Benjamin Henion

Yes, Pork wings. These are about 3 oz each, and absolutely delicious. Pork wings are a cut that needs to be braised. It is from the Achilles tendon, and if not braised will be very tough. These are actually a pre -braised product, and this is the first time I have used them. I have to say, I am impressed . I made a BBQ demi , which is the base for the sauce, and the liquid I heat the tender little suckers up in. I do a quick saute of the wings, hit it with some bourbon to deglaze , and pour in the demi . I cover the pan and simmer about 10 minutes, until the sauce has reduced to the right consistency . Separately , I saute roasted sweet peppers, bacon lardons , and spinach for the veggies. I just used the garlic whipped potatoes, because this dish doesn't need any crazy starch. I also roasted of some peach slices with a little brown sugar. Nothing in the dish is overpowering, but you can differentiate all the components as they come together to make a terrific dish. We will be ...

I had trouble deciding what to do for a special. I wanted to use monkfish , but could make my mind up how I should serve it. So I decided to do all of them. Each skewer that you see has a 2 oz piece of monkfish . I served them all with the same starch and veg, being sun dried tomato infused whipped potatoes and sweet pepper with wilted arugula . From left to right, I prepared a tempura fried monkfish with a mango pico de gallo and soy-chili glaze. Secondly I garlic butter poached monkfish and served it with pesto cream. And last, I did prosciutto wrapped monkfish with a black truffle and Parmesan cream sauce. All taste great and the plate looks great. Very clean. I can only hope that with the hotels occupancy being down, we can sell at least a couple. It seems that people are afraid of monkfish too, so that could put a damper on sales. I am confident that if we do sell some, the guest will be more than happy with the dish.

This one was the result of resurrecting a dead idea from yesterday. I just couldn't get the creative juices flowing yesterday, but today was a new day. I started with a mixture of goat cheese, duck confit , cracked black pepper, and chive. Today I added some thin strips of prosciutto and used a small scoop to portion small balls of the cheese mix. I used fine panko bread crumbs to double bread the cheese. The sauce is exactly what it says, a nice black truffle product I received from someone who has not yet acquired a taste for the mushroom, and some nice honey. I used some very finely chiffinade sage to compliment the dish and add a touch of color.

This crab and avocado amuse isn't anything out of the ordinary. Its another simple, flavorful, one bite dish. I fried a quarter of a wonton , made a traditional pico de gallo and added a lot of avocado , and I mixed up some snow crab meat with a sambal aioli . A couple chives and a tiny pinch of yellow curry powder finish this amuse. The amuse started with trying out a new potential appetizer for the spring menu. After eating as many crab and avacado wonton tacos as I could, I decided to use the leftover mise en place for the amuse- bouche . Low and behold, that's what you see above. I'm not sure that we will use these ingredients for the new bar menu, but either way they are a tasty little treat.

With spring coming and all the health freaks out there, this is a great and easy dish to prepare. I start with a few main ingredients: Shrimp, napa cabbage, mango, cilantro, red onion, red pepper, and jalapeno . I make a mango " pico de gallo " with the veggies minus the cabbage. I grill the shrimp. Cut the cabbages top part of the leaves off so that they are easily rolled. Layer the pico into the cabbage as shown above, chop the shrimp so that they are not too bulky and layer them in with the pico .

This is what they look like after rolling them. Like a little burrito, only cabbage rather than tortillas. Of course they are tiny, only a bite or two each. I placed them in a perforated pan so that I can steam them. I usually steam them about 8 minutes, but depending on size and density you may need to just test the temp of them. Once they are hot, let them rest just a minute at room temperature. Slice and serve with whatever floats your boat.

This is what the roll looks like when its been steamed and sliced. They tend to fall apart, so you have to be careful when slicing. I served this with a touch of chili sauce and a cilantro leaf. Very simple, but a ton of flavor.