubers and legumes taste amazing, some of the best I have tasted in the country, and I am not just saying this because I love and respect them, it is the real truth. Please do not tell me what is in season based on traditional seasonality charts; if it is growing in nearby Pescadero and tastes great it is in season. The majority of their bounty does run a traditional seasonality line with their first offerings being strawberries in late April/early May and they usually finish the season with dry farmed Early Girl tomatoes in October/November. Some items, like cauliflower, turnips, kale and other typical Wintery types grow all year round and are on point. For example, they grow some of the best cheddar, purple, graffiti and regular cauliflower that I have ever cooked with; so good Richard Reddington would be blown away by its flavor and texture.

Blue House Farm is growing! It is exciting for me to see them expand a little bit every year. A couple years back they barely had any goods for sale, with most of their vegetables going to their CSA(Community Supported Agriculture) boxes(by the way, regular people love them too, there is a wait list for this program), then last year they supplied myself and Baraka all season long, as well as a road side stand, and a local market. This year they have attained a walk in to store more lettuces and perishable goods, and most importantly have made it up to the Alemany Farmers Market in San Francisco, and other farmers markets on the peninsula. This is bittersweet for me. I love to have a more direct access to their great products, but I will definitely miss driving to the farm on each and every Saturday of the growing season to walk the rows with Ned and Ryan, catch up, and share stories about what I am doing with their vegetables at the restaurant.

I am also excited to be working with them this year and will be picking up my first order Saturday for use at Fish and Farm. It will consist of radishes, summer squash, red spring onions, dill, rainbow chard, green cabbage, strawberries and edible flowers and blossoms. We are planning and talking about coming together for the first ever Blue House Farm To Table Dinner, where we will cook solely with their vegetables, and the farmers will work the room talking about the importance of organic vegetables and sustainability. They have a web site with information about what they are doing and of course great pictures where you can actually see their fertile land and some of their bounty. It is located at:http://bluehousefarm.org/ . By viewing this and coming out to support Ned and Ryan, I think you will understand what I already know, the importance of Blue House Farm.

Fish and Farm Restaurant: Week 1 & 2

Grilled New York Steak Tartine, Upland Crest, Crispy Onions, Housemade Steak Sauce

Gracies Cornbread for the Fried Petaluma Chicken Plate

Girolles From Connie Green of Wine Forest Mushrooms





Grilled Natural Ribeye, Allium Butter, House Steak Sauce, Bloomsdale Spinach, Crispy Onion Rings

Baked Rigatoni, Lamb Sugo, Housemade Ricotta, Oregano Gremolata

Vat Of Petaluma Chickens Soaking in Seasoned Buttermilk

Cheeseburger, House Pickles, Secret Sauce, Acme Bun

Cheesecake in a Jar, Housemade Sweet Ricotta, Cherries, Graham Cracker Crumbs

Brined Then Grilled Country Pork Chop, Chard, Worcestershire-Shallot Pan Sauce, Housemade Cavatelli and Cheese with ham hock on side(not shown)

The Famous Pole Bean Salad, Marinated Cherry Tomatoes, Crispy Shallots, Smoked Sea Salt, Dill Creme Fraiche

Housemade Potato Gnocchi, Ham Hock, Peas, Favas, Parmesan Emulsion

Destroyed After First Service: Saturday Night, Dine About Town, Little Training, Small Hot Kitchen, We Killed It Though!

Wow, where do I begin? After two weeks of new work as Executive Chef of Fish and Farm restaurant, I am: tired, excited, swollen, broken, rejuvenated, happy, hot, pleased... well you get the point. I am thrilled for this new project but of course had a couple of hard weeks to make this happen the way my owners and myself wanted it to happen. When the old Chef left(who by the way I have immense respect for) his kitchen crew walked with him without giving me a chance. There were only three of them since it is such a small kitchen, but I had to enter into this new arrangement without any insight on how the kitchen was being run. By looking at invoices and thoroughly examining the space I slowly learned how things were being done. Putting my own touch on it all, and running the kitchen exactly like I know how to do, we got things up and running in no time. I called on some of my old cooks, purveyors and friends to help me out, and they came hard and fast. I now fully realize why we create and maintain our relationships with these people, because, when you need a little help they are there quickly. Same is true if one of them needs my help, as I will be there in a second.

