The weekend is almost here! What are you doing?!

A night @ Postrio In Las Vegas…

I very rarely go back but i knew somehow it would be worth it…

I have been in the food world for about 25 years, i have owned a bistro in the mountains of North Carolina, The number one catering company in Los Angeles (Cannoli Kings). A catering company in Las Vegas,  and i am getting ready to launch a food company in Las Vegas called Haute Concepts with my partner Ross Tanenbaum. I have been reviewed most of my culinary career and well, most have been great, i have had some negative ones as well. “You cannot please them all” including myself. The food business is not an easy business because you are dealing with so many personalities and taste buds and you try to do your best but some times it backfires. I have been very fortunate to dine at some of the worlds best restaurants and meet some of the great chefs. I feel as a chef myself, we as chefs have this special bond, we understand each other. We know what it is like when we create something special and we want the world to know about it, we have a passion for what we do and want to share it with you, we take pride in our art and consider the plate our canvas, so with that…we love to eat and enjoy our colleagues work. I went to a restaurant in my new home of Las Vegas with my wife and daughter a few weeks ago, a restaurant owned by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, we love his cuisine and enjoy dining at Spago in LA.  and we decided to go to Postrio at the Venetian Hotel. Something was off that night from the time we walked in the door, now being in the business, i started to micro manage, i started finding fault with the service and the host… and i guess it carried off in to the food, which was actually very good. See…the restaurants experience starts from the moment you check in with your reservation to the check being dropped at your table… and at Postrio this particular evening we were off on a bad note but part of me understood that the problems that were occurring, were common in our industry,  but none the less i was not happy and decided to give them a not so positive review on an open internet forum and follow up with a phone call to the management and do some venting of my own. I spoke with the GM Ryun and he was very understanding as i proceeded to vent my concerns for such a great chef brand restaurant, i was speaking his language and he understood me. I applaud Ryun for dealing with my attitude, but we both kind of hit it off and we exchanged some laughter. Ryun invited us back to the restaurant for a chefs tasting with Executive Chef Mark Sandoval who is very respected in my industry. Because of this and the fact that i believe in Chef Pucks philosophy and of course his culinary talents, i decided to take him up on the offer, and accept. I let a few weeks go by, we dined at a few other places during this time, like Chef Emeril’s Table 10, named after the his staff family table at NOLA in Louisiana. I highly recommend table 10 by the way, the food and service were superb. I finally called Ryun at Postrio and let him know we were making a reservation and would like to take him up on his offer. Chef Puck was in town when we called and Ryun was in a meeting so i left a message for him and Paolo called us back and graciously set everything up. I got off the phone and was very impressed and started getting excited to try Chef Sandoval’s signature creations. We showed up on time and was seated promptly at a great table at Postrio,  our server Michael  came to hour table introduced himself and started to (with the utmost professionalism) explain the evenings food tasting and wine pairing. Paulo, the restaurant manager  came to the table, introduced himself and welcomed  us to Postrio. Next Executive Chef Sandoval came to the table and introduced himself and gave us the rundown, at this point i saw the Wolfgang reputation of pride shine through.  As a team they decided to come together and kick some major ass…as a chef and a restaurateur,  i loved to see that. At that moment i saw all my staff, all my servers,  bartenders, and  managers, dishwashers, etc…from my bistro in the mountains, to my catering company on the west coast. I saw a team form at Postrio…it was kickoff, and we were  ready to receive. Chef Sandoval out did himself with his culinary creations we started with the lump crab cake with a basil couli and cream of asparagus soup with lump crab meat, all of this presented and cooked with flawlessness. We had lamb tenderloin, fresh ravioli, spring salads, a cheese tray that was a major stand out with fresh honeycomb and an array of cheeses that would blow your mind. Everything was well executed, the servers were terrific and the level of service given was 5 star… and to be honest… as my soon to be six year old daughter puts it, “they went above and beyond”.  they paired the meal with fabulous wine selection,  capped off with a, Taylor 30 year old tawny port accompanied by chocolate beignets. Soon after this cavalcade of food and wine, we were invited to Chef Sandoval’s kitchen for a tour.  Chef Sandoval and i had a mutual respect for each other, as chefs, and as foodies, and i have been in his situation, and my staff has been put in this situation,  where it was balls against the wall, and like me and my staffs, the way we always come through like champions…so did Postrio’s staff. That night, i put my chefs coat in the closet, i was just a customer that was not happy and complained about the food and service and they showed me otherwise and they did it with class and with professionalism,as they were bitching in the back, lol, been there done that.  So i want to say thank you to the whole Postrio Staff for showing us a wonderful night of food and drink. Thank you Ryun, Paulo, Michael and of course Chef Sandoval, from one chef to another, “You f___ing rock” I am happy to say you guys turned a negative into a positive! I am a fan of Postrio…and if your ever in Vegas, you got to check this team out… sorry for the bad blog grammar and grammatical errors, i am a chef not a blogger…i just say it like i see it.

