Cooking classes
posted on 03/01/2010
If you’ve been to the restaurant then you are aware that we have an open kitchen with about 10 seats overlooking the cooking line. Sit there and you may watch one of the wok cooks nearly sear off his eyelashes in a sudden burst of flame or perhaps you’ll get a taste of something that Chef is working on that night for a special. Having an open kitchen prompts many of our customers to ask, “Can I learn how to cook like that?” And finally, after months of talking about how it would be fun, we decided to do it. Cooking classes!
We offered two last month as a test…first to see if there was indeed actual interest and second to see if our Chef was up to the challenge. We had no doubts on either. Immediately after sending out an email to our faithful followers, our inboxes were inundated with “Please me! Pick me!” messages and we had waiting lists for both classes. Chef stepped right up to the plate and prepared an hour and a half lesson plan, chockfull of tips, ingredient information, and fun stories about his time in our kitchen.
For both classes Chef taught a trio of our most popular dishes: scallion pancakes, Mama Chang’s pork and chive dumplings, and green papaya slaw. When you do something over and over, day in and day out, you forget that the minutia of what you do is actually interesting to those who do not work in the kitchen. Chef was unsure whether or not people would actually be curious to see a green papapa before it was prepped (they were) or find it interesting to see how and why we add Napa cabbage to our dumplings (they did). Every sentence out of his mouth was met with an “ohhhh….!” by someone in the small audience and as he got more and more feedback from students, Chef got more and more relaxed. The students were all at the edge of their seats, soaking up all of the info and even getting their hands dirty to try making the dumplings. After each class the students were all treated to a dim sum lunch where they also had a chance to ask questions and talk to Chef in a more casual setting. I think he liked this part the best!
We consider the classes a success on several fronts: we got emails from students reporting back their attempts at making the dishes at home (all successful so far!), Chef confidently segued from teaching these classes to teaching a much larger audience at the Boston Travel Show a few weeks later, and on one of the comment cards, someone offered Chef her number (sorry he’s taken!) proving that even while teaching he’s as charming and smooth as ever.
Thanks to those of you who came to our classes and stay tuned for upcoming classes in the near future.
Yelp exchange
posted on 02/01/2010
We admit it, we keep track of what people are saying about us on Yelp. How can we not? It’s a very popular and very vocal website that allows customers- anyone- to post reviews on, well, just about anything. We pat each other on the back when we get a good review, we go through poor reviews with a fine-tooth comb and determine what we can learn from them. Sometimes there’s not a lot to be gleaned-some people just don’t like us (whaaaa?) and they are entitled to their opinion. (Although we sometimes wish they wouldn’t air it so publicly but that’s the way of the world we live in now.)
Sometimes however a review really gets us thinking. I recently had a great exchange with one Yelper who really liked our food but was offended with our use of humor and a bit concerned about the gentrification that M+C’s existance represented in the South End. First, here is excerpts from her review:
“This place to me pretty much embodies gentrification in Boston’s South End - overpriced, pretty, tasty; located where it used to be gritty, grimy, and neglected….
I get it, do over-priced Asian fusion food, but why do it in a way that’s offensive? Not only is the “ancient chinese secret” thing messed up, but I also heard about the messed up commercials/ads for this place saying junk like “Confucius say ‘When man go through turnstile sideways, Bangkok!’” or something to that effect. Dude, how is that cool to make a joke out of Asian cultures when you call yourself Asian fusion? Also, shame on the Boston media for calling this a Chinese joint. Messed up!”
The ads were meant to be tongue in cheek (and in fact my conservative parents find them hysterical) and the Ancient Chinese Secret mousse was our way of getting around calling it Chocolate Tofu Mousse (see? doesn’t really sound so good that way!).
I think that when people go out to eat and want to go somewhere with a great atmosphere and well-informed servers and a terrific wine list and fun music, it shouldn’t be limited to Italian or Mediterannean or American food. I want to get people to go out to eat and also enjoy our food….
I honestly was impressed by the food at M+C. It’s great enough to stand on its own, without the “haha, look… Asians” jokes, which just undermine the awesomeness of your cuisine and craft. It’s unfortunate that M+C has resorted to such jokes especially when it’s in a neighborhood that used to be home to hundreds of poor immigrant Asian families… almost like another slap in the face to these struggling families.