The first week was spent ordering product, prepping this product and in turn, producing plates for the owners and FOH staff to taste. With this slight change in concept, the FOH staff did not quite know what to expect. After the first tasting they were pleasantly surprised. Its a natural reaction to change, and I fully understand this, so I did not do a lot of talking, I knew the way to their hearts and minds would be through the food, spot on, dead on, delicious food.

The second week started with our first real service on Saturday night. We had 100 reservations on the books, it was Dine About Town, and even though my cooks had all worked together before, we had no idea how a service would feel, what would be the big sellers, how the tickets would come in and read, how spread out it would feel, what stations would get hit, how the guests would like the food, etc. So, we all took a shot together, and came out firing. The energy in the dining room as well as in the kitchen was extraordinary, this is how I would dream of Fish and Farm being every night. With a few minor problems, we finished the night as a success. It felt great.

For the rest of the week, we had 100 covers a night and although there were small bumps in the restaurant road all week, we did a great job. I am so proud of the kitchen staff, the dish boys, Juan, the prep boy in the morning and the FOH for being so positive and understanding that we had a tough time putting this all together so successfully. An extra special thanks goes out to Gracie, who with a giant boot on her left foot(now bigger than her cast) hobbled around the kitchen with grace!?, spending 14 hours a day there with us, butchering, producing pastries, overseeing, watching my back when I was pulled away, doing line up, shucking oysters, and rocking out prep because she finished her list so fast she wanted to help out the other cooks. What an amazing Chef and woman!

As today marks our exact second week I am excited for tomorrow. Today, we killed our photo shoot for the website, and I cant wait to let you all see them... should be a couple days. Some future plans for Fish and Farm:

Blue House Farm to Table Dinners, featuring farmers/owners Ned and Ryan working the room...

www.bluehousefarm.org

Industry nights including:

Taco Tuesdays, Juicy Lucy Wednesdays, Thirsty Thursdays, Flatbread Friday and Sausage Saturday, in the bar paired with drink specials, Imagine something like a Juicy Lucy and a Fernet for $10, yeah I know, sounds good Ill have that...

Also, please follow Fish and Farm on twitter @fishfarmsf to see daily specials, announcements, and food photos as they occur on a daily basis.

We just had a great interview on menupages.com, you can read it at: http://tinyurl.com/nbgalh

Thanks for all your support, and hope to see you soon at Fish and Farm: www.fishandfarmsf.com

Chad S. Newton

Pump It Juice!

Here is one of my favorite recipes of all time. It was developed by Mr. Robert "Cannon" Kennon, a great young, talented , hard working Chef who I had the pleasure to cook, live, and hang out with for a couple years. We used to work together at Postrio, and since we lived just two blocks from each other, we hung out almost every day after work. Robert and I also helped Richard Reddington open up Redd together and got to live and work in Yountville, and I will always have those memories. We had a ball.

Working at Redd was completely insane to say the least, and there were days when we would start in the kitchen and both need some hydration and a pick me up. Robert, being the driven, hardworking and organized young Chef that he was, decided one day to mix Gatorade and Rock Star together for the perfect kitchen elixir, lovingly referred to as "pump it juice". The name comes from one of the kitchen sayings at Redd popular by all who worked there; when you were there you pumped it all day long...

Pump It Juice Recipe

Ingredients:
1 Gatorade, any flavor
1 large can Rock Star energy drink
ice

Technique:
1)Fill a good thick quality quart container(Delitainer is the best) full with ice. I always smell it good first to make sure its not skanky.
2) Fill up half way with Gatorade then with Rock Star to fill completely.
3)Pump It!

