Memorable Food…

My memorable food

Saturday I had a customer turn the tables on me and asked what my most memorable meal was.  We had been talking about how my goal in creating each of our recipes was to create a sweet treat so wonderful that even 2 years later they would remember not only what it was but the who and where.  The point that I was trying to make was that when you experience a food that is truly wonderful you remember not only the flavor, texture and joy of the moment but everything about it.

Back to the challenge, it took me only a moment to sort through the jumble of favorite foods to settle on the single best:  Chipotle rubbed rib eye steak from Mesa Grill, by Bobby Flay.  Not only was the steak itself wonderful, but the two sauces (I have no idea what they were) brought out flavor notes in the steak that I have not had before or since.  Apparently I am not alone, it took only a couple of minutes to find the above photo on google images.  I can’t attribute this photo, as much as I would like to as it is available in several places with no attribution.

We were in NY for the fancy food show so we had to make reservations a couple of months in advance.  The taxi ride to the restaurant was exciting (horrifying to Diane & Cherrie).   I remember that from my seat at the table I was facing the bar (which had glasses of bread sticks 12 inches long about the size of pencils) with the entrance to my right and the open kitchen to my left.  I remember tentatively taking the first bite of  the ribeye without sauce, concerned that my 3 months of building my expectations had set me up for disappointment.  Wow.  It was all that I had hoped for.  You see, really great food will not disappoint you no matter how long you think about it.

Every cookie, cupcake or chocolate recipe that I work on I have this goal of amazing people that are passionate about their cookies, chocolates and now cupcakes.   Now you will find people that will say they did not like that steak from Mesa Grill, but they probably did not like steak to begin with.  Anyone that is pretty serious about steak can’t help but be impressed with that dish.  Take those breadsticks at the bar for example.  I asked the waitress about them and she brought us some to sample.  They make them there as a free treat for patrons and they were wonderful.  If I remember correctly they had a chipotle salt sprinkled on them.  Again, not for everyone, but wow if you like spicy! 

Oh, by the way that was two years ago this month that I ate at Mesa Grill and it feels just like yesterday.  Your turn to share what your most memorable meal, food or sweet treat was.

Posted by: Cookie Guy | 06-15-2009 | 04:06 PM
Posted in: Philosophies | Comments (0)

Tour Bus Stop #6

OK, I am veering off my imaginary list of tasty topics because sometimes life just throws a twist or two into your life.  My inspiration for this blog is my obsession with perfecting sweet treats one goodie at a time.  I have found that many people love the story behind the cookie or chocolate almost as much as the cookie itself.  My motivation for finally starting this blog recently goes to two different media personalities, Toby Tobin and Mark Clegg.  It is always great to meet these people and see what they are really like.  Toby is as crazy and fun in person as he sounds on the radio.  Mark is much more charismatic and warm in person that he can be on the evening news.

Now to the bus.  In the past 10 days after our profile on KSHB 41 evening news we have met many new people that had never heard of us.  You have to understand that we have operated in obscurity for 15 years just selling gift baskets (phone and internet orders) tucked in the back of a business park.  Because of Toby Tobin, in the last few months we have had people drive to KC from hundreds of miles away just to buy our cookies and chocolates.  It has been quite the transition for us as we aren’t really comfortable with compliments.  In another twist, last week we had a call from Caren who runs a tour bus company.  She was taking 20 people on a food tour in KC and wanted to know if she could bring them here.  SURE! (my stock answer to opportunities like this)

Step 1: panic, wondering why us.  Step 2: what do we do.  We just did what we do well and set out samples, lots of samples plus our special coffee (future post).  I intended to get a picture of the real bus, but it got kind of crazy so I just borrowed the photo above from google.  We shared our story, gave them lots of samples and answered lots of questions.  It seemed that every cookie reminded someone of a favorite story.  It was a blast. 

This has also prompted us to finally get around to another item on our to do list:  Open House.  We finally decided to just schedule it for next Friday/Saturday May 2-3.  We will have tons of free samples of all of our cookies and chocolates for everyone to try, share some stories and answer some questions.  It just might be worth the trip.  If you are bringing a bus, call ahead so we can put on an extra pot of coffee.

Posted by: Cookie Guy | 04-22-2008 | 09:04 PM
Posted in: Philosophies | Comments (0)