I think it’s great that the South End is finally getting some attention, but I’m always worried that the people who lived there before are simply pushed out to some other neglected part of town, in the name of progress. In other words, the condition of poverty experienced by people who lived in the South End previously are likely still neglected. The new paved streets, fancy lofts, and cutting edge establishments just simply cover up the inequalities that continue to exist in the city…. ”
And finally excerpts from my response: “I take all of your points to heart. As someone who has opened 2 businesses in the rapidly gentrified South End (one could argue that it’s pretty much gentrified at this point whereas 10 yrs ago it was about halfway there) I am completely aware of our impact on the neighborhood. At Flour, opened 10 years ago, we made and continue to make a concerted effort to remain affordable for everyone. We also continue to give generously to any and all neighborhood causes- in fact it is one of our main missions, to give back to the ‘hood. At M+C the building we live in actually houses 20 formerly homeless people who are in studio apartments on the 4th and 5th floor of our building. We also are partnered with Project Place (who are headquartered on floor 2 and 3) and as their sole commercial tenant M+C provides them with a source of income to help them continue their operations. I don’t mean to toot our horn or sound defensive; I just want to assure you that we are well aware of the impact that a business like ours can make in any neighborhood and we absolutely do what we can as restaurateurs to add, not subtract, to the South End and to all who call it their home.
In any case the jokes that we make are not meant to be a slap in the face to our culture. I am extremely proud of my Taiwanese upbringing and heritage and what might come across to some as poking fun is simply me playing on the fact that I’m Chinese to say, “Hey I’m Chinese and I made a dessert that has a secret ingredient so I’m going to call it Ancient Chinese Secret Mousse!” Or when we make “Confucius say” puns it is not laughing at Asians because we’re Asian, it’s saying, “Look at all of the funny word plays we can make that work with our restaurant!” (”To make an egg roll, push it” was one; another was “Dragons make great housepets”-dragons being our logo.) As I mentioned all of the marketing we do at M+C cracks my parents up. I personally think having a sense of humor in such a public way helps, not hurts, our culture- I want people to know that Asians can have cool restaurants with hip atmospheres and edgy marketing campaigns, just like the rest of the world. I hope you can see where I’m coming from as well and perhaps understand that from my point of view, as an Asian, making jokes that don’t ignore my culture is a way that I can further it….”
So there you have it. It was a really thoughtful discussion and I really appreciated the evenhandedness of the Yelper’s emails. She truly just wanted us to just think before we act. I look forward to meeting her and continuing the dialogue. So I ask you, do you find our ads offensive? And are you concerned about the almost complete gentrification of the SE? These are both issues that we really want to know how others stand.
Open Table
posted on 01/16/2010
We finally are on Open Table. When we opened in Sept 2007, we actually planned on not taking reservations at all. We envisioned M+C to be a place that you could walk into any time of day and snag a table or a food bar stool and get some great chow. However we quickly realized that especially on the weekends most customers prefer the security of knowing that they have a reservation and that their table will be waiting for them when they arrive. Large parties in particular wanted to be able to know for certain that when everyone showed up they would have a place to sit (which makes loads of sense).
So we started slow, and we took reservations for about half of the room, jotting down names and numbers in a binder. Old school. It worked! And it worked well- we still kept half of the room open for walk-ins to encourage our neighbors to pop in at any time (and they do- thank you all so much-we love the South End) and the other half of the room was set aside for those who preferred to plan ahead and secure a reservation.
After a while though, more and more people begged us to get onto Open Table. “But then we can’t talk to you!” we bemoaned. And that has been something that we’ve always prided ourselves on- the personal and friendly greeting from whoever answers the phone when you call us to make a reservation. Well it turns out that as charming as we are on the phone, some customers simply prefer to make a ressie by logging onto an online reservation system.
So here we are- we are hooked up to Open Table which actually is great in many ways because it allows us to track information about YOU! Sounds very big brother doesn’t it? We assure you it’s harmless and it’s all the type of stuff that you expect that your husband or wife or best friend knows about you in terms of dining. Stuff like your birthday, what type of seating you prefer, that you like your water with no ice, that you are allergic to cilantro, that you didn’t like your swordfish last time because it was too spicy. All things that allow us to serve you better and better each time you come.
We are still keeping half of the room off of Open Table so that you can drop in and eat dinner with us so please don’t let the fact that we’ve entered the 21st century lead you to think we’ve changed all that much. If Chang and Myers had their druthers there wouldn’t be a computer in the whole place and we’d run the restaurant with a calculator, stack of notebooks and handful of pens. Whether you make a ressie or walk in we do hope to see you very soon. Happy New Year.
Gluten Free (and other allergy) Menus
posted on 12/28/2009
We’ve offered a gluten free menu at M+C from day one. (We also offer shellfish free, nut free, and vegetarian menus.) Our menu is fairly easy to tailor to people who are gluten intolerant with a few exceptions: soy sauce is made with wheat and fish sauce (at least the brand we use) contains “hydrolyzed vegetable protein” which may or may not have wheat in it. So we don’t use these two flavorings when making our GF dishes. But that still leaves us with rice wine vinegar, chili oil, sesame oil, ginger, onions, lemongrass, scallions, garlic….our GF menu isn’t a shy one.