Chef Michael Parise

Get your grills out! An in depth look in to American Barbecue.

One thing i pride myself on is, Barbecue. I have really tried to master all regions of this wonderful culture…to me the most American food group out there. Me and my pit crew!

Above is a photo of my pit crew at the Los Angeles Barbecue Festival and i must admit…we had the longest lines, haha! Thank you, i’ll be here all week! ..ok moving on.Now that we are catering Las Vegas we expect the same thing and we will alwys strive to be the best catering company in Las Vegas. In this blog i am going to discuss, different regions of the USA and there BBQ styles. Here are an in depth look in to BARBECUE in America.

It’s that time of year again when we take out our grills dust them off and start creating some delectable dishes. We all have our own techniques in BBQ so for me to tell you how to grill would be insulting to you and everybody else. I am not here to judge! But what I will do is advise and point out some regions from around this great country of ours and show you how America Barbecues. Below is a list of the most popular BBQ states. If you do not see yours here do not be alarmed, I am sure you guys are great to. The states below are just the most popular not necessarily the best. Enjoy the read and feel free to send me an email of your favorite BBQ recipe, you will get a mention on my blog.

Missouri

In Missouri, beef is popular meat for barbecue, especially in the Ozarks. Often the beef is sliced and a tomato-based sauce is added after cooking. About half of the supply of charcoal briquettes in the USA is produced from Ozark forests (e.g., Kingsford brand), with hickory “flavor” being very popular.
St. Louis
Barbecue in St. Louis often uses pork and features a sauce that is typically tangier and thinner than its Kansas City cousin, with less vinegar taste. It somewhat resembles the Memphis style sauce. Maull’s barbecue sauce is representative of the St. Louis style. The most famous barbecue competition in St. Louis is held annually during the July 4th holiday at Fair St. Louis.
A quick and easy Missouri-style barbecue sauce can be made from mostly ketchup, some brown sugar, a little mustard, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

Kansas City

Kansas City is sometimes referred to as the “world capital of barbecue.” There are more than 100 barbecue restaurants in the city and the American Royal each fall claims to host the world’s biggest barbecue contest.
Kansas City barbecue typically consists of brisket and burnt ends, pork, lamb, and beef ribs, steaks, chicken, and turkey. Meat is more often sliced than shredded. Kansas City barbecue is served with the sauce on the side, or mixed into the meat, depending on the establishment or personal preference. Kansas City style uses a sweet, spicy sauce with a tomato base.
The classic Kansas City-style barbecue was an inner city phenomenon that evolved from the pit of Henry Perry from the Memphis, Tennessee area in the early 1900s and blossomed in the 18th and Vine neighborhood. Arthur Bryant’s was to take over the Perry restaurant and added molasses to sweeten the recipe. In 1946 Gates and Sons Bar-B-Q was opened by one of Perry’s cooks. The Gates recipe added even more molasses. Although Bryant’s and Gates are the two definitive Kansas City barbecue restaurants they have had little or no luck exporting the barbecue beyond the Kansas City metropolitan area.
In 1977 Rich Davis, a child psychologist, test marketed his own concoction called K.C. Soul Style Barbecue Sauce. He renamed it KC Masterpiece and in 1986 he sold the sauce to the Kingsford division of Clorox. Davis retained rights to operate restaurants using the name and sauce. Only one of the restaurants remains in the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas.

