Chef Big Dog's BIG FOOD

HELL YEH - what a great weekend at the Mystic Food Truck Rally 

It was the launch of my new culinary concept - CBD's BIG FOOD!! The Inspiration is from my 6 months as a food truck vendor alongside PeaceLoveV.  And as a large type man - in mass and mind - it fits right into my wheelhouse.  

But 'BIG FOOD' isn't just about size.  This Memorial Weekend, Chef Big Dog will be at Clinton Crossing Outlets and the theme is 'Big Heroes' and my food will be an homage to the warriors who have risked life and limb for freedom.  I'll post the menu on Thursday.  

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CBD's RedNeck Rolls

Were a huge success this weekend and all chest pounding aside, I think I made my ancestors proud.  Version 1.0 was the ULTIMATE FAIR FOOD - a foot long corn dog wrapped in a 12" tortilla in Nacho Cheese  wrapped in Pulled Pork with a spicy BBQ honey mustard mayo slaw - pan fried and topped with more sauce and Funyons!  

Yes'm I sold out of these beauties in just a few hours.  The #RedNeckRolls embody the spirit of CBD's Big Food - Big Ideas, Big Flavors, Big Big Big...

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WHERE CBD AT?

Memorial Wknd - Clinton Crossing Outlets

June 17-19th New England Food Truck Affair 

Update soon with additional locations & festivals throughout the 2016 season!

Holiday 2015 Menu

As launch date nears I've put the final touches on my menu.  It's a big departure from my usual fare - innovative, elegant, finessed tapas.  

Nope, it's gonna be damnably cold out there and my guess is folks will want warm, comforting familiar food - holiday flavors to put a fine point on it.  

The menu is comprised of hot sammiches, papas, and soups.  

The weekly staples of Sammiches:  

(1) The Love Loaf - my juicy succulent pepper filled meatloaf with a chipotle BBQ sauce with a slop of garlicky mashed potatoes on buttery Texas Toast.  

(2) The King Ranch - marinated chicken breasts braised in bacon fat and peppers served with pepper cheese, bacon, in my "O" sauce which is a smokey roasted pepper Ranch sauce.

(3) The Crack Mac Burger - just 3 simple ingredients makes this hot mamma! My Tex-Mex roasted peppers and tomatoes queso, CBD spiced burger on Texas toast.  

(4) Roasted Pimento Grilled Cheese - for the veggies amongst us this grilled Panini is stuffed with 3 cheeses and a roasted garlic and pepper cream cheese.  One of Chef Big Dog's most oft requested.

Papas (That's taters fer you gringos):  

(1) The Veggie Poo -  CBD's own vegetarian styled poutine with Spiced Tater Tots topped with my queso dip and the absolute best pico de gallo you'll ever have!

(2) Queso Con Chili - quite simply chili and cheese. Dayamn if this doesn't sound like warm lovey goodness I don't know what does.

Soups

CBD's Texas Chili - quite simply a chili recipe I've worked on for years.  I also call this my traitor chili since I add beans to it (no self respecting Texan does) along with dozens of ingredients and spices developed over hours on the stovetop.  

Specials

We plan on adding weekly soup and papas specials going forward but for now, we'll have a weekly sammich special and for Thanksgiving week, that'll be:

The Kentucky Hot Brown (pictured nearby) - absolutely one of most ingenious ways to use leftover turkey which is placed on egg battered bread with a roasted tomato and a nutmeg cheese sauce.  

If'n you've never had these CBD's beauties, come on out to Clinton Crossing this week  - look for the purple Peace Love V truck (we're wrapping it today so pics forthcoming).  

Chef Big Dog is Back in Biz!

Well actually...

The title is twice incorrect.  CBD has never been out of business - I've been cooking for some of the fine folks at the Puppy Up Foundation across the fruited plains this past year.  I've also been supremely busy evaluating other opportunities for CBD some of which I've turned down; others I'm still considering.  

It's also technically not my 'biz'.  Back in September our good friend and person I inspired, Chef V, bought a food truck and I've been helping translate her idea into reality.  And that's been no small task.  Originally outfitted for baking, I've had to gut part of it, install a new prep table, re-plump a shoddy water system (the pic doesn't do it justice), and come up with a mouth watering menu which I'm finalizing today.  

And that's important since we're going LIVE - next week at the Clinton Crossing outlet.  If you're in the area, the Peace Love & V truck will be there Friday thru Sunday and during the weekends throughout the holidays. 

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CBD's PS 1:  Most of my postings and writings on Social Media for the next couple of months will be to my Facebook page and here at my blog.  

