After much debate about what to have for dinner, a friend and I decided that the shrimp Jenkins from Jack’s Lounge on Sears Avenue would hit the spot. Carry out? Sure let’s take a ride over.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, is everyone familiar with Jack’s?  Located in the heart of St. Matthews, it is next door to its brother restaurant, Equus. Chef Dean Corbett is the proprietor and it’s been a local haunt for ages now. We happen to prefer frequenting it on the coldest and rainiest of autumn and winter nights, the atmosphere is perfect. Dark wood paneling, large overstuffed leather sofas and an eclectic mix of folks make for a cozy nest to enjoy a libation and a nibble.

The shrimp Jenkins is a lightly breaded shrimp dish, served with mashed potatoes. The brown sugar, Worcestershire and hint of tabasco in the sauce give it a sweet southern tang, and not too much heat makes it perfect ( and it was!)

Of course we could go on and on about the stand-by dishes we have always loved, such as the crab cakes or Deano’s Nachos, but there is a new one on me that we’ll highlight then it’s onto the libations. If you go, there is a rock shrimp mac & cheese that is to die for!  Traditional mac is tweaked into a yummy mixture of more pungent cheeses and hearty rock shrimp that takes this to my list of favorite comfort foods in the ‘Ville.

Onto the heart of the tale –

Read the Rest After the Jump…

The cool weather and sleeping with the windows open must have given me a wee sore throat. Feeling sub-par, we had intentions of carry-out, but decided to stay and chit chat with folks whilst we had dinner.

Sitting at the bar, the resident CCO ( Chief Cocktail Officer) Carrie Reesor was holding court with a few regulars. Our dear friend Joy must have had the night off, or we would have given over the libation creation to her, ‘cuz she is the best in town.

Thinking I needed something to coat my throat, I ask if they have the Wild Turkey American Honey. Indeed they do, so onto the Chilled Cider, oh wait, no cider? OK, plan B ( we always have a plan B!)

How about a Wild Turkey Honey, hot tea, lemon and real bee honey?

Carrie is on it!

He returns with a tall mug piping hot and it smells divine.

The Tandy’s Turkey Tea has been born!

Here’s his recipe;
Hot tea
juice of 5 lemon wedges
1 tablespoon of honey
a good pour of Wild Turkey American Honey

I would suggest that you have a cinnamon stick or perhaps a clove around if making this at home. And as far as the medicinal purposes? I can say that this morning my throat feels great and I broke my fever in the night woo-hoo! A new toddy is on the loose for Fall. Will be perfect for Dove season (which starts September 1st).

The aforementioned Cider cocktail is not a new one on us; When at home, for a really good nightcap, we chill our Wild Turkey American Honey in the freezer.  If you have not tried the WTAH, it’s a “71 proof, exceptionally smooth liqueur blended with pure honey and bourbon whiskey.”  And it holds up to its label.

We take a jigger on ice, add natural apple juice or cider, on the rocks.

Daddy called it “Apple Jack” when using Jack Daniels, so we’ll call this one Cyndy’s Chilly Cider just for fun.

I also suggest a garnish of apple slice, nutmeg or cinnamon just for a little extra flavor.

Enjoy the cool nights with a little neighborhood haunt and a new cool weather beverage, and we shall see everyone out and about!

Cheers!

Sometimes you run across people too good to be true.  Chef Timothy Tucker is one of those people.

Hey, call me cynical (because I am).  I’m always looking to see what angle you’re playing so when I meet a person like Chef Tim, my inclination is to wonder either what he is on or what he trying to prove. I turns out Chef Tim is just trying to make the world a better place….one meal at time.

To set the table, my wife Ellen raises funds for non-profits and she introduced me to Chef Tim over a year ago.  Ellen helped Chef Tim’s group by getting chefs’ coats donated to the program and she asked me to come to a lunch that they were serving.

So I went to lunch and not only filled my stomach….I witnessed something that filled my eyes with tears and my heart with hope.

Back to Tim. Prior to this, Chef Tim served worked at some pretty prestigious places including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and The Painted Table in Seattle, plus he is a graduate of Sullivan University’s Culinary Program.  With a background like, it looked like Tim was on the fast track to the big time by opening his own eatery or launching a line of cookware or writing a best-selling cookbook. But Chef Tim chose a different menu — four years ago he went to the Louisville Salvation Army to oversee the prep and foodservice production at the Center of Hope.

