Volume 12, Issue 045 - March 2, 2007

Hello Chef,

I would like to thank Linda and Steve Bauer for hosting this week's Foodservice Daily Newsletter. We were fascinated by the beautiful photography in their cookbook and enticed by the delicious recipes. This book belongs in the kitchen and on the coffee table. We have already made plans to visit and stay in a few of the featured inns and hotels this coming summer. If you enjoyed the content this week, click on the book and pick up a copy from Amazon. Our thanks also go to the fine group of folks associated with LisaEkus.com for their help putting this week's newsletters together.

We launched the seasonal Seafood and Fish Recipe Collection yesterday—see it here! Next week we will cover the topic of fish for you. We will feature Dover Sole, Halibut, Haddock, Ahi Tuna and Mahi-mahi. So, stop by your favorite fish monger's shop this weekend and get ready to cook up some fish next week.

Have a great weekend...You deserve it!

Hotel Galvez
2024 Seawall Boulevard
Galveston, Texas 77550
www.wyndham.com

After the Great Storm of 1900—when a massive hurricane devastated Galveston, Texas - a group of prominent businessmen, dedicated to the economic recovery of the island, knew there was a desperate need of a luxury beachfront hotel to fill the void that was left when the Beach Hotel burned down in 1898.

At a cost of more than $1 million, the St. Louis firm of Mauran & Russell designed and built Hotel Galvez - a six-story Spanish Colonial Revival building named for Bernardo de Galvez, the Spanish colonial governor who chartered the Texas Gulf Coast and for whom the city is named. When it opened in 1911, the luxury hotel offered 275 elegant guestrooms, some with private baths. In 1912, Hotel Monthly billed it as one of the "most richly furnished seaside hotels in America".

The public areas featured a barbershop, candy shop, drugstore, soda fountain and Gentleman's Bar & Grille. Roller chairs lined the front of the hotel for those wanting to take a trip along the famed Seawall Boulevard.

In 1918, Hotel Galvez hosted more than 400 guests each day, with room rates starting at $2 per night. In the 1920s, the first bathing beauty contests in the nation were held at the hotel, with future movie stars Joan Blondell and Dorothy Lamour as participants.

During the '20s and '30s, Hotel Galvez became known as the "Playground of the Southwest", as hundreds of celebrities and dignitaries stayed there. Notable guests included Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson and John Kennedy, as well as General Douglas MacArthur, Phil Harris, Alice Faye, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Stewart and Howard Hughes.

On October 3, 1940, W.L. Moody Jr. acquired Hotel Galvez. During World War II, the hotel served as a living and working facility for the U.S. Coast Guard. In 1950, Moody's hotel chain, National Affiliated Hotels, added a motel on the east side of the main building.

In 1965, the owners spent more than $1 million to refurbish the hotel. Another million-dollar-plus renovation was undertaken by the next owners, Harvey O. McCarthy and Dr. Leon Bromberg, who acquired the hotel in 1971.

Hotel Galvez changed hands again in 1978, when it was purchased by well-known heart surgeon Denton Cooley, who had a long-standing sentimental attachment to it. Not only had he stayed there as a child and medical student, but his parents spent their wedding night at the hotel in 1916. Cooley sold half of his interest to Archie Bennett Jr., president of the Mariner Corporation.

In 1980, the partners spent one year and more than $12 million renovating the hotel, after which it was named to the National Register of Historic Places.

The most recent renovation was brought about through the efforts of Galveston preservationists and developers George and Cynthia Mitchell, who attained ownership of Hotel Galvez in March of 1993. Since June 1, 1998, Wyndham International as Wyndham Historic Hotels has managed the hotel.

Today, Hotel Galvez stands proudly as "Queen of the Gulf", fully restored to its original glamour while continuing to offer gracious hospitality, old-world charm and new-world conveniences.

Crisco.com - We Cook! Recipes, Cooking Tips, Free Monthly Newsletter and more.

Grilled Asparagus
with Gazpacho Vinaigrette

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:

Gazpacho Vinaigrette:

1 cucumber, peeled and seeded
6 Roma tomatoes, peeled
3 shallots
juice of 4 lemons
1 cup tomato juice
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup chopped green onion tops
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 tablespoon Tabasco
additional lemon juice
extra virgin olive oil

Eggplant Croutons:

1/2 cup cubed peeled eggplant
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup semolina
oil for frying
salt to taste

Salad:

1/2 pound asparagus spears
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon diced cucumber
1 tablespoon diced seeded tomato
1 teaspoon finely diced celery
1 teaspoon finely diced red onion
1/2 teaspoon minced flat leaf parsley

Preparation:

Cut cucumber into pieces and place in a food processor blender; add tomatoes, shallots, lemon juice, tomato juice, parsley, garlic and green onion tops. Pulse to purée. Transfer to a bowl; season with Tabasco, salt and pepper.

To finish the vinaigrette, for each cup of gazpacho, add the juice of one lemon and 1 cup extra virgin olive oil; blend using a had blender until thickened and frothy.

For the croutons, dip cubed eggplant in milk, then dredge in semolina. In a deep fryer, heat oil to 375 degrees; fry eggplant until lightly browned. Drain on paper towel. Season immediately with salt.

