A night out on the town!!

Last night was the husband and I's first evening out without our little guy since he arrived!!
I got a recommendation from a few people of a place to go checkout in Milwaukee. So we did! We went down to Walker's Point to Morel!! It was a gonna be a great evening regardless because it was our first date night! On facebook today I posted that we went out, someone commented where does a chef go eat??? Well this chef does have her favorite places to dine, but I wanted something new because last night was a big deal for us! I asked some people I trusted with an upper hand in the Milwaukee scene! Both responded with Morel was a great place and it was!!
We had a reservation, but upon arrival I asked if we could sit and have a cocktail first. After sitting there a bit I said to the hubby, "lets eat here". When is the last time we got to sit at the bar together!!
So our evening began, we sampled small plates, had entrees, and finished with desserts and craft cocktails, microwbrews, and great wine throughout! Everything was top notch! I couldn't have been more pleased with our whole evening. Funny thing happened at the end of the evening, I payed the bill, tipped my bartender and also gave him a cash tip to divide between the kitchen staff. Yes the kitchen staff. Please don't think I'm asking you to frequent my café and tip me. I'm not at all. Even when I bartend behind my bar I give all the tips to whoever I'm working with. I'm the owner you choosing to dine/drink with us is all I need! Back to tipping the kitchen, so this place has an open kitchen. I have worked in these types of kitchens before I hated it. It is not easy for me to keep my mouth shut, not swear, and not be able to listen to my own music preference while cooking. Oh and hoping I don't do anything to make myself look stupid. These 4 guys last night had to cook for a dining room full of people, execute everything perfectly (no where to hide from the public), and entertain. Not my cup of tea. But like I have said in previous posts that Hollywood has changed this industry. These 4 chefs did a great job, so yes I threw them a tip too. It was great the bartender walks over gives the sous the tip I over hear him tell him they got tipped the sous says, "whatever?" bartender says "i'm serious" Sous says "you're f#@$%&* Serious?" they talk a bit more I over hear again "nobody has ever tipped us" he then comes over thanks us, shakes our hand, tells us that was awesome asks if we want to do a shot together! We declined explained we had a 45 min drive and tell him everything was great and buy himself something other than a Miller high life (we saw them grab out of the cooler a bit earlier for the kitchen staff). All in all we had a great evening and everyone there was part of it! We in the industry work nights, weekends, holidays, long shifts, don't eat dinner till midnight or later cause we are helping strangers have enjoyable evenings and making memorable meals. I just wanted these guys to know I appreciated it! Sometimes the smallest gesture makes the biggest impression!

Good Times & Good Eats

So people ask me all the time, "where do you get inspiration for your cooking?" 

I also here a lot that my food is kind of weird for West Bend, WI. 

I guess I'll give you that, it is a bit different. But not that different I think I just put a bit of a different spin on a lot of traditional dishes. It isn't mainstream cooking I'll give you that. I toy with all the time do I change what I like cooking? Would that make my restaurant more profitable? Probably. It is a battle I deal with daily. I love different flavors and different ethnic cuisine. I am on the cusp of celebrating 8 years of business. Man it has been a long road I tell you. Trying so many things to try and stay afloat. Well the last couple months have been a whirlwind in really soul searching my future of the cafe. I want to focus so much on putting out items that hit the mark every time and with every bite you want to come back again for it. I want our service to be the best in town. I want you the customer to fall in love with Cafe/Underground. With all that said where does my culinary inspiration come from? Sometimes it's purely just what I have on hand, what's in season, and sometimes it's life and memories. It's weird I associate food with memories of my life. I thank my father for having me travel with him as a kid on business trips. I was pretty lucky to be exposed to what I got to expirence and eat. I can tell you exactly where I was the first time I had caviar, 12 years old in Asheville, NC. I didn't like it but I tried it. I remember being on bourbon street at maybe 8 or 9 years old and having pralines! Later in life I recall having a walleye cake that was to die for in MN at a jazz restaurant. Eating on a ranch in the middle of nowhere with a crew of pedorthist enjoying great steaks and BBQ. Eating along the riverwalk in San Antonio and being in Philly eating at top of the line restaurants with an old Jewish couple (friends of my fathers). 

