Anthony Bourdain

Just like many of you reading this most of us woke up, picked up our phone opened Facebook to see what we have missed while we slept and with that came bad news. Through social media we found out that a beloved, inspirational person we all grew to know and love passed away at the mature age of 61 from an apparent suicide.

The story I am here to tell is my personal story in how Chef Bourdain influences my interest in becoming a chef. Graduating from college in 2004 I had plans for many things, I was excited and proud for getting my B.A. but one thing that became a big interest was the culinary world. I cooked things I knew and what I ate growing up like rice, beans, pork chops, fried chicken ect. I was big on watching the Travel Channel and Food Network with shows that inspire you how to cook as well as places you only dream of and see of tv. Growing up in an inner city, you don't really get to experience these vast parts of the world. I remember one summer turning the tv and watching a show called No Reservations. It was about a rugged man who didn’t play by the rules, said what ever he felt and was honest. This man was Anthony Bourdain. I didn’t know much of him at the time but my interest was seeing all these places and all these cultures and the different cuisine he got the chance to experience. There were ingredients I never tasted, heard of or could even pronounce that excited me. Whether it looks weird to us and might have not been appealing to us Bourdain always respected these cultures and gave his honest, wholesome opinions.

Bourdain was one of the first shows I can remember that showed that no matter what color or culture you were it was okay to break bread together and have a good time. I saw on this show people who had nothing but a roof over their heads, flour, water and fire to make meals to feed a village in celebration of a visitor from a land they never been to. As I grew older I became more interested in the many unique and different cultures and what they ate. I looked forward to every show he was on and it gave many of us watching hope that we can see the world and taste the cuisine as he did. My desire to be a chef became more real as I expanded my taste buds, not scared to try new things. The many spices and herbs that were introduced on the show I saw I was so eager to try. He always spoke his mind and we loved him for it. As he traveled the world in search of that next special meal, with the many people he came across I am sure he has touched many lives in his culinary adventure. As I scroll through Facebook and Instagram I see how much he will be missed.

To his entire family and close group of friends, I send my condolences and to You chef we are grateful to have traveled with you through your eyes, even if it was from our couch.

Pacifico Restaurant

Pacifico Restaurant

  My wife and I have started a new tradition where every year we try new places to eat during restaurant week. This year we chose Pacifico restaurant down town new haven. For those who don't know what restaurant week is, Restaurant week is different restaurants from across Connecticut will offer up special deals for restaurant week that might include a multi-course prix-fixe menu starting at a fix price.  Pacifico had a 3 course meal for $30. There is a special menu for each participating restaurant and most have lunch and dinner specials for that week.

  We both chose something different to taste and experience for the first course. I had  Ceviche de Salmon & Camaron; Shrimp, salmon, sweet potato, corn, avocado, aji rocoto. When the waiter brought me the dish I was impressed by the presentation. The smell of the citrus and shrimp was delightful. Seeing the long fried plantain chip was exciting, it's one of my favorite foods to eat. At first bite you can taste every single ingredient and how fresh it is. The herbs, the seafood and even the sweet potato taste at the end. This was the first time I had a ceviche with salmon and I feel I been cheated all my life. The salmon works so well, gives the dish another level of texture and taste. What made it work was the salty plantain chip to help clean your pallet so you can experience that first bite all over again. My wife had Shrimp-corn chowder; Shrimp, corn, yucca, cilantro, crispy leeks. She enjoyed the dish very much, I had a very unique taste and it was a very well balanced dish. It is a dish I wouldn't ordinarily get but having a taste I would order it in the future.

   For the second course we couldn't help but to get the same dish. We the guest sitting beside eating it and from what we read on the menu, we both simultaneously said we wanted the Steak a la Parrilla; Grilled hangar steak, morro rice, green chimichurri. My steak was well seasoned and tender. The fried onions topping gave a nice contrast in texture. If you know me you know that I have to be in the mood for rice. My culture like many others, rice is a big part of our diet. With that being said I had high hopes of this rice being well seasoned. I was excited to see that the rice had other ingredients in it such as variety of vegetables and one of my favorite things to eat with rice, sweet plantains. The side dish of the chimichurri sauce was made in house and with fresh herbs. The heavy use of cilantro gave it a strong herb taste and slightly overpowered the steak but it definitely gave the dish another fresh element and it elevated the steaks overall flavor.

 One of my weaknesses is chocolate so for the final course I had to choose the Chocolate Lava Cake. This was the weakest dish of all of them but none the less it was delicious. I rarely write negative comments about a dish because I know how hard it is to create and execute a recipe. The cake and chocolate were good but the chocolate inside wasn't warm like I expected it to be seeing that it was called lava cake, but surely was quite tasty. My wife had the Tres Leches rice pudding in which she wasn't a fan of because of the texture, I on the other hand didn't mind it. We have never heard of tres leches rice pudding so willing to try and experience new things we ordered it and ate it. Over all the 3 course meal and special was good. The over all experience was great the atmosphere and the waiters were very polite and attentive.  Pacifico has a bar so if you want to come have a drink as well you can. We will come back in the near future. So stay tuned for future visits of restaurant week coming this fall.

   

More info on Connecticut Restaurant Week click on link:

http://www.connecticutrestaurantweek.com/new-haven-restaurant-week/pacifico/

• Pacifico Restaurant
• 220 College Street
• New Haven, CT 06510
• 203.772.4002
• pacifico.restaurant@yahoo.com