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Aaron

My cooking

Herb roasted chicken with green beans and risotto


Caramelized bananas with cranberry foam

Random Chines restaurant

Mixed sushi:Tuna,squid, octopus, eel, hamachi, salmon roe, tobiko, and a tempura snapper roll.


Mixed hot items:Sweet pork on a stick, stuffed shrimp, spicy mussels, pot stickers and salt and pepper frog legs

Ugh!

Sorry I have not been blogging. I am on vacation. I have been very busy.
Next post will be on the flagstaff house in Boulder,CO but it will not be until late August or early September.
Sorry,
Aaron

L'Atelier

Steak tartare


Foie gras terrine with red onion jam


Lobster ravioli with beurre blanc


Smoked salmon with horseradish foam


Duck two ways: Seared breast and braised leg


Sorbet tasting


Chocolate-raspberry cake

Hey everyone, sorry I have not posted in a while but I have been really sick. In honor of how great my mom took care of me I decided to take her out to dinner at one of the best French restaurants in Boulder, L'Atelier. The environment at L'Atelier is great. It is very peaceful and the colors of the restaurant really make for a relaxed dining experience. We started the meal off with a lovely filet mignon tartare. The flavors of the tartare were very clean, with a delectable richness from the meat cut by the tart capers that were mixed in the tartare, and it was all settled by the smooth, creamy egg yolk. The tabasco really accentuated all the flavors of the beef and capers with a mellow but yet pungent kick of heat. Next we enjoyed a terrine of foie gras with red onion jam. Now, my mom is totally against foie gras because of the way that it is made. She vowed she would never eat foie gras, until tonight. The moment this delectable creamy terrine hit her mouth she was converted. She thought it was the best thing we ate all night. I agree with her on this one. The terrine was perfectly made and the onion jam was a perfect counterpoint for the decadence of the foie. The onion jam brought a much-enjoyed acidity to cut the richness of the terrine. For me, it was one of the best foie gras preparations I have ever had. The next thing we had was lobster ravioli with beurre blanc and infused oils. For me, and I think my mom as well, the beurre blanc needed a bit more salt. The pasta was very well made and the three infused oils added nice subtle vegetable flavors to the dish. I had one slight problem with the dish; I could not taste the flavor of the lobster. The oils, the beurre blanc and the other vegetables in the ravioli just over powered the flavors of the lobster. The next dish we had was a cold smoked salmon with crispy potato "leafs", horseradish foam, and capers. I am Jewish, so the flavors of smoked salmon, potatoes, horseradish and capers are all very familiar to me. Chef Radek presents it in a much more modern way than what I am used to. The horseradish foam was very creamy but still held the heat of horseradish. The potatoes were great, they were very crispy and salty, but they were not greasy which made them seem very light. When I eat smoked salmon it is usually very hard to bite through but this was very soft and the flavors were spot on. Not too smoky, so I got a smoky flavor but still tasted the beautiful salmon. All in all, it was like bagels, lox and cream cheese meets fine dining and that made a very happy Jew. I may be a Jew, but I do not keep Kosher just so you know, I love pork and shellfish. Any way that was off topic, back to the meal. Our Main course was a duo of duck: pan seared duck breast and port braised duck leg with cherry infused farro and sauteed spinach. Chef Radek is truly a master chef because this dish had every component perfect. The duck breast had a perfect crispy skin that was fatty and buttery, and underneath that perfect skin was a perfectly cooked duck breast. I have had lots of duck and I have to say, this duck breast is the best I ever had. The duck leg was tender and moist. It had great fruity flavors from the wine braise but still had a good duck flavor. The spinach was very good, lots of garlic in it, just the way I like it. The farro was perfectly cooked. Not mushy and not under cooked. Out palate cleanser/ first dessert was a great sorbet tasting. Lychee, lemon, blueberry, strawberry, and banana. The strawberry sorbet was great, essence of fresh strawberries. The blueberry sorbet was the same; it tasted of the berry at its best time and like nothing else. To me that is how sorbet should be. The lemon sorbet was my least favorite. It was just a bit too sour and in fact it was almost bitter. I always complain that lemon sorbet are too sweet but in this case it was too sour. Now on to my favorite sorbets. The banana sorbet was amazing and I hate bananas. I think the reason it was one of my favorites is because it was something with bananas that I actually liked. Then I tasted the lychee sorbet. If anyone has had fresh lychee nuts they know it is a treat. A fresh lychee has a very unique flavor that can almost never be matched. This sorbet matched the flavor of fresh lychees perfectly. Our finale dessert was a chocolate-raspberry miroir with smooth chocolate mousse, raspberries, and a soft almond meringue. This dessert blew my mind. It was a layer cake from the magical land of amazing. The cake on the bottom was very moist and then the chocolate mousse on top was perfect. It was smooth, it was rich, it was everything that a chocolate mousse should be. Then there was a layer of almond meringue, which added a nice nuttiness and slight earthiness. On the very top was a raspberry glaze. It was raspberry flavor to the max. When I looked at it I thought I would taste only chocolate because the layers of chocolate were so thick, but one of the biggest tastes I got was the taste of raspberry. L'Atelier is a great restaurant and if you live in Boulder go there or if you are coming through on vacation make L'Atelier one of your stops!

