Kosher ‘Top Chef’ News
A few Top Chef related news items made it into my inbox this week. (If you don’t already know, Top Chef is a reality-show on the Bravo network, where chefs compete for the title of ‘Top Chef’. It’s great fun, in my opinion.)
First, came the article about Ilan Hall (winner of the 2nd season), facing off against the executive chef of the University of Michigan Hillel, Emil Bloch, in a “Dorm Room Challenge“. After a little searching, and I found that this wasn’t Ilan’s first time cooking for a Hillel event. In April 2007, he was at the Fiedler Hillel Center at Northwestern University, cooking for the students. To be honest, I didn’t like him very much as a contestant, but I think that doing these sort of events is a really nice gesture.
Next, the New York Times is reporting that Hung Huynh, the winner of the Top Chef title in the 3rd season, will be doing a one month stint as the executive chef at restaurant Solo in NY, starting March 2nd. You may recall the KosherBlog review of Solo, after KosherFest 2006. I’m making my reservation now….
I am always hoping that top chef would do a kosher challenge
I second Alyssa’s notion. I believe that a Kosher challenge would not only be a great test of the chefs’ creativity, but the end result would add some new and interesting recipes to the kosher world (thanks to Bravo posting the winning recipes online).
When I read about this in the Times my first reaction was to call my wife and tell her about it and plan to make reservations. He did such great work last season I’d love to see what he can do with a kosher menu.
I say we get a Kosher Blog group together and get a chef’s table in the Private Club Room (if any of the reader’s happens to have a VIP membership, it couldn’t hurt). That way we can not only sample Chef Hung’s food, but also we might actually get a chance to interact with him. Who is up for it?
Dan,
I’m down if timing works out. I haven’t been there in awhile (used to work next door!).
When we were planning for our 2006 meet-up, the Chef’s Table cost $150pp with wine, tax and tip extra. That’s too rich for my blood.
How about Iron Chef with the secret ingredient being…drum roll…matzo meal?!
Now, THAT would be entertainment!
BS”D
Matzo meal is very easy to incorporate into lots of foods- not much of a challenge. How about a single challenge- to make the perfect matzo ball without any leavening agent- just matza meal, eggs, optional schmaltz, seasoning and chicken soup? That’ll separate the men from the boys. Then the only question will be what style of ball the judges prefer- fluffy, firm, chewy or bouncy?
I am talking to a friend who has some Solo VIP Membership connections. If anything comes of it, I will let you know. In the mean time, I think that we should try to get an Iron Chef to come in as a guest chef at Le Marais.
i saw hung last night in solo. a week before the ny times said he would start.
So my wife and I had dinner at Solo last night. They had printed up a new menu for this month with little Top Chef knives printed by the dishes that were created by Chef Hung. Of course we decided to sample only his creations, so that came in handy.
To start, my wife had pan-roasted sweetbreads with roasted carrots and black truffle in a honey citrus glaze, while I had Hung’s recommended kamachi two ways (raw sashimi with fennel puree and olive oil poached and chopped into a salad). Both dishes were excellent, but the sashimi with the fennel puree was the hit of that course. For the main, my wife had lamb with chick peas, eda mame, olives, and peppers (as well as some other ingredients that I’m sure I’ve forgotten) with pickled red onion in a lamb reduction. The lamb was tender and tasty and quite enjoyable, and if I wasn’t set on steak, that would be my next choice.
But since I WAS set on steak, I went with the black angus in a red wine–beef reduction, with a butternut squash puree and 3 carmelized whole cipollini onions. The steak was a lean cut and was extremely tasty on its own, but the red wine-beef reduction added a great flavor to the dish that really pushed it to new heights. I found myself wiping my plate clean with a piece of bread just to taste more of that reduction.
Even though Hung isn’t the pastry chef, we still decided to sample the dessert offerings. My wife had bananas flambé with brown sugar sauce and rum ice cream and I went with the orange cardamom roasted pineapple with tahitian vanilla ice cream and candied orange peel. It was a perfect ending to a great meal.
Just after we finished our meal we spotted Hung coming out to greet some diners who had asked to meet him. We took the oppportunity to say hello and thank him for the great food.
As a note on Hung… during our meal, my wife would spot him in the kitchen (through the wall of the private room) going back and forth and really taking charge. When he came out to the dining room, he was always quite modest and willing to pose for pictures with fans in the restaurant, but he would always head back into the kitchen to make sure everything was on point so that the kitchen wasn’t running without him for more than 2 or 3 minutes at any given time. It’s good to know that Hung is really involved in his own menu and not just allowing the kitchen staff to make his dishes while he sits back and gets the credit. I hope that will continue to be the case during his tenure as executive chef at Solo.
people online has a video of hung at Solo http://www.people.com/people/videos/0,,20183762,00.html
I didn’t follow Top Chef, and I wasn’t familiar with Solo, so I’m not sure I truly appreciate the significance of this. But for those of you who do, local NYC tv channel WB11 did a Chef Huang segment on his kosher cooking at Solo on this a.m.’s show. The link’s below, look for the appropriate segment on the list of displayed videos.
http://cw11.trb.com/news/local/morningnews/
the sign in solo said chef hung will be doing seder and passover menus and will be there for a few more months.
have the kona kompachi 2 ways, sweetbreads, and the halibut!!!! amazing