THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR THIS PAST WEEK! September 16, 2009
Posted by Eli in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so farThis past week would not have been possible without a lot of very important people. Thank you to Eve for allowing us to use her restaurant and her kitchen. Thank you to all the people who paid $55 to come and have Max and I cook for them. Thank you to all the people who came to Selma bfast for keeping such an amazing event going. Thank you to Kerrytown, Romeo Library and Zingermans for asking us to be a part of their programs. Thank you to everyone who bought our cookbook this week. We hope its enjoyed! And thank you to our parents and family for the constant help and support. There is absolutely no way we could survive such a busy week without you all behind us 100% and helping along the way.
Eli lives in Max’s world and finds that time,tickets and tongs, are king. September 15, 2009
Posted by Eli in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so far
Chefs will often say that you should not work in a kitchen if you want to have time to see friends, relax, take vacations or get off for holidays. Being in a kitchen is more than just a job because it dictates your entire lifestyle, uprooting you from traditional work hours and slamming you into a nonstop cycle of work,sleep,work,sleep. In LA I have the luxury of a 9-6′er but Max is fully embroiled in the life of a sous chef. He works 80 hour weeks and is either standing looking at tickets or lying down face mashed in a pillow dreaming about standing looking at tickets. This past week in Michigan gave me a small taste of what it’s like to work full time in a high end cooking environment and man was it ever glorious. An hour before our eve dinner I emerged from the kitchen to say hi to my mom. My chef coat was stained with tomato splatter,meat juice,dried flour,and spice rubs. Tongs had been glued to my hand for 2 whole days. “oh my god you’re filthy!” she said. “I know. It’s awesome!” I said, smiling from ear to ear.
Just so you can understand how much FITK cooking occurred this week, here’s a top line summary of how the week played out:
Sunday – Zingerman’s signing and food sampling in Ann Arbor. Afterward, Max goes to sous at eve, Eli drives to Detroit.
Monday – Family brunch (eli and max do no cooking thank god).
Tuesday – in the morning Eli drives to Ann Arbor. We cook all day prepping for the eve dinner (while eve was open for lunch and dinner service)
Wed – cook all day for 5 course dinner at eve – the restaurant (with normal dinner service occurring). Max runs kitchen while prepping for our dinner.
Thursday – Max works all day at eve. Eli cooks/bakes/preps for Selma Breakfast at eve and at Selma bfast location.
Friday Morning – eli and max wake up at 5am for Selma Breakfast where we cooked for 100+ people
Saturday – Book panel and signing Romeo Library. Drive to Detroit for Tigers game with Family
Sunday – Eli and Max drive to Ann Arbor for Kerrytown Bookfest – Food Demo and signing. Spend the morning prepping. Then we did a food demo. Then Max goes straight in eve to sous, Eli flies back to LA.
The dinner at eve (http://www.evetherestaurant.com) was an epic success according to our diners. Cooking with Max is always amazingly fun since we form a balanced team. We were both eager to serve a 5 course meal of our own conception for RSVP’ed guests (who paid significant money to have us cook for them) and we wanted it to be perfect. If you have ever spent time planning something where your reputation is at stake, then executed it and were able to immediately see the result of your hard work, you can understand how personally satisfying it is to cook for people. The response is immediate in the faces, the posture, the actual reception of the food as the people eat it. There is nothing like having people tell you that the food you cooked is is food they would love to eat over and over again.
Cooking the eve dinner was sweaty, dirty and for a little bit, very tense. Plating for 40 is a science that I am not familiar with, but Max is essentially a pro and we rocked each course with ease. Those 2 days prepping/cooking for eve were also the most fun we’ve had cooking together in all of 2009, which says a great deal considering we were on national TV in April.(Shameless plug video link in 3,2,1 – http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30248038/). In a way, it was like being back at the summer camp kitchen in Western Michigan. Max and I balancing off each other, making things happen quickly, sometimes without even needing to talk. Dishes are plated,sauced,garnished often without any words being exchanged. If you would have peeked into the kitchen at any point over this past week, you would have seen me and max focused on flavor and technique, conceptualizing dishes working side by side doing what we both absolutely love.