Oklahoma

The third crossroad point of American barbecue, the Oklahoma barbecue style reflects the state’s geographic location. Located south of Kansas City, north of Texas and west of Memphis, Oklahomans like the beef brisket favored by their neighbors in Texas, the sweet spicy sauce typical of Kansas City and the pork ribs that are found in Memphis. However, Oklahoma barbecue also includes pork, chicken, sausage, and bologna. In Oklahoma, barbecue refers to meat that has been slowly cooked over wood smoke at a very low temperature, for a very long time. The woods most commonly used for smoking meat include hickory, oak, and pecan.

Florida

There are three variants of barbecue in Florida, based on the parts of the state. The first is the Deep Southern style, found mainly in northern Florida, which is influenced by the barbecue styles of states such as Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia. The second is Floribbean barbecue, found in central Florida, which is an amalgam of Deep Southern, Australian, Mediterranean, and Indo/Afro-Caribbean barbecue styles. The third is tropical barbacoa, found in southern Florida, which is Floribbean barbecue further mixed with Latin American cuisine. Barbacoa was brought to southern Florida by immigrants from Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and other Latin American countries, and blends Mexican, Cuban, Brazilian, Argentinian, Jamaican, Bahamian and American Deep Southern barbecue traits. Overall, Floridian barbecue as a whole is best described as a mix of Deep Southern and Indo/Afro-Caribbean styles, with occasional Mediterranean, Australian, and Latino influences. The Latino-Floribbean barbacoa is loosely comparable to Tex-Mex cuisine in that there are some Mexican influences in Latino-Floribbean cuisine, as Mexican dishes such as fajitas and nachos are popular in Florida as they are in Texas.
In northern Florida, the southeastern pulled pork style of barbecue extends from Georgia into Florida with minor variations. Texas, Tennessee, and Louisiana barbecue styles, as well as Native American Tribal cookery styles (particularly the Seminoles) also influence the Northern Floridian barbecue style. In addition to pulled pork, baby back ribs, pork patties (sausage patties, rib patties, or spam), pork fillets, short ribs, chicken, steak, brisket, burgers, string sausages, and shish kebabs, local Floridian meats such as mullet, a type of fish, are also smoked. Other seafoods such as other kinds of fish, as well as shrimp and lobster, are also routinely grilled over direct heat. Barbecue sauces in this state tend to blend tomato and vinegar bases, drawing influences from Kansas City, Memphis, Louisiana, and Texas-style sauces.
In central Florida, the local barbecue style mixes traits of Northern Floridian (Deep Southern and Native American) barbecue with traits of Indo/Afro-Caribbean barbecue, particularly from Jamaica and the Bahamas, due to their proximities to Central Florida. As Cajun and Australian peoples sometimes move to this area as well, their cuisines have also influenced central Floridian cuisine. It basically takes the same items grilled on a Deep Southern barbecue and mixes it with tropical flavors. The meat may also be marinated with an olive oil and citrus juice mixture, and also garnished with persillade or other herb and spice mixtures. In addition, the dishes can also sometimes be decorated with fruits, similar to a mix of Hawaiian and Australian barbecue styles. Plantains are also commonly grilled in this region.
In southern Florida, the influx of Cuban immigrants has brought with it a style of cooking pork shoulder outdoors in which the pork is marinated in mojo, a marinade including sour orange juice and garlic, and then placed in a caja china, (literally “Chinese box”), a wooden box clad on the inside with metal, and with hot coals placed in a tray on the top. When the pork is completely done, the resulting texture is very similar to Deep Southern American-style pulled pork, and the meat is then smothered with barbecue sauce. In addition, Mexican immigrants have also introduced fajitas and barbacoa tacos, similar to their Texas counterparts, and Argentinian chimichurri, an herb and spice mixture similar to persillade, is also sometimes added as a garnish. Rodizios are also common in this region’s barbecue style.

