ACHIOTE MUSTARD

Achiote is called annatto seed in the United States. These small seeds have an intense carotenoid flavor that they are often not even utilized for.  Outside of Mexico this ingredient is more commonly used to impart shades of yellow and orange to cheese. At Cocina we use it to flavor mustard that acts as a dressing for kale leaves and cured pork.This mustard along with some pickled red onions and salsa habanera will act as great condiments for charcuterie.

1. Soak the achiote seeds in water for an hour.
2. Toast the garlic in a dry skillet until its soft and aromatic. Allow the garlic to cool and peel away the blackened skin.
3. Grind the allspice and black pepper in a spice grinder.
4. Strain the achiote seeds and discard the water they were soaked in.
5. In a blender combine the achiote, roasted garlic, spices, vinegar and mustard and blend until smooth.

WHEN IS IT TIME TO FIRE A CUSTOMER?

I’m assuming lots of famous people reside in the West Village. That assumption is based on the fact that we get them in our Taqueria often. All we do is respect their privacy and try our best to give them a great experience. We do this because I’m guessing they unwillingly receive fawning elsewhere, often and we actually want these folks, like any other patrons to come back and become regular customers. We even go so far as to correct other customers who point and try to take pictures of our other guests. This behavior is downright rude and we believe this is the right way to proceed.

I bring all of this up because it just happened last Saturday. It would not be a big deal except that now a day that person goes onto Yelp and tries to discredit my restaurant because we were trying to do the right thing.

Empellón as a company takes all critique very seriously. We actually go so far as to comb websites like Yelp and invite people back into the restaurant to show them how we have improved. We don't comp their meals and we don't try to influence them. It’s just very important to us that they know how hard we are trying. We didn't have sound proofing when we opened....now we do. We didn't have a cohesive menu or point of view when we opened...now we do. Our playlist sucked when we opened...now it doesn't. Please come back and see how we've grown! It matters and you matter! We actually make the revisit synergistic sometimes by testing out new dishes on a guest before they are officially launched. I am probably very unusual as far as chefs go to actually admit I read critique on Yelp and even the hateful comments that always pop up below anything posted on Eater about the restaurant or me. I read all of it.

I’m not going to be one of the many that say these user fueled forums are a negative for the world of media. There is good and bad in it just like there is good and bad in magazines, newspapers etc. I do however think it’s unfair that some people sacrifice for the sake of career and credibility and others simply want to empower and exalt themselves. It feels as if it’s very wrong to view those two "disciplines" with the same amount of gravity.

Here is how I am looking at it. If I read a sincere gripe I take it seriously and respond both to the client that suffered and to the cause of the problem. If I get a bad review I take it as an indicator that I have a lot more work to do. My Taqueria becomes better as a side effect of dealing with all of this. Here’s my other reaction to what I deal with....

If you proclaim yourself a foodie and regard that as an actual title, If you grew up with a particular iteration of Mexican cooking and can’t comprehend that there just might be more out there, If you ask for melted yellow cheese on anything we serve, if you don't have the grace to order a cake from our talented pastry chef and decide to bring in a horrendous one from a grocery store, and most of all if you can’t muster enough class to contain yourself and respect the privacy of another guest....

If you are any of these things then please understand you are not the right customer for my restaurant, I don't take you seriously and I don't want your business. You’re fired.

-Alex Stupak

OKAY..MAYBE JUST ONE TACO

We made the decision to not serve any tacos on our opening menu for Cocina but it seems like one might just make it on.

Peter Lipson was one of our opening cooks at Taqueria. He is now a sous chef and will be an important part of our new restaurant. For the last two months he has been in a west village basement working on dishes and has come across some interesting techniques along the way one of which is a tortilla made out of fish protein, in this case cod. The technique came about when we were working on a main course involving cod. We wanted to add a crispy component so we took the trim from butchering the fish, ran it through a meat grinder and began working rice flour into it. We fried clusters of it and decided it was worth incorporating into the dish as planned but Peter took the “cod masa” a step further and began to fashion it into small tortillas. They crisp up beautifully and have become the impetus for a new kind of fish taco. We’ve tried the tortilla with several fillings but our latest is a cod ceviche, mashed plantains, tomatillo-chipotle salsa, crema, cilantro and caviar. We are excited about the dish but we are even more excited about the concept of making tortillas out of products other than masa or flour. Upon reading Diana Kennedy’s most recent book on Oaxaca I’ve come across recipes for tortillas made out of yucca and even plantains. These ideas seem radical to me but this is yet another reason Im so happy to be learning about Mexican cooking The content and surprises seem endless.

At Cocina we will challenge ourselves to develop new techniques or at the very least techniques that are new to us. I don’t believe we should stop developing techniques and I don't understand the concept of “product driven” cooking as the antithesis molecular gastronomy. I only bring that up because of which way the wind is blowing right now. One of our most basic responsibilities as chefs is to source the best ingredients that you can afford to buy. What makes us unique is how we handle them differently.

The next phase of this current exercise is to make a taco out of protein but serve it in a pliable state. Imagine a chicken taco that is only made from chicken. 

We are just trying to get open now but once we get settled I cant wait to start developing ideas with the new team. 

-Alex Stupak

GUACAMOLE

If you own a Mexican restaurant in the United States you know that guacamole sells. At Empellón we go through roughly 250 avocados a day and that number seems to be steadily rising. 

Initially when getting ready to open what we are now calling a Taqueria I wasn't going to offer guacamole for the reason that it, like the margarita is not all that big of a deal in Mexico. Now that we call ourselves a Taqueria guacamole seems even more out of place due to the fact that I’ve never been to a taqueria in Mexico that serves it. That's not to claim that it doesn’t ever happen but I personally cant recall seeing it. To worry about what a real taqueria in Mexico does or does not serve though seems silly for me to focus on only because we have many things that aren’t part of an authentic taqueria experience including a growing wine list and a talented pastry department.

The reason I’m writing about guacamole at all is because we have been contemplating if we are going to make it in our new kitchen we are building on 1st avenue.

I’ve decided the answer is yes but we need to take a different approach to it if it is going to be relevant.

The guacamole we make at our Taqueria is simple and not intended to be pondered, just enjoyed. Its a simple mixture of mashed avocado, lime juice, minced white onion, pickled jalapeno and cilantro. We make it in batches because we are very busy and also because I find absolutely nothing impressive about someone making it in front of me in a dining room.

We will differ at Empellón Cocina. We will be no different than many Mexican restaurants in the States and will “bedazzle” our guacamole with interesting and thoughtful garnishes with the hope of making it more special.

On its own avocados have a subtle, nutty quality about them that I think is sometimes masked by onions and lime juice. It was this quality which led me to cashews which we smoke and make into a salsa to drizzle onto the guacamole we mash up at the Taqueria. 

For Cocina we are using pistachios. The mixture we made recently had salted pistachios actually folded into it. The crunch and flavor were great and as we were making it we came to the realization that the idea made good visual sense as well due to the fact that both pistachios and avocados are unique in that when you cut into them they are yellow at their core and a vivid green at their exterior. To showcase the visual similarity we invested in Sicilian pistachios which we cooked in a pressure cooker. The nuts become vegetal in texture and look beautiful when studded on the guacamole.

We were contemplating gilding the lily further with caviar which made sense to our tongues but we decided to save that for another day....For now.

-Alex Stupak