Counter Culture
Pulling up a seat at the Cultural Center’s Kitchen counter
Chef Joe Cizynski is stirring a steaming pot of mushroom and campanelle ragout, and I’m feeling anxious. He’s talking about...something...I don’t know what, because I’m busy obsessing about chairs. There are 12. Some are short and some are bistro height. The Edible Cape Cod office asked me to cover the Cultural Center of Cape Cod’s cooking classes, and although honored to get the assignment of covering such a powerhouse chef, those 12 chairs are giving me serious pause. It will only take a few new participants to knock me out of my coveted position at the Culinary Center’s kitchen counter. These classes almost always sell out, so this assignment is a conundrum. If I describe Cizynski’s food accurately more people will sign up, but if I don’t write the article someone else will (and judging by the enthusiasm of the other 11 people craning their necks toward the stoves, that other person might be in the room).
But this article is not about me, or my new obsession with chairs. This article is about unbridled passion. It’s about a man and a ladle. It’s about taking your senses on a magical mystery tour, so roll up, grab a seat (just this time, please) and get ready for a delicious ride.
Welcome to a night in Sonoma Valley! Offerings of 2016 Pedroncelli chardonnay are glistening in front of you, but don’t gulp it down! Remember, this is a class...a tasting. Cizynski has carefully paired every wine to each course, so pace yourself. The first course is a ceviche sampling, and although one deliciously citrus-y ceviche would be plenty, Cizynski has created four. On your plate is a meticulously prepared sea scallop offering, finely chopped and ready to melt in the mouth; a tuna and foie gras ceviche tossed with orchids, avocado and shallot; a fresh halibut ceviche with grapefruit and kumquat; and a fresh salmon gravlax, all served over a currycauliflower couscous. Each ceviche bursts with bright, swirling flavors all mellowed out a tad by the cauliflower couscous, which, by the way, was invented by Cizynski years before when a sous chef of his tried to puree raw cauliflower for a mashed prep (you are supposed to blanch the cauliflower first). The couscous is brilliant and the curry does an interesting dance with the ceviche citrus, which is enhanced by the slight oak of the crisp wine. Feeling pretty good so far? Well hold on for the next course. There are no seat belts on these counter chairs, and you’re in for a wonderful ride.
Tina McGrath of Harwich is tonight’s volunteer server. She helps plate the food, keeps the water glasses full and the crowd in stitches and, most importantly, pours the wine. A Wyatt Cellars pinot noir has been selected to go with roasted quail stuffed with veal, pistachio and pancetta. The pistachios have been sauteed in duck fat, and before the quail is stuffed and cooked, Cizynski took the time to de-bone it, which I totally appreciate. Having to work around the bones of such a delicate bird makes me feel like I’m performing surgery rather than enjoying a meal. The quail is tender and barely requires a knife. It’s served with a cold salad of potato, green beans, olives and pea shoots finished with a grain-mustard vinaigrette, created on the spot. Witheach plunge of the fork the tender quail meat collapses into the soft, earthy stuffing, and with a gulp of velvety pinot noir, my taste buds are experiencing that same feeling that my brain’s frontal lobe enjoys during a massage, but the crisp of the vegetables and the pow of the vinaigrette veers the meal into a whole different direction, and isn’t sneaking up on your taste buds with a hearty “surprise!” a major prerequisite of culinary journeys? You bet it is! OK, we just heard the next cork being pulled…
Although each of Chef Cizynski’s classes has a theme, his stories have no borders. One minute we might be with him foraging for mushrooms on a golf course, the next we are in a field of six-foot sunflowers in the Chinon region of France, or perhaps market-hopping in Paris. Cizynski’s stories are fueled by his sensory perceptions as he creates each dish, and when he’s in the kitchen they are firing on all pistons. Notably there is the lack of recipes. For a cooking class this is most unusual, but sitting here you get why. He wants you to take the journey with him. Close your eyes and taste the nuances. Let the aromas deliver you to Tuscany, or Berlin, or Melbourne, or Bologna. Cizynski doesn’t want his audience staring at paper or taking notes. He sold you the ticket, just enjoy the ride. You can always email him later for a recipe.
Course three is when my head started itching with stress, but I digress, and want to take you back to that wild mushroom and campanelle ragout. It’s the creamy foundation for a crispy moulard duck leg that has been braised in apple cider and veal stock, and cooked with fennel stalks, onion, carrot, leeks and black radish. There really isn’t a point in describing such a dish. All you have to do is read the ingredients again, slowly. Often the ingredients speak for themselves. As you read, try and smell the rich, robust flavors of the mushroom ragout as it co-mingles with the apple cider and veal stock. What could be better than that? How about a luscious 2015 Trig Point cabernet from Diamond Dust Vineyard in Alexander Valley? The wine is big and bold enough to hold up to the ragout, yet soft enough to lull those taste buds back into an ethereal state—and, I have to admit that I’m also starting to really like McGrath, who is working on the last wine of the night.