College saving up to eat at Aquavit! 

Usually a $200 venture! But totally worth it! Ethiopian food mixed with Swedish and French! Most recently falling in love with real Mexican food. Not Americanized shit. My husband builds low rider cars, summer time is filled with car shows and good eats! Our fellow club members  (good times car club) have exposed us to some pretty amazing hole in the wall places with out of this world food! One in particular was a place that served tongue tacos. Omg, I know you are saying to yourself tongue?? Really Chef Jodi? Yes it is like the best beef taco ever. So on the menu right know I'm featuring my version of tongue taco, it isn't what you would get at a taco truck,  I of course had to make it my own and make it so hopefully you might step out of the box and try something new! Don't worry it doesn't look like the tongue anymore, no tastebuds are on it, it won't taste you back😀 but honestly if you try it I think you'll be hooked! Life is what you make of it and if you don't go out on a limb once and a while, what's the point?! 

Goodtimes & Good Eats!!

I know who grows my food!

I originally started this post on Saturday but got a bit busy to work on it and as it is I'm glad I didn't have time to write, that means we have been busy!! Also it made my thought topic develop even more.

Today was one of those days that puts a big smile on my face. While shopping at market on Saturday, I set up a delivery order of produce to be delivered today from Witte's farm. So I'm sitting here paying bills this afternoon like I do every Tuesday afternoon, not my favorite thing to do. If you know me at all sitting at a computer for hours is not my kinda fun. Well like 2pm Gus Witte with his helpers deliver my order, one of the things I ordered was 2 bushels of sweet corn. Which is the second week in a row I have ordered that much. Gus says to me, "Jodi what are you doing with all this corn?" I said "Freezing it for winter!" He looked back at me and said "Ok, hmm.." Yup folks besides all the canning we do, we freeze things in the peak of the season to use later on in the year. My poor dishwasher/prep cook tonight says to me "I'm so glad you didn't make me peel, and cut corn tonight!" (he had that task last week). I said "na, Wednesday night kid can do it this week, lol!"

So what put a big smile on my face tonight was, I was cleaning up butter spilt by a server on the floor in dining room that I heard the metal cup hit the floor, and as I'm cleaning it up someone says to me, "don't you have people for that?" I look over and it is Gus Witte with a young lady having dinner!

I absolutely love that the farmers I buy from dine at the café! I love that I know them, their families, and I get invited often to come see their farms!! It just means so much to me. There is so much love, dedication, and care taken in what they provide us every week, besides the fact that it just tastes so much better than produce purchased from a big purveyor that was picked not ripe and trucked in from other states, even countries. It's funny today I just peeled the last of the apples I bought last October from farmers market to make some apple butter, they were just now getting a little soft. So that was the last 1/2 crate of the 8 crates from last year. Once again does that tell you how old your apples are from the store. We store those apples in a walk in cooler, nothing special. The pictures in this post are of some of the other farmers I buy from hard at work last Saturday morning! Well hope to see you all at market on Saturday!

Comment Cards, tell me how you really feel!

I'll keep this one nice and short. I like to look at our comment cards for constructive criticism and to see what people liked to make sure we keep that level of service and food I want to be known for. Well sometimes you get some really odd things. Like we forever get people that tell us the food was excellent, service excellent, overall experience excellent, but menu variety we will get like so so. It puzzles me time and again. If everything is great than what more do you want to see on the menu? Recently I had our graphic designer change the comment card to include a line under menu variety for suggestions, so I guess we will see what people suggest from now on.  It makes me giggle when our regulars write sassy things on them just to get a rise out of me! (Every week, John Pankau!)
I think the funniest one we got was this last weekend, I don't think it was meant to be funny. I think this table was totally serious. But I didn't even know what to say to this one. I'll let you read it for yourself. I couldn't even make this shit up if I tried. I told my husband about it and he said you gotta be kidding me? What? Cmon?  This will stay stored away in my brain for some time, I'm sure my sarcastic ass will whip this out periodically when my staff is getting stressed on a busy night and I need them to remember to have fun!

