# My new project - YellowHouse



## JohnnyChance

I have been a cook/chef for the past 10 years and my best friend Ed has been one for the last 6 or so. I work at a great restaurant where I enjoy the type of food, the ingredients and the people there. It is not my menu, but I am not creatively stifled. Sure, there are some things I would change, but for the most part, I love it there. My poor friend Ed on the other hand, he works for an awful hack of a chef, management, and owners. Ed did not go to culinary school and kinda wound up cooking by chance, but he truly loves food and is a great chef. We used to work together at the place he still works, I was able to escape 3+ years ago, but he is still trapped there (and not for lack of trying). 

Ed and I used to live together in a (yellow) house that had an amazing back yard which was great for all sorts of entertaining, from giant restaurant people keg parties to classier and more intimate dinner parties. It had a terrible kitchen (the counter space consisted of only 12" of space on either side of the sink), but we made it work.

Anyway, for the past 18 months we have been talking about hosting dinners, not just for our close friends and family, but friends of friends and hopefully through word of mouth, complete strangers. This is not a new concept, you may know it as a supper club, or Gypsy or Ghetto Gourmet, just to name a few. As best I can tell, there is no such thing in my area. So that is basically what we are doing, starting small with some friends and family, friends of friends, and people we have told about it and have been interested. 

So far we have 3 locations lined up, and we are going to try to hit all of them by end of summer/early fall. The first one will be July 30th with a family style menu of some recipes from our wheelhouse. Walk before your run, we will save the extravagant coursed dinners for future events. We had a bunch of awful names picked out before Ed realized we should just name it after the place we lived together, started on this project, and had events at already. 

That is all I have so far, but in the near future I will have plenty of menu/recipe details and photographs. If you are interested in attending, getting junk emails from us, or cooking with us please send us an email at yellowhousefood AT gmail.com or follow us on twitter @yellowhousefood.

Wish us luck!


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## Jim

Good luck John! Sounds like a fun project, looking forward to seeing more.


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## oivind_dahle

I hope the best for you.

I would def. eat there


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## Dave Martell

Cool new venture John, good luck with it!


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## Eamon Burke

oooo sounds fun.


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## oivind_dahle

In Oslo we have a restaurant that have only one dish on the menu. 
http://www.fyrhusetkuba.no/Fyrhusetkuba.no/The_Boiling_Pot.html

They have 3 shuffleboards for entertainment, lots of beer and the dish Boiling Pot - made of crabs, shrimps, sausage, potato and corn. 

If you dont have to much space you can make an insane great boiling pot, that everybody wants to taste. This way its cheap to get started, and you can become famous at once. Low price as well, and have private arrangements for companies and special events 

Just meant as an input to your plan my friend  
At least keep as few dishes as posible on the menu. Be great at what you know, dont be avarage on everything .)


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## Eamon Burke

What the hell?!

No way!


No. Way.




Oivind. How old is that boiling pot? I grew up in a VERY small coastal town(8k people) in texas, check this out:
http://theboilingpotonline.com/menu.html

That flyer is one from our town! Are you scadis ripping us off?!


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## oivind_dahle

I did some research:

It all started in 2005, after they got the idea from Austin, Texas. There this dish was served on newspapers, but in Norway this is not allowed.

Im going to try this place out. Oslo is a small town, with only 600 000 citizens. Norwegians do not eat as often out as people in the south of Europe, and Norwegians are hard to understand. 

Anyway: This place makes it barely around, so I guess the consept would work in a larger city than Oslo with a other culture as well.


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## Ichi

Best Of Luck ! :thumbsup2:


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## Eamon Burke

Hey, the one in Austin was an offshoot, owned by the guys in Rockport! I had several friends who worked at both places!

That is a crazy coincidence!


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## JohnnyChance

oivind_dahle said:


> In Oslo we have a restaurant that have only one dish on the menu.
> http://www.fyrhusetkuba.no/Fyrhusetkuba.no/The_Boiling_Pot.html
> 
> They have 3 shuffleboards for entertainment, lots of beer and the dish Boiling Pot - made of crabs, shrimps, sausage, potato and corn.
> 
> If you dont have to much space you can make an insane great boiling pot, that everybody wants to taste. This way its cheap to get started, and you can become famous at once. Low price as well, and have private arrangements for companies and special events
> 
> Just meant as an input to your plan my friend
> At least keep as few dishes as posible on the menu. Be great at what you know, dont be avarage on everything .)