CBD's PS 2:  As some of you know I auditioned for Master Chef and they said if I didn't hear from them by November probably didn't make it to LA. I made it to the top of the Austin auditions but from what I learned a lot of failed actors now use shows like this to get into the reality biz.  Oh, the humanity of it all!!! 

Admittedly it was a neat experience and I learned a few things but I'm kinda glad since I can focus on building the CBD brand rather than lose the first half of next year.  Sadly, though, El Guapo, my Tex-Mex Muse, you will NOT be the next Master Chef. 

Chef Big Dog in Madison WI

Ay Caramba El Guapo

It's been over a year since we've posted here.  Granted I was walking the entire length of the west coast, from Canada to Mexico with the fuzzybutts most of last year.  I've missed you, Mano, and it's time to get back to the kitchen and to talk about our travels.

The most recent of which was Madison Wisconsin. My Tex-Mex Muse, El Guapo, & I were recently there to cook up some creative cuisine for the VIPs of the Puppy Up Walk.

This being only my third trip to the Cheesehead state I had to get a better sense of the local flavors and fares and visited a few restaurants first; Pig in a Fur Coat, The Tipsy Cow & The Old Fashioned.

When El Guapo & I were asked whether we wanted our cheese curds 'fried or squeaky', well there just isn't an exact Spanish translation for squeaky as chillona means screaming.  Not surprisingly El Guapo pulled out his pistola.

Ultimately we came up with a menu for Team Madison that fused midwestern meats and cheeses with what we do best.  Here are a few highlights:

Fried Soup.  Immediately upon my research that Beer Cheese Soup is a solid staple up here, my instinct was...  El Guapo - let's deep fry it.  Served in a shot glass and topped with a roasted garlic green chili sour cream sauce it was absolutely successful.

Also served were a Spotted Cow Beer braised Brat with a chipotle mustard pickle slaw and a Chef Big Dog version of Tex Mex Poutine.

The final course was a traditional butter burger but infused with CBD 17, my own blend of 17 spices and herbs.

It was a tremendous honor to cook for Team Madison WI and I hope El Guapo and I did a inspirational job of translating Tex Mex to Wisconsin.  Until Next time...

Puppy Up and Chow Down.

Papa Hemingway's Secret Hamburger Recipe

The Wild West?

I'm a history nerd and when I see something like this I go nuts like Ernest...

What fascinates me is two things: (1) the level of detail of his instructions & (2) the multiple refinements to his recipe.  Some of them are repetitive like adding capers and soy - both a seriously damn good salt source.  Others baffle me like what in the hell is stanford ham?  But I'm gonna try to recreate it.  

Maybe the pursuit of the bestest burger is what drove Hemingway insane and towards an untimely death.  Or maybe he never wanted to be on a Guy Fieri game show in which his burgers were referred to as 'Banging'.   That'd test the moral fiber of any artist.

CBD

God it's good to be back in the kitchen

OTomorrow chef lucky & I are hosting a luncheon for all of the wonderful volunteers for the puppy up walk east CT.

On the menu:

1. Black bean chile con queso fried dumpling

2. Tex-Mex chicken fajita shooters 

3. Tortita cubanos

4. Whatever sweet thing chef lucky concocts. I'm all about salt spice & grease

Chef Big Dog's Barbaric Birthday Yawp

"I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise,

Regardless of others, ever regardful of others,

Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man,

Stuff’d with the stuff that is coarse and stuff’d with the stuff that is fine" 

As my life's timepiece takes another tick, I cannot help thinking of Walt Whitman's Song of Self.

Today is my birthday and it'll be spent sounding my barbaric yawp tho not over the roofs of the world, but in the sidestreet eateries and backally barrooms of NYC.  

As of now, here's the 24 hour culinary itinerary 

Saturday:  

Lunch at Stanton Social and I'm looking forward to their French onion soup dumplings.  

Afterwards, walking the streets of the city as my holiday season cannot be without it.

 

Then tapas Japanese style and some serious sake at Sakagura 

For digestifs, there's a place that seems all too apropos to the 'Song of Self' and that's Lovers of Today - a speakeasy and, from my understanding, a purveyor of creative, uncommon, and seemingly righteous cocktails.  

And to top off the nite I really wanted to go to Fatty Cue Brooklyn for some sort of 1AM pork, bacon, naughty grease goodness but from what I'm hearing, the servers are self bloviating buttholes so we'll see.  

Sunday:

To sum up my culinary adventures in the city I'll go to La Esquina, a restaurant renown for its simple, beautiful Mexican dishes.