Recently a customer came in and ordered off of our GF menu and posted a review denouncing us because he felt ill afterwards. This is always a challenging situation for us: the food he ordered was definitely not made with anything containing gluten. But as he explains it was made “in a facility that contains wheat.” He continues, “…there is no Gluten Free Certification for restaurants” so you simply have to trust the restaurant.
Yes we do have flour and wheat noodles and other gluten containing ingredients on our menu. But he is correct in his observation that we do not have a separate prep/staging area where we prepare our GF dishes- rather we are diligent about using different pots, mixing bowls, utensils when making these items. Same goes for shellfish free items and nut free dishes. While we can guarantee that the dish itself does not contain any of the offending ingredients, we do not have a separate kitchen for the preparation of these items. So we make sure to start from scratch with each allergy free menu item to ensure that it does not come in contact with the allergen.
It is a tough boat to be in, for both restaurateur and restaurant-goer. We absolutely know how important it is to those who are allergic or intolerant of certain items to eat with confidence when ordering off of our allergy free menus. And we keep our kitchen and prep out in the open so that you can be sure of our diligence. Upon a back-and-forth exchange with the ill customer, he admitted that perhaps he just had the flu. Regardless it was a solemn reminder to all of us that people who have allergies put their health in our hands when they dine with us and that we simply cannot be too careful.
Sous Chef!
posted on 12/11/2009
Since the departure of opening Chef Alison Hearn in February and the promotion of opening Sous Chef Matthew Barros to our Executive Chef position, we have been without a Sous Chef at Myers+Chang. A Sous Chef is basically the person who is in the kitchen every day, making sure every single item is prepped correctly, every dish is prepared exactly, everything about the kitchen is running about as smoothly as can be. The Sous checks in orders from purveyors every day, sending back a wilted bunch of cilantro or undersized chickens. He or she prepares the prep list for the day staff, makes sure stations are set up for service for the night staff, enforces the cleaning procedures of the kitchen, controls the tempo and the mood of the kitchen. And in between all of those and more responsibilities, he or she butchers meats, braises ribs, marinates hens, cooks up a mean stirfry for lunch. In short the Sous has just about the hardest job there is in any restaurant.
(What does the Exec do then you might ask? It varies from restaurant to restaurant but Execs are often more focused on business aspects of operating a restaurant such as food and labor costs; they do the bulk of the hiring and firing; they are in charge of menu changes; they attend manager meetings and deal with bigger picture items in the restaurant such as whether the lunch menu is large enough to appeal to a wide range of people and whether large parties should be required to order off a fixed menu or a la carte. Execs also have incredibly difficult and challenging jobs to be sure; at this level their time is spent as much managing as it is cooking.)
Chef Matt has been wearing two hats for quite some time then and he’s done a truly terrific job. After a long search for the right person to become our Sous and aid Chef Matt, we realized that we only had to look in our own backyard to find the perfect candidate: Gio. Gio has been with us since opening day. He has worked every station (and mastered them all) and he was promoted to daytime Kitchen Supervisor about 10 months ago. He works harder than just about anyone I know (except for maybe Chef Matt) and the other day when I was showing him how to plate a new dish I asked him how long he had been working that day. He said since 9am (it was around 9pm). “You must be tired!” I exclaimed. “Nope,” he said to me, “I don’t get tired.” Ahhh youth. But I digress…
Gio runs the kitchen like a General. He is tough but fair, he has a fabulous sense of humor but knows when it’s time to be serious and focus. The staff adores him throughout the entire restaurant. He’s constantly reading about food and playing around with new ideas in the kitchen (not that he has a lot of spare time to do so!) and he’s about as passionate about this business as I have ever seen. He is conscientious (I often get a late night text after service on his day off asking me, how was everything today) and he cares as much about M+C and making us the best restaurant we can be as the rest of the managers. In short he is the perfect Sous for us.
Congratulations Gio from all of us. You deserve it and we couldn’t be happier to have you on our team.
Events
posted on 11/17/2009
Sometimes when it gets too busy this is the page that suffers! We’ve had so many fun events and so many more are upcoming. I’ll try to summarize them quickly here.
