Lady in the House: Chef Anne-Sophie Pic’s Simple Elegance

by Kendra Bailey Morris on

As someone who has done her fare share of cooking, I have mad respect for anyone undertaking the daily grind of working in a professional kitchen, let alone running one. Yet as a woman, I can’t help but revel just a wee bit more in the achievements of the many female chefs out there who are gaining the culinary respect they so deserve.

Take Chef Anne-Sophie Pic, for example, of the newly opened, Anne-Sophie Pic at the Beau-Rivage Palace at the Lausanne hotel in Switzerland. Not only was she born with plenty of solid cooking genes (she’s the daughter of Chef Jacque Pic and the granddaughter of Chef Andre Pic, who are both award winning culinarians in their own right), she is currently the only female chef in France to earn three Michelin stars.

With a penchant for creating exquisite dishes plucked straight from the water, Pic’s vision is both elegant and understated. Whether you’re going a la carte or savoring a multi-course “Pic Collection”, Chef Pic reinterprets many classic, regional French specialties with her own unique refinement and flair.

Fresh crab and Aquitaine caviar is accented with “flaked crab jelly” while a ubiquitous slab of foie gras is roasted and topped with a black cardamom peach jam. Pic’s grandfather’s recipe for crayfish tail gratin is honored as is her father’s exercise in gastronomic indulgence, sea bass topped with either 20 grams of golden Osetra caviar from Iran or 30 grams of Aquitaine caviar.Seasonal and regional specialties also make frequent appearances, especially as they relate to Pic’s signature seafood dishes. Wild, red mullets are served with smoked Agria (a type of potato) gnocchi’s “cooked in hot embers” while roasted John Dory is accented with a creamy broad bean ravioli and “foamy milk” infused with rum from Martinique.

Desserts, courtesy of award-winning Chef Patissier, Philippe Rigollot, make for a sumptuous ending and boast whimsical titles like “Raspberry and the Mexican Tarragon Flower” consisting of a raspberry/tarragon sorbet topped with crystallized, candied raspberries.

A meal at restaurant Anne-Sophie Pic at the Beau-Rivage Palace doesn’t come cheap (the chef’s seven course tasting menu will set you back roughly $300 per person), yet guests are not only offered exquisite cuisine, they are treated to a refined service at every stage of the meal that is described on the website as having “the lightest touch”.

While pricey dinners might appear to be a thing of the past, especially during an era of lay-offs and foreclosures, I believe a dining experience at the Beau-Rivage is worth saving one’s pennies for, even if it’s simply to support one of the world’s great, female chefs.

–Kendra

Mile High Dining Club: Air France

by Kendra Bailey Morris on


Welcome to the first installment of the Mile High Dining Club where I’ll be exploring and reviewing all things delicious (and perhaps not so) in the air, on the tracks, and on the ground.

As airlines continue to cut more services, the bygone Pan American days of bottomless champagne, caviar and carving stations of roast beef have unfortunately fallen to the wayside as more travelers now find themselves packing cold cheese pizza, cinna-buns and bagel sandwiches into their carry-on’s in an attempt to avoid spending more money while on board. Some food experts even argue that “complimentary” first and business class meals no longer offer anything edible of note other than, “the dreadful food in the sky”. Certainly, the culinary times are-a-changin’ due to economic woes, so is it still possible to enjoy a decent meal while in the air?

Let’s take a look at one of the more respected airlines for foodies– Air France.

It’s well known that the French have it going on when it comes to cooking, and my experience while dining on-board an Air France flight mostly held its ground to this effect. Recently, I booked an overnight flight from Washington to Paris in the airline’s Affaires (business class) cabin where the uber-spacious seats convert to semi-flat beds and little extra’s such as mini Clarins moisturizers, feather pillows, and drawstring bags for your shoes, make red-eye travel a lot less painful.