“I’m on a mission of healthy cooking and healing people’s bodies with food. That’s how I cook, and that’s how I teach,” said Chef Tim.  Every day, seven days a week, Tim’s crew cooks breakfast for about 150 needy people and another 250 for dinner. “All of the food is made from scratch. It’s free of additives, hydrogenated oil, fructose,” Tim said, so people are not only getting good food, they’re getting food that is good for them.

Now comes the dessert.  At the same time Tim is feeding the masses, he’s also taking homeless people and training them to work in foodservice.  Chef Tim and the Center’s director came up with a job-training program for people who want to work in the food-service industry. The intensive 10-week program has students learning restaurant skills including safety and sanitation, food prep, knife skills, soups, sauces, stocks, meats and more.

Give a man a fish and he has a meal.  Teach him how to fish and he can feed himself.

Graduates of the program have gotten good jobs at all types of places including caterers, restaurants, bakeries, cafeterias, corporate venues and school food programs. Some of Louisville’s finest eating establishments now have Chef Tim’s people working there.

And that’s how I met Chef Tim.  I went to a lunch graduation program and was overwhelmed with the speeches the graduates made.  I could see and hear the pride they took in their new profession.  I could feel how their despair had been replaced with a future full of promise. These people now had a purpose in their lives.

Tim Tucker is shy and soft-spoken with a kind of “aw-shucks” attitude but he is too quiet.  A program like he runs needs support and that support only comes by making noise. If Tim won’t do it, I will.

You want to do something good?  Then get at your wallet and make a donation to a program that’s really helping turn lives around.  Donate cooking materials.  Go work in their garden.  Do something.  This isn’t welfare; it’s an investment in all of our futures.

They need $9,000 right now to keep the doors open.  Make your checks payable to:

Salvation Army Center of Hope
Culinary Training Program

To learn more, give Chef Tim a call at 625 1170 x 108 and ask for a tour.  If you don’t have treasure to give than give of your time and talent.

“My thing is to get into a work environment where I can help people,” Chef Tim says, “Cooking is a ministry…a way of blessing people who need to be blessed. Eating healthy helps balance the spirit and mind and soul.”

Amen and thanks, Tim.

More Mason Mondays: Mason Rudd, the late Louisville philanthropist whose name is on the heart and lung center at Jewish Hospital and the tennis center at U of L, is being celebrated every Monday in August with “Mason Mondays” at the Fish House, where Rudd was a regular and favorite customer.  Sales from “The Mason,” fresh cod on Jewish rye served with potato latkes, will benefit the Jewish Hospital Foundation.

Trying Again in J-town: Bruce’s Smokehouse, the spin-off of Fire Fresh BBQ, will open a new store in J-town, at the corner of Watterson Trail and Billtown Road.  The barbeque joint is set to open its new location, in the space vacated by Sir Churchill’s English Pub and Eatery, in early August.

Chef Deano is throwing a party at Equus!  Stories about his famous shin-digs abound, so his first-ever outdoor barbecue and wine tasting, scheduled for 5:30-8 p.m. next Wednesday, August 5 in the parking lot at Equus and Jack’s in St. Matthews, will certainly be met with bated breath.  Will the mayor come?  Will Deano launch into his impersonations of Johnny Cash and Coach Schnellenberger?  Corbett will be joined at the event by Green Egg Grill savant Ray Lampke (also known in grilling circles as Dr. BBQ) to cook Corbett’s 30-hour slow-cooked beef brisket.  The barbecue will be paired with zinfandel varieties.  Tickets are $35 in advance or $40 at the door.

More to Kroger: The St. Matthews City Council will hear a presentation from Kroger about expanding the Westport Road/Hubbards Lane store at its July 28 meeting.  A Kroger spokesman said the planned 9-month expansion would swell the store by 6,000-7,000 square feet to make room for more perishable foods.  My mom always taught me to shop around the “perishable perimeter” to eat healthy, so this should be good news for everyone in St. Matthews if and when it gets finished.  Kroger wants to start work by the end of the year; Eats will keep you posted.