It isn't a restaurant, just a dinner party like you would have for friends. Instead of friends, it is a group of strangers who sign up to attend the dinner via email. Each event will have a different menu.


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## SpikeC

That sounds like a really fun project!


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## JohnnyChance

First menu is done!


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## Vertigo

What is EVOO? Is that a molecular gastronomy thing?!









Just kidding. The menu looks great! I will has the lamb, plz.


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## JohnnyChance

Haha, my friend Ed wrote that. Evoo was kitchen shorthand long before RR popularized it. 

No choices! You get everything!


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## JohnnyChance

We had our first dinner last night, and it went great! Better than I even hoped. Everything was awesome, the food, the decor, the atmosphere. Our guests were genuinely blown away, and I am stoked it went so well. Can't wait for the next one!

Photo onslaught:





Cryovac'd beets for sous vide.





Local grape tomatoes to be roasted for the lamb roulade.





Staging glassware the night before.





Ready for war.





Ed on the grill.





Lamb leg roulade on the grill.





Appetizer table.





Ginger and thyme sun-tea.





Pickled vegetables.





Charcuterie and bread.





Duck pastrami that I made. Came out fckin' awesome!





Grilled corn, duck fat confit sous vide fingerling potatoes, and sous vide yellow and red beets.





"Dining room".





Guests!





Dinner is served, everyone is eating.





The lighting was perfect. Industrial fixtures and edison bulbs gave just enough light and a warm glow.





See what I am talkin about?





Hurricane vases lighting the porch by the entrance.





"Farmer's Cow" Black Raspberry and Chocolate Chip Ice Cream with Chocolate Beach Stones, Fresh Berries and Honey~Lavender Infused Whipped Cream.


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## JohnnyChance

Brooklyn Brown Ale and '04-'05 Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout.










Everyone get the hell out! I have dishes to do!















Prep list says we are finished.

I have some more photos from a guest I still have to upload.


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## kalaeb

That looks pretty freaking awesome! Congrats on your first!


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## Vertigo

Holy crap man! Nicely done!


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## JohnnyChance

More!

























Ed and myself setting up the app table.










Getting ready for service. Slicing the cured salmon.





Haha, I love these lights!





Eddie!





Me, Ed.





Us again.





Haha, Pikachu was the bathroom attendant for the evening.





Ed torching the Burnt Rosemary Oranges.


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## JohnnyChance

Slicing and serving the salmon tableside. 





Contentment.











Coffee Service!


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## mano

I hope your guests fully appreciated what you two men did. I'm seriously thinking of arranging an overnight road trip to yellow house for my wine group.

Or would you guys consider a busman's holiday to the Philly area? 

Bravo!


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## JohnnyChance

We had two people from Pennsylvania for this dinner, and they begged us to have one back home so some of their friends could experience it too. So it is possible!

And yes, everyone seemed very appreciative.


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## Salty dog

Hat's off to whom ever is drinking the PBR!


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## tk59

That is SO cool!


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## bprescot

Dang. That looks like a great event. The food looks stunning, though to be honest I kind of expected that. What I didn't expect were all the nice aesthetic touches. The Edison bulbs, the nice plates, the slate slabs for the charcuterie... Congratulations on putting together an evening that I'm sure all your guests will be talking about for a long long time. And that members here will be drooling over for longer!


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## JohnnyChance

Salty dog said:


> Hat's off to whom ever is drinking the PBR!


 
Ed and I have been talking about doing a dinner like this forever. It never happened because we never picked a date. About 2 months ago we said "fck it" and just decided on one. We wanted it to be on a saturday, and this was the only one we both weren't busy with work. It was meant to be I suppose, as July 30th is also the birthday of our best friend, Jay Camp, who died two years ago this past May. He was the best cook either of us have ever worked with and all around a great guy. Ed and I were roommates at the time, and Jay had come over for a small bbq. He was spending the night, but for whatever reason, decided to head home in the middle of the night. He fell asleep on the highway and his car crashed.

His drink of choice was a PBR and a shot of Jack. We offered them to anyone who wanted to join us, and then toasted to Jay.


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## bprescot

Wait a second... did you REDACT a knife from that photo?!?! Are you holding out on us Johnny?


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## SpikeC

Tat is one of those new onyx lives!


