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Video Feed: First Two Contestants Vie For the Chef Job at Table, Donkey & Stick, Plus: Last Chef Tickets!

Jon Keeley.
Jon Keeley. Photo: Sky Full of Bacon

Last week the first two contestants vying for the spot of chef at the upcoming Table, Donkey and Stick cooked their pop-up dinners— and now you can see for yourself how they did and what the diners thought about it. Each had to show how they’d execute the idea of an Alpine inn-inspired menu with a focus on whole animal cooking. Jon Keeley, who had been sous chef at Bonsoirée, the restaurant in the space which Table, Donkey and Stick will occupy, until it closed a few weeks ago, chose rabbit for his whole animal, using it in a squid ink pappardelle with rabbit loin and shredded rabbit meat. While Scott Manley, who’s worked at Vie and EL Ideas, went with a boar from Slagel Farm, making a boar sauerbraten, sausages and more— not to mention using pine needles and pine cone syrup in his dessert (“Pine, Alpine, hey!” as he explained). So which dinner was better? Which one came closest to the concept of an Alpine inn’s hearty simple food and hospitality? Judge for yourself in our 7-minute video… and in the meantime, the final chef has been announced and tickets are now available. He’s Brian Flach, who comes from Swoon Kitchenbar in Hudson, New York, and his dinner will be November 19. Go here for tickets, then come back and watch the first of our three chef’s competition videos.

Meanwhile, this week’s chefs have all released their menus. Brian Beverly’s for tonight:

Pork and Duck Rillettes with smoked juniper and caraway baguette

Wild mushroom tartlet with blue cheese, fresh herbs, pea tendrils, caraway beurre blanc

Golden trout, mixed greens, charred onions and tomatoes, pickled beets, horseradish honey mustard

Cassoulet with pork belly and ham hocks

Oxtail, brandade, pappardelle, butternut squash, parsnip

Chilled truffled rice pudding with rosemary and almonds, hot chocolate milk

Sean O’Hara’s on Tuesday:

Pork Rillette, Savory Jam; Trout Rillette, Pickles

Salad of Onion, Radish, Rib Bacon, Toasted Wheat, Egg Yolk

Trout, Wild Herbs, Pickled Ramps and Scapes, Soured Goats Milk, Morel Salt

Warm Beef Heart, Gratin Savoyard, Brussels, Fondue

Beaufort Tart, Pickled Currants and Grapes, Buckwheat Honey

And Evan DeVries on Wednesday:

Rillettes duo of pork (le Mans style) and smoked salmon with sourdough-rye baguette, hard-egg, pickles, walnut mustard

Soup, gratinade smoked salsify “fondue savoyarde” with gruyere, pickled shallots, salsify chips

Salad lyonnaise, poached egg, frisee, chicory, lardon, crouton, balsamic/sherry vinaigrette

Pear sorbet with cardamom

Partially cured pork loin, candied apples, shallots, mushroom, polenta, foie gras bouillon

Swiss tart vaudoise, apricot, candied almonds, vanilla rum ice cream

Video Feed: First Two Contestants Vie For the Chef Job at Table, Donkey & Stick,