Day 3: Tom Douglas Restaurant Tour and Mastering Pasta and Sauces Class

We began our day by dashing into Dahlia Bakery to shield ourselves from the rain and wind where we were immediately enveloped in the most amazing aroma of freshly baked pastries and brewed coffee. After stocking up on croissants, muffins, tarts, and cookies galore, we were led on a “behind the scenes” tour of several Tom Douglas restaurants by Herschell, Social Media Manager, and Amy, Director of the Hot Stove Society. We began our tour by visiting the shared kitchen for Dahlia Bakery and Dahlia Lounge where we watched Pastry Chefs Kelly Abernathy and Lacey Morris ice a beautiful chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream frosting while we heard all about the prep work Head Pastry Chef Britany coordinates each day (see: http://www.dahliabakery.com/ and http://www.dahlialounge.com/). They bake everything fresh, so the goodies we were enjoying from the bakery were made that very morning. Stacy told us that all the produce comes from Prosser Farm, which is owned and operated by Jackie Cross, who also happens to be Tom Douglas’s wife. According to the Seattle Times, Prosser Farm yielded around 60,000 pounds of produce in 2014 (click here for full story: http://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/out-on-the-farm-with-tom-douglas-and-jackie-cross/). As Kelly and Herschell noted, they only use what’s in season. So, right now they’re incorporating a lot of citrus and dates into their dishes. I was munching on a vegan breakfast bar that included locally grown dates from Prosser Farm.

 A pastry chef at Dahlia Bakery working on a chocolate cake--iced with buttercream frosting!

Buttercream frosting--up close and personal.

 Herschell tells us all about the early hours and long days the pastry chefs put in so that we can enjoy freshly baked goods each day.

 A tray of Italian almond layered cookies awaited us!

Pastry Chef Kelly explained that they use a gel dye to ensure that the colored layers don't bleed and to get a vibrant striped effect.

Almond layered cookies up close from a 45 degree angle (though it looks like someone touched this one on the right).

 These mini tart crusts are being baked off today and will be filled and eaten tomorrow.

 Overhead shot of the mini tart tins... also, it shows you how many more they had to make! 

 A view of the new ice cream maker that was making a myriad of unique flavors today.

 Macaroons and chocolate cupcakes are ready for sale in Dahlia Bakery.

After filling up on sweets at Dahlia Bakery, we headed over to see the wood-fired pizza oven at the Virginia Street Serious Pie (see: http://seriouspieseattle.com/). The oven is fueled with real wood, without any propane or charcoal. Herschell told us that sometimes when the chefs at Serious Pie are reaching for another log for the oven, they are surprised by spiders! Needless to say, I did not volunteer to help stoke the fire.

 Herschell shows us the wood-fired pizza oven.

 Herschell points out the real wood logs used to stoke the pizza oven.

 A great private area for a pizza class or meal!

After Serious Pie, we headed to see a different kind of heat at Cantina Lena, a well-known Mexican eatery in the Tom Douglas group (see: https://cantinalena.com/). In the back is where we found Head Baker Wendy who showed us the giant oven that holds hundreds of baked items at a time while we all drooled over the chocolate croissants that were being made by a pastry chef. Herschell pointed out that Tom Douglas claims his chocolate croissants are the best in the world and our group must think so too because we wiped out Dahlia Bakery’s Wednesday morning supply!

 Freshly baked breads by Wendy who oversees the Bread Bakery in Catina Lena's kitchen. These loaves were made this morning.

 A pastry chef measuring croissants--yes, there is math involved in baking!

 The giant oven in the Bread Bakery at Cantina Lena.

 Rolling the world-famous Tom Douglas chocolate croissants.

 Making chocolate croissants part 1.

 Making chocolate croissants part 2: the giant butter slab.

 Each chocolate croissant gets several logs of dark chocolate.

 Pretty flags decorate Cantina Lena.

 Cantina Lena's festive and bright dining room.

 Cantina Lena's storefront.

 The top floor of Palace Kitchen is where all the behind the scenes magic happens; it's office space for the Tom Douglas Corporation. Tom's office is located on the back left corner.

We ended our tour at Via6 Building where Assembly Hall, Tanakasan, and Home Remedy are located. At Assembly Hall, which can only be described as if a gourmet restaurant and a food hall had a baby, we tasted their most popular “Gettin’ Fresh” freshly pressed juice which is a bright and tangy medley of cucumber, pear, mint, and lime (see: http://www.assemblyhallseattle.com/). We also sampled perfectly folded dumplings from Tanakasan, which after yesterday’s dumpling folding lesson at Hot Stove, we now have a new appreciation for (see: http://tanakasanseattle.com/). We even got to pick out party favors from Home Remedy, which is like your favorite corner store, but with made-to-order Tom Douglas food (see: http://tdhomeremedy.com/). Fortune cookies, Haribo gummies, and Pocky in hand, we braved the rain and headed to Hot Stove Society for our Mastering Sauces and Pasta class with Chef Bridget Charters. 