Check the Dictonary: Coinciding with the release of the Julia Child biopic/bildungsroman “Julia and Julia,” PBS has made a growing number of her TV episodes available for viewing online.  Check out the “Bon Appetit” collection in general, and the seared scallops with quenelles of sorbet and the shrimp and rice episodes in particular.  Yowza.

John LaFollette is a Louisville writer.

The English Speaking Union’s annual Queen’s Birthday and Garden Party was held at the lovely Midlands estate of John and Janet Conti Sunday, June 7.  Louise Cecil chaired the event, which annually awards summer scholarships to college students and high school teachers to study abroad at some of Great Britain’s finest academies, including Cambridge, Oxford, and the University of Edinburgh.

Table talk was a veritable, spontaneous game of English Trivial Pursuit, revolving around lineage, peerages, dukes and duchesses, and the recent and unexpectedly well-behaved visit of Prince Harry to the colonies.

The tea was presented by the all-student Sullivan University catering crew, under the direction of April Gregory, assistant to catering chair Chef Kimberley Jones.  Gregory had but five days to assemble and produce the menu for one hundred and fifty distinguished guests.

A lavishly festooned tent and creatively presented buffet tables presented savouries consisting of finger sandwiches of several varieties – cucumber, an apple-bleu cheese spread, potted shrimp, and salmon mousse.  Naturally, there was also an assortment of scones with the traditional Devonshire cream (oddly, no crumpets, but those do seem to be more of a breakfast item).  Other sweets came in the form of chocolate mousse, lemon curd, and panna cotta tartlets with fresh berries.  Of course, there was the requisite tea – Earl Grey, to be precise, with all the proper accompaniments, plus just enough champagne to toast the Queen’s birthday with the appropriate amount of pomp and circumstance.

Alas, the Queen was otherwise occupied and not in attendance, but other appropriately costumed dignitaries were, including a robust-looking King Henry VIII and all six of his wives (two heads miraculously restored for the occasion), along with an authentically costumed early music ensemble from the University of Louisville.

For more information on the ESU, visit their website.

Celebrate Healthy Living: This Saturday, May 30, the healthy-living businesses in Westport Village are hosting Healthy You Healthy Planet, a festival featuring speakers, health screenings, chair massages, healthy food, and live music, all to promote the adoption of healthier lifestyles. This event also kicks off the start of the Westport Village Farmer’s Market.[Westport Village]

Reviews: In the LEO this week, Kevin Gibson reviewed Browning’s while Robin Garr dined at the new Zaytún Mediterranean Grill and sampled the free Barbeque Pulled Pork Slider from White Castle. [LEO] Marty Rosen reviewed Coach Lamp in the C-J.

If You Can Cook Seafood: Jefferson Community and Technical College is hosting the fourth annual Seafood Cooking Contest on June 8. To compete, chefs must submit two recipes that use Kentucky farm-raised seafood to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture by June 1. [Biz First]

Other Food from the Water News: On Saturdays from May 30 through the end of crawfish season, Selena’s at Willow Lake Tavern will be boiling Live Louisiana Crawfish, serving buckets of beer, and holding corn hole tournaments. [HotBytes]

Specials: Bistro 301 is celebrating its 3rd anniversary by offering small plates of food and a daily wine glass and cocktail feature for $3.01 each starting June 15. [HotBytes]

Choose Your Pajamas Wisely: Proof on Main is throwing its fourth annual Pajama Party on June 12. This event features a cocktails and hors d’ouevre reception benefiting the International Contemporary Art Foundation. [C-J]

Beer Is the New Water: More than 30 breweries and wineries are participating in this year’s Feast of Ale festival happening on June 6 at St. Anthony of Padua Church. I can’t help but find the location of this event deliciously ironic. [C-J]

Read more from Jessica at About Louisville.

One of the coolest things about being a culinary student at Sullivan is the opportunity to confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with our fellow wizards.  Once per quarter, the school brings in a “Distinguished Visiting Chef” for a students-only demonstration and lecture.

So far my Sullivan experience has included a visit from Chef Lee Conway (AKA the “Camouflage Chef), who specializes in wild game and teaches hunters and fishermen how to make the most of their catch; famed TRU chef and cookbook author Rick Tramonto has also been a recent guest.  Both were interesting, of course, but by far the most rewarding, in my personal opinion, was yesterday’s visit from Chef Frank Brigtsen.