Here is the menu with pics:
1 – Shrimp, roasted Michigan Corn and red pepper fritters. Spicy Aioli.
2 – Mixed field greens, smoked trout, crispy shallots, grilled squash, mustard vinaigrette
3 – toasted crostini, grilled eggplant, warm goat cheese, tomato ragu
4 – Handmade Lamb and Squash Ravioli, Harissa Cream Sauce, grilled squash garnish 
5 – Deep Fried Peanut Butter and Jelly challah sandwich. Bittersweet/dark Chocolate Ganache.
NOTE: The tomato ragu was amazingly simple but received the highest praise from the diners. For the Ragu: We took Heirloom tomatoes and rough chopped them, mixed with diced garlic, salt and then reduced for 7 hours. After about 3 hours, we added some fresh oregano. We salted it again before serving. (We did not use 1 drop of oil). It was without question, the most delicious thing we put out that night. The ragu was a testament to the idea of letting limited ingredients deliver and not overdoing it with too many components or flavors.
The Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich was a fun idea that we just had to do. It was a shout out to the school lunches we used to have as kids and was a awesome way to close out the meal in a playful way. We did the sandwich again for the Kerrytown demo and while some of the older people were a little bit reluctant at first to try it, they warmed to the gooey deliciousness after one little bite.
SELMA BREAKFAST
Selma breakfast is a revelation. Max had done it twice alone but this was the first time we did it together. To understand and really process Selma Breakfast, you have to attend and be a part of a truly unique social event. Selma Breakfast is held every Friday from 6:30-10am in the incredible open and warm home of Jeff McCabe and Lisa Gottlieb in Ann Arbor. It’s a brilliant gathering as community members filter in and are seated by volunteers around the kitchen’s island, at couches, the kitchen table and in the living room. Strangers and friends, intellectuals and office workers mingle as the sun rises, while their neighbors take their bfast orders and deliver plates of piping hot food. Each week a new chef comes and prepares 2 dishes. Max and I arrived at 6am and began cracking. The stipulation of Selma is you need to keep it as local and fresh as possible. Wherever possible you have to make the ingredients or purchase them locally. We served:
1 – Homemade English muffin open face, heirloom tomato slice, sunny side up egg, smoked salmon hollandaise, breakfast potatoes with peppers and onions
2- Challah French toast with a peach maple reduction. Candied peaches over the top with homemade ginger garlic sausage (made by Jeff)
In 4 hours we served over 100 people with the help of a few volunteers in a private home. A once a week restaurant that lives only on donations and utilizes primarily local ingredients and local chefs. Selma is a dinner party on speed but at 6am. A community breakfast that’s both insanely hectic infused with a Midwest college town relaxed vibe. It was a total anomaly and exceeded all my expectations. Below is a picture of max and I at about 8am (after cooking for about 60 people already) and from the night before with the Selma prep crew (that’s Jeff in the foreground making some delicious sausage). (MORE PICS TO COME!)
Menu revealed September 8, 2009
Posted by Eli in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so farAfter much speculation and great wonderment and excitment, we’ve decided to release the secret menu for the Sussman brothers 5 course meal taking place at eve on Wed evening at 7pm. Here is the menu for now. there may be a few last min changes and tweaks if we find something at the market that really tickles our fancy but for now, what you see is what you’re gonna get. Also remember there is going to be some awesome beer pairings with brews from some local Michigan breweries. We are going to use as much local ingredients as humanly possible and Max and I will be serving the entire meal directly to you.
Menu:
1 – mixed field greens, red onions, smoked salmon, whole grain mustard dressing
2 – shrimp and corn fritter with spicy dipping sauce
3- heirloom tomato, chickpea and goat cheese tart
4- butternut squash and lamb ravioli with harissa cream sauce
5- deep fried Peanut Butter and jelly sandwich, chocolate sauce
IMPORTANT: Open table seems to have a mind of it’s own and isn’t allowing people to RSVP… so please if you plan on coming, call 734-222-0711 to make a reservation. We won’t be able to accommodate any walk ins.
