Umi Sake

Spicy Tuna Hand Roll.

After an evening drinking the remaining wines leftover from the tasting, the four of us head over to local Asian eatery Umi Sake. I knew Lisa from many years ago when she used to own Johnny Sushi in the shopping center behind Jays Shave Ice. Her food is always good and tasty. Nothing transcendental and not hallmarks of traditional Japanese, but the food is always good, solid and well-prepared.

In other words, it's a good bet that you're going to enjoy the meal and the service - and for a local restaurant, add on top of that some good prices and you've got a winner. And with Chicken Katsu being offered for under ten bucks (when other places are just under fifteen), it's a helluva deal.


Austin and the Spicy Seafood Noodle Soup, Korean style.

The nice thing about eating with friends that are into food or in the restaurant business is that they enjoy a variety of flavors and textures in their meals, which usually means more of a Family Style eating experience than everyone ordering their own meals. I much prefer this approach and our intrepid crew did not disappoint.

What else is there to say? Service was quick and attentive. Our drinks were flowing and kept topped up the entire night. The food came quickly and was served nice and hot on this cold night. I've been here three times so far and it's always been good and reliable.

I'll say no more and let the images do the talking.


Beef Yaki Bop.


Singapore Rice Noodles.


Crispy Spicy Tuna Roll.


Chicken Katsu.

Umi Sake
9726 York Road
Cockeysville, MD 21030
410-667-6585
www.umisake.com

Swirling It

The lineup.

It's Friday night, I'm tired, I'm sleepy, I'm exhausted, but I really don't want to go home and go to bed. Luckily, a friend calls me because she wants to get together. And what better way to spend a Friday night than tasting wines?

On most Fridays, Austin and James set up a tasting at their shop in Timonium. I try to go on a regular basis but lately I've been in Hampden and haven't made it up to their shop in time. This week, it's a flight of some very exciting French wines:

2007 Domaine de la Collonge Pouilly-Fuisse
2008 Domaine de Aubuisieres Vouvray
2006 Chateau de Serame Corbieres
2007 Cuvee du Vatican Cote du Rhone Villages

Wow. I don't think I've ever attending a tasting that was completely a winner. Usually, there's one or two (sometimes more) wines that I don't quite fancy, but this time all of them were stellar. Maybe I'll buy one, sometimes two, but when you're faced with an entire field of wines you'd like to own, it becomes that much more difficult.


A sample of banana rum from St. Martin.

Later, I spy a sample bottle of this banana rum from St. Martin. Someone is trying to import them into the United States and I certainly hope they do. The rum is thick, rich, sweet and complex. Delicious. I could sip it all night long and suddenly, ideas of jetting down to St. Martin to pick up a case (or four) start popping into my head. A weekend in St. Martin to play on the beaches and get silly over bottles of rum? My friend is game. Hmmm...

Au Revoir Elizabeth Large

It's the end of the week and the Baltimore Sun Food Critic, Elizabeth Large, has ended her tenure with the paper.

Readers of this blog and her "Sandbox" know well my criticism of her over the year(s), but I wished her well when she announced her retirement and continue to hope that the best for her is yet to come.

And she was gracious enough to return the favor with a line in her farewell address:

I wish Jay C. well.

Not a bad nod towards someone who acted like a thorn in your side.

EL - come visit us in Hampden, introduce yourself and allow me to buy you a coffee.

ph: Drinking And Fire

A cornucopia of ingredients

It's another day at project hampden and time to start talking about so-called "signature drinks." In the world of barista competitions, signature drinks are a bit of a dark horse. Talk to many competition baristas and it's the one category they want to eliminate. It's a myopic viewpoint that wants to eliminate the most interesting category for the general public. Already thinking that someone should shove a shiv in your neck while watching a barista competition? Eliminate the one category that had the potential to be exciting and it's a living hell.

I think many baristas want to get rid of the signature drink not because they truly care about the "purity" of coffee, but rather because they're lazy and incompetent. Crafting a true signature drink means that one must plan, one must understand their craft, one must nurture an understanding of cuisine, one must actually do some work.

Instead, most baristas are content being shot monkeys simply standing there pulling shots of coffee with mise that consisted little more than pouring the beans out of the bag into the hopper and pulling the gallon jug of milk from the refrigerator: professional laziness.


