Taste With The Eyes: David Burke Fromagerie

10.07.2008

David Burke Fromagerie

HAM AND CHEESE OMELET STREUDEL

My favorite meal to dine out is SUNDAY BRUNCH. And my family and I like a leisurely brunch at that. A while back we had a phenomenal four hour brunch at David Burke Fromagerie in Rumson, New Jersey.

HANDMADE CAVATELLI & BRAISED SHORT RIBS

wild mushrooms, truffle mousse and mushroom chips

For nearly 35 years, Fromagerie has been a landmark in Rumson. In his teens, New Jersey native David Burke worked in the kitchen here. "I didn’t become a cook because I love food, I became a cook because I love the kitchen."

As he became more successful, Chef Burke remained friends with the original owners. It was his dream to one day buy Fromagerie when it came time for his friends/mentors to retire. This dream came true in 2006.

PETITE FILET MIGNON & EGG BENEDICT

home fries

HAND CUT BACON "for the table"

Our family has a dining custom we call "for the table." It first came about in the 90's at a new restaurant in Vegas where our waiter said we would be remiss if someone did not order the Chef's truffle risotto. My brother said, "Well, just bring one for the table," thus ordering an additional entrée for all to share. Over the years this has become Standard Operating Procedure. Ordering the Chef's recommendation or a dish to share "for the table" even has it's own gesture: Outstretch arm and make a circular motion with the hand toward the middle of the table.

TITANIC FRENCH TOAST

two marmalades & strawberry consomme

What to drink with Brunch? Bloody Marys are good. But we are in love with Grüner Veltliner. This darling Austrian white wine pairs with all brunch foods. All? How can that be? Salad, artichoke, omelette, asparagus, hollandaise, bacon, crab, cheese, French toast??? Yes. I plan to keep drinking GrüVe, affectionately called groovy, with brunch and I promise to let you know if something doesn't work. I suspect it has something to do with the time of day as well as the wine's character: Juicy. Complex. Bright. Balanced. Intriguing. Johann Donabaum is one of a new generation of younger winemakers producing wines from the western end of the Wachau, Austria's great dry white wine region. Johann Donabaum Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Berglage Loiben 2005

The Hirsch winery is among the best white wine producing estates of Austria. Josef Hirsch and his son Johannes, with a love of nature and honed oenology skills respectively, combine old style and new style produce wines of exceptional character. Speaking of Austria, if you want a real treat, please visit my blogger friend Merisi, whose Postcards from Vienna photography will give you an amazing taste of this gorgeous country. Hirsch Grüner Veltliner Qualitätswein Trocken Kamptal Kammern Lamm 2005

FRESH SEASONAL FRUIT

lemongrass-ginger consommé & “chai tea” whipped cream

MOLTEN CHOCOLATE S’MORES

bourbon vanilla gelato, crisp meringue mushroom

DAVID BURKE CHEESECAKE POPS - The staff could not have been more gracious. To top off the experience, they presented all six of us with a gift box of cheesecake pops to take home (or for some of us, on the plane).

We just returned from Las Vegas where we celebrated my mother's 75th birthday and enjoyed another fab David Burke meal at his restaurant in The Venetian. More to come...

Julia Child Quotes - TOUJOURS BON APPETIT!

“You should never apologize at the table. People will think, ‘Yes, it’s really not so good.'"

"In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport."

"It's easy to get the feeling that you know the language just because when you order a beer they don't bring you oysters." Paul Child on speaking French

"I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate. "

"Life itself is the proper binge."

"It was a Morsel of Perfection."

"I was in pure, flavorful heaven at the Cordon Bleu."

Julia Child sees herself on TV, July 1962, she saw room for improvement, and still she can say it was fun : "There I was, in black and white, a large woman sloshing eggs too quickly here, too slowly there, gasping, looking at the wrong camera while talking too loudly and so on...But it had been fun."

She has her own opinions on kitchen equipment: "Clairborne sniffed at our use of a garlic press, 'a gadget considered in some circles to be only one cut above garlic salt or garlic powder.' I happened to like garlic presses..."

Understanding Julia's captivation by French food: "This is the kind of food that I have fallen in love with: not trendy souped-up fantasies, just something very good to eat. It was classic French cooking, where the ingredients have been carefully selected and beautifully and knowingly prepared. Or, in the words of the famous gastronome Curnonsky, 'Food that tastes of what it is.' "

"You never forget a beautiful thing that you have made. Even after you eat it, it stays with you - always." Julia's instructor, Chef Bugnard at Le Cordon Bleu

"Oh, 'crise de foie,' that French sole was so delicious!"

Julia's passion comes through loud and clear as she describes a fish dish: "La Truite's true glory was the Sole a la Normande, a poem of poached and flavored sole fillets surrounded by oysters, and mussels, and napped with a wonder-sauce of wine, cream, and butter, and topped with fluted mushrooms. 'Voluptuous' was the word. I had never imagined that fish could be taken so seriously, or taste so heavenly."

Julia's unique way with words, on Crepes Suzette: "The creature named Suzette may or may not have been the mistress of the Prince of Wales, but whoever she was, she long ago inspired a magnificent dessert that is still one of our favorites."

"I am probably one of the few people around who saw the real Caesar Cardini making his salad. I was about 9 when my parents took me to his restaurant in Tijuana. They were so excited when big jolly Caesar himself came to the table to make the salad. And it was dramatic: I remember most clearly the eggs going in, and how he tossed the leaves so it looked like a wave turning over."

"With a handsome package such as Jacques's, you can neatly cut the top open at the table with a pair of scissors..." Julia on Salmon en Papillote

"There's no reason to be intimidated by the idea of making pâté. You can just think of it as meat loaf."

From Julia's dear friend Jacques Pepin, "You are what you cook."

"Understanding egg yolks will make you a master of hollandaise sauce."

Julia encouraging us not to be intimidated: "When you know how to saute your meat so it browns rather than steams, you're cooking. What's difficult about that? You heat the pan, you dry the meat, you don't crowd it into the pan, and you're browning it. Is that difficult?"

Food Quotes

"Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch."

Orson Welles

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are."
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

"Chefs, as a whole, say yes to any project, fundraiser, or tasting because they have such a generous spirit."
Charlie Trotter

"Once you understand the foundations of cooking - whatever kind you like, whether it's French or Italian or Japanese - you really don't need a cookbook anymore. "
Thomas Keller

"I love to make people happy."
Wolfgang Puck

"Fish sauce is to Vietnamese cooking as olive oil is to Italian."

The Little Saigon Cookbook by Ann Le

"I wish, I wish lunch could last forever...waiter, bring us one more bottle of wine..."

Jimmy Buffett

"My philosophy from day one is that I can sleep better at night if I can improve an individual's knowledge about food and wine, and do it on a daily basis."
Emeril Lagasse

"Gordon Ramsay makes me laugh because he knows that I'm not a chef."
Nigella Lawson

"You know, when you get your first asparagus, or your first acorn squash, or your first really good tomato of the season, those are the moments that define the cook's year. I get more excited by that than anything else."
Mario Batali

"I always knew the importance of it, since I was three or four years old my mother used to feed me wine and water. I grew up with wine as liquid food."
Robert Mondavi

"No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at his/her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, and the wisdom of cookbook writers."
Laurie Colwin

"Food is a central part of our lives. It provides the body with fuel and raw materials for maintenance, growth, and repair. It draws together family and friends, anchors celebrations and rites of passage, and sometimes soothes the soul."
Ethan Becker