Trim, peel and blanch the asparagus; toss with oil. Season with salt and pepper. Place in the center of the plate. Ladle 3 tablespoons gazpacho vinaigrette over the asparagus. Garnish with cucumber, tomato, celery, red onion, parsley and eggplant croutons.

The Cliff House at Pikes Peak
306 Cañon Avenue
Manitou Springs, Colorado 80829
www.thecliffhouse.com

Travelers once just passed through Manitou Springs, never staying for long. It was a stagecoach stop on the route from Colorado Springs to Leadville, one of the most famous stagecoach runs in the American West. Manitou Springs grew up around the gold mines in the Pikes Peak area in the late 1850s, and when those mines proved bountiful, that all changed.

The building that had been the stagecoach stop was converted into a 20-room boardinghouse known simply as "The Inn". The earliest guests were mostly trappers and hunters on their way to or from Colorado Springs. But soon gold seekers made their way through Manitou Springs, bringing more business to the small inn. On occasion, tents had to be pitched next to the building to accommodate the overflow of guests.

By 1876, when the gold strikes were fewer and far between, the inn was struggling. That's when a mineral of another sort - mineral springs - came to play a role in the inn's fortunes.

Manitou Springs was home to ancient mineral springs, which bubbled up from underground limestone aquifers and carbonated the water - it was cool, good-tasting and had a high concentration of beneficial minerals. American Indians had been drinking it straight from the springs, believing them to have healing powers.

It was also in the 1870s that a man named Edward E. Nichols came west to fight a battle with tuberculosis. Nichols moved permanently to Manitou Springs, where he served as mayor for eight terms. He bought the inn in 1886, renamed it the Cliff House and turned it into a sophisticated hotel that capitalized on the region's springs and sparkling waters.

In 1914, Nichols and Colorado Governor Oliver Shoup founded the Manitou Bath House Company. The entire community became a resort specializing in water therapies, and people were eager to visit and take advantage of the healing powers of the springs. In the 30 years that followed, Nichols expanded the hotel from 20 rooms to 56, and eventually to 200. The result was the beautiful, four-and-a-half-story building that still stands today.

The Cliff House had evolved into a desirable destination in its own right, attracting a well-heeled clientele, including Theodore Roosevelt; Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Austria; William Henry Jackson; Charles Dickens Jr.; P.T. Barnum; Thomas Edison; Clark Gable; F.W. Woolworth; and J. Paul Getty.

Each morning, guests were given programs detailing the evening's entertainment. They enjoyed a formal dinner, then delighted in a concert on the hotel grounds. Afterward, they were encouraged to walk across the street to Soda Springs for a glass of fresh springwater before retiring. The Cliff House even had underground tunnels leading from the hotel to the spa.

In later years, a bathhouse was built at the spa, and bellboys from the hotel would cross to the spring to fill bottles and glasses with sparkling water for the guests. The Cliff House at Pikes Peak soon became the most popular hotel and spa in the Colorado Springs region, drawing people from all walks of life and from around the world.

For all its successes, the Cliff House also endured some hard times. In 1921, a flash flood roared down Williams Canyon and washed through the hotel's Grill Room, a small sandwich and soda shop in the rear of the east wing, buckling the floor all the way to the ceiling.

California real estate developer James S. Morley bought the Cliff House in 1981, converting the historic building into a 42-unit apartment building. But in its second disaster of the century, the building caught fire in March 1982. The fourth-floor roof sustained so much damage it had to be replaced, and the interior was stripped of all plumbing, plaster and floor coverings. The water damage was so extensive that the entire building was threatened. Immediate action was taken to preserve what remained. Due to the local economy, the building stood vacant for 16 years.

Since the Cliff House had been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, the fire also raised concerns among citizens groups and government agencies that supported its renovation.

In 1997, Morley committed to the restoration, vowing to return the hotel to its original distinction, preserving the Rocky Mountain Victorian architecture of the 1800s, but incorporating 21st century state-of-the-art technology and amenities. After $9 million worth of refurbishing and loving care, this vision has been realized.

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Duck a L'Orange

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

Frangelico Bread Pudding:

1 pound bread, cut into thin slices
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
8 eggs
1/4 cup Frangelico
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 quart heavy cream
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste, optional

Duck:

8 duck breasts (5 to 6 ounces each)
salt, pepper and sugar to taste
1 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups Grand Marnier
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
juice of 3 oranges
3 oranges, peeled and cut into segments
fresh spinach

Preparation:

Cut each slice of bread in half; brush with melted butter and overlap on the bottom of a 13-inch x 9-inch x 2-inch baking pan. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, Frangelico, vanilla, sugar and salt. Add the cream and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Add cinnamon and nutmeg if desired. Pour over bread; refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Set the pan inside a larger pan containing at least 1 inch of warm water. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until fully set. Cool; cut into desired shape.

Score the fat side of each duck breast with a chef's knife. Season with salt, pepper and sugar. In a large sauté pan over high heat, heat the oil. Add the duck, fat side down; reduce heat to medium. Baste the duck with the oil and duck juices for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat; add Grand Marnier and let it rest for 5 minutes.

Remove the duck and keep warm. Add sherry, sugar and orange juice to the pan; cook until sauce is reduced. Strain through a fine sieve and return to the heat; add the orange segments. In another pan, wilt the spinach.

To serve, place bread pudding in center of plate; place spinach around it. Slice duck and fan on top of pudding. Cover with sauce and serve.