Georgia

Georgia barbecue is based on pork, usually a shoulder cut or “Boston Butt” which is slow-cooked over an open pit with oak and/or hickory and served with a spicy, tomato-based sauce. Georgia variants of this Memphis-style sauce may contain some combination of ketchup, molasses, bourbon, garlic, cayenne pepper, and other ingredients.
arbecue in the eastern part of the Georgia (from St. Simons Island to Augusta) usually consists of finely chopped pork served with a side of hash (a thick, tomato-based stew often flavored with meat drippings and other vegetables) over long grain white rice. Pork ribs, chicken, or beef brisket accompany pork on many menus, slow cooked “bare” (i.e. without the addition of spice rubs or sauces) over wood coals and served accompanied by “hash and rice” and sweet pickles. Mustard-based potato salad or traditional mayonnaise-dressing cole slaw are often served as a side dish. East Georgia barbecue is also known for the exotic flavors found in many of its sauces. Barbecue in central Georgia is most often served with Brunswick stew instead of hash, along with a wider selection of more traditional side items than in other areas of the state. Northeast Georgia barbecue is known to serve finely chopped pork most often taken from a slow roasted whole hog, rather than individual pork shoulders. The meat is served with a thinner, vinegar-based sauce similar to the sauces found in South Carolina. Barbecue found in the western sections of the state greatly resemble Alabama-style barbecue. Restaurants in this area typically serve a mustard and vinegar based barbecue sauce which often features the addition of jalapeños or other hot peppers. Meats in West Georgia barbecue are more typically cooked over oak (particularly White Oak) coals, and are often served along with dill pickles and/or grilled slices of Vidalia onion. This area also features the greatest variety of side dish offerings, often including “country vegetables” such as sweet potatoes, collard greens, lima beans, and corn. West Georgia barbecue is sometimes served with cornbread, although the more traditional offering of white bread as an accompanying starch is still most common. Other, smaller areas of the state feature numerous variations of these styles of barbecue including dry-rubs and hickory smoke sauces. Vienna, Georgia is notable as the home of The Big Pig Jig, one of the Southeast’s largest pork barbecue cook-offs, which has been featured on the Food Network.
The most easily recognized feature of Georgia is Brunswick stew, named after Brunswick, Georgia where tradition holds that it originated.

North Carolina

Within North Carolina, there are two regional barbecue traditions, both based on the slow-cooking of pork, served pulled, or chopped.In Eastern North Carolina, typically the whole hog is used, and the dominant ingredients in the ‘sauce’ are vinegar and hot peppers. In the Piedmont, Lexington-style barbecue is the norm. It is prepared from primarily pork shoulder and served with a mix of vinegar-based and tomato-based sauce. The western style of barbecue is a tomato- based sauce. The tomato-based sauce, called “dip” by some, can be made with ketchup and is thinner and less sweet than most bottled barbecue sauces available nationwide. Except for the “whole hog” preparation, hams are not generally barbecued. Throughout the State, the term “barbecue” refers to slow cooked pork. It is almost never used to refer to a backyard cookout. Any meat basted in a barbecue sauce and cooked over heat can be called “barbecued,” for example, “barbecued chicken” or “barbecued ribs.” A common home preparation called “chicken barbecue” is oven-braised chicken pieces with a sauce, usually thin and slightly spicy.
Common side dishes include hushpuppies, barbecue slaw, French fries, boiled potatoes, corn sticks, Brunswick stew, fried okra, and collard greens followed with cold sweet tea. In the popular North Carolina State Legislative Building cafeteria, accompaniments include fried pickle. Also popular is the “barbecue sandwich,” consisting of barbecue, vinegar/pepper sauce, and sweet cole slaw served on a hamburger bun. A “barbecue tray” is a thick paper rectangular bowl with barbecue and french fries or hushpuppies served side-by-side. The meat may already have sauce mixed in, or the diner may add his own.
The state’s best-known annual food festival is the Lexington Barbecue Festival. It is normally held on one of the last two Saturdays in October. Attesting to its popularity, Carolina-style barbecue restaurants are scattered along the Eastern seaboard and tubs of NC chopped barbecue can be found in many grocers.