 Assembly Hall on the ground floor of Via6.

 Look how many dumplings he made--several per minute! We made one in several minutes yesterday.

 Local to-go eatery and corner store--such a great idea!

 Picking out our first party favor--any beverage from Home Remedy's fridge.

 Beautiful salad bar in Home Remedy.

Asian treats in fun, colorful packaging. 

Another student's selections from Home Remedy.

 I'm a sucker for fortune cookies. And yes, they say "For Kids."

 Today's dumpling offering at Tanakasan.

 Tanakasan's logo from a low angle.

 Fresh-pressed juice from Assembly Hall.  This one is called "Gettin' Fresh."

 We were all Gettin' Fresh!

 A beautiful plate of dumplings from Tanakasan for us to try.

 Up close and personal with a Tanakasan dumpling. 45 degree angle shot.

 Straight-on shot of a dumpling to capture the texture and color.

 Our guide, Herschell, was celebrating his birthday! And we sang!

In our pasta and sauce class today, we learned how to make a basic pasta dough, using both hand kneading and a Kitchen Aid mixer with the pasta attachment. From that base, we learned how to make two different kinds of pasta: fettuccine and ravioli. The ravioli was more time consuming than the dumplings yesterday, but it was well worth the effort. Several students remarked that freshly made pasta is worlds different from store bought pasta. Chef Bridget taught us three sauces: brown butter sage, Italian cream, and classic tomato. At the end of the class, we all sat around a beautifully set table and enjoyed a meal family-style. Though we weren’t transported to Italy like some of the other project week stuents, it sure tasted like it.

 Chef Bridget and Chef Janet welcome us!

 Pizza prepared by Chef Chris to feed us while we watched Chef Bridget's cooking demo.

Overhead shot of the beautifully cooked pizza.

 Chef Bridget's Introduction to Pasta and Sauces class at Hot Stove Society.

 Chef Bridget taught us how important Semolina flour is in the making of pasta.

 Prepping the pasta ingredients.

 The class watches Chef Bridget's demonstration. Samantha takes notes!

Fettuccine in brown butter sage sauce from Chef Bridget's demonstration.

 Now it's our turn--our dough in the mixer.

 Mollie kneads the dough.

 Mollie kneading in live action.

 More of Mollie's kneading skills.

 After all the kneading, the dough needs to rest in plastic wrap.

 After enough time has passed for the dough to become less dry, we can score it and start running it through the machine.

 I love the pasta attachment for the Kitchen Aid mixer. It's so relaxing!

 What the pasta sheets look like after many, many passes through the pasta machine.

 This is how you fill ravioli: egg wash the top line and space out the filling every couple of inches.

 The filling is made of ricotta, blanched spinach, goat cheese, Parmesan, eggs, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and parsley.

 After scooping filling into the dough, roll the dough like you'd roll up a rug. 

 Slice the dough to separate the ravioli.

Ravioli up close so you can see the semolina flour texture.

 Mollie and I made two sheet pans full of ravioli.

Ravioli, from a 45 degree angle to capture the texture, shadows, and color.

 Classic tomato sauce ingredients.

Our classic tomato sauce simmering on the stove top.

 Combining the elements--sauce and pasta.

 Up close pan shot from 45 degrees.

Completed and hot-off-the-pan plated spinach ravioli with classic tomato sauce.

 Chef Bridget helps Liv and Peter (whose alter-ego chef names are Liz and Pierre) properly fold ravioli.

 Samantha and Oli knead their pasta dough.

 Abby uses the table scraper to achieve mis-en-place while Kellan and Jenny S. refuse to believe that their mess could be cleaned up.

 Chef Bridget examines Kate and Tanya's pasta dough texture. Looks good, ladies!

 Nelson prepares to fill the ravioli pasta sheets.

 Abby feeds a pasta dough sheet through the machine.

 Kellen cuts a clean edge on his pasta sheet.

 Nelson tries a different method for round ravioli.

 Liv cuts ravioli. Kellen shows them off.

Peter and Maya fold ravioli. Here, they are squeezing the air out of the ravioli and tamping down the sides to make a seal for the filling.

 Chef Janet shows us how you can add fresh herbs in pasta for beautiful patterns.

 Kellen decides to cut his name from basil leaves to test Janet's claim!

 "Good knife skills, Kellen!" Maya posts to her blog.

 Kellen, Liv, and Jenny S. are all "wowed" by Janet's pasta party trick. 

 Kellen anxiously awaits his personalized pasta.

 Kellen cuts out his name... it's ready to be cooked and eaten!

 Kate and Tanya enjoy freshly cooked fettuccine noodles.

Beautifully shaped ravioli, thanks to a scallop-edged cookie cutter.

 A lovely green salad plated and ready for our meal.

Spinach ravioli with white sauce--the group's favorite dish of the day.

 Our family style table, set and ready to go!

Since the pasta has eggs, I had a vegan version of our meal, complete with fresh bread for dipping in the yummy classic tomato sauce made by Mollie and me.