Welcome to the Site

After months of designing, planning and biting my lip as to what this site looks like, I am happy to officially launch this blog. While I am quite green to the process, as a reader you will be able to watch me progress as I have the opportunity to pass on plenty of tidbits from my culinary quiver in the ‘Courses Column’ and through the Archives. Seventeen years of working in a variety of kitchens has provided me with more than a few anecdotes along the way I can’t wait to share with you.

You’ll find recipes throughout that read simply as cook’s notes. Professional chefs aren’t taught to follow recipes, but rather to gain an understanding of ingredients and apply time-tested methods and techniques that have been honed along the way.  I tend to look at recipes as a general guideline and oftentimes, it is from this starting point that my imagination is let loose, ultimately creating something more unique than the original. It’s fair to say that there are more than several ways to cook something, but until you have seen it done or do it yourself many  times and perhaps fail a few, you may never truly understand.

Alongside the blog, you now can connect with us here at Niche Restaurant via the new generation of the information superhighway. I know that plenty of you spend some free time keeping tabs on friends via Facebook and Twitter. With this new platform, I am able to keep you informed of not only upcoming events and happenings around the restaurant, but also the creative process of a dish that will be on the menu that evening, almost in real time. This site will open a portal into the kitchen here at Niche Restaurant and give you access to information most chefs keep tucked away in food-stained notebooks.