South Carolina

South Carolina features four types of barbecue sauces: mustard, vinegar, heavy tomato, and light tomato. The meat used in South Carolina is consistent throughout the state, slow-cooked pulled pork. In the Palmetto State, the term “barbecue” is most commonly a noun, meaning hickory-smoked, pulled pork. Most South Carolinians usually refer to grilling steaks, sausages, or other meats as a steakhouse grill or picnic meal as opposed to a barbecue meal, although they sometimes tend to overlap. Barbecued pork is cooked at low temperatures for longer times than grilled meats, which are cooked relatively quickly at high temperatures.
In the Pee Dee and Low country coastal region, a vinegar and pepper sauce is prevalent. Examples of this vinegar-based sauce can be found in establishments like McCabe’s BBQ in Manning, SC. In addition, the Charleston-based chain, Sticky Fingers, uses a style much more similar to Memphis BBQ, offering a variety of different sauces.
In the Midlands area around Columbia, a mustard-based sauce sometimes referred to as “Carolina Gold” is common, a sauce made from mustard, apple juice, brown sugar, and other ingredients. The German immigrants, who first concocted mustard-based sauce, often used beer in place of apple juice.
In upcountry around Rock Hill, one finds the light tomato and the rest of the upcountry stretching down past Aiken is home to the heavy tomato sauce. In addition to pork, other popular BBQ dishes include hash and ribs. South Carolina Barbecue is often served over rice, and with such sides as fatback, cracklins, hash, cole slaw, hush puppies, potato salad, etc., with sweet iced tea often served to drink.

Tennessee

While Memphis dominates the culture of Tennessee barbecue, some other restaurants in other cities have achieved some notoriety outside of their local markets. Ridgewood Barbeque in Elizabethton has been featured in national publications and network television for its smoked sliced pork, drenched in a light, spicy tomato-based sauce. Still in its original location, Ridgewood has served a variety of notable clientèle over the past six decades, including country music stars and NASCAR drivers who race in nearby Bristol. Bar-B-Cutie Bar-B-Que in Nashville is a popular destination for tourists, and Sticky Fingers, a chain based in Charleston, South Carolina, but whose founders hail from Chattanooga, has overcome the stigma that hardcore barbecue fans tend to attach to chains and is widely regarded throughout the southeast for its ribs. Traditional Tennessee barbecue is saucy, slow-cooked pork ribs or pulled/sliced pork shoulder, though beef brisket (and sometimes sliced roast beef served with sauce) is also popular. The molasses content in the sauce usually becomes less pronounced in middle and east Tennessee, causing the sauces there to be thinner and less sweet. These eastern varieties more frequently use ketchup as a base, sometimes adding small amounts of Tabasco sauce or jalapeno for flavor.
In recent years it has become increasingly common for restaurants in the far eastern part of the state to serve the meat “dry” and offer customers a choice of either tomato or “Eastern Carolina-style” vinegar-based sauces. The use of cole slaw as a condiment on sandwiches varies from location to location. Typical side dishes include french fries, baked potatoes, potato salad, corn on the cob, barbecue beans, cole slaw, green beans, white beans, dinner rolls, and collard greens. Most barbecue restaurants are locally owned, no-frills establishments, though a handful of fast food chains (such as Buddy’s BBQ in the Knoxville area) and several more upscale “rib houses” have proven popular regionally.
One particular area of interest is Robertson County (i.e. Springfield and surrounding areas, or the northern middle portion of the state, approximately 30 minutes to an hour north of Nashville), in which the norm is to serve pulled pork shoulder (or sometimes, pulled whole-hog barbecue) or a half- or whole-chicken with a finishing sauce consisting of almost pure apple cider vinegar, with a bit of ground cayenne pepper (sometimes with more pepper in a mild, medium, or hot choice), and perhaps some Coca-Cola for a little sweetening, depending on the establishment. This is a very similar sauce to the vinegar-based sauce served by the Athens, Alabama-originated Whitt’s Barbecue chain of restaurants, now a very popular chain in Nashville-area/Middle Tennessee. While vinegar-based, the sauce is still rather different from the eastern North Carolina style of sauce, primarily due to the exclusion of ground black pepper, but is also different than much of the rest of the state (especially Memphis) in the lack of any tomato-based ingredients. Sometimes, the sauce may also be used as a “mop” sauce, applied during cooking, often with the addition of a vegetable oil (usually canola) to help adhesion to the meat. Common side dishes include a choice between a mayonnaise-based coleslaw or a mayonnaise-and-mustard-based potato-salad, as well as either slow-cooked white beans (usually Navy or Great Northern beans, usually cooked slow and low with bacon, ham, or other fatty pork meats) or “baked beans” which are again usually a white bean slow-cooked with pork, and then baked with a sauce of tomatoes, vinegar, and sometimes with brown sugar or molasses (but less frequently than in other parts of the country). The usual bread accompaniment is mass-produced “brown-and-serve” dinner rolls, or a cornbread dish, which can vary from cornbread-griddle-cakes to slices of sweetened cornbread baked in an oven in a cast-iron skillet.

