Need Help, Ask Me!!!

Well its simple, do you need help? Have any questions regarding food? Regarding gardening, eating local, and or sustainable? Feel free to ask me these questions and i will be more then happy to answer them for you. None the less the answers will be my opinion and based on my culinary beliefs and are just a suggestion. You can reach me at the email address provided to you in my profile on this page. I look forward to your emails and helping you achieve your goals!!!

How Do You Cook Well???

I was once asked by a close friend, "how do you cook well" This of course caught me by surprise, I mean i really never thought about it, sure everyone has there own approach , preferences, but have you ever thought why? I finally sat down, which is now, thought about it and this is what i wrote..............



As a Chef myself, cooking to me is well beyond just following recipes from a magazine or a recipe card that written in chicken scratch and stained from previous attempts. Its about having the passion to cook and create a dish from farm fresh produce, free range meats whatever they may be. In theory a locavore.

This is were the cooking well piece comes in for me, food, were did it come from? Was it picked prematurely and placed in a cardboard box and shipped across country to you local grocer? Why? With the available resources these days, getting fresh local produce its so easy, a little more expensive, so what i will pay more to have a tomato that tastes like it just came out of my grandmothers garden any day over a unripened flavorless grocery store variety. That little bit more you pay is for the TLC a farmer gives to his crops and prides himself or herself in quality of quantity.

Having my culinary degree to me is a huge advantage of having the common knowledge of cooking, knowing your ingredients and how to apply all in a medley in which will form a fresh, well cooked meal that flows from farm to purchaser(being you) to plate, to the final resting place, but before doing so will send a euphoria of textures to your mouth, followed by a explosion of flavors old and new.

The last and final way i believe i cook well, is seeing people smile when they eat my food, they understand and appreciate the effort that went into creating a simple, fresh homemade meal, it never gets old, if anything for me it drives me to get better, strive new heights and make simple food fresh food.

My Culinary Start to 2011

I get a lot of culinary magazines in the mail each month, subscribe to a lot of online daily newsletters and the occasional flyer from the local grocery store or the local restaurant. I recently came across one article that really caught my eye. The article had broken down all of the best places to dine in the Chicago Suburbs.

I found this list very appeasing, I had been to a few of the restaurants on the list and totally agree why they had made the list of places to eat, this by no means just happens. They have great, fresh food that touches the heart of all the foodies out there with so many different ethnic backgrounds. this is all followed by great service to make a great experience....amazing.

With this being said I have decided to make my own list, a list of places that with in the coming year I will visit and write about to see if they truly belong on the list of best places to dine in the suburbs. I will write a short and brief synapse of my experience, what i ate, whom i was with and a short history of the place.

Without further adue, the following is the list of places I plan on eating at this year, mind you this list will probably grow throughout the spring and summer.....here's my start...





Q BBQ, Hot Dougs, Bertos Deli, Palmers Place, Five Guys, Mon Ami Gabi, Casa Margarita, Sushi House, Busy Bee, Emmett's Ale House and Another Round