Ilenia prepares french toast.

To my mind, signature drinks is a path towards capturing the minds of your audience (customers). While most of us like comfort foods like steak frites or mac 'n cheese, we're also captivated by creations that are a bit more exploratory. And even those who aren't quite adventurous are reassured because they at least know that they can "go wild" should they desire.

With than in mind, we spent the day preparing various components of the signature drinks we've developed over the years:

2004 - Haupia Macchiato
2005 - Spro Shake
2006 - Coffee and a Cigarette
2007 - Gin 'N Juice
2008 - Breakfast In Bed
2008 - "PBJ"
2009 - "LobSpro"
2010 - Oyster in the Half Shell


While Joy and Rebecca attempt to quelch the fire alarm, I keep on truckin'.

As we spritely march towards a new season of barista competitions, I will be stepping back from them and making way for a new generation of barista to take the stage. For the Mid-Atlantic Regionals, we'll be sending Lindsay to give a try at the competition and it's time to do some development.

Something we've been thinking of has been Pop Tarts. Is there a way to create a drink that suggests Heavily Toasted Pop Tarts? Maybe with some espresso or a marshmallow foam? Carmelized? Ah, who knows?


Lunch: Tuna Club on baguette with chips.

Meanwhile, as we're saute-ing lobster shells for a LobSpro component, the smoke sets off the fire alarm and a piercing shriek fills the room. As everyone is running around trying to blow the stuff out or simply run away, the mix still needs attention.

From there, it's some sandwich tests on our tuna club idea, a no-go test for poached egg baguette and an afternoon of watching the SouthEast Regional Barista Competition live video stream where we spy a judge who suspiciously looks like Kimmy, who's supposedly "away in New York City" this weekend...


Devlin, Lindsay and Jeremy check out the Hario V60 pour over.


Pop Tarts Consomme base.


Watching the SERBC live video stream.


Poached egg on baguette - meh.

Something Big, Something Nice

Something big, something nice.

For nearly two weeks now, I've been receiving updates from Conway Freight concerning a box that's been either sitting in their terminal or loaded onto a trailer for delivery to project hampden. But with the city streets in the condition they have been, actually receiving delivery has become a bit of a pipe dream. Until today.

Finally, the tractor trailer pulled up and the driver came a-knocking. The box was strapped to a pallet and was much larger than I had anticipated. After a bit of wrangling with Jeremy, a little help from the driver, the box landed on the floor and unpacking could ensue.

Inside? Our new Multivac C-200 table top chamber vacuum sealer with nitrogen flush attachment!

ph: Mugging It

Weird Science at project hampden.

Ceramic wares for coffee have always been a bit of a problem for me. In spite of the large industry surrounding the coffee world, I find it quite difficult to find really great ceramic cups for coffee service.

Most shops use the "Brown Betty" style espresso and cappuccino cups but to my eye, they're God-awful ugly. Terrakeramik has been making tulip style cups for a couple of years now but at $75 for two, they're prohibitively expensive for service. That is, unless I'm charging French Laundry prices. Sadly, most companies make terrible cups for coffee service. Most of them have poor interior shapes that cause turbulence when pouring or they're just ridiculously large in size. I need a six ounce cappuccino cup, not an 8 ounce sorta shaped like cappuccino cup.

For years, I found respite in the aisles of Ikea where they made very affordable tulip-shaped cups in 2 ounce and 5.5 ounce sizes. Just right for service and competition, but now they're gone and I'm left stuck with nothing.

Ever since my days learning coffee at Hines Public Market Coffee in Seattle, I've been using the ACF La Marzocco branded cups. Those are just right but it's been difficult obtaining more of them and my entire inventory of those is either at Towson or in reserve somewhere. My next alternative is to go with a custom cup from a European manufacturer but I'm still not sure of the design and have been putting it off until we get everything just right. I mean why invest in 300 pieces if you're not 100% behind the design?

Meanwhile, I've ordered a bunch of Illy espresso and cappuccino cups. By far, the Illy cappuccino cups are my favorite. At six ounces with the sloped bowl, they're perfect. Too bad they have the Illy logo on them. The espresso cups aren't bad either.