Texas

Texas has four main regional styles of barbecue, all with different flavors, different cooking methods, different ingredients, and different cultural origins. East Texas barbecue is an extension of traditional southern barbecue, similar to that found in Tennessee and Arkansas. It is primarily pork-based, with cuts such as pork shoulder and pork ribs, indirectly slow smoked over primarily hickory wood. The sauce is tomato-based, sweet, and thick. This is also the most common urban barbecue in Texas, spread by African-Americans when they settled in big cities like Houston and Dallas.
Central Texas was settled by German and Czech settlers in the mid 1800s, and they brought with them European-style meat markets, which would smoke leftover cuts of pork and beef, often with high heat, using primarily native oak and pecan. The European settlers did not think of this meat as barbecue, but the Anglo farm workers who bought it started calling it such, and the name stuck. Traditionally, this barbecue is marinated but served without sauce, and with no sides other than saltine crackers, cucumber pickles, and onions. This style is found in the Barbecue Belt southeast of Austin, with Lockhart, Texas as its capital.
The border between the South Texas Plains and Northern Mexico has always been blurry, and this area of Texas, as well as its barbecue style, are mostly influenced by Mexican tastes. The area was the birthplace of the Texas ranching tradition, and the Mexican farmhands were often partially paid for their work in less desirable cuts of meat, such as the diaphragm, from which fajitas are made, and the cow’s head. It is the cow’s head which defines South Texas barbecue, called barbacoa. They would wrap the head in wet maguey leaves and bury it in a pit with hot coals for several hours, and then pull off the meat for barbacoa tacos. The tongue is also used to make lengua tacos. Today, barbacoa is mostly cooked in an oven in a Bain Marie
The last style of Texas Barbecue also originated from Texas ranching traditions, but was developed in the western third of the state by Anglo ranchers. This style of “Cowboy” barbecue, cooked over an open pit using direct heat from mesquite, is the style most closely associated with Texas barbecue in popular imagination. The meat is primarily beef, shoulder clods and brisket being favorite cuts, but mutton and goat are also often found in this barbecue style.