Brigtsen is chef and co-owner (with wife Marna) of Brigtsen’s, an uptown New Orleans restaurant on Dante Street that’s well worth the cab fare out of the French Quarter.  I first ate there back in my radio days when an industry pal took a bunch of us broadcast types to dinner at his good friend’s place.

At the time, Brigtsen, a protégé of legendary Cajun cuisine-meister Paul Prudhomme, had already been named by Food & Wine magazine as one of America’s Top Ten New Chefs and had garnered a prestigious James Beard Award, and has won numerous equally prestigious awards since.  All are well-deserved.  Brigtsen’s remains my hands-down favorite place to eat in New Orleans, one of my fave vacation destinations and undisputedly one of the best food towns in America.

Brigtsen’s menu is a delight, full of locally grown and raised foods, artfully prepared in the true Cajun tradition, albeit more upscale.  Brigtsen himself was an equal delight, very approachable, humble and genuine, with none of the unnecessary affectations you see on shows like Hell’s Kitchen, Top Chef, etc.

His presentation was engaging, informative, and entertaining; he was generous with tips, techniques and recipes.  His demonstration included a shrimp etouffée, a seafood jambalaya, and the fried rice cakes known as calas (his version included crawfish, along with a green onion mayonnaise for dipping).  I’ll never make brown roux the same way again, and can’t wait to try out a few of the recipes for the upcoming Father’s Day meal, as my history buff dad is suddenly fascinated with the origins and development of Cajun cuisine.
Chef Frank wasn’t the only one cooking during his visit to Sullivan, however.  Chef Dave Moeller and other Sullivan faculty and students presented a fabulous menu for him the evening prior to his day of demos.

The seven course menu included a trio of soups – roasted cauliflower, carrot, and shelled pea; an appetizer of roasted loin of rabbit au jus with wilted napa cabbage, spaetzle and foie gras; a fish course of sautéed skate wing with morel mushrooms, caramelized cipollini onions, sea beans, and a champagne vinegar beurre blanc; an intermezzo of verjus sorbet; an entrée of roasted lamb rib chop au jus with sweetbreads, corn and leek cream, and Parisienne vegetables; a salad of tomato and pink grapefruit with house-cured bacon and a frozen yellow tomato and grapefruit vinaigrette; and an absolutely killer goat cheese cake with figs in a port reduction (I know it was killer because I got to assist with that part).  Chef Frank was still raving about it the following morning.

And, obviously, I’m still raving about the whole experience today . . .

Get ready to scrounge around for your copies of the Larousse Gastronomique or Escoffier if you even hope to understand what was on the menu late last month when the Sullivan University Student Culinary Competition Team competed in the American Culinary Federation’s Student Hot Food Culinary Salon.

The team garnered a silver medal during the ACF’s annual Southeast Regional convention held in Charlotte, N.C. The five-member team was led by coach Chef Eugene Bell, CEC (Certified Executive Chef), who also serves as president of the Kentucky chapter of the ACF, along with student captain and Sullivan culinary tutor David Wheatley.

Here’s what was on the menu:

Paupiette of Sole á la Trouvilliase was the appetizer – a rolled fillet of Dover Sole, poached in its own essence with white wine, served with mussels, shrimp, mushrooms and a shrimp sauce.  One of the requirements of the competition was a classic presentation of sole.

The salad was a Bibb and frisée dish with a citrus vinaigrette. A grapefruit and Riesling sorbet, along with a pink peppercorn puff pastry twist, a mozarella-proscuitto roll and plum chutney were the accompaniments.

For the entrée, the team chose a chicken breast suprême with a mushroom and apple brandy sauce, accompanied by red cabbage with apple, a crispy potato onion pancake, and a chicken, currant and pistachio sausage.

Dessert came in the form of a an orange scented vanilla panna cotta, a cooked Italian style cream dessert, with a hazelnut cookie, fresh mango, and a sorbet of verjus, which is a tart juice of green grapes.

Hungry yet?

In addition to the four-course meal, the students also competed in a cold food platter presentation, and a “relay” which included classical knife skills, meat fabrication skills, and pastry skills.  The team actually began working together back in October of 2008 to create the four course menu for this prestigious regional competition.

