Boca Raton HotelChef James Reauxby Carole KotkinChefs nation-wide are cooking with the freshest, highest-quality raw ingredients they can find. And they are playing an increasingly active role in the production of these foods. As a result, a new network has emerged: chefs, restaurateurs, farmers, ranchers, growers, specialty food producers, and “foragers,” all working together to put the best food possible on your plate. Today, organically grown, minimally-processed seasonal products are the foundation for a steadily growing number of hotels and restaurateurs. Chefs are preparing dishes with free range chickens, raised without antibiotics and hormones; beef from cows that graze on wild grass and without growth hormones and organic grains, fruits and vegetables raised without pesticides. This may be due in part to the enormous influence of Alice Waters, chef-owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, who began contracting with local gardeners to grow organic herbs, lettuces, vegetables and fruits for her restaurant in the early 1970's. Dubbed, “the mother of California cuisine,” she set the tone for the restaurant revolution that swept the country in the 1980’s .Today, a more discerning public appreciates and expects to find excellent produce on their restaurant plates, and chefs from coast to coast have responded by purchasing fruits and vegetables from organic farms and, when time and space permit, by growing it themselves
These days, a lot of chefs explain their cooking by talking about fresh, high-quality ingredients. But James Reaux is rigorous about it. He works with many specialized purveyors of foods ranging from fresh truffles to range-fed veal and Kobe beef. Jeff Trunk, resident “forager” at the Boca Raton Resort & Club deals with about 200 suppliers during the year searching for new and exciting resources. “Local ingredients are great, but if I can get something shipped here overnight, then what’s local can be a thousand miles away. I travel to the four corners of the world in my quest for perfection—whether it’s to California for strawberries, Washington State for oysters, or to the Florida Keys for farm-raised conch in the shell, “ says Trunk, a Johnson & Wales Culinary School graduate. “I get what I want at the right price, the right quality, and on time,” he continues. Chefs today no longer have to compromise on quality, as farmers are now willing to grow and harvest produce according to their exact specifications. Trunk has developed close relationships with farmers to review what they plan to grow and the projected dates of when it will be available and any special items they may want grown. Jeff says the quest for new, high-quality resources is always a formidable task, but that he is blessed with a clientele that seems to appreciate his effort. “They’re sophisticated and they’ve got good palates,” he says. Seeking more than mass-produced flavor in goat cheese led Jeff to Turtle Creek Dairy in Loxahatchie, Florida, right around the corner from swanky Palm Beach. While living in France, dairy owner, Jim Berke relished the wines and foods of the region and especially savored the goat’s milk cheese (chevre). He decided to learn the techniques involved in producing goat cheese. He returned to Florida in 1983 and soon developed his own cheese-making style, and in a short time he was producing and selling his first cheeses. He now has over 100 goats that are hand raised and bottle fed. In fact, they are so well cared for that each one of them has been given a name. They are fed a special diet of the finest alfalfa hay that enhances the flavor of the final cheese. His cheeses are now sold in the best restaurants and markets in the country. Chef Reaux incorporates Turtle Creek fresh goat cheese into recipes to provide depths of flavor and aroma in salads, pizzas, pastas, and main courses. He takes it to new heights as he shapes the fresh cheese into logs, pyramids, and triangles and coats them with herbs, ash, peppercorns, star anise or poppy seeds. For a salad, the chef layers warm medallions of goat cheese between crisp triangles of phyllo surrounded by baby beet greens and served with hard cider and pumpkin seed oil vinagirette. The principle elements of Chef Reaux’s “Coastal Cuisine” are the impeccable freshness and unusual variety of the selected seafood; bold and clear flavorings with an emphasis on herbs, flavored oils and broths; and dramatic, uncluttered presentations. He recognizes that his ingredients are so essentially good they need only minimal enhancement. While working in Hawaii, he discovered that Hawaiian fish possess delicate, almost indescribable flavors, and many are found only in these tropical waters. Garden & Valley Isle Seafood, Inc., his Hawaiian purveyor, delivers, via overnight air, specialties like farm-raised baby abalone (a shellfish) that Chef Reaux prepares with Zebra Tomatoes and Pepper Cress. He also brings in moi, a fish that Garden & Valley Isle Seafood’s owner, Bob Fram, describes as the fish of the decade. “Once a fish reserved for Hawaiian royalty, moi is a small, rich fish with a texture similar to scallops,“ he continues. Onaga, a ruby snapper, and Main-style