I am glad to announce that I have been added to the Pro Chile website under the Chilean Chef section.  Click here to view the page.

Enjoy,

Erio 

Some of my favorite moments of my line cook career were had at Veritas in New York City.  Scott Bryan was the chef at the time.  We (the kitchen staff) would show up between noon and 1 P.M. and start prepping and rocking to Q104.3 The classic rock radio station in NYC.  For four hours everyday I endured a communal mocking session for not knowing my classic rock trivia. 
Remember having those spelling tests in elementary school? Friday Mornings you had to put all your books away and pray that you could remember those twenty words that you were supposed to be studying all week long.  Well Imagine that feeling and change the day to Tuesday.   Q104.3 on Tuesdays, would host the Two for Tuesdays series. The D.J. would play two songs from the same band. Meanwhile in the kitchen, once the first song started to play we all had to give the name of what we thought would be the second song.  This damn Two For Tuesday was The bain of my existence! That was my test day for Classic Rock.  I was a former jazz musician in a rock-n-roll kitchen.  Talk about oil and water.  Thankfully I did have a great love for Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, that did help......  a little. But whenever I was hit with the likes of Warren Zevon or Jethro Tull, I new that it was all downhill for me.

Chuck and Matt were the lead cooks/sous chefs at the time.  When we would arrive, the prep guy would bring the foodstuffs detritus covered sony boombox with a broken antenna up to the kitchen and set it up for us.  With out fail he would "Accidentally" have the Spanish radio station tuned in.  When Chuck and Matt would turn it on, a loud blast of non-classic rock sounds of batchata, merengue or salsa (slightly reminiscent of a hot summer day in Washington heights) would flood the kitchen.  Of course everyone would laugh for a bit and I would pray that Chuck and Matt would forget about their rock history deficient co-worker through this musical distraction.  Ha! never. 

Thank you Chuck and Matt

My top five list of songs to listen to during prep on Sunday morning, after seriously partying the night before.

5. Thief in the Night  by: The Rolling Stones 

4. White Room  by: Cream

3. Hot in The City  by: Billy Idol

2. I Feel Fine  by: The Beatles

1. Modern Love by: David Bowie

In Venice just about everyone drinks the red or white house wine called ombra - the word for shade. The name basically comes from gondoliers and or people working outside needing to take a break from the intense sun. So they would go into the shade of the local taverns called a bacaro to have a glass of wine, voila, ombra. So to go for an ombra was to take a break.

In a Bacaro (a Venetian tavern) the lucky locals can order cichetti. Cichetti, like spanish tapas, are small bites of local specialties. Sarde Saor -sardines marinated with vinegar, onions, pine nuts, olive oil, polpette-fried meatballs, baccala mantecato- a very creamy cod puree. Salty homemade potato chips, Pan fried potatoes, moscardini-baby octopus, the list is endless.

We found nero di sepia (black squid/cuttlefish ink) on just about every menu we read in Venice . I had risotto al nero di sepia. The interesting thing that I found about Venitian risotto was that it was not as creamy as I am used to, but rather very light and soupy. I have made tons upon tons of risotto but I have never tasted it quiet like this.

Laurie and I ate lunch three days in a row at this Osteria called Ostaria al Garanghelo. Chef Renato, with his wife Annalisa run this awesome Ostaria (I'm going to play it safe and say that Ostaria is Venetian for Osteria)  and every day we would try a bunch of different meals. They always had a little laugh with us with the amount of food we ordered and ate. Gnocchi, porcini mushrooms, baby octopus, sardines, lasagna, risotto, fried cod. Simply delicious!

We made two friends at this eatery, Sandro and Rocco.  They would show up everyday at 2PM for a mid afternoon ombra and a snack and we would chat for while. Then off they would go to heaven knows where. Maybe they would go to work? They were the coolest most relaxed people I've ever met.  They just enjoyed life.

 Click here to see the pictures from Ostaria all Garanghelo.

Ahhh Campari, that sexy Italian bitter and astringent alcoholic aperitif. A blood red macerated mixture of molto extracts, herbs, oils and other secret stuff. Campari is enjoyed by itself, on the rocks or used as an important ingredient in the ever famous Negroni cocktail

Aperol the shy sibling of Campari (Aperol is owned by the Campari group) is another bitter style aperitivo. This Italian Bitter weighs in at a 11% alcohol while it's older heavy weight brother Campari, comes in at 25% alcohol. Aperol has a milder bitter bite but slightly sweeter taste. It was Created in Padua, a town in the Veneto region for the 1919 Padua exhibition.

The recipes for these Italian liquers are a closely guarded secret, but after snooping around I did find some leads. Of course, this is not the full list of ingredients.

Campari has bitter orange, pomegranate, quinine, ginseng, bergamot (for our Earl Grey tea friends) cochineal-which is the extracted red dye from the cochineal insect, and the Bahamian cascarilla bark.

Aperol has bitter orange, gentian root, rhubarb. I read somewhere that is also has chinchona which has the anti -fever, anti malaria quinine in it.

Now in Venice, there is a special drink- from what I understand it is purely a Venetian thing.  The Spritz or as it's pronounced in Venice Spriss.  Every little bar or bacaro that we would go to prepared it slightly different.  The happy median is the following.  Using a small 4 or 5 ounce glass Drop one or two ice cubes, one ounce campari or aperol, one - two ounces(s) prosecco, and a splash of mineral water flat or sparkling. Garnish with a slice of lemon or orange and stir.

When we visited the beautiful little island of Burano (30 minute boat ride from Venice) a bartender explained to us that the Aperol spritz is typically for women and the Campari spritz is for Men. We were always served salty nuts or salty potato chips with our spritz.
Great, just what the system needs to keep thirsty.

Un campari spritz per piacere!
 

Sorry for the lack of updates here at Hungrychef.com.  I got married last month and I'm just know catching up.  My wife and I went to Venice, Florence and Paris.  We spent 4 days in each eating, drinking and walking.  It was a first for the both of us.  Gasp!   Yes folks it is true,  we have never been to Europe. And to be very honest we are going to have to go back to do the touristy things.  We really did try to stay away from all that.  Yes I know, I know, so much art, so much history.  We were on a different mission.  Laurie ( my wife) and I just wanted to get lost in Venice and in Florence. We wanted to eat at every Mom and Pop place that crossed our path. The two main thing that I always wanted to do in Paris was to go to Pierre Herme, and to the Hemingway bar at the Ritz.  Suffice it to say, Mission Accomplished.