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Guest chef - Cafe Martinique
DINING & ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE - JAN 2006
Guest chef - Cafe Martinique
Chef Michael at Cafe Martinique
A stunning menu put together by the redoubtable Jean-Georges Vongerichten and a talented protege by the name of Michael Lewis, 28, is making the new Cafe Martinique as well known for fine food as the original.
Gastronomes still lament the passing of the old Martinique, demolished in the 1990s when Sol Kerzner was building Atlantis. The restaurant was renowned not only for delicious food and white-glove service but also for being a location in the 1965 James Bond thriller, Thunderball, starring Sean Connery. (Connery, who lives a few miles away in tony Lyford Cay, has dropped by to look around his new-old set but, by press time, had yet to show up for dinner.)
Food at Cafe Martinique is still traditional French but with some ultra-modern flourishes. Lewis, in day-to-day control as executive chef, is unfazed by the demands of producing perfect meals every day.
"Things are simple here," he says. "Our goal is to give people an unforgettable meal without any hassle."
While Vongerichten's name adds eclat to the new Martinique, the menu was a collaborative effort. "We came up with many dishes together, and some are my own creations," says Lewis. He also creates all the specials and the amuse bouches, which "reflect the style of Caf? Martinique," as well as his own vision.
Pizza to petit fours
Dining & Entertainment Guide caught up with Lewis one warm winter afternoon in Martinique's elegant second-floor bar, overlooking three huge, gleaming yachts tied up across the street in Marina Village.
Later, gourmets would debark to sample such delights as duck breast with baby turnip, sauteed foie gras and honey wine sauce; or dorado en papillote - a seasoned fillet of fish cooked in a parchment paper envelope with wild mushrooms and truffle, opened tableside and served over a leek puree.
Unlike many who make it to the top in the culinary field, Lewis did not grow up in the bosom of a food-loving family. But he did start cooking on his own as a boy of 11 in Baltimore, MD.
"My mom was working so I would have to cook for myself - you know, macaroni and cheese, pizzas. And I became bored with that so I started experimenting with different ingredients - shiitake mushrooms, soy sauce, stuff like that ... I didn't realize where I was going, I was just cooking to feed myself."
The next step came when he was a teenager working as a summer dishwasher at a posh country club. Reassigned to the kitchen, he began
cooking fries and remembers saying to himself, "You know what? I think I should do this. This is fun."
Lewis was not influenced by any one particular chef. "I had all the same cookbooks that young chefs do, and I had the same heroes - the great French chefs of the past." He also lionized the top chefs who were and are making waves in the fiercely competitive New York culinary scene.
Renaissance man
Lewis figures he came into the cooking world "at the perfect time." He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America at the end of 1998, a time when classic French cuisine was still king.
But it was also the time when "a new movement was beginning to emerge." Lewis explained that chefs in the new era are "getting very technical and scientific" about food, exploring the chemistry of taste and finding ways to combine foods to produce surprising and unexpected flavours.
Some chefs before him are stuck in classic cuisines and others who came later don?t want to learn traditional skills and flavours. As for Lewis, "I want to be the guy who can do both" - a Renaissance man of the kitchen.
His first gig out of culinary school was at a ski resort in Colorado: "I wanted to go somewhere where I could get one more snowboard season in before I buckled down."
Buckle down he did, mentored by two of the best-known chefs in the Big Apple today: David Bouley, owner of the highly acclaimed and eponymous Bouley, on West Broadway and then by Vongerichten, who owns Jean-Georges in the Trump building on Columbus Circle (and other restaurants in New York and elsewhere). At Jean-Georges, he rose to become chef de cuisine before taking over at Cafe Martinique.
He loves being in The Bahamas and running the kitchen at Cafe Martinique. "I want to take this place as far as it can go, so that a trip to The Bahamas wouldn't feel complete without having eaten here." Here are some of the dishes Lewis hopes will take Cafe Martinique to the top.