lobster are among the seafood selections that enable the chef to expand his creative horizons. From bagels, cream cheese and lox on Sunday morning to a whole smoked salmon presented on a silver tray in an elegant dining room, the woodsy, sweet flavor of smoked salmon remains a perennial crowd-pleaser. When James Reaux was working in Los Angeles he met Paul Darricarrere of Ocean Harvest Seafoods, Inc. and tasted his smoked salmon. He was very impressed with the silky texture and delicate flavor. The chef does a stunning Smoked Salmon Martini by combining diced smoked salmon, pickled ginger, pea sprouts, chiffonade of bok choy , cilantro and caperberries in a martini glass. When Chef Reaux moved to the Boca Raton Resort & Club, he persuaded Mr. Darricarrere to produce the salmon exclusively for him. “This enabled me to keep production small enough to be able to maintain the quality that we both strive for,” says Darricarrere. Formerly a representative for the largest producer of smoked salmon in Norway, he decided to make his own. He found a processor in Scotland that would be able to follow his strict requirements for excellence. Before the salmon is smoked, it is placed in a cure (a salt brine); then smoked over hickory, oak, and alder wood for many hours. He and the chef devised a special cure just for the Boca Raton Resort & Club. “Chef Reaux is getting the same quality smoked salmon as the world famous Fauchon specialty food store in Paris,” remarks Darricarrere. An old-fashioned truck can be seen pulling up to the delivery entrance of The Boca Raton Resort & Club every week. “Huey” Ewing gets out and opens the truck’s back door and begins unloading. Out come boxes of portabella mushrooms, shitake mushrooms, and domestic button mushrooms—800 to 1,000 pounds of them. The variety of wild and cultivated exotic mushrooms available to chefs has grown enormously in the past decade. At the same time the sophistication with which they are presented and used also has increased. Chef Reaux serves them roasted, sauteed, grilled, mixed into risotto, pasta, pate and stuffing. A first course of Essence of Black Trumpet Mushrooms are flavored with ginseng and Thai basil. Many mushrooms called “wild” are no longer found exclusively in the wild. An ever increasing range of once-exotic species are being farmed by individuals, giant corporations or “mom and pop” operations like Sunrise Mushrooms in Pompano Beach, Florida owned by Mr. Ewing. Sunrise grows its mushrooms in trailers designed to approximate their original habitat. Factors such as the type and density of wood in which the fungus grows, natural logs versus pressed sawdust, and the addition of the growing medium all affect the flavor. These cultivated mushrooms offer advantages of availability and safety; they can be ordered when needed and they are free of bugs, worms, mud and sand. “We have such a close connection with Huey (called a “fun guy” or “fungi”) that we’re able to get him to produce something just the way we want it, custom grown,” remarks Jeff Trunk. Chefs at the Boca Raton Resort & Club are called upon to deliver quality in staggering quantities. It’s an ever growing responsibility to create cutting-edge menus for large conventions, conferences and weddings and serve them at a price the customer considers fair. Cooking everything from scratch is virtually impossible. Happily, JoAnne Theodore of Greek Island Spice, Inc., knocked at the kitchen door at the Boca Raton Resort & Club with her line of specialty dessert sauces, pestos, coulis (a thick puree), marinades and chutneys. JoAnne originally produced her foods for consumers, but realized the need for ingenious high-volume “shortcuts” for chefs that don’t stint on quality. She works closely with chefs and listens carefully to their needs. “My products incorporate regional flavors and ingredients into authentic recipes. The chefs then create their own “fusion” in their completed recipes,” she says. “For example, my olive tapenade is used in foccacia and flat breads; chicken is marianated in my Thai curry paste and basil pesto is used in vinaigrettes, breads, and bruschetta,” she continues. Her degree in art has helped her to see the importance of food presentation. She packages her mango wasabi coulis, rosemary coulis and gingered papaya coulis in large squeeze bottles for chefs to use to decorate serving plates. Jeff Trunk says, “These products are top quality, very consistent and very convenient, especially for large functions. We use them for everything under the sun.” A hotel culinary team must provide many types of service, from banquets to sit-down-dining to room service. “We are in a constant whirl to keep guests happy, endlessly searching for refinements and innovations and fine-tuning our menus,” remarks Chef Reaux . It takes dedication from the top down to create cuisine using such diverse ingredients while at the same time maintaining remarkably high standards. RECIPES:Rice Paper Salmon Packages with Shitake Mushrooms Heat oil in a saute pan over high heat. Add mushrooms and cook until soft. Add spinach and stir until combined. Season with salt and pepper. Dip rice paper quickly into a bowl of water. Do not soak the paper. Season salmon with salt and pepper. Place one filet salmon in the center of each rice paper leaf and top with 2 tablespoons of the spinach/mushroom mixture. Place 3 or 4 cilantro leaves on the fish. Wrap the rice paper around the fish like a package. Seal the open ends with water. Place packages, spinach/mushroom side facing up, in the top of a steamer. Steam the packages for 6 minutes. Salmon should be tender, not dry. Remove and keep warm and covered until ready to serve. Place one package in the center of each of 4 serving plates. Spoon the sauce over the fish and top with a pinch of diakon sprouts. