Mary Ladd

Wagyu Beef grillin' and chillin'

The marbled, rich texture of Wagyu beef is pure juicy goodness. We recently grilled some Wagyu at my folks place, in Benicia.

While the $29 per pound wholesale price is steep, the beef's smell and flavor make it a worthy purchase for any serious carnivore.

Recommended side dishes: chunky herbed mashed potatoes (go smooth if that's your preference, of course!), grilled asparagus, and buttery San Francisco sourdough bread. The only dessert you may have room for after feasting is a piece of chocolate or nibble of a fruity tart.

CCA President responds to questions on tipping

Salad pic from last week's visit to the Careme 350 Restaurant at the California Culinary Academy.

Hello Ms. Ladd,

I am so glad that you enjoyed your experience at CCA’s new restaurant.  The students running the kitchen and dining room were excited to hear such great feedback about their work.

To address your concern about how we handle gratuities at Carême 350, I thought I’d offer a brief explanation.  As you know, CCA is a culinary school whose mission it is to train students in the culinary arts and hospitality fields.  Our student-run restaurant exists to provide a real-life laboratory for these students and those who work there are actually doing so as part of the curriculum.  This six-week course teaches students how to operate in a real restaurant environment, with 3-week rotations in each the front and back of the house.  The students working in our restaurant classroom are just learning the skills necessary to serve clientele in a fine dining establishment and therefore leaving a tip is not required at Carême 350.  Still, some patrons choose to do so, which led us to come up with a way to see that those funds ultimately benefit our students, but in a manner that doesn’t taint the learning environment we strive to maintain.  Therefore, all gratuities at Carême 350 are donated to the institution’s scholarship fund.

Periodically, we must hire additional students to fill in when a class is too small to keep the restaurant running on its own.  To make up for the fact that tips are not part of their compensation, we pay such individuals at a rate approximately 50% higher than the hourly wage of the average restaurant server in San Francisco .

I hope I’ve been able to clear up this issue for you and look forward to welcoming you back to Carême 350 in the near future.

Sincerely,

Jennifer White

President

 

 

Jennifer White | President

California Culinary Academy| Le Cordon Bleu

350 Rhode Island Street, San Francisco , CA 94103

Is there a Bourdain Brunch in Your Future, SF?

Late breaking brunch news: Tony Bourdain will not be making "cobra-heart omelets and fermented shark waffles" with Chef Erik Hopfinger at Circa Restaurant in the Marina tomorrow. I received email speculation that that was potentially happening. So I had to find out the truth and sent Tony an email. Yes, he is in town. But it's only for one day, to interview Hopfinger for a project he's working on. Tony is adamant that "if anybody believes I'm EVER working another brunch shift," they are mistaken. Ow. The Bay Area mourns a missed culinary opportunity.

Careme 350 lunch for $3.50

Yesterday's bargain lunch-three and a half courses for $3.50-at the California Culinary Academy's Careme 350 restaurant was a winner. The food was made and served by culinary students. There were some glitches; our bill was presented before we ate dessert, and sometimes we were waiting for utensils or food, but the light filled room and tasty fare worked. Everything looks clean and new at Careme 350. There  aren't defecating vagrants, smoking students in uniform, or flashing prostitutes outside the building, which was an issue at the CCA's old Polk Street campus.

Other diners included construction workers, office peeps, and a few grey haired senior citizens. The place was about 80% full and capacity is just over two hundred people. Nothing felt rushed, and the mood was happy. The $3.50 promotion was for both lunch and dinner yesterday, and included three and a half courses.Two senior CCA staff members visited tables to make sure customers were happy.

Le Menu was as follows:

Amuse Bouche
Spicy mini shrimp cake with lemongrass & chervil

Appetizer (choice of 1)
Sauteed portobella and oyster mushrooms, shallots, frisee and watercress with Jeres Spanish vinegar

Homemade pasta Greek style, with fresh oregano, feta cheese, Kalamata olives and Extra Virgin olive oil

Entrees
California Ling Cod gratinee with a Dijon mousseline served with steamed Tournee potatoes. 

Roasted leg of lamb with garlic, baby Lima beans and Linguica sausage.

Dessert
Chocolate tart with mango sauce

Almond cake with whipped cream, raspberries and strawberries

We did wonder about one thing: is it right (or even legal) for the Careme 350 to use "all gratuities" for their "scholarship fund"? I like the idea of helping with scholarships but don't feel this is the right way to do so. I'd rather the money go directly to the dining room and kitchen crew, as is the case at other restaurants. It's been some time since I studied restaurant law, but the Careme 350's policy seems unfair at first glance.

Never leave work just because your GF is mad at you!

This weekend, I was working in a kitchen on a wedding. The kitchen crew of five had just finished unloading the two company vans and was now setting up kitchen work stations. After a mere half hour on the job, a young culinary student slash Newbie caterer told us, "Sorry guys. I gotta go. My lady... I have to go take care of her."

"Is she hurt?" someone asked.

"Nah, nah. She's freaking out. Sorry to leave. This would've been fun, I know it," Newbie said. "She keeps calling me," he added. Why he was answering his cell phone at work, who knows?

The kitchen Boss Man, told him calmly, "OK, OK," which may not be how I would've responded. Then again, perhaps Boss Man has been in the biz long enough to be able to spot and deal with flakes easily.  It turned out we would be okay without Newbie's "help" for the event.

Newbie's leaving seemed unbelievably immature and wrong, but also depressed me. Newbie is about to graduate from the California Culinary Academy, which is my alma mater. His actions were a poor reflection on the school. If this was how Newbie operated, he was only setting himself up to fail at cooking. This wasn't the first time I had seen this sort of work ethic. There were also ample flakes (and crazies) when I was in cooking school.

Much later, at the end of the night, I laughed about the Newbie incident with the Boss Man: "Why was he taking calls? Is someone hurt or dead?" -- about the only reasons to take a call at work.

"I know!" Boss Man said, nodding his head. "That seemed a little odd that he was leaving." Odd, stupid, unreliable, and dumb.

I told Boss Man that another kitchen worker who was acquainted with Newbie told me that the girlfriend in question was "crazy, and total drama," which gave a little more insight into their relationship. This was the first time Newbie had signed up to work with the catering company. The chances of him getting emailed or called to work for them again may be close to zero.