Wine dinner

This is a 6 course that I made with my sister for 7 people with wine pairings.



Citrus marinated salmon with confit of navel oranges, pea shoot coulis and American sturgeon caviar
Pinot Noir


Chilled asparagus soup with a wild mushroom pudding
Sauvignon Blanc


Roulade of duck breast with creamed corn and mushroom sauce
Riesling


Herb crusted rack of lamb with artichoke mustard sauce and caramelized onions
Cabernet Sauvignon

Whipped brie with watercress salad and balsamic reduction
No wine pairing

Vanilla parfait with citrus biscut, lemon sorbet, crisp meringue, vanilla emulsion and a citrus foam
Riesling dessert wine

Aaron and Naomi are too modest to review the dinner they made, so even though, as their dad, I am somewhat biased, let me post my own thoughts about this meal:

Steve and Cindy, our gracious hosts for the evening, are people who have eaten extraordinary food all around the world. I've also been fortunate to have a good number of Michelin 3-star meals and lots of other amazing food. All of us agreed that ANY restaurant would have been proud to serve what came out of the kitchen of 15 and 13 year-old chefs. What they accomplished was truly remarkable, as they planned, shopped for and prepared the meal and pulled off beautiful presentations that also tasted remarkably good.

Most of the food came from recipes from some of the best chefs in the world, including Thomas Keller, Eric Ripert and Tom Collicchio, although Aaron and Naomi added their own touches as well. The replications of the dishes were spot on, and all of us were in a state of awe and wonder for the entire 3-hour meal. What was most amazing was that, although neither of them drink wine (for obvious reasons), Aaron managed to do a thorough job of researching what would work with these dishes, and the pairings were tremendous.

I always think about white wine with fish, but the pinot noir that went with Aaron's salmon was light, and helped further bring out the citrus that was a high point of the dish (of course, the magnificent saltiness of the caviar went perfectly with the sweetness as well).

We were worried that the sweetness of the Riesling would be a challenge to Aaron's duck roulade, but it was just perfect, allowing us to savor the umame of the mushroom sauce, the sweetness of the corn and the perfectly prepared duck.

None of us had ever had mushroom pudding before, and we were completely blown away by the taste and texture of Naomi's soup course, nicely balanced by the sauvignon blanc.

What can you say about rack of lamb? Naomi's unique spin was to do an artichoke mustard sauce along with some onions that were caramelized in many of the liquids that had been used in the preparation of the meal. The lamb was just the right temperature, and the Cabernet just the right accompaniment.

Naomi's cheese course followed, and the whipped brie with watercress salad and a perfectly-done toast round prepared the palate for the dessert course to follow.

As soon as I saw the dessert, I was immediately brought back to the meal Aaron and I shared at Le Bernardin. No surprise, as it was one of chef Ripert's creations. This dish had the most complex elements, and Aaron pulled them all off flawlessly, with the various lemon and vanilla components working together to create a dish to savor and remember.

As you can see, the plating was elegant and artistic, and the flavors matched their sophistication and skill. For all of us, it was a meal that we will not soon forget, and one that I could easily get used to eating. Bravo, chefs!

Colterra Food and Wine

Duck pate with bronzed apples and warm toast.


Escargots with mushrooms, crushed potatoes, grilled bread, garlic-parsley butter sauce, and a balsamic reduction.


Seared sea scallops with asparagus persillade, gaufrette potato, and sauce vierge.


Grilled quail with dandelion greens, roasted gala apples, bacon croutons, and sherry-honey vinaigrette.


Quail is so tiny!!


