daniel nyc

The main dining room at Daniel.

flavor makers

Demofest @ Whole Foods in Chelsea

I'm the kind of girl who enjoys tapas, dim sum, buffets and smorgasbords. A little bite of a lot of things means that I always get something I like and I can try something that I would never order if it was going to be my main course. Now add to this the word free and I like it even more!

Tonight from 5pm to 8pm, Whole Foods Market in Chelsea holds DemoFest. According to their web site, this happens every second Thursday each month and includes a ton of free samples and food demos around the store. I'll be in the cheese/olive department.

Whole Foods Market
250 7th Avenue at 24th Street
New York, NY 10001

Chez Josephine @ Macy's

So, I went. To Macy's for the Chez Josephine thing. It was in "The Cellar" (the bottom floor of this megopolis of a department store,) where they had a set up like you might see on a cooking show. The kitchen was area was behind a curved stainless steel counter with a stove and a workspace. Above the stove there must have been a camera suspended straight down, because the flat screen tv above the whole thing showed a view directly into the pots and pans. They set up folding chairs in a semi-circle around the kitchen so the audience could sit and observe.



A pretty lady in a suit and heels introduced the owner of Chez Josephine, Jean Claude Baker, the adopted son of Josephine Baker. He gave a 15 or so minute speech about his mother. Fun facts from his speech and a bit of internet research:
* Josephine Baker was born in 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri but became a French citizen in 1937
* Her ethnicity was African American and Apalachee Native American
* She was a raunchy vaudeville performer, an accomplished singer and movie star
* She married six times and adopted 12 children
* During WWII Josephine worked as a spy for the French Resistance and was awarded the Croix de Guerre for her actions
* On tour in the US during the Civil Rights Movement she refused to perform at segregated nightclubs
* Mentioned on Saturday Night Live's Wayne's World at #8 on "Wayne's Top Ten Babes of All Time":
"See, Josephine Baker was a babe from the 20's, while though she was a victim of the prevailing racial mores of her native United States, became the toast of Paris known primarily for her exotic banana dance, ok." - Wayne
"It's so obvious!" - Garth

Jean Claude also shared a bit of history regarding his restaurant. The 42nd street location was formerly a massage parlor. It had a sign on the front door that read "Satisfaction Guaranteed." Jean Claude said that once inside, the customer found out that satisfaction guaranteed cost an additional $10.



Jean Claude then introduced his head chef. He told us that he was going to prepare one of Josephine's favorite dishes, Spaghetti Bolognese. After a performance, Josephine would sign autographs and do interviews - finally getting to dinner at or after midnight. She would have spaghetti with meat sauce, a single beer and then head for bed. Here is the recipe:

8 oz. lean ground beef
8 oz. lean ground pork
8 oz. lean ground veal
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 oz. minced onion
1 oz. minced celery
1 oz. minced shallot
1 oz. minced carrot
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cups brown veal stock (optional)
1 cup red wine
1/2 oz. extra virgin olive oil
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp red chili flakes
24 oz. cooked Fedelini pasta (or spaghetti)
1 oz. chopped flat leaf parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Sweat the minced onion, celery, shallot, carrot and garlic in oil until translucent
Add ground beef, pork and veal and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring to break apart meat for desired consistancy (Josephine like her meat broken into small pieces)
Add tomato paste and stir for 1 minute
Add red wine and veal stock if using and let simmer for 15 minutes
Add salt, pepper, red chili flakes and nutmeg
Toss pasta with the Bolognese sauce and add parsley



While we watched the chef prepare the sauce in an abbreviated manner and plug the restaurant and it's hours of operation, the kitchen helpers in the background were getting samples ready (made ahead of time, like any good cooking program,) for the audience.



It was a pretty basic meat sauce. I appreciated that the pasta was cooked just right and the sauce was nice and hot. It seemed a bit rich, but I'm used to vegetarian sauces for pasta. I'm sure cutting back on the amount of ground meat and/or veal stock would make for a lighter sauce. The finished dish:



Your gracious host at Chez Josephine, Jean Claude Baker:



Chez Josephine
414 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
212-594-1925

Macy's Cellar Kitchen Event

Friday, June 2nd at 1 pm at Macy's Herald Square Location:

Chez Josephine restaurant owner Jean-Claude Baker and Exec. Chef Marvin James celebrate the 100th birthday of Josephine Baker

I just noticed this listing in the Wednesday New York Times and I happen to be working on 34th Street until next Friday. The copy says that all demonstrations begin at 1 pm, so I'm going to try to go on my lunch hour. The ad and Macy's web site don't really give many details as to what to expect, so I don't know if I'm observing a cooking demo, hearing a lecture or grazing at a sample table. Hopefully all three and in under an hour.

Next week there will be ice cream, Israeli and Mexican treats on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. See schedule here.

Macy's Herald Square
151 West 34th Street
New York, NY 10001