De Kas Pictures

I took a pic of how empty the walk in always is, because I love that. All of the fresh farm products comes in every morning in those blue and black plastic crates, so no breaking down cardboard. I love the idea of getting your beautiful product from the farm, processing it all then being ready for service. I could do that day in and day out as a job. Standing in a greenhouse/kitchen working with amazing product, daydreaming about menus. Somedays I feel like I’m so close to doing what I want to do, and some days I feel so far away from my goals.

They also have colored cutting boards that they soak in disinfectant and then steam in the combi oven once a week. A very sanitary practice.

I cleaned duck breasts when I was there, they get them from France in plastic packages. They showed me how they wanted it done and they put it skin side down and cut off a couple of centimeters of meat and skin on all sides so the breast is square with a perfect square patch of skin. I had such a hard time bringing myself to cut off the meat with the skin. They freeze the meat and skin until they have enough and then they render the fat and pick out the meat for staff meal. I wonder if that is a Michelin star duck technique. I should ask. I saw in the Alinea cook book that a squab breast had been cut in the same square shape. Or maybe it’s my imagination.

I didn’t get a very good description of the cheeses. They have really nice organic lemons or biological as they say. The food is so simple, almost everything is seasoned or finished with lemon zest.