The real problem comes when you're specifying larger sizes. Because of the trend towards sizes 16 ounces or greater, finding a decent 12 ounce cup for brewed coffee and lattes has been a challenge. But I did find a cup that fits the size requirement and has a pleasing shape. I ordered 48 of these cups in our new Caffeine Molecule design commemorating the opening of project hampden as Spro Hampden. As we transition to a new logo and new look, this will most probably be the very last item we make with the classic logo style.

Now, if we can only get them to work properly!

Paco Sundaes

Banana Ice Cream at the ready.

Someday my equipment order is going to arrive and I'm going to have all the toys for the new shop, namely the freezer. Until then, making ice cream entails storing the PacoJet beakers in Woodberry Kitchen's walk-in freezer, popping over to the restaurant then running back to project hampden to spin the ice cream for tests. It's a bit of a pain.

Tonight we're playing with the vanilla ice cream I mixed up back on the third. Spin it in the PacoJet, whip up some chocolate ganache and we're got lickety-split sundaes for late night snacking.

That's when she spied the lonely banana sitting in the pastry case left over from Saturday's barista jam. "What if we spun the banana into the ice cream?" Chop, chop, chop then spin, spin, spin and voila - Banana Ice Cream!

Add a little more chocolate ganache and all is well.

ph: Playing With Food

Sandwich Onglet with frites and a salad.

Since project hampden was literally wrecked from last nights' dinner, what better way to spend the day than playing a bit more with food and the tabletop Waring fryer? I mean, the shop already smells like grease-laden hell.

There's still some steak and stuff left, so why not make a simple lunch of toasted baguette with melted gruyere with dijon, greens and thin slices of sous vide hangar steak? The Onglet Sandwich. Now that would be a nice menu addition. Add a small side of vinaigrette salad and some fries, with some moules mouclade on the side? Oh, la la!


Poached Egg Three Ways -

With some borrowed eggs, we plopped them into a hot water bath for an hour to test some variations on poached eggs. A shooter in oyster shell, a simple version in an egg cup and on a sliced croissant. Some nice preparations that should also make it onto our menu.

The thoughts then turned back to the sandwich and how nice it would be to serve the sandwich with french fries. But since using a fryer in the shop results in horrific odors filling your pores, that's out of the question. But what if we fried them elsewhere then heated in the oven for service?

Ixnay on that one.


Oven Fries - Just Say No.


A little potato, mushroom and sausage tart from across the street - classic.

Getting VD

A load of groceries at Wegman's.

Over the years, I've cooked dinner for two hundred people, prepared food for multi-course gastro tasting dinners and a bunch of other intense dinners and food experiences. But nothing was more stressful than today's dinner.

Making food is fun. Cooking is fun. But cooking dinner for someone who knows food probably better than you is ill-inspiring. I nearly broke into a cold sweat running around like a headless chicken at Wegman's.

Breathe. Calm youself. You can do this. This is child's play, I told myself.


Some favorites.

And really, I had planned a simple meal. Simple classics. Nothing too intricate to execute. I would rely on easy stuff: stuff I had made before - with the exception of the Mushy Peas.

Mushy Peas? What in the Hell are Mushy Peas? I had never heard of it before. A Google search led me to a recipe. Seemed simple enough. Maybe I could make it in advance and hold it at temperature? Why not.

Here's the menu:

Moules Mouclade
- Line grown mussels in a curry cream wine sauce with baguette and Kerry Gold butter

Onglet a l'Echalote
- Seared sous vide Roseda hangar steak and shallot sauce with Mushy Peas, Salad and Fries

Blueberries in Lime Sugar
- Reid Orchard blueberries in lime sugar with Paco whipped Vanilla Cream


Wines:
2007 Black Ankle Vineyards Albarino
2007 Coudoulet de Beaucastel Cotes-du-Rhone
2006 Audelssa Tephra

And after lots of food, three bottles of some of my favorite wines and long conversations that lasted late into the night, I'd like to think it was a nice dinner - even though I had to substitute Russet potatoes instead of the GPOD70 potatoes I prefer for frites.


Le Moules Mouclade



Hangar Steak sous vide then seared in butter.