Market chopped salad
Shiitake mushrooms, quartered and roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper
Red radishes, cubed 1/4 inch
French beans, sliced 1/4 inch thick and blanched
Red and yellow cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Corn, kernels cut and blanched
Red finger chilli, shaved thin
Avocado, cubed 1/2 inch thick and coated with lemon juice
Scallion, shaved thin on bias
Cucumber, peeled, seeded and cubed 1/4 inch
Celery, peeled, blanched and sliced 1/4-inch thick
Baby carrots, peeled, sliced 1/4-inch thick and blanched
Fennel, cubed 1/4-inch and blanched
Green zucchini, sliced 1/4-inch thick, grilled with olive oil, salt and pepper and then cubed
Apple, peeled and cubed 1/4-inch
Snap peas, cut in 1/2-inch cubes, blanched
Red bell pepper, roasted with garlic, thyme and olive oil, then cubed 1/4-inch Yellow bell pepper, roasted with garlic, thyme and olive oil, then cubed 1/4-inch
Asparagus, peeled, cut in 1/2-inch pieces and blanched Artichoke hearts, braised, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
Prepare vegetables and serve at room temperature, not too cold. Combine one small spoon of each ingredient except for the finger chilli and the scallion, add only a pinch of each of these. Season to taste with salt, pepper and a vinaigrette made with 1 cup olive oil and 1 cup rice wine vinegar.
To serve
Combine micro greens with some of each herb. Season with salt, pepper and vinaigrette. Place in center of bowl and spoon vegetables on top. Garnish with parmesan cheese.
Coq au vin, chive spaetzle
(serves four)
2 4-lb chickens quartered
6 oz prosciutto medium dice
12 oz bacon cut in 1-inch lardon
3 oz butter
1-1/2 oz flour
1.5 L red wine
6 oz mushrooms (cleaned and quartered)
In two large skillets, sear seasoned chicken until golden brown (breasts in one, legs and thighs in the other). Remove from pan, de-grease and add bacon and prosciutto. Render fat till bacon is golden, add butter, cook till foamy then add flour and return chicken to the skillets (still breasts in one and legs/thighs in the other). Mix all until pasty. Add wine, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer. Simmer the breasts for 8-10 min, remove from skillet and place in a dutch oven. Transfer liquid to the skillet with the legs and thighs and continue to cook them for 35 mins longer or until tender. Place legs and thighs in dutch oven with the breasts and cover with cooking liquid, bacon and prosciutto. Saute mushrooms in foamy butter, season with salt and pepper and transfer to dutch oven. Cool and reserve until served.
Spaetzle
8 oz chives, rough chop
4 oz parsley
8 oz milk
6 oz creme fraiche
4 tbsp salt
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 nutmeg, grated
16 oz flour
12 eggs
Combine chives, parsley and milk in a blender with 2 tbsp salt. Puree until green and smooth. Add creme fraiche and continue to puree until combined. Take 26 oz of puree, add eggs and whisk until combined. (Reserve remaining puree for serving.) In a separate mixing bowl combine dry ingredients including remaining salt. Whisk wet and dry ingredients together. Cook spaetzle batter in boiling salty water till it doubles in size, remove to an ice bath until cold, drain, oil and reserve until serving.
To serve
Saute spaetzle in foamy butter until lightly golden. Add sliced scallions and a small amount of water. Add 1 tsp chive puree and 1 tsp butter until emulsified and creamy, then adjust seasoning and spoon onto plate. Put coq au vin in 350F oven for 10-15 mins. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.
English lemon custard with vanilla sable cookies and fresh raspberries
(serves four)
Custard
2 oz lemon juice
9-1/2 oz crweme friche
1/2 oz mascarpone (a soft mild Italian cream cheese.)
3-1/2 oz sugar
Juice the lemons.
In a saucepan, place the creme friche, mascarpone and sugar. Cook on medium heat. When mix comes to a boil reduce heat and simmer 3 mins. Blend slowly adding the lemon juice and pour into bowls. Chill for a least 3 hours.
Vanilla sable cookies
7 oz unsalted butter
2-1/4 oz salted butter
4 egg yolks
1/2 vanilla bean
10-1/2 oz flour
Bring the butters and the yolks to room temp. Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla beans and the yolks just to combine. Add the flour by hand till combined. Cut into 8 oz pieces and roll in tubes 1 inch diameter. Freeze. Brush with yolks and roll in vanilla sugar. Cut into 1/4 inch disks and bake at 400 degrees for 5 mins.
To serve
Place the custard in the centre of the plate and stack three cookies next to it. Place the raspberries in a row next to the custard, as shown.
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