Dinner started off with an aperitif of salted cashews and a glass of Ayala Brut Majeur champagne, which like all of Air France’s wine selections, was chosen by sommelier, Olivier Poussier. After being presented with the Affaires in-flight menu, which typically offers a four-course option including an hors d’oeuvre, main course, cheese course and dessert, I moved on to a glass of white Bordeaux (Chalonnais Rully Rodet, 2006). Note: Air France’s economy class also offers aperitif, Champagne, and Olivier Poussier chosen wines along with a choice of two hot meals as part of their on-board service.
First course was a classic cold duck foie gras accented with onion compote and served over butter lettuce. Simple, yet delicious. A nice addition were the mini bottles of extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic for drizzling, yet the accompanying baguette was disappointing. Hard, crumbly and dry, even smothering it in French butter couldn’t save it. After sampling some seriously tasty, crusty baguettes while jaunting throughout France, I’ve just got to call out a French airline for serving crappy bread. Non bon, people.

Second course was a platter of beef tenderloin in a mushroom cream sauce served with broccoletti and mashed potatoes. While the meat appeared properly cooked on the outside (nice grill marks) the inside was substantially undercooked. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m a rare meat girl all the way down to the moo, and filet mignon is designed to be served rare to medium-rare, but this slab of beef was about as raw as it gets. Too bad I couldn’t send it back to the chef for a few more minutes on the grill, but the fact is, airlines don’t have a lot to work with, especially when you consider that many meals travel up to twenty-two hours from kitchen to plane. With this in mind, the broccoletti was outstanding–al dente and crisp, as if it had just come out of a pot of boiling water, so kudos for that success.

Cheese consisted of perfectly sweaty, room temperature Fourme d’Ambert, Cabecou and Camembert along with a few pieces of fruit, and was an excellent match for the 2005 Jean Guyon Cru Bourgeois Superieur. Dessert held its own as a raspberry mille-feuille, although it tasted ever-so-slightly freezer burned.

In all fairness, I have to add that reviewing an airline’s in-flight dining cannot be held to the same standards to that of a restaurant. For starters, airline food is often cooked, chilled and then reheated on the plane versus being prepared a la minute, and you probably won’t be seeing any celeb chefs plating up their specialties along with the flight attendants. The fact is, airlines have many things working against them when it comes to preparation, yet luckily it isn’t all bad as many airlines are changing their culinary tune when it comes to pleasing their passenger’s palates.

Sure, the meal I had on board Air France wasn’t Chez Panisse nor was it trying to be. However, for an in-flight dining experience (cue endless pours of amazing French wine) Air France was pretty darn tasty, and I’d be happy to eat and drink my way across the Atlantic with them anytime.

–Kendra

The Accidental Chef Travels: A culinary journey through Southwest France

by Kendra Bailey Morris on


“Here’s to those who show up”, cookbook author and artisan chef Kate Hill announces as we raise our glass of Baron D’Ardeuil Buzet (a Merlot blend) to toast the fruits of our afternoon labor. Yet, labor might be considered a misnomer, since by no means did I consider those precious hours tasting Floc de Gascogne, a local specialty made from Armagnac, while touching and tasting my way around Kate’s extensive gardens replete with fresh lovage, chervil, butter lettuces and soft, green almonds remotely arduous.

Perhaps, I was feeding off the relaxed, peaceful vibe of her uber-content dog, Bacon, who spent most of the afternoon lying on his side in front of the grand hearth fireplace merely inches away from four, bakery fresh baguettes. Like Bacon, in order to fully grasp the atmosphere of life at Kate’s farmhouse kitchen, one must exercise both patience and restraint to properly reap the grand reward found at the end of the day.

Relais de Camont is Kate Hill’s culinary haven. Situated in a small hamlet in the heart of Gascony, the 18th century Camont illustrates the gastronomic concept of farm to table in its purest sense. A raspberry custard tart is made with eggs from her chickens while a cold, radish soup laced with herbs and shallots hails straight from her vegetable garden or potager. Visiting Camont is to experience the “cooking life” of Gascony, where the traditions of classical French farm cuisine meld with all that’s fresh and local.

