Lisa Shapiro with the kitchen staff at Citronelle Michel Richard (Photo by Jenna Duffy)
“How can this be work? This is so much fun!” I said. After spending an entire day in the kitchen at Citronelle Michel Richard, however, I realized that it is indeed a lot of hard work. David Deshaies and his team, including Sous-Chef Thomas Hauck, spend an average of 12 hours, 5 days a week in the kitchen rushing around spending all day on their feet. I guess it could be fun, fulfilling and rewarding, especially if you are as passionate about what you do as David is. Being a Chef is not just a career to him, it’s a life’s work, and at just 31 years old David is the Executive Chef at Citronelle Michel Richard, arguably the best fine dining restaurant in Washington, DC.
Under the direction of world-renown Chef, Michel Richard, David has spent the last eight years helping Citronelle distinguish itself as being one of the most innovative French restaurants specializing in modern techniques. Michel’s artistic avant-garde techniques are whimsical and clever. He has a talent for tricking one’s senses. In regards to Michel’s style of cooking, what you see is not always what you get. For example, what appears to be a slice of a hard boiled egg is really made of mozzarella cheese and yellow tomato puree - Michel’s own fools gold.
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David's Fruit Pizza
David has also learned these techniques and has applied them to some of his own dishes. His latest creation, the “Fruit Pizza” is served as a tart with rhubarb puree, which resembles the tomato sauce used on a traditional pizza, topped with fresh seasonal fruit: strawberries, rhubarb, figs, and banana. The Chef serves the fruit pizza tableside and completes the illusion by grating white chocolate on top; much like one would add fresh parmesan cheese. David explained that the fruit pizza, “is a new dish on the menu. It is very difficult to add a new dish to our menu. The fruit pizza was featured as daily special for three days and then we added it to the menu. It’s been on the menu for one week. We have gotten a great response so far.” I loved the new dish. What’s not to like?
Tuna Salad Niçoise with the "Virtual Egg"
Citronelle, located at the Latham hotel in Georgetown is well known for various “signature” dishes, including Michel Richard's 72 hour braised short ribs, Tuna Salad Niçoise, Eggs symphony, and the Mosaic. Parts of the menu have not changed significantly over the years, Chef David says, due to the restaurant’s reputation world wide. Some of the most highly esteemed dignitaries in the world travel from all over to dine at Citronelle, and would be disappointed to find these dishes removed from the menu. Closer to home, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle dined at Citronelle recently. The President ordered the 72 hour braised short ribs and Michelle ordered the Lobster burger. They shared the soft shell appetizer and the crème brûlée for dessert. Luckily Citronelle had the ribs on the menu and perhaps avoided a national catastrophe. David recalls the evening, “I was anxious! It is not every day that you cook for the most powerful man on a planet! Especially since a chef from the white house was checking everything that we put on a plate and the secret service was in every corner of the dining room, but it was very nice. It was a beautiful evening for all of us!” Serving VIPs and dealing with security is all in a days work for David and the rest of the staff at Citronelle. The Saturday afternoon that I was at the restaurant, the President of Egypt had a dinner reservation; however, just before service began, they canceled. Maitre D, Jean-Jacques Retourne and Public Relations Coordinator, Mel Davis suggested that the Egypt’s President had reservations at several restaurants all over town for security reasons. I think that it would have been exciting to see the Egyptian dignitary but I also think it would have made the dinner service more hectic.
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David making his Trout Sausage
David and his team of twelve cooks arrive between noon and three o’clock each day to prep their stations for dinner service. Shortly after David arrives, he reviews the daily menu and begins to prep his Trout Souicisse for the amuse bouche. The dish is made with chopped local trout from West Virginia, a whole lot of cream cheese, gelatin, lemon juice, and Tabasco. David then fills several feet of plastic casings with the mixture using a sausage maker machine. He places the filled casings in a large bowl of ice water for about 30 minutes to allow the “sausage” to set. Shortly before dinner service begins, David slices the casings into ¼ inch pieces that will be plated and served with a slice of Amish Sake-Miso Chicken and a Ratatouille taco. He also checks the consistency and taste of each sauce that will be used with each dish, such as the Cinnamon-Beet sauce served with the Roasted Duck, the Red Wine Sauce serviced with the Braised Short Ribs, and Lobster Saffron broth.
During prep and even during dinner service, the kitchen remains fairly quiet. There isn’t any shouting like you see on Gordon Ramsey’s Hells Kitchen. Each cook, while working at their station, remains focused and requires little to no supervision or input from David. In a slightly elevated voice, David asks for this, that, or the other. Seemingly out of no where, cooks rush to his side; however, no one runs into each other. During the dinner rush, there is an insurgence of communication between David and the other cooks, especially with Thomas over the timing of meat, fish, vegetables, and garnish. David brings my attention to an apparatus with a clock, then stamps a ticket, and shows me the ticket with the current time. He then explains that, “timing of each course is very important. When a course leaves the kitchen, the ticket is time stamped. If a table doesn’t receive their course within fifteen to twenty minutes, I hurry to get the dish out to the table. People will complain if they have to wait.
