Top chef just desserts daniel

When Gavin Kaysen announced in March that he would leave his longtime position as Café Boulud ’s executive chef to open his own restaurant, plenty of people in the restaurant industry — and those who watch it — were surprised. As Daniel Boulud’s right-hand man, Mr. Kaysen was a player in one of the most successful restaurant empires in New York. But the bigger surprise was where Mr. Kaysen, 35, planned to open his restaurant, Merchant : not in Manhattan or Brooklyn but in Minneapolis, his hometown. A chef with no shortage of opportunities in New York had decided to leave. “I had some people ask me candidly, ‘Why? Why leave New York? Why move there?’ ” Mr. Kaysen said. Traditionally, chefs trained in New York and then stayed, with the goal of running big kitchens or opening their own places. Yes, there have always been chefs who have left, for reasons that are familiar to New Yorkers of any profession: to have more space for children, or to be closer to family (the reason … [Read more...] about Chefs Move Beyond New York

Chocolate is an easy choice for homemade Valentine’s Day desserts and this trio of recipes has something for everyone. Like relationships, they range in commitment: simple hot fudge sundaes get some help from store-bought ice cream; a dramatic soufflé cake takes about an hour but is big enough to serve a group; aspirational Earl Grey crème brûlée for two requires a little patience for a dish that feels luxurious. Recipe: Peanut Butter Hot Fudge Sundaes The simplest — a hot fudge sundae — is also a nostalgic crowd-pleaser. This silky and decadent hot fudge is flavored with a generous scoop of creamy peanut butter, which adds nuttiness and just enough salt to make this sundae feel a little bit grown up. Hot fudge can impress without much work. It comes together in just a few minutes on the stovetop with ingredients you might keep around all of the time, and it’s so much more delicious than anything you can buy in a jar. When it comes time to build your … [Read more...] about 3 New Chocolate Desserts for Everyone You Love

SAN FRANCISCO — Gabriela Cámara is having a very good year. Five years after she moved to the United States from her native Mexico, she is at the tipping point of world culinary fame. Her 20-year-old restaurant, Contramar , is both a beloved institution and a power-lunch destination: the Union Square Cafe of Mexico City. Her San Francisco restaurant, Cala , has established her here as both an eloquent translator of modern Mexican food and an advocate for social justice: She provides health insurance and other benefits to all full-time employees, many of whom are recruited through job programs for the formerly incarcerated. A glowing documentary film about the restaurants, “A Tale of Two Kitchens,” executive-produced by the actor Gael García Bernal, premiered two weeks ago on Netflix. She has just published a cookbook, “My Mexico City Kitchen” ( Sqirl , whose casually fabulous cooking mirrors her own. And Council of Cultural Diplomacy , composed of people who bring … [Read more...] about This Mexican Chef Is Having a Very Good Year

MINNEAPOLIS — Pot roast was one of the first dishes the chef Gavin Kaysen learned to cook, if you can call it cooking. The recipe he used as a teenager growing up in Bloomington, Minn., a Twin Cities suburb, required no culinary training. “I’d just Crock-Pot it,” Mr. Kaysen said. He then mimicked the act of pouring packaged beef stock into a slow cooker and grinned. Mr. Kaysen had just slid a more technically advanced pot roast into the oven in the open kitchen at Spoon and Stable , the restaurant he opened here in late 2014 to much anticipation. “I can’t wait for that gravy,” he said. Northeasterners cook Yankee pot roast . Jewish brisket and most beef daube in New Orleans are pot roast by other names. But to many who grew up in America’s heartland, pot roast tastes and smells of home. Comprising little more than a large cut of beef (chuck roast is common), onions, root vegetables and braising liquid, pot roast has none of the meddling influence of haute cuisine. … [Read more...] about Coming Home to Pot Roast

Gavin Kaysen, previously the chef de cuisine at Café Boulud in New York City, where he earned the James Beard Rising Star Chef Award and a Michelin star, returned to his Minnesota hometown in 2014 to open Minneapolis’ revered Spoon and Stable . This March, he added to his portfolio by opening Bellecour in the Minneapolis suburb of Wayzata; since then, it has become a destination for foodies and Francophiles across the Twin Cities and beyond. He named the bistro after a historic town square in Lyon, France, hometown to Daniel Boulud and Paul Bocuse, both mentors to Mr. Kaysen. (“My time with Daniel was my Ph.D. in this business,” he said.) Indeed, Bellecour pays homage to friends and family who were instrumental in Mr. Kaysen’s success. Tributes are sprinkled throughout the restaurant: French fry cones are emblazoned with quotes from Mr. Bocuse; the signature house coffee blend is named after Mr. Kaysen’s grandmother, Dorothy; a framed photo of her handwritten recipes adorns a … [Read more...] about In a Minneapolis Suburb, French Cuisine, Tradition and Charm

It’s hard to forget the searing “Cool Girl” screed from Gillian Flynn ’s novel Gone Girl and the 2015 movie adaptation of the same name. To refresh, it goes something like this: “ Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl. ” The wild thing is: Barring a few, this list of adjectives reads like the character description of one Andie Anderson, protagonist of 2003’s How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days , which turns 20 years old this week. Can you believe … [Read more...] about Kate Hudson in ‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ Was the Original ‘Cool Girl’