Throw It Down

Getting things started.

A barista event just wouldn't be a "barista event" without the near-obligatory Latte Art Throwdown. I've attended and judged more than a few throwdowns over the years and have come to prefer the relative newcomer, Winner Takes All, Sudden Death format where competitors art are placed head-to-head and the judges decide then and there which of the two is the superior art based on color, contrast, symmetry and design. The one that makes it, lives. The one that dies is unceremoniously dumped out in front of an audience of tens.

This style of latte art throwdown makes for something much more interesting and exciting than the typical format of judges sitting down with each art and scoring it for later dissemination. The Thursday Night Throwdown I recently attending in Washington DC followed this Millrock-style of judging and was insanely droll and boring. So droll it was that we left.


Phil and Tim go head-to-head.

At most throwdowns, baristas toss in five bucks for a chance at winning the entire booty. Personally speaking, I prefer a higher stakes game: Twenty Bucks. But most baristas aren't game for a twenty dollar throwdown (even though the return is greater), so I almost never have the chance to play for those stakes. Even better, we once were able to stage a Macchiato Throwdown, which given the smaller demitasse cup, requires greater skill and control to make proper art. A Twenty Dollar Macchiato Throwdown - that's my ideal latte art competition.

For this first-time-ever-in-Baltimore throwdown, it simply became a "bet what you can afford" competition where competitors tossed into the pile whatever they could afford. Five bucks, personal effects, Skittles - whatever. In the end, the booty consisted of $42 cash, 184 grams of Tropical Skittles, a pair of ladies leather gloves, a wallet from Clever Cat, two coffee mugs, a hat, 4 paint pens and a #2 pencil.


Judges Scott and Anisha set the trend.

Serving as judges were World Barista Championship head judge and owner of North Carolina's Carrboro Coffee Scott Conary, and Anisha Jagtap, pastry chef and owner of Baltimore's Puffs and Pastries.

The competitors lineup:

Tim - Perfect Brew Services
Phil - Counter Culture Coffee
Tim N. - Town Hall Coffee
Jess - Spro Coffee
Lindsay - Spro Coffee
Ian - Cosmic Cup Coffee
Yours Truly
Devlin - Spro Coffee


Jess prepares her espresso as the loot awaits.

The competition was fast, furious and suspense filled. Would the seasoned veteran judge and the pastry chef recognize true latte art brillance in such a post-industrial city? Would the throwdown newcomer competitors crack under the increasing pressure and heckling of Micah from Baltimore's Red Emma's Coffeehouse?

In the end, it would be the latte art workshop instructor, Phil Proteau of Counter Culture Coffee who would dominate the entire field from start to finish, take home the leftover bag of Skittles and drink his hour-old winning latte.


Emcee Micah (in hat) heckles the competitors.


Anisha kills someone's dreams of Skittles Glory.


Cosmic Cup's Ian prepares his latte art assault.


Hopes, Dream and the Crushed.


Phil celebrates his victory...


And drinks it too!

It's A Jam, Hon!

Something savory, something sweet.

As project hampden was nearing completion a few weeks ago, Lindsay came to me with the idea of hosting a barista jam. Having attended and instructed at barista jams, I honestly wasn't too keen on hosting one ourselves. Too much work and so much to do before we open.

My first inclination was to say "no." But the enthusiam... how could I deny the enthusiasm?

By now, I'm feeling a bit like the Old Guy at the Party. I've been doing coffee for (technically) seven years or so. That enthusiastic naivete of 2003/2004 where everything coffee was exciting has passed. The experience of cronyism, embezzlement, circling the wagons and other coffee industry politic tomfoolery has me a bit jaded and more than vehemently against the moronic title "Third Wave."


Jenny discusses the finer points of Eva Solo.

But everyone was so enthusiastic about hosting a jam that I would be a moron to tell them "no." Of course, the reality is that staging a proper jam requires us to shut down normal operations for a day - and shutting down for a day not long after opening to the public was not going to fly. It had to be before we opened. Lindsay and company set off at high speed to get things rolling.

Of course, the Blizzard (or Snowmageddon) of 2010 foiled our plans for February 6th, forcing a "snow date" for today - the day before Valentine's. Happily, more than a few baristas were willing to spend part of their Valentine's Weekend with the crew from Spro.


