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Hello, everyone.

On Thursday night we had hake and corvina on the menu. At the end of the night, Chef Paul said, "We need to order fish for tomorrow. What do we want?" To a man, everybody in the kitchen voted for hake with great enthusiasm, which is interesting.

"I'm in love with it right now," said Souschef Mark D. Graham. "I'm not familiar with it because being raised in the Northeast everything was cod. Although it texturally flakes like cod, the flavor is really extraordinary. Cod, you can be aggressive with and it just tastes like fish, but hake has a really delicate flavor so you can do really special things with it."

Hake is an Irish saltwater fish, similar in appearance to the tom cod. In Galway Bay, and other sea inlets of Ireland, the hake is exceedingly abundant, and is taken in great numbers. It is also found in England and France and is prolific in the Pacific off the coast of British Columbia. Since the Irish immigration to America, the hake has followed in the wake of their masters, and it is now found in New York bay, in the waters around Boston, and off Cape Cod. The Bostonians call them Poor Johns.

Our server Carol McCaffrey, who was born in Ireland, grew up on hake and chips "so it's no big deal to her," Mark said. "It's fascinating to me because it's new in my mouth."

We're getting some Chukar partridges and the guys have this crazy Spain-inspired idea that they will call Partridge "Santiago de Compostela."

"We're going to do the partridge roasted, and served with sautéed potatoes, bacon and onions with a sauce of roasted tomatoes, garlic and smoked chili," Paul said.

The chukars and some fresh pheasants are coming from Bella Bella Gourmet Foods, which represents a group of farms in Sullivan County that grows heirloom poultry breeds. Chukar partridges are similar in size to pheasant but have a slightly nuttier flavor than both quail and pheasant. They are a member of the genus Alectoris, and are mostly gray all over, with a black band from the eyes down to below the neck. They also have several black bars on the flanks. Native to Asia, they were introduced to the scrubby brush lands of the western United States in the early 20th century.

The pheasant, we'll braise in white wine and serve in a reduction of the braising liquid accented with lemon balm clipped from our courtyard herb garden, with roasted plum. If he can get past his wife, Paul plans to call it Bombe Faisanière, which is a really awful pun stretching the envelope incredibly from the words "lemon balm." A bombe (or bomb in the masculine) is a piece of food that looks like a hand grenade, usually a cake. We doubt that the pheasant will look anything like a hand grenade, but Paul has always wanted to invent a dish called Bomb of Gilead, or a Norse version called Bomb og Gilead, and this is as close as he'll get this week. This unintelligible stream-of-consciousness riff brought to you by Chef Paul Parker. Oy.

We're getting wapiti North American elk in this weekend and the kitchen plans to serve it with fennel bulb, cippolini onions, morel mushrooms and white truffle sauce.
Because Paul tends to talk in monosyllables unless he's arguing, Cheryl asked him: "What makes you think that will be good?"
"What could not be good about that combination?" Paul asked indignantly.
"If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?" Cheryl replied
repeating: "What makes you think that will be good?"

Because Paul has lived with his wife, the former newspaper reporter, for 22 years, he got it: "Those ingredients are all wild and woodsy, and they will accentuate the 'sauvage' flavors of the elk," the chef said helpfully. "This is as close as the wild elk will ever come to going back where he came from."

Mark won't give away his new technique, but he said he's found a way to make asparagus soup that is better than anything he's done before.
"This is new to me," Mark said. "You know how asparagus can be aggressive and astringent in its bitter earthiness? I've found a way around that, and no, I'm not going to tell you."

We're doing a lot of great stuff with veal this week. Thursday we did veal gaufrettes with sungold tomatoes and fresh morel mushrooms, which combined tiny bits of tender veal scallopine and veal sweetbreads, with a combination of rich and earthy and bright and clean flavors. This weekend, the guys plan to experiment with "Southern fried" sweetbreads, and the menu still features Paul's spectacular veal chop with mango and Chinese black vinegar.

If any of you locals are suffering Chez Sophie withdrawal because you don't like to come to town during track season, we have a well-kept secret to share with you. We are wide open between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
on Travers Saturday. That's because the Philadelphia Orchestra has left town, so we don't have pre-theatre folks, and the last race on Travers Day goes off at 6:30 p.m. Consequently, there's a huge waiting list for anything after 6:30, but we have a bunch of tables that won't be seated until 8 or 8:30, so if you want to get in early, we'd be thrilled to serve you.