Upper West Coast

In the Pacific Northwest, barbecue is approached using different smoking techniques and is primarily used for cooking salmon. In early spring, Native Americans living near the Columbia River celebrate the first appearance of returning Chinook salmon with outdoor feasts, which are repeated, in backyards and restaurants, until the middle of fall.
Through the summer, when silver and pink salmon is especially affordable, grills are crowded with the tender flesh of salmon. A few places in Seattle cook salmon the ancient way (on cedar sticks), while others add twists of their own.
Traditionally, the salmon are cut in long, wide strips along either side of the backbone. Then the fillets should be speared on skinny cedar sticks, while smaller twigs are used to stretch the fish sideways. When completed, this looks like a rib system, but it keeps the salmon from curling while cooking.
The fish-on-a-stick is then placed upright, about three feet from the firepit, and cooked slowly for about half an hour. This method keeps the juices intact; placing the fish any closer to the fire dries it out. When finished, the meat will break away in moist layers.
Other items cooked on a Washington or Oregon barbecue include chicken, sausage, and steak.

Louisiana

Louisiana is another crossroad point in American barbecue. The local barbecue style mixes Texas, Kansas City, Memphis, and Deep South barbecue traits with additional influences from Cajun cuisine and Louisiana Creole cuisine, which makes for a unique style that is distinct from the rest of the Deep Southern States. Chicken, ribs, steak, and sausage are very common in the state, as well as plantains. In addition, skewer stick dishes called brochettes or souvlakis, both of which consist of meat, vegetables, and bread on a stick, also known as shish kebab or frigărui, is also cooked in the Louisiana barbecue due to the influences of Cajun and Louisiana Creole cuisine, of which the former is in turn influenced by French cuisine, a major branch of Mediterranean cuisine, and the latter, in addition to French cuisine, is also influenced by Spanish cuisine and Greek cuisine, two other major branches of Mediterranean cuisine. As with other states, the meat is rubbed with certain seasonings, and barbecue sauce is spread over the meat when it is cooked, but Louisiana in particular sometimes marinates the meat in an olive oil and citrus juice mixture before cooking, and then adds a garnish known as persillade, which consists of garlic, parsley, and olive oil. Overall, Louisiana barbecue is best described as not only a crossroads of barbecue within the United States, but also as a crossroads between the American Deep South and Mediterranean Europe, particularly the countries of France, Spain, and Greece.

Mississippi

Like its neighbor Alabama, Mississippians prefer pork to other meats, usually pork shoulder, or whole hog. Most restaurants serve only pulled pork, though some also serve chicken halves and beef steaks. Unlike the surrounding states, a purely vinegar-based sauce is preferred; in fact, many sauciers take a great deal of pride in using absolutely no tomato in their creations.
Though most barbecue in Mississippi is pork shoulder slow-cooked in a smoker (either a drum, or a converted shed), special events call for open-pit barbecue, which is still common practice in some parts of Mississippi. A whole, freshly slaughtered hog is brought to the site very early in the morning while a pit, generally half a foot deep by several feet wide and broad, is filled with hickory wood. The wood is allowed to burn to coals before a grill is laid down, and the hog is smoked whole over the embers. The process usually takes an entire day, and if begun early enough, is ready for a special kind of buffet meal known as a “Pig pickin’.” There are numerous pig-cooking competitions throughout Mississippi each year, one of which is the “Pig Cookoff” at April’s Super Bulldog Weekend at Mississippi State University. Another, held during the annual Rivergate Festival in Tunica is one of several qualifying preliminary competitions for the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest in nearby Memphis, Tennessee.

Hawaii

In Hawaii, the local barbecue style is mainly influenced by those of the South Pacific Islands of Oceania. However, many immigrants from the mainland, as well as other immigrants from Australia and the Caribbean, brought their own styles into Hawaii and mixed it into the Hawaiian barbecue scene. In addition to meats, plantains are also grilled, glazed with honey. Likewise, the meats are glazed with sauce, cooked over Kiawe and Guava wood, and decorated with fruits when it is served. Overall, Hawaiian barbecue is best described as a mix of mainland American, Australian, Caribbean, and Pacific Island barbecue styles.