Ilenia and Rebecca talk vac pot.

To be honest, the event is all due to Lindsay. I did very little. She brought the staff together, planned the workshops, called the guests and made it all happen. The event went off very smoothly and while attendees trickled in and out throughout the day, I thought it was well-attended, informative and worthwhile for the participants.

More importantly, the jam was free. Unlike jams across America where the attendee pays, ours was free. Every one donated their time and their effort. Our Special Guests came from far and near, our roasters, creamery and sponsors donated their product generously and for that, we are tremendously grateful.


Allie and Jeremy work the Linea.

Milk Sponsor:
Trickling Springs Creamery

Breakfast and Lunch Sponsor:
Puffs and Pastries

Latte Art Throwdown and Dinner Sponsor:
Woodberry Kitchen

Coffee Sponsors:
Hines-Origins Organic Coffee
Intelligentsia Coffee
Barefoot Coffee Roasters
Counter Culture Coffee
Caffe Pronto
Southern Skies Coffee
Bluebird Artisanal Coffee
Zeke's Coffee
Callao Coffee


A crowd gathers.

Alternative Brewing Workshops:
Eva Solo - Jenny Nelson
Abid Clever - Joy Davis
Vac Pot - Ilenia Madelaire & Rebecca Dowding
Chemex - Kimmy Fung
Aeropress - Jeremy Hyman

Barista Competition Workshop - Scott Conary, Carrboro Coffee

Latte Art Workshop - Phil Proteau, Counter Culture Coffee


Phil, Peter and Jade sit down for lunch.




Some Towson customers stop by for a brew.



Lehigh Valley Represent!



Jin, Larry and Tim do a little coffee cupping.




Scott Conary (of World Barista Championship fame) discusses competitions.

ph: Another Step Backwards...

Oh, my air conditioner!

After a week of nothing happening, we're back in project hampden getting it ready for tomorrow's barista jam. Everything seems like it's going smoothly until it's time to clear off the back deck for the beer keg.

Outside, Jeremy finds that the window air conditioner from the apartment upstairs was ripped out of the window (presumably due to the heavy weight of the snow), causing it to crash and damage the deck railing before plummeting to the snow below.

More repairs and more rubbish. Just when you think you've moved forward...

At Home and Working???

Escaping onto the snow-lined freeway at 70mph.

I've been sitting at home these past 24 hours doing nothing too productive except digging out from the snow and fielding some calls from vendors on the West Coast.

It's kinda odd to be sitting there while the world around you is at a complete standstill and receive calls from people going about their daily business. They're working and making money. You're not. They're ready to work and get things done. You can't do anything except sit there watching back episodes of Ugly Betty, Heroes and 24.

When the phone rang and the caller ID read "Lee" from our POS vendor, I first couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. What is this guy calling for in the middle of a blizzard? Of course, he's in Seattle where they're having their typical grey day and he wants to know which location they should ship the equipment to and which location will be up and running first.

At the moment, none of the locations are up and running. Hampden has passed inspections but need permits - permits that cannot be filed or processed because the government is essentially shut down. And since the government has shut down the building the espresso bar is located, there's not much happening there either.

Both locations shut down due to snow, no revenue, no work hours, how is anyone making money in this storm? Since Friday, we've had 1.5 days of operations and the last .5 day was pretty slow. My Hampden crew has been out of work for a week. I worry about them. Tomorrow is work come hell or high water. People need to eat.

Meanwhile, I've been dealing with a particular issue that's been nagging at me for weeks (months). Something I've been kinda putting off that came to a head with the snow shutting the city down and nothing else to divert the attention. Didn't handle it in quite the way I planned, but Full Speed Ahead. Not quite the outcome I would have preferred but probably the best and most logical outcome, and certainly not the worst. I feel better and stronger about it and I'll just have to see how it plays out.

Plow Watch - Late Night!

The Avenue - 4:07am, Thursday, Februrary 11, 2010.

My JHU Genius is at it once again with the cel phone camera. Hampden is still snow-covered but not as bad as I was expecting it to be. Definitely no work in the morning.