Apricots & Shrimp!!

Apricots!!! Lots of fresh apricots!! So we have a signature dish on the menu called spicy garlic shrimp served with an apricot butter. No it is not an apricot purée with cow's milk butter whisked in, if that's what you are thinking. We buy fresh apricots from our downtown farmers market, and cook them down to make a sweet sauce from a fruit you should only be able to get a few weeks out of the year here in the good old Midwest! 

That is a giant pot of our apricot butter in the making! We then can our apricot butter during these weeks in the peak of the season to lock in the flavor!

We are then able to offer this dish through out the whole year! Yes it is a lot of work but sooooo worth it! If you haven't tried this dish yet it is a must. One of my personal favs! Spicy garlic shrimp paired with this sweet apricot butter, house vanilla pickled fennel, mashed yukons, and pea shoots!

 

A chef's job is not just cooking anymore.

So this is my assistant, Tia and I. Café would not be where it is right now without her and all the other employees! Tia being my assistant allows me to deal with all the things I need to do behind the scenes and in front of the camera!!

 

Back in the day a chef was a chef because we created amazing culinary masterpieces. We were confined a lot, (by our choice I think) by the 4 walls of our kitchens. Our creative side lends us to be social when need be but most, back when I started were very satisified by perfecting a dish, seeing it plated and having the server tell us the customer was so pleased with it! Now in the last 8 years of having my place times have changed. I partially blame the food network. Nothing against them at all but they have "hollywoodized" and "romantized this industry. Any Tom, Dick, and Harry is now a chef and will open a restaurant! I still find it weird when people call me "Chef".  I feel like you really need to put your time into this industry to have that Title. It's strange to me cause I refer to the chefs I trained under as "Chef" and I'm not quite sure if I'm really at there level yet. I have so much respect for them and there talents. I still have more to learn I feel.

 I digress once again, back to how Hollywood and technology have changed this industry. Instead of just creating you also need to be in the public eye. It's just so different now.

Recently we had a tv crew here filming. It was totally different than anything I have ever done before. I was so nervous but I think it went well! It is crazy to invite a film crew and then viewers on top of it, into my safe place , "my kitchen"!

Such are the times and guess I just have to roll with it and hope to not only entertain your palate but your minds and sense of humor as well!





Signs of Spring!!

This is a picture of our New Salad featured on the menu this week, 

Pickled Ramp & Sweet Rhubarb Salad.

 What are ramps you ask? Rhubarb not in a Dessert?

Well Ramps are a Wild spring onion/leek. They have a pretty mild flavor and are wild forged. We like to get a whole bunch and refrigerator pickle them with hints of mustard seed and thyme as to be able to offer them longer to our guests. Here I paired them with fresh rhubarb that was tossed in sugar and oven roasted. This is a perfect play on tart/tangy & sweet with these two simple sure signs that mother nature is ready to let us enjoy some sunshine and green grass.

This time of year is just amazing to me. When I get calls from farmers that asparagus is popping up and ready to be cut. Literally it is cut and within hours is in my cooler!! Featured all over our menu right now! It didn't come from thousands of miles away like Peru or something. (that's how far it travels when eating asparagus not in spring time) Another spring favorite is Morels, I happen to be married to a great Morel hunter although hunting was limited to one day this year due to our little guy. But my hunter found a few for a special on the menu. In my garden at home garlic planted last fall is growing by leaps and bounds so a few weeks and garlic scapes will be on the menu.

 Here in downtown West Bend last Saturday was our first farmers market, it was like a homecoming. I was overjoyed to take Drake to market to meet all the great farmers. After not seeing some of these folks since last October it was hugs and smiles all around, seeing old friends!

 I'm praying for just the right temperatures, sunshine, rain, and pests to stay away for all these hard working farmers this season. Thanks to all the farmers for all you do to put good eats on the table!!

Spring has Sprung and Summer is close behind!