First we had a GREAT time at the StarChefs Gala dinner a few weeks back. This event was to honor all of the StarChef winners as well as introduce Boston to some of their food. We served our famous Shortrib Tacos with Kimchee-cilantro-sesame salsa and we were mobbed from the get-go. People were lining up taking not just one, not just two, but three tacos, they were so tasty! We had many people come back for seconds as well. No wonder we ran out early! It’s hard to say to someone “No” when they ask if they can have more than one and it’s hard to point at them when you know you’ve seen them at your table a few times over- plus it’s downright flattering and we love it! But a few people at the end didn’t get tacos and for that we are so bummed for them. Well maybe that’s an excuse for them to come visit us! Congrats to all fellow StarChefs- it’s the funnest (most fun?) group and I loved meeting and getting to know them all.
A few days later Chef Matt went to the Eat Your Heart Out Boston event to raise money for Future Chefs and to have a great time. He, Bob, and Ramy served up tofu bun after tofu bun to rave reviews. (”Tofu Buns and Roses” was the title to reflect the rock and roll theme at the event.) Tim and Nancy of O Ya along with Will Gilson of Garden in the Cellar performed and kicked some major a**!!!!
Last Sunday we brought TIki Treats to the Tiki Bash hosted by LUPEC Boston and again people were clamoring for the food-mini dan dan noodles plus Thai ginger chicken salads. Both were spicy and delicious which made for perfect compliments for all of the creative fun cocktails being served.
And this Thursday we are a food sponsor for the YWA party/fundraiser. Youth Workers Alliance works with kids in the South End/Lower Roxbury neighborhoods to ensure positive communities and a brighter future for our youth. We love them and what they do and are thrilled to be a sponsor of this party!
Busy, busy, busy we are. In between all of this we cook for you all and love it. Thanks!
How a dish gets on the menu
posted on 10/28/2009
A few days ago I had a wonderful conversation with a couple sitting at the food counter, right at the pass (table 60 for those in the know). It was their first time in and they were having a blast watching the food come up and trying a bit of this, a little of that. They asked how we decide what goes on the menu and how long it takes a dish to finally “make it” and this was part of the conversation:
Our new BBQ Char Siu Pork with Kimchee Pancake took a circuitous route to make its way onto our menu but it was worth it. Ming’s Market is a Chinese grocery store across the street from us that we run to throughout the day when we need a few more bunches of garlic chives or an emergency bottle of Shao Xing cooking wine. At Ming’s they also sell a host of barbeque meats, from chicken to duck to pork. Chef occasionally buys some BBQ for the staff for lunch-it’s tasty and quick and easy. After about the 1000th time snacking on some char siu (ie Chinese roast) BBQ pork, he started to wonder whether or not it would work on our menu.
So this is where he started. ]He decided to house roast some pork butt with his own homemade marinade concoction that has the same sweet, star anise-y flavor without any of the funny artificial aftertaste that this pork can sometimes have when store-bought. He also wanted to cook it a little less to keep it super moist. At Mings the BBQ meats are often hanging all day and after a while they get a little dried out and jerky-like- still yummy but not quite what he was going for. After trying his experiement for lunch he declared it a step up from the stuff he was used to eating but not exactly knock-your-socks off good. So he went for round 2.
He changed the pork butt to pork loin which is much higher in quality and nicer in taste. He made the marinade thicker and stronger…and then reduced it afterwards into a sauce that he drizzled onto the pork after cooking it. Now we were headed somewhere!
At this point he came to Christopher and me and told us about his idea to do a house-roasted Chinese BBQ pork. I grew up on this stuff and couldn’t wait to see what a homemade version would taste like. He plated it simply over some rice and drizzled the sauce over it. We were impressed with the general idea and approach. But as Christopher said, it didn’t have any Wow! or Pop! factor- something that makes you crave if after you’ve eaten it.
The rice was sort of difficult to eat with the pork and the whole dish needed some bright acidic zingy flavors to cut through the sweet richness of the marinade. Chef and I put our heads together and brainstormed about other ways to serve it. With sticky rice and a dipping sauce? With a stirfry and pancakes and call it a BBQ Mushu Pork? We scratched our heads and put it on hold for a few days.
In the meantime, Chef was making these awesome kimchee pancakes each weekend for Dim Sum- a thin pancake batter mixed with chopped kimchee, cooked on a griddle, and served with a spicy aioli. He was trying to figure out a way to get them on the dinner menu somehow because they was so popular at Dim Sum. A lightbulb went off-why not add rice to the pancake batter and make it like a risotto cake and try it with the BBQ pork? That way we could include the rice with the BBQ dish but it would be MUCH more interesting than just a scoop of rice. We played around with several batters and various rice-to-batter ratios until we found the perfect mix of rice, kimchee, and batter to make a crispy rice cake.