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## JohnnyChance

bprescot said:


> Wait a second... did you REDACT a knife from that photo?!?! Are you holding out on us Johnny?



Yes, I am holding out on you.


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## ajhuff

That is beyond cool!!!! I would love to be involved in that type of operation. How much prep time did you guys put in? Two months? And I'm not talking about the food part but all the other stuff: decor, settings, everything.

-AJ


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## Dave Martell

Damn this is really something, what a great set up you guys put together, I'm VERY impressed!


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## Line cooked

Sweet ...Looks well executed and I am sure it was extremely gratifying. When is round two???


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## Salty dog

JohnnyChance said:


> Ed and I have been talking about doing a dinner like this forever. It never happened because we never picked a date. About 2 months ago we said "fck it" and just decided on one. We wanted it to be on a saturday, and this was the only one we both weren't busy with work. It was meant to be I suppose, as July 30th is also the birthday of our best friend, Jay Camp, who died two years ago this past May. He was the best cook either of us have ever worked with and all around a great guy. Ed and I were roommates at the time, and Jay had come over for a small bbq. He was spending the night, but for whatever reason, decided to head home in the middle of the night. He fell asleep on the highway and his car crashed.
> 
> His drink of choice was a PBR and a shot of Jack. We offered them to anyone who wanted to join us, and then toasted to Jay.


 
Like I said, Hat's off. Or as the French simply say, le chapeau.

Boots on.


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## Eamon Burke

Excellent work, sir!

It makes me uber jealous. People, for some unholy, unfathomable reason, simply will not make time to come to my house for dinner. I've offered free holiday feasts with days of work and nobody shows up! Your guests are very lucky, and so are you.


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## oivind_dahle

I see a couple of Markos there 

Anyway, nice pics, wish I was there


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## bprescot

JohnnyChance said:


> Yes, I am holding out on you.



Well, that COULD be the case ... or it could be embarrassment! Until proven otherwise, I will assume the obscured knife is actually THIS! 

:disdain: For shame, Mr. Chance. For shame! :disdain:


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## JohnnyChance

Noooooo, you found me out!! Do you have xray vision?


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## bprescot

All joking aside, I showed this thread to my wife. The conversation verbatim is below:

Wife: "Wow that looks absolutely amazing! Are they in NC?"
Me: "Nope. They're up in CT."
Wife: "Oh ... want to go up to CT?"
Me: "That's like an 8 hour drive!"
Wife: "Yeah, but for amazing food!"

This is from a woman that complains that driving over to Chapel Hill (15 miles) for a meal is "a hike". That's one hell of an impressive event you guys put on!


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## JohnnyChance

Haha, good to hear. We have already had multiple requests for an event in Pennsylvania, so that will cut a few hours off your drive.


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## DWSmith

The best word I can use to describe your event is "Elegant". Simple and elegant. That would be a meal to remember for sure!


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## JohnnyChance

Thank you, that was the idea. You could see it on peoples faces when they came into the back yard and realized this wasn't a run of the mill bbq.

And David I hope you don't think less of me for my John Boos block I used for the cheeses! It is warped and cracked anyway so it is no good for an actual cutting board. One side is nice enough for this though.


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## stereo.pete

Johnny,

Thanks for sharing your first dinner event with us. I loved the pictures and I must admit, I want to try something like this although not quite as large.


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## Audi's or knives

Looks like those guests were truly satisfied. What a great concept, glad you guys pulled it off with great success. Best of luck with future ventures. And you are always welcome down here in PA


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## Mike Davis

That look's great! I would love to attend an event like this. You two did a great job, very elegant indeed!


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## JohnnyChance

We are back from the dead...we have done two private events in the last couple months, a brunch and a vegetarian tasting menu. Both went well but unfortunately I didn't have time to take many pictures.

_BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!_

Monday, September 17th @ 30 Arbor St. in Hartford, CT is our next event. Hosted by the Htfd Denim Co. we will a counter serving Ph&#7903; and steamed buns. The other two cooks Ed and Power will also be DJing old school Hip Hop and we have a small craft cocktail list as well. It is a big space and hopefully plenty of people, so not really a sit down coursed meal, but more of a party with a "fast food" option on site. All are invited.


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## Dave Martell

Sounds like fun - I hope you guys kill!


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## knyfeknerd

Hope you get to take some pics for this one. Good luck, sounds like a great party. Looking forward to hearing about the menu.


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