We Have A Chef in the Family!

  My sister in law Lauren graduated form Cooking School a few months ago. Okay, like 6 months ago. Yes, I know. I'm always behind in blogging. Anyways, part of her last semester was holding a restaurant, which meant that she was Executive Chef of the kitchen that day. She worked hard for weeks researching & planning her menu. We were thrilled to be invited & went up to Waco for lunch at her restaurant.

We were, of course, super exited to find out that she choose a Chinese inspired menu. On the menu was ginger soup, pear salad, Sichuan style cold mixed noodles, southern Chinese pepper steak, wanton Napoleon & dim sum, among other things.   We joined Lauren's family & Jacob, my brother, for lunch. Our servers were other culinary students in their 1st year of cooking school. Green Onion Cakes: Unleavened fried scallion bread served with a chili-garlic dipping sauce.   Our appetizer consisted of fried Chinese style bread with a yummy dipping sauce.    While waiting for our food we had to snap some selfies. :) Ginger Soup: Classic chicken consomme with a brunoise of ginger & onions along with lozenge carrots.    Our first course was some delicious soup with a subtle ginger flavor. It was very Chinese in that it had subtle flavors & let the chicken stock do the talking.  Pear Salad: A chilled mix of half-moon cucumbers, medium-diced carrots and a chiffonade of cabbage, tossed in a sesame oil pear dressing. Garnished with toasted black sesame seeds & a scallion blossom.   Second course was a crisp & fresh pear salad with cucumbers, celery, green onion & carrots. Topped with white & black sesame seeds. It was another very Chinese dish with the Asian pears & fresh veggies. 
For the main course, we ordered all three choices because your sister in law only graduates culinary school once & we wanted to try all of her creations!   Southern Chinese Pepper Steak: A spicy pepper steak made with USDA Choice Tenderloin presented over Szechuan green beans, a bed of white rice & braised mushrooms.    First up was delicious a rendition of Chinese pepper steak. It was served with white rice & an ammmazing spicy green beans & mushroom mixture on the side. That side was by far my favorite of the whole menu. I'm a sucker for spicy Chinese green beans & mushrooms. It's always my favorite. Fu Xi's Plate: Traditional steamed pork buns, chicken & chive phoenix eye & Shanghai shrimp served with a spicy sake sauce and rainbow kale slaw.  
Next, up we got Fu Xi's plate, which consisted of various dim soup & a kale side salad. It was pretty tasty. We're suckers for dumplings any time.   Sichuan style cold mixed noodles: Star anise poached chicken breast & julienned red bell peppers fanned over glass noodles with fresh mung bean sprouts, small diced onions & snow peas, tossed with peanut dressing & garnished with bias green onion.     Last, on the main course front, we got the Sichuan style cold noodles & chicken. I really enjoyed this dish. I loved, loved the peanut oil the noodles were tossed in. I also really enjoyed the bean sprout salad side.    WantonNapoleon: Deep fried wantons coated with powdered sugar, layered with vanilla bean pastry cream & fresh berries over a raspberry coulis.  
For dessert, Lauren served a delicate wanton Napoleon. It was light & yummy.    We had a great time & were so happy to be able to be there to support Lauren!  We're so proud of you sister!!