Best believe I will be rocking these at Fish and Farm this Saturday night. Have fun and mix and match different flavors to create your own flavor of Pump It Juice!

Meet The New Kitchen Crew at Fish And Farm:

Lead Cooks: Obed Ix Yah, Connor Dennehy.

The wifey Gracie Jones rockin prep.



Family back together again.

Gracies Famous Cornbread

Lead Cook: Obed Ix Yah, Lovingly called Obeda or Hermano.

Tonight was our second day of menu prep/testing in the new kitchen. As word spread through the media what was going on, eatersf.com and the Chron, it raised excitement about what we were here to do. Maybe out of respect for the old chef or just being young and inexperienced, the old chefs kitchen staff walked out without even giving me a chance, finding out my plan, or even knowing what I have accomplished in this great food city. That's OK for me because it gave me a chance to create one of the most dynamic kitchen crews in personal history. My right hand man from Baraka, my lead line cook for almost 2 years, my most loyal cook to date dropped his job to come work again side by side. My other Chef friend who is a very accomplished Chef in his own right, who is usually cooking the line at Ame, here in the city, is looking for more hours due to being low on seniority. He rocked through the prep today without me having to babysit, and freed me up to get on much needed paper work. It also helped that my beautiful g-friend, was there and has been there to support me, even with a fractured foot. She is a true Chef, hopping around the kitchen on one foot, ignoring my orders to use her crutches. What a savage! Here is a little about the crew:

Grace Nguyen: Currently Chef De Cuisine for Charles Phan helping to consult at Heavens Dog, and The Slanted Door in the past. Will be the Chef De Cuisine at the new Out The Door Bush St., on the corner of Bush and Fillmore, slated to open July 2009. When she can, she helps make sure everything is on track and running smooth, doing anything from costing out recipes to doing menial prep work, nothing is too big or small for her.

Obed Ix Yah: Straight from the Yucatan, my boy, my brother, if I was to take anyone into war next to me it would be Obed. One time at Baraka, while way behind on prep, on a Saturday night no less, Obed stopped his prep and started taking apart the stove and cleaning the inner pipes by burning them. When I walked into the front kitchen and saw this, I asked Obed what was he doing/thinking?? He said to me bluntly: "I need to cook faster, its very busy tonight, the night cleaners are not cleaning the stoves well, so Ill do it for them. All of this so his burners would turn on faster and hotter.

Connor: Connor and I cooked together when I was in Boston, and he impressed me from day one. His knowledge of food is amazing and he can pipe in on any dish with the most amazing suggestions that actually make sense. It is annoying to me when cooks try to jump into a conversation and not really provide anything. For Connor it always makes sense, always sounds better, and I usually listen to him. We have lived together briefly, cooked long hours together and have cooked numerous times for fun. All in all it is always an experience and a true enjoyment. Thank you Connor for being there and helping me in this transition. The beach is over there...

First Day Back In The Kitchen

Finally, and after a 5 week period of unemployment, I am proud to announce my new position as Executive Chef of Fish &Farm restaurant here in SF!

It all happened really fast in the last week, but I have started officialy today and will be debuting a new menu this upcoming Saturday. During this week the restauarant will be closed to work on the new menu, some training of the staff, a little cosmetic refreshing and on this Saturday we are proud to announce Fish & Farm as the first rerstaurant in SF to have an all inclusive menu! The price you see on the menu includes tax, tip, and healthy SF surchrges. No need to calculate anything at the end of the meal, just pay for what you ate, smile and come back to see us again.

In the next couple days I will be posting the new menu, announcing some upcoming industry nights with food and drink specials, and much much more.

Food Photos From Baraka, RIP my friend, I loved you so...

From top to bottom: Halibut, Pole Bean, Seared Ahi, Belly, Pole Bean, Gnocchi, Marrow, Belly, Apple Crostata, Beef Bavette...

Just found these today and they bring back a lot of sweet memories, they were taken by many different people, so thank you to all!