Kevin prepping his station before dinner service
Citronelle serves on average 100 to 120 guests per day; not including the Chef’s Table which is reserved for a minimum of six persons, three to four days a week, and includes preparing a range of 10 to 14 courses or more per person. David said that he is appreciative of the fact that the dining room is intimate enough that he can focus on quality rather than quantity. There is, however, a tremendous quantity of effort, intricacy of detail, and amount of time put into making up each and every plate. For example, the braised short ribs took weeks for the Chefs to agree on a final recipe. After trying several different recipes including various cooking temperatures and durations, they perfected the cooking time of 72 hours at 56.5 Celsius (132 F). Chef David insists that, “another half degree and the meat will not retain its bright pink color; it turns brown”. All of the meats at Citronelle are cooked “sous-vide” or under pressure. It is an innovative professional method of cooking in which food is sealed in vacuum packed bags and cooked in a water circulator at low temperatures for long periods of time. It is a very expensive cooking method; however, it offers many benefits. The absence of oxidation increases the flavor, texture, intensity and nutritional value by cooking the food at a precise temperature; meat, eggs, and vegetables are cooked to perfection every time. I tried to joke with David by suggesting that all of the food was already prepped ahead of time and all they had to do was warm it up. He laughed and then patted one of the cooks on the back and said, “Did you hear that? You’re job is easy. All you have to do is warm it up!”
Potato Tuilles
In order to perfect one dish or another, sometimes it’s the slightest thing that can make a difference. In the case of the ribs, it’s a half degree, for other dishes, it’s the crispy rice that provides texture. David said, “Michel loves texture. Everything has something that adds a crunch to each dish. We have several varieties of rice crisps for that purpose.” The potato tuilles, to this day are a top secret recipe and yet are designed to simply provide texture. Sous-chef Thomas said, “It’s not the ingredients that are a secret, it’s how they are prepared.” The potato crisps are small, round, and almost transparent; however, they are significant components of some of Michel’s best dishes, including the Tuna Napoleon “Niçoise”. The photo above was taken in between steps of assembling the Tuna Niçoise dish which uses four or more of the potato tuilles. The thin potato crisps make up several layers of the Niçoise topped with a tuna medallion. In between each layer is a thin round ring made of Yucca. Yucca is an African root that is a white, starchy tropical vegetable that is often confused with the potato; however, the yucca is more firm. The yucca rings are then filled with green bean tartare, which is made with fresh haricot verts, green onions, shallot dressing, and ginger. Next, the plate is dressed with drops of ginger sauce and basil oil. A white Anchovy is placed on top and arranged with sliced green beans, and the signature “virtual egg” – which resembles a slice of hard boiled egg but is really made of mozzarella cheese and yellow tomato puree (see photos above). At least five staff members contribute to this dish. The potato crisps can also be found hidden underneath the brioche of the Lobster burger, again, to provide a little bit of texture. You would hardly notice until you bite into the lobster and wonder why there was a crunch.
The Mosaic (Photo by Jenna Duffy)
The Mosaic, another one of Michel’s signature dishes has many intricate details to its preparation. Just to be able to trim the tuna, salmon, eel, scallops, and beef into cylinders approximately 2-3 inches in a diameter, is a process in itself. Just before serving, David arranges the beautifully vivid cylindrical slices with cucumber and bell peppers on the white square plate. He carefully brushes each slice with olive oil. Then he adds drops of basil oil, olive oil, or ginger vinaigrette until the plate contains no white space. Finally, he garnishes the plate with fresh basil, black beans for contrast, frisée for dimension, and of course, rice crisps for texture. The finished product truly is a beautiful montage of bright color and texture.
Caviar?
One of my favorite dishes, the Lobster Beluga Pasta, is yet another one of Michel’s witty, fanciful creations designed to trick your first sense – sight. At first glance this dish resembles a large tin of caviar; however it is made up of a poached egg topped with fresh lobster in a hollandaise sauce (see photo on left). The small round pasta, Acini de Pepe (“peppercorns” in Italian) is covered in rich black squid ink and is placed on top of the layer of lobster. This deliciously straightforward yet multifaceted dish is served in a round silver tin surrounded by faux ice.
Eggs and Bacon anyone?
The eggs symphony is a masterpiece of four exquisite tastings, three are served within its own delicate egg shell casing; none include a single egg. One is the “virtual egg,” garnished with a skinless cherry tomato, shredded beets, red onion, and basil oil. Another resembles an egg cooked sunny side up with bacon slivers - an onion tart with an egg yolk made of yellow bell pepper in the center, sprinkled with green onion (see photo on right). Next, an egg shell with the tip removed is dipped in an agar mixture to create a translucent base so it can stand upright. It is then filled with corn and cauliflower puree, and garnished with a homemade crispy potato chip and a bread stick. The last “egg” looks like miniature scrambled eggs but is a creamy lobster mousse with saffron. It is served in an egg shell sliced in half horizontally with a tiny handle glued to its top.
All of Citronelle Michel Richard’s coveted recipes are pasted into an old French “calendrier,” that has its corners and front cover wrapped in duct tape worn from use. The recipe book includes the top secret recipe for the potato tuille, the 72 hour braised short ribs, the mosaic, and about hundred others and is kept in the kitchen for reference. I felt quite privileged that I was allowed to browse through it.
After eight years at Citronelle, five as the head honcho, David says that he is, “very happy. I love DC. I have a beautiful apartment with a great patio and a pool. I make a good salary. I have great friends.” On Sunday and Monday, Citronelle is closed and David is able to enjoy his time off. So what does David do with his time away from the kitchen? Every Monday, David, Sous-chef Thomas Hauck, and Cedric Maupillier, Chef de Cuisine at Central Michel Richard all go and play golf together. Yes, even on his day off, he spends hours on end on his feet. I hope he has good shoes.
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