In addition to Wheatley, participating students were Elizabeth Stogner, Erica Sung, Eric Smith, and Brad Stout.  And, although not on the culinary team, Samantha McNamara represented Sullivan in the competition for Best Student Chef.

Everyone’s heard of exorbitantly priced hamburgers – those usually made with Kobe beef, truffles, and other exotic ingredients that produce a lavishly presented sandwich resembling nothing you’d find at even the more upscale steakhouses.

But would you pay $50,000 for a chicken burger?  The National Chicken Council would, and did – and to a rising star chef from right here in the Bluegrass, no less.

Lexington’s Brigitte Nguyen took the top prize in the 48th annual National Chicken Cooking Contest in San Antonio last weekend, with her Chinese Chicken Burgers with Rainbow Sesame Slaw.  The burger recipe includes soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, lemongrass, and scallions, and you can find it here.

The contest featured entrants from every state of the union and the District of Columbia, and winners from the state contests and subsequent regionals went on to compete at the San Antonio campus of the Culinary Institute of America.

Nguyen, a 2008 Culinary Arts graduate of Sullivan University’s Lexington campus, has appeared on the Food Network, where she was runner-up in the “Burger Recipe Challenge” in January, and does a weekly healthy cooking television segment for Lexington’s WLEX-18.

You can find more recipes and inspiration from Brigitte’s own spirited and informative food blog, called Counting the Beans and Cooking the Books.

So when The ‘Ville Voice was invited to this week’s Supper Speakeasy from Bon Vivant Savant, it was a real treat. Jo Self, who owns the social club that presents dining events like this one, presented an incredible combination of food, atmosphere and good company on Monday night. It was held at Sandy Nixon’s FB3 building on Market Street for about 20 guests.

None of the guests knew the location before they got a Saturday e-mail, and were required to know a password to get in. OK, I did forget mine, but managed to talk my way in. Bangkok.

Monday’s six-item menu was created by Oak Room chefs Ethan and Sarah McGregor-Ray. It included a tasty cocktail from Z Fusion’s Stephen Dennison, wines from expert David Dubou. There was live music from Nick Peay.

One after another, the treats came from the kitchen. Each included a vivid description, and usually included some ingredient that didn’t sound so appetizing, but was. Beets? Leeks? Mustard Greens? Duck? All of the Rays’ creations were superb. The candied apple, in particular, surprised everyone with a burst from pop rocks. Wines were perfectly matched whites and reds.

If you’re interested in joining Bon Vivant Savant, you can get a special deal through the end of April. For $125, you get a lifetime membership plus downtown and Highlands VIP cards.  There are plenty of other benefits, too. Members are invited to the monthly events and get special treats at events.

The price of the items on the a la carte wine dinner menu range from $6.99 for the appetizer to $24.99 for the filet entrée, and the regular menu will be offered as well.  Chef Ramon Forcellado has created the menu for the evening, and each dish will include a St. Francis wine as an ingredient.

The appetizer is rosemary-skewered shrimp ($6.99) and comes with a St. Francis Chardonnay glaze. Glasses of St. Francis ’07 Chardonnay from Sonoma will go for $6.50 per glass, $21.50 per bottle.

For entrees, diners can choose fresh grilled snapper topped with a prosciutto, green onion and Chardonnay St. Francis Wild Oak sauce served over orzo pasta & accompanied with fresh broccolini ($21.99) or an 8-ounce filet topped with a sauce of fresh wild mushrooms, cipollinis and Cabernet Sauvignon St. Francis “Wild Oak” served with smoked Gouda mashed potatoes and fresh broccolini ($24.99). Featured wines will be Chardonnay St. Francis “Wild Oak” ’06 for $7.95 a glass or $27.00 a bottle and Cabernet Sauvignon St. Francis “Wild Oak” ’04 for $9.50 a glass or $32.00 a bottle. A cheese plate with cabrales, manchego and havarti ($7.99) will be offered with the Zinfandel Old Vine St. Francis Wild Oak ‘ 06 (glass $9.50, bottle $32.00).

For reservations call the downtown Bristol at (502) 582-1995. Free parking is available in the PARC garage behind the Bristol at 120 South 6th Street.

by David Dominé, The Bluegrass Peasant