People the world over, but especially in the United States are under chemical attack, these attacks are not the result of outright evil intents but a byproduct of unchecked greed. Deadly and dangerous toxins ranging from Aspartame to Fluoride, GMO, Mercury-tainting, pesticides, cross-species chimeras, plastic compounds in chicken, high fructose corn syrup, cloned meat, rBGH and new aggressive GM species of salmon have all entered into our diets and environments– whether we want it or not. When at the supermarket I see
an ingredient label with more than five items on it I do not buy it.

Chez nous in Humble Texas is proud to announce that we have won a 2011 OpenTable Diners’ Choice Award for Best Restaurant in the United States.  Culled from more than 10 million reviews submitted by OpenTable diners, Chez nous bested more than 12,000 other restaurants in the U.S. to receive this award.  Others winners include Le Bernardin in New York, The French Laundry in California, Les Nomades in Chicago and Per Se in New York.  ”The entire Chez nous Cru is honored to be recognized for this achievement.  We are so pleased that our passion for providing a remarkable dining experience has been greatly appreciated by so many of our guests,” says Chef/Proprietor Stacy Simonson.  A special thanks to all our diners who have helped Chez nous earn  this recognition in the United States and Houston.  To view all the Restaurants honored this past year, www.opentable.com/bestoverall.

Chef Brach and I share stories thru email while he is in France. This one was just too funny not to share. I hope you enjoy as much as I did….

“With Europe becoming a community, several new things have taken place (and I am not about to go into the Euro crisis). The English have always come to France to enjoy the weather-food-culture etc. but also to get away from fog and rain. The French who hardly ever went to England started to go out of curiosity, they surprisingly got on well with the Brits but even more surprising they fell in love with the lawns.
Lawns were never a French thing, if you had the room you would grow vegetables or flowers but now many french homes have a lawn. With a lawn comes a lawn mower, with it, comes once a week, the noise it makes and the bitching that follows.
France is also a very ecological country so guess what!
The little Goats (click on blue link to view website)
You can rent two little goats for 10 euros a day, about 13 bucks, and they will eat up your lawn! I am not kidding. They do not run away,
they just keep munching and you return them or have them picked up for a small additional charge.
I saw this in a magazine and was laughing my butt off when a friend asked what the hilarity was about, I told him, he looked puzzled.
“What is so funny he asked? Goats do a good job and there is no pollution!”
Let our differences define us and enrich us (and make us laugh too)”

As our attention turns to the Holiday Seasons, the Kitchen and Waitstaff begin to anticipate the battles ahead.  The ramping up of intensity can be felt from the moment Prep starts in the morning hours, to the scrubbing of the Kitchen finishes up each night.  The waitstaff are in a “boot camp” of moving tables and chairs from one configuration to another, all the while polishing endless glassware, silverware,  and polishing up on the numerous  Holiday menu’s that Stacy has created.  It’s a time that we speak of all year while we go about our day to day, remembering to focus on the smallest details of service so that they become instinctual.  We want you to be able to decompress from all that December can throw your way, it is absolutely why we do what we do; to take you away from it all for a few hours and remember what is important…You!

Stacy and Mark have taken the Berkshire Pork Ribeye to another level this week.  Mark prepares a Garlic Potato Gnocchi that is sauteed with Brussels Sprouts, Pecan smoked Bacon,….., and finished with a Brown Butter and Maple Jus that is just incredible!  Another way to make Brussels Sprouts taste amazing!  You will see more of these little green beauties, Stacy will melt them with Bacon and Cream in December and make you understand why Brussels Sprouts are prized throughout Europe!

The Autumn Season would not be complete without some sort of culinary homage to a cooks best friend, Beer! Stacy has put together her version of Beer Cheese Soup made with Mimolette, a wonderful Cows milk cheese from northern France in Lille around the Belgian border. It resembles a cantaloupe and gets its orange color from the Annatto. It will have loads of Leeks that will sweat with Mire poix and a Blonde Belgian Ale. We will finish this rich, creamy Fall delight with Lobster Beignets floating in it.

At Last! We have found a butcher who is able to bring us the Teres Major.  Chef Brach and Chef Stacy have talked about this cut for years, something Chef Brach remembers from his childhood in France.  This is a portion of the shoulder that is a requires a bit more skill to procure, and was forgotten about in the mass fabrication of beef in this country.  It is second only to the Tenderloin of beef for overall tenderness and is a wonderfully lean cut of steak.

Stacy is preparing her Teres Major by giving it a hard sear in Cast Iron then brushing it in Dijon Mustard and covering it with an Herbed Bread Crumb.  It is finished in the oven and carved into medallions, served with a reduction of Pinot Noir.  I had a sample with Nuits Saint Georges 2004 and I see what we have been missing with this incredible cut called the Teres Major.

MAPLE GLAZED BACON LARDONS! These little gems garnish the Pork Ribeye that is served over Cranberry Beans topped with Fried Onions. Mark Decker, our dedicated Sous Chef, creates these simply by making a syrup from Pure Organic Maple Syrup which is steeped with Star Anise, Clove, Cinnamon, Fennel Seed…etc. Once the Bacon Lardons are rendered just slightly he deglazes with the Syrup and marinates the bacon overnight. I wanted to put it on with Waffles but Stacy won’t have it here.

Finally some rain in Houston!  It had that great tropical feel that covered the days heat and gave everything a much needed rinse.  Stacy and I were instantly reminded of our time in the USVI on St. John and Stacy ran with it by putting together a dinner of Tamarind Shrimp over a Sweet Potato Pancake with Leeks, Spinach and a toasted Cumin Creme Fraiche.  Stacy had a Chardonnay from Chile and decided that she wanted to run this with Atlantic Salmon instead, grilled and glazed with the sweet yet subtle Tamarind.  The Sweet Potato pancake was a lot like her Alsace style cake, except that there were leeks to compliment the Sweet Potato.  The Cumin Creme Fraiche added a soft aromatic richness to each bite.  I had it with a 2007 Savigny-les-Beaune, a simple, light bodied Pinot Noir from Burgundy.  I think the bitterness of the Spinach with everything else just set the Pinot Noir off perfectly.  It should not take too much to persuade her into running this next week.

By popular request I reprise this topic after a long break. Many of you, I know, have wine collections in your own cellars or, more often nowadays, stored with specialists in wine storage. Yet it can be time- and wine-consuming to conduct your own research into which of those bottles is ready to drink. Allow me to report on the researches I have selflessly conducted on your behalf. I do the drinking so you don’t have to, so to speak.

In my experience, and contrary to most people’s perceptions, more wine is drunk too late than too soon. And too many owners of superior bottles hang around far too long waiting for palates and occasions worthy of them. This seems a shame to me, not least because we are mortal and wine is even more so. Many a mature ‘fine wine’ cost little more when it was originally bought than some everyday wines cost today. Besides, wine is made to be shared not hoarded. Popping a few corks provides an excuse to buy some younger vintages, and introducing more of your friends and family to the complex pleasures of bottle-aged wine may just enlarge your circle of fellow wine enthusiasts.

Red bordeaux seems to comprise by far the majority of the wine held by our readers so please forgive me if I concentrate on this popular commodity (and let me know if you would like another similar article on wines other than bordeaux). In very general terms, I would drink the better wines of the 10 last vintages of red bordeaux in the following order: 1997, 1999, 2001, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2000, 2004, 2005,and the infant 2006.The 1997s virtually all need drinking now and the 2009 look like they are going to be the vintage to remember.