Aloha at first sight?

 Marcelle Richards, L’Etoile intern/cook

The Pacific, or Hawaiian, blue prawns on the L’Etoile menu make for happy mouthfuls in the dining room but jaws are agape in the kitchen as well.

“Those are the craziest things I’ve ever seen.” said Graze’s Natalie as I cleaned the prawns in their raw form.  “They’re really cool.”

I thought the same thing.  I can’t stop looking at the prawns, which, as majestic as they are in a blushed spire of crustacean holiness on a grit cake, what diners don’t get to see is that as far as prawns go, these are the Ziggy Stardusts of the prawn world, harvested and beamed overnight to us from Hawaii from the Honolulu Fish Company in a holographic UV ray-bouncing shipping box that could only bode the spectacular inside.

Cleaning prawns isn’t glamorous. You’ve got to peel off the corsetry of overlapping shell in order to remove the “vein” (i.e. digestive tract) and if it’s at all possible to get the equivalent of rope burn from plucking antennae I think I’ve managed to pull that off.  Still, I’ve volunteered to clean these guys multiple times because I like to.  I can’t stop looking at them.  

In their natural state, their bodies evoke a watercolor palette of oceanic blues, kelpy greens and a blaze of coral pink on the carapace.  From their heads a serrated bayonet-like protrusion, or rostrum, makes me think of what would happen if a hungry fish tried to gulp one of these down – it would be like taking a toothpick to the roof of your mouth.

raw Pacific blue prawns

Each time I’ve cleaned them I’ve almost always had a passerby ask me a question about them; sometimes I knew the answer, sometimes not.  

One person asked me the difference between a prawn and a shrimp, and although shrimp and prawns are related taxonomically (both are decapods, or crustaceans with ten legs) from there the two do differ slightly in brooding, segmentation etc.  Ask someone who cooks with them and a prawn is more or less a big daddy shrimp and even the United Nation’s Food and Aquaculture Organization can vouch for the shakiness of layman definitions, which vary even geographically. 

The Pacific blue prawns we get from the Honolulu Fish Company happen to be a real catch, which Sous Chef Mike Balistieri describes as being sweeter and more buttery than your run of the mill prawn.  We cooks have a saying that “fat is flavor” and the blue prawns do make for good eating due to a relatively higher fat content, and of course, a talented kitchen staff.

Pacific blue prawns are only available seasonally from summer through early fall.  

“They are very, very rare,” said Honolulu Fish Company sales representative William Grafton.  “When we bring them in, which is pretty much on a daily basis, we sell out very quickly.”

The Honolulu Fish Company specifically cultivates blue prawns that belong to a species called Litopenaeus stylirostris, and actually has a trademark protecting information surrounding their husbandry of the species since they run one of only a few farms producing this particular species, and at a very high quality at that.  They boast meticulously high standards for freshness and sustainability (fish are line caught and shipped fresh; scallops and prawns are individually quick frozen per law.)  

cooked prawns, featured on the L'Etoile menu

Their Hawaiian blue prawns have entered numerous taste tests and is recognized as one of the best sashimi grade prawns available.  So do jump at the chance to try them at L’Etoile and do squeeze their heads when you’re enjoying them – that’s why we leave them on!  

Honolulu Fish Company

Contact: William Grafton

1-888-475-6244 x. 254

www.honolulufish.com

Our New Home

Tory Miller, Executive Chef and Co-Owner

In October of 2003, I moved to Madison and walked up the stairs to the former location of L'Etoile restaurant. Coming from New York, I had most recently worked at Eleven Madison Park in Manhattan. I can remember walking into EMP for the first time, hearing about it as another of Danny Meyer's fantastic institutions from friends and reviews. The dining room was and is grand, in very sense of the word.

I was moving to Madison to get out of the city and to get closer to the ingredients and the cooking. I hadn't officially been hired by Chef Odessa, but we had an interview scheduled for the day after I arrived. I didn't know anything about Madison's dining scene or about Odessa, but friends assured me that she was great and her restaurant was amazing, an institution of the Midwest. 

Walking up those stairs, I didn't know what I was in store for . . . and it was not what I expected. Of course, it was the morning; the room had not yet been set up for service. The dark room was small, and smelled of smoke from the night before (yes, you could still smoke indoors then). 

From that day until last July, when we officially closed that location and moved into our new home at One South Pinckney, I kind of felt a nostalgia for the grand dining rooms of NYC. I did grow to love the old space though. I have so many great memories there; I cooked my favorite meal of my career when Michael Pollan was our guest. 

But flash forward to our new space. . . it's big, it's clean, it's bright, it's . . . grand.

The things I love about it haven't come easy. Traci Miller and Dianne Christensen spent countless hours and endured some of the most detailed meetings designing and the building our new home. The view from our windows, from either restaurant, are arguably the best in the city. But the happenings behind the scenes really make me happy. . . two amazing, bustling kitchens, 4 walk-in coolers, 2 bars making dope cocktails, an outdoor "Graze Garden". . . all coming together to make walking into work a dream come true. 

Just passing the first year anniversary of our move, I've been thinking a lot lately about my favorite things in the new space . . .

The plancha: aka the flat top. When we moved in, it was the first station I worked at Graze. It’s awesome to have a piece of equipment that’s always hot. I can test any new dish by just throwing it on the “flattie” and we’re good to go. I love sandwiches; everyone who knows me, knows this. I can throw any sandwich on there and it’s crunchy and delicious . . . immediately. I’m so happy we have it. With brunch as the most important meal of the day, we can make almost everything on our brunch menu on the flat top. 


It’s just awesome.

It’s also really nice to be able to have enough space to handle all the produce we have coming in. Our volume of eggs alone went from 4 cases a week to 11 cases a week with our move. But even with all the walk-ins we have now, space gets filled up quickly. As soon as you have some space, you need more.

I also love the automatic shades in the dining room. I hear the 2010 Space Odyssey song in my head every time I hit the button and watch them rise. 

The booths in Graze are great too. They are reminiscent of a pig pen, which I love. Speaking of Graze, I love our theme: Urban Farm. And paired with the country elements of the L’Etoile dining space, everything just comes together.

The number one thing I love about the L’Etoile dining space are the round booths, mostly because of the homage to the former back bar of the old space with the intimate banquette seating. When I was a kid, we had these round booths at our diner, and I used to dream about having round tables like that in my own restaurant. At the same time, they are the only tables that don’t have tablecloths. It’s a much more causal feel, which is great. They’re just about eating dinner with the ones you love, instead of the grandeur and elegance of fine dining.

Overall we’re still learning how to live and work in the spaces that have been built, and having a good time while doing it. 

Thanks for the past year everyone; here’s to the next.