How to keep the kitchen interesting? Change it up!

Like any job, being in the kitchen, cooking the same menu, it can get a little repititious. Sure, there are those times when 30 people without a reservation show up and you are the only chef in the kitchen that add a little spice to the work day, but it can become a little less exciting cooking the same menu day in and day out. So what do I do? I change it up! I change my menus with the seasons to keep it fresh in the restaurant and to throw a new challenge at my staff. Being a proud member of Taste of Nova Scotia, I keep the menus at Cafe 101 loaded with lots of local, seasonal products; I use it as my inspiration. The Nova Scotia produce changes each season and thus my menu changes each season. I like to play with the flavour profiles, try to mix and match flavours that most people wouldn't normally think of pairing together. For example, if asked to think of the first word that comes to mind when I shout out pork, root beer wouldn't be the first, or the second and probably not the third word, but my Meadowbrook Pork Tenderloin with Root Beer Reduction shows how cooking is a science and how you experiment with flavours to see what flavours fizzle together and which ones explode! All new menus are a way for me to challenge my staff. Everyday is a school day, and throwing a new menu at them gives me the opportunity to teach them new techniques and to help them grow as chefs. So the question I am asked most often, what is my favourite item? It is hard to be biased, but for me it is the Seafood - Sambro halibut, Comeau's scallops, prawns, yellow curry, fennel, orzo, naan bread. Comfort food to some is chocolate and to others a trip to McDonalds, but for me, its curry. Curry accents are in all my favourite comfort foods. If you happen to be on the "darkside," swing by Cafe 101 and check out my new menus.

Meadowbrook Pork Tenderloin