You can now order a Chez Sophie picnic box lunch to pick up in the morning and take with you wherever you plan to spend the day. There are three options: chilled filet mignon with a variety of condiments; roasted Cornish hen and a vegetarian 'grand plateau des sans visages'
which will be an array of salads with a balance of proteins, vegetables and starches. Each of the dishes will be served with two sides, something with fresh, seasonal vegetables and something like fingerling potatoes dressed in olive oil and sea salt. You can order the boxes by telephone the night before by calling 518.583.3538 and pick them up any time after 8 a.m. The prices range from $17 to $21 per entree.

Our Sunday Jazz brunch this week with pianist Cole Broderick will
feature andouille sausage and shrimp gumbo over basmati rice ($15);
baked stuffed tomatoes with goat cheese fondue ($14); mixed grill with oven-roasted potatoes ($16); and bananas Foster stuffed pancake with your choice of bacon or sausage ($14). Appetizer specials include Rhode Island Littleneck clams steamed with white wine and herbs ($13); a salad of Sunset Hill Farm greens tossed in a red wine vinaigrette ($7); crabcake with lemon caper mayonnaise ($16) and soup of the day ($8).

The brunch specials run from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The complete menu,
offered from 7 to 2 p.m., includes a Continental assortment of
muffins, pastries, fruit, yogurt, frittata etcetera for $9;
omelettes ($10 to $12); pancakes du jour ($10); the All in One, which includes 2 eggs any style, homefries, toast and sausage or bacon ($10); waffles with sweet cream butter and local maple syrup ($10); and Irish steel- cut oatmeal ($8).
Jazz pianist Cole Broderick plays from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Live Piano Jazz
Jazz pianist Cole Broderick plays the baby grand Tuesday and Friday night, and during Sunday brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
(barring special events that preclude live music.)
Cost: No cover charge

Tasting menus
Chef's Choice seven-course tasting menu available each night. The
menus are designed based on the best and most creative dishes Chef Paul K. Parker is serving each evening. We will pair wines for you at an additional charge or you can order from our extensive wine list.
Cost: $80 to $200 per person for seven courses, plus tax and tip.
Everyone at the table must partake in the tasting menu.
If you're feeling less impromptu, you can call ahead to arrange a
special tasting menu with the number of courses and wine pairings
designed to suit your capacity, dietary restrictions and budget.
Tasting menus arranged in advance will be printed on commemorative vellum scrolls personalized with the name of the host or the reason for the event.
Cost: Depends on the number of courses and the wines selected; available for two to 75 guests. Call Cheryl to make arrangements at
518.583.3538

The Pink Plate Special is on summer vacation.

Notes on Nico and Léo:
We took Nico and Léo for a walk Monday on the Bog Meadow Brook Nature Trail. It was a cool day, too cool for the lake or Lincoln Pool, so in spite of the fact that Léo has short, 18-month-old legs, Cheryl told Nico. "We're going on a nature walk." All the way there, Nico crowed about going to see the "natures." When we got there, he looked at the trail marker signs and decided that "natures" were ducks, and inferred that we were going to swim in a lake after all. After walking about 2,000 yards and having all the wildflowers and ferns pointed out to him, he said to his mother: "We should go back and get the car, because we can get there faster."
Cheryl sighed, feeling like a failed parent. "Honey, it's not about getting to the end. It's about where you are right now and what you can see and smell and hear if you pay attention."
Nico nodded and continued to walk, showing a polite interest in the flowers and the birds, and small rodents and especially the little pool underneath a bridge that crosses the trail. When the kids started to demand snacks and drinks, Cheryl sighed again, and turned them around in defeat to head back to the car. When we arrived, Nico decided he wanted to explore the trail going the other way (it dead ends about 500 feet later.) Nico then said he wanted to retrace the trail he'd already explored, which brightened Mommy's heart. But she decided that Léo might have had enough, although she showed no signs of weariness, and suggested we all go to the Farmer's Daughters for hot dogs and ice cream.

"Okay, Mom," Nico said. "That sounds like a good plan. But can we come back here and see the natures again tomorrow? And maybe every day?"

Léo has just turned the corner from "Mama-Baby" grunting into rapidly evolving vocabulary. This morning she woke up grumpy, screaming "Mama" and "Cocoa," the word she learned from Nico for a sippy cup of milk. Cheryl deposited her in the bed next to her brother, and she rolled over, smiled a big smile, patted him gently on the butt and
said: "Geeko. Bruda."

The Parker family
at Chez Sophie
518.583.3538

Chez Sophie was founded in 1969 by sculptor Joseph Parker and his French-born wife, the late Sophie. The business moved to a vintage stainless steel diner in Malta Ridge, New York, in 1995. It is owned today by Sophie and Joseph's son, Paul Parker, and his wife, Cheryl Clark. In June of 2006, they moved the restaurant into their current location in The Saratoga Hotel on Broadway..

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