Kate’s cooking clientele include home cooks looking for a sound introduction to the regional and seasonal flavors of the area, which include Agen prunes, Magret duck and plenty of foie gras. Education is not left out as Kate’s classes often incorporate basic cooking techniques such as emulsifying a vinaigrette or the art of making French cassoulet. For these clients, a day class or one of Kate’s “French Kitchen Adventure” weekends might be in order, which begin with a local farmers market visit and includes hands-on cooking and multiple meals along with accommodations.
For the more advanced cook or professional, Kate opens her kitchen for longer, more intensive stays that are tailored individually. During my visit, a fellow food writer was spending five weeks under the tutelage of a local farm butcher in order to hone her butchery skills while an American chef was there to learn the art of French charcuterie.

Kate’s Camont is what you make it, and everything that’s made here is fresh and luscious. For us, after watching a brief cooking demonstration which included such wonderful tidbits as the importance of freshly grinding your spices to understanding the difference between French and U.S. bay leaf, we sat back with wine in hand and watched the day’s meal unfold.

Guests can participate as much or as little as they want, and for us on that day, it was all about the show. Local Magret duck breast was delicately seasoned with dried spices and then roasted in an outdoor Portuguese bee oven (which lent a wonderful smokiness to the meat). A can of duck confit (salt-cured duck leg that is preserved in its own fat) made its way into the fry pan, lifting its aroma high into the rafters of Kate’s two-story kitchen. Chanterelles were pickled, fresh greens were washed, and croutons, made from leftover baguette, were cubed and fried in duck fat. The end result? A Salade Gasconne served buffet style where the assembly was left entirely up to us.

As we dined outside under a canopy of hanging vines sharing stories of our lives at home, I could feel myself connecting or should I say reconnecting with cooking and eating as it’s designed to be. Off in the distance, one of Kate’s roosters let out its signature crow while nearby, a handful of bumblebee’s busily buzzed about in a lavender plant, and in that moment, I couldn’t help but think how glad I was to be the one who showed up.

–Kendra

A Super Dining Option at Westin Hotels and Resorts

by Kendra Bailey Morris on

Many of us travelers have had more than our fare share of average hotel dining experiences, especially when it comes to breakfast. I mean, let’s face it. How inspiring can a continental breakfast buffet of day-old scones and room temperature yogurts really be?

Toss in the fact that eating healthy on the road is its own particular challenge, and folks looking for a decent meal are often left to nosh on their own private stash of granola bars along with lukewarm in-room, coffee-maker-coffee, which while arguably better for you than a platter of greasy sausage links, isn’t particularly satisfying.

Lucky for us, Westin Hotels and Resorts has just unveiled a new breakfast and all-day dining menu that features nature’s very own Superfoods, which are best described as foodstuffs which make you feel…well…super.

Based on the nutritional concepts of the bestselling books published by Superfood Partners LLC, the concept is fundamentally simple. Superfoods are ingredients that are well-known for their health-enhancing benefits. Foods such as tomatoes, avocados, blueberries, salmon and nuts contain that ever-familiar, catch-word “antioxidant”. Antioxidants help to slow down the absorption of those evil, damage-causing free radicals that are often responsible for contributing to heart disease, diabetes, macular degeneration, even cancer.
Yet, the best part is that these Superfoods actually taste good, especially when found in carefully plotted combinations such as poached organic eggs and smoked salmon “Benedict”, blueberry-orange granola pancakes, and grilled turkey hash with sweet potatoes and tomato/arugula salad.

And, these goodies aren’t just for breakfast. Westin’s all-day dining menu is a combination of restorative dishes featuring well-known Superfoods including sesame soy-glazed tuna salad with edamame and broiled green tea-lacquered salmon with lemon shiitake essence. Like Westin’s breakfast offerings, each of these Superfood items is clearly defined on the menu by its signature SuperFoodsRx greenleaf logo, making it easy to spot.

