Photo Shoot Recap: La Mercerie for The Village Voice

It was so fun to work on this photo shoot for The Village Voice covering the new all-day cafe La Mercerie. You walk in and immediately feel a cool energy surrounded with clean design. Chef Marie-Aude Rose was great to work with. The dishes seamlessly were brought to us to photograph. Just getting back from France I felt like I was on my honeymoon again! All the food was delicious, fresh, and unique! I loved the cantabric anchovies with vanilla butter. The specialty butters were also amazing. What was unique about the location was it was connected to Roman and Williams Guild. Everything hand picked without any corners cut. It really helped set the tone of the restaurant. Read the whole article here: https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/06/29/gallic-grandeur-at-la-mercerie/

Recipe: Buffalo Wings

I don’t have a deep fryer at home and buffalo wings make me feel guilty enough so these baked buffalo wings were a good trade off. I was really craving the buffalo style wings with that real orange sauce so this recipe I didn’t need to add to much extra butter. You can buy this style sauce at any supermarket, it’s usually next to the Frank’s Red Hot Sauce which also offers an awesome wing recipe on the bottle.

What you will need:

3/4 cup flour (this yields for about 20 wings, depending on the size and quantity of the wings you may need more or less flour)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 or 1/4 cup melted butter (whatever your feeling!)

1/2 cup of the buffalo sauce

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and lightly grease with cooking spray. Place the flour, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and salt into a resealable plastic bag, and shake to mix. Add the chicken wings, seal, and toss until well coated with the flour mixture. Place the wings onto the prepared baking sheet, and place into the refrigerator. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Whisk together the melted butter and hot sauce in a small bowl. Dip the wings into the butter mixture, and place back on the baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven until the chicken is no longer pink in the center, and crispy on the outside, about 45 minutes. Turn the wings over halfway during cooking so they cook evenly.

*I also had a grate between the foiled pan and the wings just so they could get a little crispier.

Dessert Professional 22nd Annual Top 10 Pastry Chefs In America

Last night was a great event by Dessert Professional with big name sponsors such as Kitchen Aid. The event was held at La Venue on W. 28th Street. The event honored the top 10 pastry chefs in America! You can imagine how many amazing sweets there was to try. It was great to see pastry chef Jimmy Leclerc of Laduree USA showing off his amazing macaroons. Also among the group was Lisa Bailey of D Bar in Denver/San Diego, Miroslav Uskokovic of Gramercy Tavern in New York, and William Werner of Craftsman & Wolves in San Fransisco. All the winners served amazing sweets so I certainly had to pace myself going from table to table.

Here is the list of winners:

Lisa Bailey- D Bar

Michelle Gayer- Salty Tart

Jimmy Leclerc- Laduree USA

Salvatore Martone- Atelier Joel Robuchon

Maura Metheny- Norman Love Confections

Thomas Raquel- Le Bernardin

Thiago Silva- EMM Group

Miroslav Uskokovic- Gramercy Tavern

William Werner- Craftsman & Wolves

Zac Young- David Burke Group