A simple ginger-scallion oil is a common condiment on a lot of fast-food Chinese BBQ plates. I suggested to Chef that we use this as a jump-off point and add to it to bring the bright notes that we were looking for to finish off the BBQ dish. So he added some rice vinegar, a bit of sugar, a touch of salt…and we had final component of our dish.
We ate the dish again, with all of the various components plated together, and we knew right away it was a winner. It needed a shower of chopped scallions to give it some pretty color and onto the menu it went. It’s quickly become a staff favorite and a customer emailed us recently to ask if we put crack in it, it was that good. Now THAT is what we call a successful dish!
Upcoming events
posted on 10/19/2009
First we want to invite you to come to the 2009 Star Chefs Gala on November 3 at the State Room! Here’s a link with more information. Joanne has been honored with the 2009 Rising Restauranteur award. She will be making mini Shortrib Tacos with Cilantro-Sesame Salsa. What fun!
http://www.starchefs.com/chefs/rising_stars/2009/boston/index.shtm
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If you can’t make that (or if you want to come to two food events that week) check out the annual Eat Your Heart Out event on November 8 at Church! We are taking part in this awesome music/charity venue with great chefs and terrific bands joining forces to raise money for Future Chefs.
http://www.eatyourheartoutboston.com/
Both events offer a chance to enjoy food from some of the best chefs in the city. We’re honored to be taking part in both. Hope you can join us!
New Menu!
posted on 10/07/2009
Come by for our latest new menu dishes which debuted this week. We are super excited about all of them!
-First we brought back our Kuri Squash soup and jazzed it up with crispy pieces of fried pork belly and a drizzle of kaffir lime oil. That haunting elusive background taste is the oolong tea/homemade 5 spice powder that we toss the pork belly in. We have customers who visit us several times a week just for this soup. Try it and you’ll see why.
-Lemon Chicken has finally made its way, two years later, onto our menu! Christopher has been pining away for this dish since we opened and he’s giddy that we found a way to bring the tart bracing LEMONY lemon chicken of his childhood to the M+C kitchen. We had our requirements:it had to be super lemony, it couldn’t be greasy or soppy in any way, it had to be addictive. It turned out to be quite simple: lemon juice, sugar, a bit of butter, and chunks of candied lemon reduced down to a thick syrupy sauce, drizzled on top of a crispy panko (Japanese bread crumb) chicken breast and topped with a watercress/radish/cilantro salad. Fresh and bright and absolutely delicious.
-Char Sui BBQ pork is typically found hanging under the heat lamps in the windows of Chinatown take-out joints. It’s quite tasty and at times it can be somewhat dry. We house roast our own, keeping it juicy and super moist, and then serve it with a spicy kimchee rice cake. It’s BBQ unlike you’ve ever had before. We’re pretty in love with this dish.
-Napa cabbage with roasted shiitakes and chinese sausage lardons is the precursor to Mushu Pork so it may morph into that soon. But now you can enjoy it as a side- the napa and shiitakes are caramelized in the wok with generous amounts of fresh ginger and a splash of oyster sauce. Then we toss a large handful of chopped up chinese sausage that has been rendered into crispy sweet little bits. The staff is nuts about this dish.
How does a new menu item make its way onto our final menu? Simply put, it’s weeks of testing and literally dozens of variations one after another. Chef or Christopher or Joanne or Cheri or someone on staff comes up with a general idea and we all throw our two cents in about what we think it should be. By the time the dish is ready for the menu it incorporates the best components of each person’s suggestions. This works because we all trust each other’s palates and points of view and we are all eager to try each other’s ideas. It makes for several weeks of sometimes frustratingly miniscule tweaks on a dish but the result is always worth it. Come see for yourself and let us know what you think!
Staff news!
posted on 09/19/2009
We’ve got lots of news with our staff. First have you checked out Chef Matthew’s interview with The Passionate Foodie? It’s pretty sweet:
http://passionatefoodie.blogspot.com/2009/09/culinary-creativity-chef-matthew-barros.html
http://passionatefoodie.blogspot.com/2009/09/culinary-creativity-chef-matthew-barros_13.html
Second we’re thrilled to announce that TONY AND NICK ARE BACK! You’ll see them on the floor and at the register, their smiling happy faces eager to greet you after the summer off!
And finally the warmest of welcomes to our newest kitchen member, Bekah. Bekah is former sous chef at Neptune Oyster and she worked prior to that at Sel de la Terre and Upstairs on the Square. She’s our new junior sous chef, training on all stations directly under Chef Matt and Joanne. We are really excited to have her with us. Her passion and talent will fit in perfectly with our great kitchen and we can’t wait to see how our food will continue to improve with her on our team.