It can be argued that Westin isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel here, but they are certainly tapping into a viable need- one that travelers, especially those who are frequently on the road for business, are beginning to seek out more and more. With both health and social awareness clearly on the rise when it comes to personal dining choices (check out the film Food, Inc. to see what I mean) there’s no doubt that Westin’s Superfoods program can fill a highly-publicized gap that will not only leave diners feeling super, but perhaps even a little healthier.

–Kendra

The Maitre d’ of Cheese

by Kendra Bailey Morris on

I must confess. I want Carolyn Stromberg’s job. She spends all day surrounded by stinky cheese, nibbling away her work hours immersed in plethora of funkiness. There’s no three-walled office cubicle for this former Cowgirl Creamery apprentice. Only a butcher’s block and a stainless steel cheese slicer, along with one of the ultra-coolest gadgets I’ve seen in a long time– a glass-enclosed cheese cave built right into the wall of the Old Hickory Steakhouse restaurant at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

And, these are no ordinary cheeses, mind you, so get that grocery store smoked gouda and that plastic-wrapped havarti out of your head. Carolyn, whose proper title is Maitre d’Fromage, spends much of her time working with a variety of local and international purveyors in search of the very best seasonal cheeses to present at their ultimate peak.

Each cheese is carefully selected based on origin, texture, taste and appearance, and is housed in the restaurant’s own cave which is kept at just the right temperature and humidity (60 degrees and 80 percent humidity) in order to preserve its optimum ripeness and moisture level. The cave, which is the only one of its kind in the D.C. area, can best be described as a sort of humidor for cheese.

For diners at the Old Hickory Steakhouse, a classic tasting platter might begin with selecting from a fruity cow’s milk Piave from Italy or a piquant Lord of the Hundreds sheep’s milk from England or perhaps an earthy Irish Cashel Blue might be your savory ticket. U.S. artisan cheese makers get a well-deserved nod on Carolyn’s list as well, whether you’re craving a buttery Nettle Meadow Kunik from New York or an Up in Smoke goat’s milk from Oregon.

Boasting more than two dozen artisanal cheeses, the collection can be worth an estimated $8,000 to $10,000 on any given evening.

And, these rare cheeses don’t come cheap. Boasting more than two dozen artisanal cheeses, the collection can be worth an estimated $8,000 to $10,000 on any given evening. With this in mind, cheese lovers are encouraged to choose wisely, which is where Carolyn as Maitre’d comes into play.

After spending all day ordering, slicing and tasting some of the most respected dairy producers in the world, Carolyn fills her evenings catering to the inner-cheese junkie in all of us. Pushing along her trolley of goodness (a custom-made cheese cart), Carolyn presents fifteen or more varieties table side for guests to choose from.

What results is both delicious and educational, as diners are first asked about their personal taste preferences and then offered several options from the trolley. As choices are narrowed down, Carolyn offers her take on the history of the cheeses along with pairing suggestions. The presentation culminates with guests customizing their own cheese plate, which can serve as a tasty beginning or end to a carefully-crafted meal built for the passionate cheese lover.

As part of the Old Hickory’s dinner menu, which is an impressive collection of delights in and of itself courtesy of Chef Wolfgang Birk, the customized artisanal cheese option, is just the beginning. With views overlooking the Potomac and a contemporary design take reminiscent of a Georgetown row house, the restaurant boasts a collection of 130 award-winning wines designed to pair with hearty cuts of grain-fed Black Angus beef (which can be decadently topped with lobster tail or foie gras) and signature dishes such as pepper crusted organic Scottish salmon with butternut squash risotto and truffle leek sauce. Birk, a former chef of the five-diamond awarded Casa Casuarina (a.k.a. the Versace mansion) often culls from local farms and producers in an effort to keep the menu fresh and contemporary.

Service is tight here as well, and the little details make all the difference, such as presenting a wedge of unsalted butter on cold salt stone to accompany the basket of bread. Yet, the most unique aspect of the resort’s restaurant is Carolyn’s table side cheese presentation, which is a foodie adventure not-to-be-missed, so when you’re ready to get your cheese on, hit the Gaylord National for an experience tailored to those who crave a little more pungency in life.

—Kendra