Friday, October 17, 2008

Privé Party

The restaurant was closed for a private party on Wednesday night. Our goal for the evening was to feed 70 patrons all at once for every course. Not so hard if you're organized. The kitchen seemed empty when I got there and I saw Chef Phil working away. I asked him if he needed help and he requested I make Pâte à Choux for an hors d’oeuvre he planned to serve. I went to work and whipped that pastry dough into shape and it came out perfect.

My tour of duty was in pastry that night – so I went back to Chef Alain and asked him what we needed to accomplish for the night. Chef decided to make Tarte Tatin to feed 70 guests – it was great to see how another Chef interpreted this classic dish – since I made this dessert for my Level V project it was still fresh in my memory how I prepared it.

The night dragged on as there was not a lot for us to do – our moment to shine was when we plated 50+ desserts at once in an assembly line format. I brushed on a caramel sauce, another student studded the plate with finely chopped walnuts, a slice of tarte and a quenelle of rich vanilla ice cream.

At the end of the night, all the students went out into the dining room to receive a round of applause – it felt good being appreciated – we were rock stars in that moment.

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