LOCAL AND SLOW FOOD

I think we are very lucky to be located in Ann Arbor. Without being on a coast or in a major metropolitan area, Ann Arbor is an unusually rich resource of people growing and producing great food.

Just in the restaurant's own historic neighborhood of Kerrytown we are lucky to have TR Durham of Durham's Tracklements whose smoked salmon was named best in the nation by the New York Times, Zingerman's Deli, Monahan's Seafood Market, Sparrow Meats and a vibrant farmer's market - several of which have received widespread acclaim as national food treasures. To me, Kerrytown is the kind of special culinary neighborhood you would be excited to find anywhere around the world and I am proud to be a part of the individual character and values that I think Kerrytown represents.

Just a little further out, but still locally, we have John Roos' Roos Roast, Zana Zangana's ZZ's Produce Market, Matt Morgan and Tommy York's Morgan and York, The Croissant Shop where Kurt Boyd handmakes his unbelievably good puff pastry - and still just a little further, Avalon bakery in Detroit where they bake our delicious, organic bread daily. At the restaurant, we make almost everything from scratch. The items we do not make are those unique ones, we have found, made by people dedicated to creating a limited selection and supply, and which we could not possibly do as well.

Sometimes I wonder what we would do if we didn't have all of these resources - if we couldn't just run across the street to Zingerman's if a customer was interested in some delicious (obscure) ingredient - or call Mike Monahan at home at 9 at night to get permission to get a special fish from his market for a customer. On our part, we are willing to put in the effort, but we are very lucky to be able to have access to these special resources. One of our favorite things is to find these special people who are true artisans in what they do and have the opportunity to get to know them. We are particularly grateful for the support of one person in particular, TR Durham, our neighbor and great friend, who provides us throughout the year with the most incredible hand-cured and smoked fish and meats you will ever taste.

If slow food starts at home then we are very lucky to have this as our home base.
 
MY STYLE

Because I spend most of my time in the kitchen, people are usually surprised there is an Eve. Then, when they meet me, they always say that they pictured me a lot older - and then they say that they pictured me a lot more exotic - and with an accent. I am not sure how I developed my style of cooking, growing up in the Midwest for most of my life, but I have always been drawn to and loved to learn about far away places. I was a comparative literature major in college, and I think by reading books set in those distant cultures, I felt absorbed into and transported to those places. I especially loved reading about foods from warm and exotic cultures and those are the influences that have come together to define my style - West African, North African, Cuban, Vietnamese.

When I went to France, to study at Le Cordon Bleu, I learned the classical technique that allowed me to refine my cooking, but the food I make is still bolder in flavor and texture and pulls more from those age-old traditions than from the subtlety of classical French cuisine. A chef that I really admire once told me that there are basically two styles of cooking - one, focusing on a few, spare ingredients to really highlight them and the other, bringing together a variety of ingredients to combine into one complex taste. If that is true, then my style fits into the second. Evocative spices - curry leaves - dried limes - ingredients that are so aromatic they not only transform the taste of a dish, but bring up memories and images of places you've dreamed about going to, dreams and romantic ideals. I love the combination of sweet, spicy and savory ingredients coming together with lots of textures and contrasts. Those textures and contrasts are an integral part of my style of cooking. While a dish may be spicy, complex or earthy, it is always best when paired with something pure, cool or bright to offset and bring out the best expression of both.

Those textures and contrasts carry through every aspect of the restaurant from the architecture and design to the smallest details like which flowers or what music we pick. The brick or grey wool or dark wood in the restaurant, cut by the simplest sheer gauzy white curtains, is the same as the minced Thai chicken in endive finished with a dollop of cool crème fraîche. To me, all of these elements echo and are inextricably tied to the food.

My approach to cooking may be traditional in following classical technique and in the commitment to making almost everything from scratch and to working with ingredients when they are in peak season, but is also modern in not following the restrictions of a single tradition or the conventions or rules of what is supposed to go together. Using your intuition - or your senses to bring you to what really goes together - being inventive, but never just for the point of it.
 
THE BLUEBERRY TEST

The first day we held interviews for the restaurant was a really beautiful day in late summer. Nichole, our dining room manager, and I went to the farmer's market around the corner and came back with a quart of perfect, plump blueberries. We were eating them when the first person arrived for his interview and so of course, we asked him if he wanted some blueberries. Throughout the day we had to make several trips back to the farmer's market because the blueberries were just so good, we kept going through them - it's hard to stop eating Michigan blueberries in July.

After a long day, we met to review how we felt about all of the people we had interviewed - to analyze their strengths, weaknesses, experience and all of the things you are supposed to look for in a job candidate. We found that we had the same favorite people - all of whom we had felt immediately comfortable with. I had noticed and finally, quietly confessed, that it seemed like all of the people we liked so much were the people who were the most excited about the blueberries. Nichole exclaimed that she had been thinking the exact same thing all day.

I don't know that there is a scientific correlation between the people the most excited about, and most voraciously eating the blueberries and who makes a good job candidate - But, I honestly believe that there is a basic bond and connection between people who are passionate about food - no matter what their background or job experience. Those are the people that turned out to be a natural fit at the restaurant and really lasted. How they felt about food continued on to their passion for life and natural warmth as a person.
 