While we enjoy the final cabernet and cheese course, I’d like to get into the history of the man a bit. Bronx-born Joe Cizynski has been a chef for over 40 years. He started cooking when he was 13 years old and, after his family moved to Westport, Connecticut, he continued his culinary journey by running his first kitchen when he was in high school. But cooking wasn’t his only passion. There was also baseball, and it was pitching for the Wareham Gatemen that acquainted Cizynski with the Cape. At the end of his sophomore season the southpaw blew out his pitching arm, so Cizynski decided to go full steam ahead in the kitchen, attending the Culinary Institute of America in 1993.
After spending a year in the kitchen of the then-famous Cafe du Bec Fin in Old Greenwich, Connecticut, Cizynski became chef-owner of the restaurant in 1984, and soon earned a 3-star review from The New York Times. It was the first restaurant in Connecticut to win a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence. As popularity grew with his restaurant, so did Cizynski’s reputation, and on weekdays one could easily spot some of New York City’s finest chefs enjoying a much-deserved day off in the Cafe du Bec Fin dining room. In 1996 Cizynski sold the restaurant and opened a scratch kitchen in a South Norwalk brewery with a menu that included charcuterie and 12 different breads baked daily. He left when the owners decided they wanted less panache and more wings and nachos. For the last 13 years Cizynski has indulged in passion #3, owning and operating Vista Wine & Spirits in South Salem, NY, which he recently sold in order to put more time and energy into the Cape Cod Cultural Center.
I returned to the Culinary Center a few months later for the Joel Robuchon cooking class. It’s worth noting that a 4-course Joel Robuchon dinner cooked by Robuchon himself might make one consider pulling their kid out of college to fund it (but it might be worth it), while the average 4-course class at the Cape Cod Culinary Center averages a reasonable $65 per person and includes wine.
Lenny Klein from West Yarmouth is the night’s volunteer server, and he is equally as cordial and welcoming as McGrath. The meal starts with a slightly nutty and perfectly creamy caviar and Maryland crab finished with fennel foam. It’s followed by local striped bass lightly fried in homemade lemongrass oil with Kumoto tomatoes, and julienned fried leeks and scallions in a lemon-butter sauce, and then a soy-and-honey-crusted quail stuffed with Cizynski’s foie gras terrine, poached in a bollito misto (boiled meats cooked down), then baked. But the big question hangs in the air: Will he make them? He did! The star of the evening! The infamous pound-of-butterper- pound of spuds Potatoes Robuchon, which were whipped to a velvety perfection and served with watercress tossed in walnut oil, lemon juice and salt.
Over the night’s Cotes du Rhone and cheese course, I was able to have Chef Cizynski all to myself for a few minutes. He seemed raring to go and ready to cook up another class. I asked him what the most important aspects of cooking are to him. “That’s a no brainer,” he said in his deep, booming voice. “Source, source, source! Source the best ingredients you can find and let them speak on the plate! Let perfectly prepared food represent itself.”
As for sharing his worldly gifts with the Cultural Center, Cizynski has another deeply-rooted philosophy that might explain why watching the man work is just about as enjoyable as eating what he creates. “Be a natural nurturer. You have to love cooking food, but you really have to enjoy feeding people!” And that Joe Cizynski certainly does.
This is Cizynski’s second year at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod and he has big plans for more hands-on classes. Kids cooking classes have already become very popular, as have movie nights, which are held in a larger room with a big screen and food to match the films. Under Cizynski’s guidance, the Cultural Center has been promoting catered events to which he promises to rise to every occasion. He also does off-site catering. You can check out his website and menu ideas at YourKitchenMyFood.com. By all means, have Cizynski come and cook at your next gathering, just please let me have my seat at the counter.
The Cape Cod Cultural Center
307 Old Main Street, South Yarmouth
508-394-7100 / cultural-center.org
December Cooking Classes with Chef Joseph Cizynski
All classes are from 6-8 pm
Monday 12/3 Foods & Wine of Saumur, France
Tuesday 12/4 Foods & Wine of Abruzzo, Italy
Monday 12/10 The Grand Cayman Islands
Tuesday 12/11 Portugal Ports
Monday 12/18 Food from a Christmas Carol