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Sauce: Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook over very low heat for one hour. Do not boil. Skim out the garlic. Keep sauce warm. Spice Roasted Yellowtail Snapper Salad with Savory Stone Fruit Salsa and Sweet Potato Chips Rub fish with spice mixture, place in dish, cover and refrigerate for two hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat vegetable oil in a skillet over moderately high heat. Add fish and quickly saute for 30 seconds on each side. Transfer to an oven-proof dish and roast in the oven for 12 minutes, or until tender. Remove from the oven and keep warm. Salsa: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve. To Assemble: Sweet Potato, Taro or other chips Line a serving dish with your favorite lettuces. Arrange fish in the center. Spoon salsa on top of greens. Surround with chips. This article appeared originally in Mizner’s Dream Magazine Http://www.bocaresort.com-Updated 5-20-99-
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If you want to see what really excites Executive Chef James Reaux of The Boca Raton Resort & Club, walk with him out through the kitchen door and over to his garden in the middle of the splendor of The Boca Raton Resort & Club. Based on real estate land values, the herbs grown in this garden are probably the most costly in the world. “It has drawn more attention from passers-by than any other feature here,” says Craig Morell, horticulturist and nursery manager of the 356-acre resort. The idea of a working herb garden came about partly because of a casual comment made to Morell by the chef that his kitchens bought more than $70,000 worth of herbs each year. “That’s a lot of money just for herbs,” thought Morell , “especially when they grow so readily in South Florida’s subtropical climate “. Morell collaborated with the culinary team to develop The Chef’s Herb Garden. Besides ordinary herbs such as parsley, basil and chives, the garden rotates about twenty-five varieties of edible plants including 75 exotic fruit trees such as carambola, mango, Jaboticaba, and mamey as well as thai basil, edible figs, chocolate mint, butterfly ginger, garlic chives, edible flowers, red and white ginger, tropical oregano, and seven varieties of bananas,. “We are tremendously excited about this garden taking a tasteful bite out of the food budget,” says Chef Reaux. Since education is a primary goal of The Chef’s Herb Garden, signs identifying plants in the organic garden have been erected, and guests are invited to take a self-guided or guided tour at their leisure in the hope that they will start their own organic gardens at home. For those who want to learn more, The Boca Raton Resort & Club offers classes in a wide range of subjects in everything from cooking with herbs to organic gardening. Chef Reaux likes to challenge himself and his culinary team with new food ideas; a concept that extends to the garden where they are now trying to grow vanilla plants, Kona coffee, dwarf pomegranates, kaffir lime trees, hybrid baby pineapples and orange berries. He has worked with some of France’s most revered chefs, and he cites Michelin Chef Claude Rigolet of Au Plasir Gourmand in the Loire valley as a key influence. “Growing your own produce enables you to reap a unique and exotic bounty,” says Reaux. The culinary staff harvests the gardens daily to provide the kitchens with fresh ingredients to be used in the 50,000 meals per week the kitchen prepares. 
Chef Reaux worked at the Westin Hotel in Maui, Hawaii, the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and the Westin Resort in Hilton Head, South Carolina, before coming to the Boca Raton Resort & Club in 1995. His signature style is a fusion of classical European and contemporary American Coastal cuisine, a style influenced greatly by the Pacific Rim and Asian cookery of Hawaii. With the trend toward lighter, more healthful eating, he has created lower fat recipes by serving a variety of piquant vegetables and substituting vinaigrettes and vegetable sauces for cream and butter. Among his most popular dishes are Tenderloin of Kobe Beef and Fresh Morels, Saffron Grits, and Black Currant Zin-Jus; Spice Roasted Yellowtail Snapper Salad with Savory Stone Fruit Salsa and Sweet Potato Chips; Rice Paper Salmon Packages with Shitake Mushrooms; and Chilean Seabass and fresh Amaebi Prawn broth flavored with Lemongrass and rose petals. “Nothing is more rewarding than walking into a dining room and knowing that everyone there is enjoying your food,” says Reaux.