Dining With Out-Laws

I always get asked: How did you become a food photographer by aspiring Culinary Students. It’s refreshing to meet the babies of the culinary world who are not yet jaded, or haven’t experienced showing up to work a few hours early because it’s prep day for the holidays and you know you’ll need the extra three hours to break down all the lamb chops, make all your sauces, prep the vegetable mise en place, and all the hot soups- in addition to your normal prep list for the day. Culinary students are still dreaming of becoming the Next Food Network Star or a contestant on Chopped. They are as I was- eager to get into the Food Network Kitchens. Oh how fate has taken me elsewhere! – We’ll get back to that later on…

While earning my 600 hour Grand Diplome in Classic Culinary Arts from the then French Culinary Institute, I started trailing and assisting a few food stylists. I introduced myself to the right people who connected me to my first job. She was really good and had a solid list of bookings. I didn’t get paid for many jobs before I got my first paycheck. You have to earn that first check. I’ve met some stylists along the way that barely cooked while volunteers and assistants prepped and cooked. The food stylist finished the job by assembling the plates. I was told by my first mentor- I needed one year of restaurant cooking experience. I needed this year in order to rotate all the stations, pick up speed, and most importantly to become disciplined.

I spent my first year after graduating working at a restaurant group in Midtown. Do I have to mention which one? You could ask my coworkers. We’re still friends in Social Media. Once you cook together, you always cook together- unless it’s that shady dude who stole your mise en place because he was lazy. I’ve never heard of him since I left the restaurant and ended up working as an editorial assistant for Saveur Magazine. I learned how to work around an editorial calendar and edit my stories. I learned how to research, even for a small paragraph in the printed version. I learned how to work with digital deadlines vs print deadlines. There is a difference. It’s YUGE! I also started developing recipes for Food2 and learned how to photograph food one recipe at a time. I experimented, I bought props, I collected dozens and dozens of props. My house is filled with props. One version of  everything. I learned how to make your own props- these steps are mostly skipped by regular food stylists since they only cook and style the food.

It wasn’t until I met my real mentor, Francesco Tonelli who works with high end restaurants and chefs- that I really learned my craft. Actually it was the beginning of learning the right way. Before Tonelli- I was studying different styling methods. Yes there is such a thing. Tonelli was different. He had extra layers of experience. He used to teach at the CIA. Before that, he worked at La Cucina Italiana, before that- he worked in restaurant kitchens for 20 years! And he was Italian and who doesn’t love an Italian chef with an accent who loves food? Tonelli was better than all the others before him, because he had the experience of working as an executive chef and you could just tell from the lingo. I almost wanted to call him chef- and we ran his small studio like one. He also cared about feeding his staff. I didn’t realize until recently how important it is to feed others. Even if your boss is a mean boss who snaps at you all the time- if they love to feed you because you work for them- that means they care about your wellness, so you can perform better. Only a chef would call meals, family meal. We didn’t just eat a sandwich or a plated protein, carb, veg combo. We had courses of food. The first time I worked with Francesco- we had pasta, salad, fruit for dessert, with wine during lunch. This seemed like an oddity until I went to Italy and consumed all my meals this way that I realized it was a way of eating everyday- that I hadn’t experienced before.

I never stopped working as a weekly contributor to Food Network’s sister site, Food2. This relationship went on for over a year. I began during my time as a culinary student. I learned how to cook vegetables. I learned how to eat vegetables and I learned how to research, find, and write about vegetables. After Food2 got shuttered, I received a call from one of the department executives who hired me at Cooking Channel. I worked on the migration and relaunch project. I did everything they asked me to do and a little bit more. I went to Korea for a week during the Sandy Storm, and while I was enjoying my days tasting my heart away- I set the alarm for conference calls at 1:00am S. Korea time, 11:00 or 12:00pm NY time. I went into my hotel room after the end of the tour day photographing thousands of Korean food photos, uploaded my files and switched over to work on my computer programming work for the Cooking Channel. Yeah- that’s like being on Chopped! LOL…

When I came back from Korea, I went to bed for about four hours and had coffee to go back to programming. No seriously- this is what it’s like when you really want something. During the programming- I was asked to curate food photos. We curated food photos along with all that happy content you see in the front page and back page, and bio page, and recipe page, and oops you’re on the wrong page, pages. We programmed photo galleries, promo pages, banners, recipes, etc, etc, anything with words and photos got programmed. Then came videos, they too get programmed into the website, and then when you think you’re almost done- your boss tells you there’s a problem with the images. They don’t fit into the box. So they need to be fixed. After running through some workarounds and samples- you figure out what’s wrong and how to fix the issue (okay someone else did this job). I ended up looking at thousands and thousands of food images for a few weeks. I’ll recognize any visual content on Cookingchanneltv.com from launch date-2012. I performed similar duties for the Food Network site and looked at those food images for over a year