Kentucky

In Kentucky, barbecue also has a long and rich tradition. Mutton is the most notable specialty in Western Kentucky, where there were once large populations of sheep. However, mutton is virtually unknown in The Purchase of the extreme west, where “barbecue” without any other qualifier refers specifically to smoked pork shoulder. A vinegar- and tomato-based sauce with a mixture of spice and sweet is traditionally served with the meat, though not always used in cooking. The Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn in Owensboro is the most famous of all Kentucky BBQ places, and Owensboro hosts an International Bar-B-Q Festival every year during the second weekend in May. Western Kentucky BBQ (more specifically, Purchase BBQ) has also been transplanted to Lexington by way of Billy’s BBQ near downtown, a favorite among University of Kentucky basketball and football fans. A great deal of “Kentucky barbecue” has found its way into southern Indiana, where it has earned widespread favor. Traditionally, a combination of hickory and oak is burnt.

California

In Northern California, Oakland is a center for traditional BBQ and other soul food side dishes that are popular in other regions of the country such as Kansas City and Memphis. In Southern California, the African American communities of the Southern Los Angeles are the home to many a storied barbecue restaurant.
Santa Maria has a style involving a 2-3 inch cut of top sirloin or tri-tip steak. More popular is the whole cut of tri-tip, which resembles a roast, smothered with barbecue sauce and served with pinquito pink beans, plantains, grilled french bread, and salsa as a garnish. The tri-tip is rolled in garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper just prior to grilling over red oak wood or coals. Some old timers soak their tri-tip in a flat beer marinade the night before grilling, while others use a red wine vinegar, tomato, and oil basting barbecue sauce during the grilling. The most common seasoning when preparing the tri-tip for the pit is a commercial blend, Susie Q’s. It is usually liberally applied and rubbed deep into the meat to assist in the searing process. Other common items grilled on a Californian barbecue include chicken, ribs, and other types of beef steaks. The barbecue sauce used in this state is tomato-based, as with all other western states. The California barbecue scene is influenced by the southwestern regional styles from Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico, as well as the national cuisines of Australia and Mexico. Cannoli Kings Catering can do all regions of BBQ. Barbecue catering in Los Angeles has been a forte of Chef Michael Parise and has one him best catering in Los Angeles.

Don’t forget my friends when it comes to Catering Las Vegas, please call Parise Catering. I hope you found this information interesting and informative, don’t forget to send those recipes in and HAPPY GRILLING!

Catering Las Vegas…I am glad i am here

Wow i am so un-impressed in the way catering companies in Las Vegas cater to the foodies. Dried Chicken, rice pilaf, frozen veg, boxed wine,sheet cake! everything is so cookie cutter it makes me sick. My catering company Cannoli Kings in Los Angeles would not even think about serving that trash to my clientele nor would most catering companies in Los Angeles. The appetizers the Vegas Caterers present, look like they came out of Sam’s Club and and the desserts from Von’s. Las Vegas, the wedding capital of the world and this is how the catering companies create the special day?… couples are spending good money for the (hopefully) event of a lifetime!… Get Creative guys! I am so happy to be launching my new catering company in Las Vegas, http://parisecatering.com Parise Catering…maybe we can wake a few lazy asses up.

Cannoli Flavors coming to Las Vegas!

The Original… Our family favorite.

Strawberry Shortcake
Amaretto
Chocolate Biscotti
Chocolate Chip
Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse
Lemon Chiffon
Very Berry
NY Cheese Cake
Traditional
Fudge Volcano
Cookies and Cream
Orange Zest
Cappuccino
Margarita
Lemon Drop
Apple Pie
Peanut Butter and Jelly
Peach Cobbler
Pumpkin Patch
Banana Cream Pie
Go Nuts for Coconuts
Chocolate Dipped Banana Cream
Tiramisu
Strawberry Cheesecake
Tropical Breeze
White Chocolate Dipped
Pistachio
Caramel
Mascarpone
Chocolate Raspberry
Barbarian Cream
Very Vanilla
Banana Split
Coffee
Smores
Red Velvet
Chocolate Martini