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Burning Questions

Cindy Pawlcyn

The Napa chef shares more about her love of offal.

June 24, 2009

Bravotv.com: What were you thinking when you saw who the chefs you would be competing against were? Did you know any of them before?
I was familiar with Rick and knew of Ludo. It was the first time I met Wilo. One of the best parts of the program was to hang out with these chefs. Each is serving creative, amazing food in their restaurants. I was lucky because they were very supportive and a lot of fun to be with.

Bravotv.com: First the Quickfire, did you know right away what you were going to make with the color yellow? What would have been your first choice of color?
When I heard the color yellow, I kept thinking about the Frank Zappa song, “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow.” I thought I had better not do that. I wanted to make something with corn.

My first choice of color would be green.

Bravotv.com: What was the inspiration for your dish? Besides color, of course?
Sweet corn

Bravotv.com: Onto the Elimination, what would have been your ideal offal to use from the choices given?
Tongue

Bravotv.com: Were you worried at all about making the menudo mild?
I wanted a dish that would be appealing to 100 people, in a theme park.

Bravotv.com: What do you usually make with tripe?
I braise it and serve it with piperade, the French pepper and tomato stew.  Or, I braise it, bread it, or fry it crisp with mustard.

Comments

2 Comments

Cindy, I was thoroughly charmed by you, your style, your restaurant and your food! Hearing your story was inspiring, and I disagree with the judge's assessment - being from AZ, I can attest that introducing menudo to a new crowd MUST be done in baby steps, with a simple approach, but once done, you have fans for life. Nothing is better than a good soup - for mind, body & soul. The other contestants made items that were good, but trendy...you chose something thoughtful, and you went outside your comfort zone - GOOD FOR YOU! Your smile, your humbleness and your tenacity have won you a fan for life here - I have made it my mission to someone make it to Napa to visit your place, eat whatever you place before me, and thank you with a hug!

I liked the fact that you were the only chef to solely use your offal as the protein. It's so easy to make thing taste better when you add bacon and sausage. . .

If I ever make it to Napa, I will be sure to check out your restaurants.

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