By the time I left Food Network, I decided I wanted to pursue food photography full time, and lucky me! I ended up working as a volunteer for the James Beard Foundation, covering their tasting dinners. Eating this type of food on a regular basis. My palette is refined. It’s forever changed. I’m a bit damaged now- as I could never go back to eating mediocre food for the rest of my life. I can tell when the food is not properly executed. I can tell when the food is too cold. I can tell when the food is missing something, like salt or butter, or a drop of acid. I can tell when the food was cooked by an angry person. You can feel it in the uneven knife cuts. You can see the mood of the cooks when it’s undercooked or imagine the cook had a busy or bad day when it’s overcooked. When it’s not seasoned properly or not seasoned at all- you wonder what else are they forgetting? I’ve picked up a ton of cooking tips from all the chefs that I met at the James Beard House. I watched the way they sauteed their meats, or scallops, or how long the meat rested on the cutting board. I watched chefs use the one minute microwave tricks. I know who has OCD like me in the kitchen. I know who loves listening to upbeat songs while they cook like me. I took photos of their mise en place. I took ntes with my camera. It’s a very intimate experience and not everyone gets to see what chefs do in the kitchens. Btw- if you go online- you can watch all the archived JBF dinner videos with the sound on.

Next Post: A How to Guide for Detecting the Good, Bad, Great, and the Ugly Food Styling Work of a Stylist

Cookbook author Zarela Martinez at Casimir

I should’ve listened to my gut after reading the blurb Matt Gross wrote about Casimir in the LES in New York Magazine. Quoting him:

“The bistro that helped launch Alphabet City’s own French Revolution a few years back has, sadly, become just another steak-frites factory. And a factory on the skids, at that. Chicken with mashed potatoes is certainly enjoyable, but the overall rush—the distracted waiter, the haphazard arrival of dishes, the neglected water glasses and bread basket—gives you the sense that, in the end, you are nothing more than a cog on an assembly line, to be turned this way and that, tweaked with benign indifference, until you can be ushered back out onto Avenue B, ready, finally, to find your fun elsewhere.” — Matt Gross, NY Mag

Well- I thought they might have learned a thing or two since that was written,  after all the new joint opened [two weeks ago] way north, in a more critical neighborhood- the Upper East Side. Should I’ve expected disappointment here too? It IS the neighborhood where restaurants often times get away with charging $55 for an undercooked skate fish (Le Cirque). Then again if the neighbors in this hood are accustomed to paying $55 for mediocre skate fish- then I could’ve been slightly out of my element.

Branzino at Casimir, it seemed dry and bored without a sauce.

The small chalkboard menu seemed charming, except they only offered one per table and made it impossible for our party of four to truly dissect its contents before being rushed to place an order- appetizer and entrée per guest as customary in French dining.

Our server was too nice to be a hipster though the staff in general were very carefree at Casimir. He was rather French (happy and carefree), which is pretty similar to hipster (whose motto reflect: it’s cooler to purposely not care) minus the mean attitude.

A French cocktail made with rum.

We were literally given a minute to study the non-existent cocktail menu before being rushed to order a drink. When I inquired about cocktails- our French native quickly slurred a few things and mentioned rum, vodka, and gin. I inquired about the red drink in a martini glass I noticed two men were sipping by the bar but he didn’t seem to know what they were. So I ordered what he suggested instead, the drink with the rum.

According to our server- this was a French drink. I couldn’t make out his accent long enough to write down the name, but it was delicious.

French starters at Casimir.

Our dining partners that evening included the insatiable-critic (who was spotted again by the chef with a casual walk through x2 not before taking a triple glance at Gael Greene, then crawling back into his kitchen), ethnojunkie, and our favorite Mexican chef/ author and newly indicted into the JBF’s Who’s Who, Zarela Martinez. We all agreed the service was subpar. In fact Gael had to repeatedly instruct the server and bus persons to clear our table and bring more water. We asked for more bread (about four, five times). I watched our server remember he owed us the bread basket when the busser returned and almost gave ours away to our neighbors.

Charcuterie at Casimir

The charcuterie was acceptable, however nothing spectacular. I can’t seem to really enjoy charcuterie these days without being overtly critical. Does anyone make their own cornishons anywhere? I bet not in New York. I have proof it all comes from a can.

Confit Duck was pleasantly nice.

Gael and Zarela both seemed to enjoy the quaint French bistro. They can always use another French restaurant uptown. For me- it’s a different story. I’m a classically trained French cook, and I may never be satisfied at this point- except for that magnificent food adventure at Le Bernardin a few years ago- I could never forget about that experience. Once you go there, you cannot stop being this critical about French food.

Esgargots at Casimir.

Though the food and service was subpar at Casimir- we did enjoy ourselves as it was the first sidewalk café installment of the season. That extra half hour wait (we had reservations for 7:30) was worth it to sit outdoors. The outdoor seating nearly triples the amount of guests at Casimir- so perhaps that could give reason why they weren’t prepared. Either that or the management is completely bonkers opening up a restaurant in the UES with no good experience in running a restaurant, in the exact location where Gael Greene has witnessed 16 places get shuttered. Clearing dirty dishes and water refills should be second nature- if you’re charging $25 for a piece of steamed fish with a handful of haricot verts (French green beans), water and bread shouldn’t be a problem no? Were we asking for too much?

I don’t think I’ld go back, if I wanted subpar service with mediocre French bistro food- I’ld rather go to Pastis. At least they get extra points for people watching and they have more room.

Matt Gross- you were right. We should’ve listened to you.

Casimir

1022 Lexington Avenue at 73^rd Street

New York, NY 10021

Tel: (212) 879-6190