No Passion, No Love...
Jeez, how many times have I said that?
Lately the professional passion was kind of wearing down trying to figure out administrative procedures for our opening...
But then...
The wrench gets thrown into the system...(how many times have I said that?...ha ha)
Our menu concept has now changed to fine Italian...no problem, we still have time before opening, I know so many chefs that would have just gone ballistic if they spent as much time and energy as I did on this menu, but anyway, that's neither here nor there...
No Passion, No Love....that's what I'm writing about...
Once while speaking with Chef John Fleer from Blackberry Farms in Walland, Tennessee he expressed that his passion was getting into the hearts of the diners, it's been that way since the beginning of time from that first meat being roasted over an open flame and ever since. All of the worlds decisions are based around a plate of food in some extent or another...This was several years ago, but it made a lasting impression on the existance of the CheffyBoy...
So I had written a decent menu to do Italian on Wednesday evenings so when the idea of the Italian concept came up it brought a bunch of questions in my mind, not only how I could make the menu and the concept as individual and standoutish as possible but how am I going to rock the clientele as well as educate them on Italian Cuisine.
You know that when the average Joe thinks about Italian food they automatically think of tomatos, pizza, salami and pepperoni, etc. Never really getting it that there is so much more to Italian Cuisine...how often do people think of fish when they think "Italian"...freaking amazing isn't it being that 7/8ths its 117,000 sq miles is surrounded by water...
So letting the CheffyBrainHousingGroup go into overdrive the thoughts and ideas just won't slow down long enough for me to think about the last one....ha ha
So anyway, this is what I am leaning towards...
Regional Menu, changing monthly, first month will be Sicily.
The idea is to do a good sampling of foods all throughout Sicily and once or twice a month I will have a "Slow Food" night and between courses I will go into the dining room and tell a little story about the course that next...history, funny fact, why I chose this dish or that...maybe do 6 or 7 courses and make it a one seating event and then change everytime the menu changes, perhaps the second one will be on Tuscany...
So this morning I get the psychopassion started early and decided to call my friend and one of my former Chef's who has family in Sicily and travels back and forth frequently...
Chef Tom, Chef Greg and me being goofy...
Tom and I had a great conversation which led me to thinking more regionally...I had to laugh at him cuz he said that he was just gonna relax with a Gourmet magazine and I planted the inquisitive bug in him so now he is going to try to find a bunch of stuff for me to play with...
It kind of makes me feel good that once I wind up in that CheffyMode how that energy reaches other passionate souls...
Sometimes you just gotta love life....
The Tao of Being A Chef....