Pan roasted Colorado lamb with caramelized onions, garlic crushed potatoes, carrots, snow peas, and lamb fennel essence.


Duck Confit Gnocchi with forest mushrooms, tomato, chard, truffle butter and Parmesan cheese.


Warm Date and Vanilla tart with toasted almonds, espresso ice cream and creme anglaise.


Chocolate Symphony: In the cup is a chocolate pot de creme, in the quenelle is a dark chocolate mousse, to the upper left of the mousse is a chocolate cookie, next to that is a homemade truffle rolled on almonds, and finally a flourless chocolate cake. The swirly sauce decoration is berry coulis and creme anglaise.

I first heard about this restaurant when I was in Niwot at my friend's house. I spent three weekends raising enough money to pay for 8 different dishes. We started the meal with a duck pate with bronzed apples and warm toast. The duck pate was very rich, it was almost like foie gras. If anyone has ever had foie gras you will know it is paired with fruit very often because of how rich it is. The fruit will bring acidity and sweetness to a very rich and decadent pate. Every single flavor worked perfectly together. The one thing I must say is that the plating could have been a bit better. In my opinion the pate was being hidden by the bread and the pate could have been in a tighter quenelle, that would have given it a much more eye popping appearance. The next dish we had was escargots with mushrooms, crushed potatoes, grilled bread, garlic-parsley butter sauce, and a balsamic reduction. With this dish, again, the escargots were buried under the bread. Other than the bread hiding the snails the dish looked a very good and was probably one of the best things I ate all night. The snails were super tender and every thing else on the plate went perfectly with them. The mushrooms added a great earthiness and the crushed potatoes added a very nice soft and creamy texture and tying it all together with a garlic-parsley butter sauce was just fantastic. The next thing we enjoyed was seared sea scallops with asparagus persillade, gaufrette potato, and sauce vierge. They were better than the scallops I ate at Jean Georges. The scallops were perfectly cooked and caramelized. The sauce was a very intense acidic sauce and that complemented the sweetness on the scallops. The asparagus was perfectly cooked and soft, with just a bit of crispness in the middle. The potatoes were very nicely salted and fried. The pattern added a very nice look to the dish. Scallops are an ingredient that are not good unless they are fresh. In Colorado there are no oceans and that means unless the scallops are being delivered fresh they will not taste very good. Well I do not know whether they were fresh or not but they sure tasted fresh. All the flavors and textures from the salty, the sweet, the sour, the crispy, the soft, and the tender all made the dish great. Our next dish was grilled quail with dandelion greens, roasted gala apples, bacon croutons, and sherry-honey vinaigrette. For me, most poultry ends up being very dry. Quail is incredibly moist and because they cooked it properly it was very tender. There was a slight problem with the amount of greens compared to the amount of quail. There were just too many greens on the plate. For our larger meat items we had pan-roasted Colorado lamb with caramelized onions, garlic crushed potatoes, carrots, snow peas, and lamb fennel essence. The chef really knows how to make garlic crushed potatoes. I was using all my self control to leave some for my dad. The lamb was perfectly cooked and medium rare. The only little thing that did not jive with me was the sauce. It was a little grainy and incredibly over powering on the fennel. Also, there were no actual caramelized onions; there were these little fried onions on top that were actually not that good. Next we had duck confit gnocchi with forest mushrooms, tomato, chard, truffle butter and Parmesan cheese. From the sound of each ingredient it seemed like it would be a very heavy dish, which it was, but in the midst of that the gnocchi stayed very light and fluffy. They were not quite as good as my gnocchi at Radda but they were still really good. The duck was very tender, I mean when you cook something in its own fat it is probably going to be super tender. Now into dessert: the first dessert was warm date and vanilla tart with toasted almonds, espresso ice cream and creme anglaise. The tart was fantastic with so much vanilla flavor and dates in every single bite. The ice cream added a great bite and temperature change and the creme anglaise was very nice. One thing was that there was not enough creme anglaise on the plate. Our next dessert was the chocolate symphony:dark chocolate mousse, chocolate pot de creme, flourless chocolate cake, nut truffle and a chocolate cookie. The chocolate pot de creme was the best. It was perfectly set on top and then hot and liquid in the center. I am so glad I have found a place where they make good chocolate mousse. So many people make it wrong when it is as simple as making chocolate whipped cream. The mousse was very good. At the end of the meal I had a long conversation with the chef about wagyu beef compared to filet. I totally recommend this restaurant.