MOST IMPORTANT TECHNIQUES OR WAYS TO AVERT DISASTER OR FIX A PROBLEM OR SIMPLY DO THINGS PROPERLY

This is not a list of basic cooking techniques - like how to sear, sauté, sweat, roast or braise - but little things which I think can make a real difference in the results you get - whatever you are cooking. They are not actually difficult, just a matter of taking the time - maybe a few extra seconds - and being into what you are doing. If you do these things properly and consistently, your food will be at a different level. Cooking thoughtfully and with attention to detail is as much an approach to cooking, as it is a matter of precise technique.

Season evenly and generously - Every bite of an ingredient, notwithstanding textural differences, should taste the same - you don't want to bite into a salty bite and then a peppery bite and then a bland one. It is worth it to take an extra few seconds when seasoning your ingredients to get this consistency. If you season by raising your hand a slight distance above the food as you season it, you will get more even distribution and therefore, more even taste.

If you season your food generously in advance of cooking, the salt will be able to penetrate deeper and become more integrated with the ingredient as it cooks, bringing out the maximum flavor of the ingredient itself as opposed to seasoning after an ingredient has been cooked which will leave a one dimensional salty layer over the shell that has been created during the cooking process.

We make and cook with a lot of spice mixtures at the restaurant, but we always season first with salt, then with pepper and last with the spice mixture so the spice mixture won't create a barrier to the salt penetrating the ingredient and allowing the salt to bring out the most and best flavor of the ingredient as it cooks. At the restaurant, we consistently use kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. We never use iodized salt as it has a harsh, aggressive taste and is made up of tiny, rock-hard granules, neither of which you really want to contribute to your food. Kosher salt generally comes in the form of a flatter flake which dissolves easily into food and also has a more delicate and natural taste. Sea salt is also a softer salt both in form and flavor - it melts easily into food and has a beautiful and gentle range of flavors, but is somewhat distinctive, and when you are not trying to add an additional flavor, but bring out the true flavor of your ingredients, kosher salt is, I think, the best (we use Diamond brand).

There is a different world between buying ground pepper or simply grinding pepper as needed from a peppermill. You can branch out and experiment with all of the varieties of peppercorns - Telicherry, Malabar, Sarawak, green, white - learn about how they are harvested and notice all of the differences in taste, but any basic fresh, black peppercorn freshly ground will blow away a commercially packaged ground jar of pepper and is definitely worth the small effort or expense.

When sautéing or searing, place your ingredient presentation side down in a hot pan - move it once to allow oil to slip under it so it won't stick and then leave it alone until it is ready to be turned - The first side that you place in a pan will generally come out in the most pristine condition, as the pan is the cleanest during this portion of the cooking process - and so should be your presentaton side. Following this process will consistently bring you the most beautiful results.

Taste thoughtfully - Use your senses and don't rush - be open-minded and see where it leads you.

Pay attention to texture and contrast - Something complex, spicy or earthy will always benefit from something cool, clean or bright as a complement. This refreshes your palate and brings out the best of both tastes.

Don't give up easily - You can fix a lot of things if you remain calm and don't give up right away.

Don't take shortcuts that compromise the quality - It is better to simplify a recipe or take out some components than to do technique hastily.

For large batches, make a test before cooking the entire batch - For example, if you are making a big batch of Conch Fritters, Vietnamese Sausage or Turkey Burgers - take a small amount and cook it individually to taste how the whole batch will come out - adjust the batch and repeat the process. This only takes a couple of minutes, but prevents the whole batch from coming out less than ideally.

Choose the right sized pan - So that the food you are cooking will have enough room to sear and caramelize properly, instead of being crowded and essentially steam in its own juices. As ingredients caramelize they develop flavor and texture and along with controlling the heat, choosing the right size pan is the best way to ideally caramelize and thus, flavor your food.

Adjust your heat - It is difficult to prescribe in writing what the ideal heat is for cooking a particular item. If you pay attention to how your food is reacting to the heat as you cook, you can quickly learn to adjust to the subtleties of cooking and master the art of controlling your heat.

Don't follow a recipe blindly - When you are really paying attention to the look, feel and taste of the food, you have the best chance of getting the most delicious results. There are a lot of intangible factors like the season or quality or condition of the ingredients you are working with that can have a great effect on any given recipe and may not have been taken into account in writing the recipe. The combination of the idea for a dish in a recipe combined with being really into what you are doing, is the best chance for creating something special.

Choose the right oil - When cooking over high heat for an extended period of time, a pure, light cooking oil such as peanut, safflower or canola is ideal. Many people will advise you never to cook with extra virgin olive oil because it burns at a lower temperature than a pure, light cooking oil. However, for searing quick-cooking ingredients I think it actually helps to develop a deeper, richer color and unctuous quality in the food. While you do lose some of the subtle flavor of the oil, it really helps to develop a beautiful crispiness along with a depth of flavor you wouldn't get from cooking with lighter oil. Reserve the most special, complex extra virgin olive oil to be savored raw and simply. Other full-flavored oils and fat can make a great contribution to your food, like walnut oil, which contributes a nutty, earthy and pleasantly bitter flavor, or duck fat which contributes a smokey, earthy flavor and unsurpassable richness to a dish.

Be organized - For me, getting organized allows me the freedom to be free-spirited in my cooking. If I start with a clean workspace and have all of my things in place (Mise en Place) when I begin, I can really concentrate on the ingredients I am working with. Using proper technique when cooking is the next extension of this - when something is cooked properly, it gives you the ability to adjust to any unpredictable glitches that might arise - there is less room for error and a better chance for good results. Using proper technique is a basic structure that gives you a cushion to adjust to anything that comes up - it puts your best foot forward as well as providing you skills you can apply to anything you cook in the future.