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Sally Ketchum: In The Kitchen

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June 16, 2008

In the Kitchen: Love stories around food

BY SALLY KETCHUM

One June some years ago, He-Who-Must-Be-Fed made reservations for dinner at Ellsworth's Tapawingo, asking for our favorite table because it was our anniversary. When the menu arrived, the line across the top read "Happy Anniversary Ketchums!" Happy memories flooded back at the unexpected message printed on such an impressive menu. Of course, using a computer to add (and later delete) a line is old hat now. But the memories the greeting evoked when we read it are never old. Call it true love, call it looking at love through rose-colored classes or naïve romanticism, but that dinner is part of a love story.

Back then, Stuart Brioza was Tapawingo's rising young executive chef. Brioza is a dark-haired, handsome man, happy and gregarious, and we loved the anniversary meal he cooked that night. I first met Brioza while, under his expertise and culinary genius, I took cooking lessons at Tapawingo. (Owner-chef Harlan "Pete" Peterson is known for mentoring up-and-coming chefs and still offers cooking classes.)

Northern Michigan's game, lake fish, morels and ramps weren't the only thing Brioza came to love. He had met a pastry chef, Nicole Krasinski, in a photography class, and the young chef and the talented pastry artist began working together at Tapawingo in 2000.

I was allowed to take some pictures in the inner sanctum of the restaurant once, and I took as many as I could -- the pots and kettles, the unbelievably magnificent wine cellar -- but only one shot came out. It was a beauty, however: Krasinski, a tall, elegant redhead, was fashioning dough in her kitchen, actually a nook off the hall, and she smiled at the camera over her shoulder. She has the lovely, fair coloring that redheads have, but also she has startling blue eyes that grab one's attention and don't let go.

The two culinary stars left Tapawingo in the fall of 2003 to take their talents to Rubicon, San Francisco's posh restaurant owned, in part, by Robin Williams, Francis Ford Coppola and Robert DeNiro. Brioza was on the cover of Food and Wine Magazine as one of the best 10 new chefs in the country. A New York Times food writer wrote that Brioza "has an uncanny ability to synthesize elements of Asian and Mediterranean cuisines in a style that remains thoroughly American, and a particular gift for balancing strong flavors." High praise! And the writer also went on to say that Brioza's "restless spontaneity is matched by that of his colleague, Nicole Krasinski."

Matched, indeed. Krasinski and Brioza fit together as perfectly as complementary angles in a geometry problem. There's a lot of love between them, and different kinds of love, at that.

Their mutual love for their respective positions, chef and pastry chef; love of creativity and art; and, I think, a love of hard work, too, because that is what they put in their creations that grace Rubicon's tables.

When I visited Rubicon recently, as I always do when I'm in San Francisco, it was difficult to choose among the dinner menu's offerings. Consider one of seven first courses -- seared wild Japanese scallops with black trumpets, celery root and green apple broth; or one of the eight second courses -- roasted "Strawberry Mountain" beef tenderloin with oxtails, chanterelles, celery root and marrow beans.

I sense a bit of nostalgia for northern Michigan in this couple. For instance, I dined on Braised Sonoma Veal Breast with ramps (Michigan's wild leeks) and cherries -- shades of Michigan, certainly.

Krasinski's dessert's menu presented the same dilemma. I wanted to simply say, "One of each, thank you." I ultimately settled on Bittersweet Chocolate-Toffee Beignets (tiny, sophisticated cousins to fritters) with poached Aprium (apricot), and an oh-so-smooth and delicate Ginger Sabayon (a delicate custard).

He-Who-Must-Be-Fed and I, veal and cherries, chocolate and apricots, Krasinski and Brioza -- balances, all. Watching Brioza and Krasinski mingle with their guests or chatting with them myself, I am spellbound. They are, I think, still another love story.

Sally Ketchum is a northern Michigan writer who usually includes food in her work, whatever the genre. Ketchum can be reached at ketchum1985@gmail.com.

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