The Obsessive Photographer

The Art Institute of Tampa  Culinary Team placed Bronze in their very first competition.  According to Chef Fred Lucardi the only thing that kept them from Gold was their speed, the team had the highest score in “Taste” and “Presentation”.  According to Chef Lucardi the Judges had nice things to say about the photography of the dishes (taken at our last shoot) which was a very nice compliment.

The team has updated and refined their dishes and asked me to shoot them again, what can I say…I was hungry for the opportunity (OK, OK, I know that was bad). The blog post for the first shoot is here if you’d like to see the improvement in the plating.

I had to wait for a while to post these photos so I didn’t release their improvements before the next competition. I’ll update this post with the results when I get them.

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Art Institute Tampa Culinary Team Dish

Art Institute Institute Tampa, Appetizer

Art Institute of Tampa Main Dish

Art Institute Tampa Dessert

So I get around Florida a good bit.  I’m not a fan of chain restaurants and avoid them if at all possible.  I work with Law Enforcement in a support function and trust if there’s anyone who can find a good place to eat it’s a cop.  I’m usually right.

When I’m working with an agency I almost always tell them to take me somewhere unique, local.  Alright, so there’s the occasion that I’m in a small town who finally got a Chili’s in their town (no more driving to the big city to eat!) where I give in and go to a chain, but usually there’s something better out there. Besides, they are convinced their Chili’s is better than the one by my house and there’s just no arguing with a cop.

Smokin' Joe's BBQ, Lithia Florida

Yesterday I was working with the Crisis Negotiation Team for Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office out at their firing range.  South of Tampa in Lithia, Florida (a loooong way South).  The only thing I really knew was out there was a dirty old Circle K, an elementary school, a few houses and miles and miles of orange groves.  Being out in the middle of nowhere (which I don’t mind in the slightest, by the way) I was surprised when they said there was a BBQ place called “Smokin’ Joes” nearby.  They haven’t steered me wrong before, so I gladly followed behind them.

OK, so we go past the old Circle K, and the road I normally turn on and guess what?  There was stuff I hadn’t seen there before…Smokin’ Joes BBQ being one of them.  Amazing what you can find when you go down those back roads, isn’t it?

This place looked promising right off the bat.  From the hand drawn sign, to the fact the whole thing was run out of a self-contained trailer with adjacent covered picnic tables, to the smell of quality BBQ that was hitting me square in the nose, this was promising.

Smokin Joe's BBQ, Lithia, Florida

Evidently the smell that had put my salivary glands on overdrive was pouring forth out of a very large smoker aptly named “Big Stinky”.   I didn’t know just how much I was going to love that big smoker until after I ate my lunch.

Big Stinky

I walked up the trailer and the first thing I noticed was just how clean everything was.  Yes, this is outside dining…the Florida version of street food, but very carefully maintained and cared for (and I’ve seen the places that aren’t).

I looked down the hand written menu on the sandwich board and was having difficulty picking out what I wanted.  Boneless Country Ribs?  Spare Ribs? Chicken? Pulled Pork?  Sausage?  Damn, this was going to be tough.

I settled on the pork plate and got one step closer to the window to order.  Things got more difficult when the Deputy in front of me ordered the Boneless Country Rib Sandwich, which was basically a huge pile of smoked boneless rib meat on top of a couple pieces of bread.  Oh man.

I walked up to the window and saw a hand written sheet of paper with “Starr Special, with Sweet Tea $6.99″  What’s the Starr Special?  It’s chopped BBQ pork on top of a pile of rocket hot crispy french fries.  Oh yeah, that’s for me.  I got my food and chose the sweet BBQ sauce from the selection by the window and poured it over my pork and fries.

So we all sat down with our styrofoam containers full of smokey goodness and had a fantastic lunch together.  The picnic area is covered and has fans on all four corners, keeping the area as cool as can be expected.  Big Stinky is about 20 feet away, silently puffing away, filling the air and scenting our clothes with the unmistakable aroma of smoldering hardwood.

The food was spectacular.  I looked at everyone’s plates and each one looked amazing.  My Starr Special was just incredible, each fork of mixed pork / sauce / french fries pure heaven.  The pork by itself was perfectly cooked.  Moist and flavorful, with a perfect crisp smoked edge on the outer pieces.  The sauce was very good, balanced effortlessly between sweet and spicy, and providing the connection between the pork and fries.  The fries were very hot, and crisp enough not to give up their crunch under the sauce and meat.  It was a great flavor / texture combo.

Smokin' Joe's Starr Special

So if you’re up for a bit of a road trip from Tampa, head down to Lithia on Hwy 39 and check out Smokin’ Joe’s.  I know I’ll be back the next time I go to the range.  Oh, and thanks again to the HCSO CNT, who introduced me to this great place!

Salad? No, Work of Art?

A friend of mine, Jeff Chapman, is a Chef and professor for the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of Tampa [Link].  Being a bit of a “foodie” myself it’s pretty neat to have a friend who is a professional chef, it sure beats the heck out of some of my other friends who believe a burger, fries and a shake is a three course meal.

Recently Jeff asked me if I would be able to do a shoot for the newly formed Culinary Team at the school.  They needed shots of the team in action, the finished plated dishes, and head shots of the team members.  Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity and scheduled a session during their Sunday practice.

I met with Chef Ricardo Castro (Director of the Culinary Program) last Sunday who introduced me to the Team and gave me a rundown of what they were looking for.  The student chefs were already hard at work preparing their individual dishes for the upcoming competition in Ft. Lauderdale this weekend (August 22, 2009).

Student Chef Arwin Lucardie

It was an interesting and impressive experience watching these young chefs working.  The term “well oiled machine” comes to mind.  The Instructor Chefs were there to guide them to the higher level they need to compete at.  It was refreshing to see younger people (ouch, did I write that?) showing so much passion and focus in their approach.

I watched the action for a while, shooting the whole time.  As the dishes started taking shape Chef Castro and I went to the school restaurant to set the table for the shoot.  This is the first team the school has put together to compete abroad, so the pressure to perform is pretty stout.

The thing that impressed me the most was the fact these students were doing this on their own time.  Chef Castro reminded me most of them are already working in restaurants in the Tampa Bay area.  Spare time on the weekends is a valuable commodity for anyone working a full time job and going to school every day.  It takes a lot of dedication to join a team like this when time is at such a premium.

The dishes started rolling out and were presented to my camera as if it was a visiting food critic.  The salad is pictured above, and led into the appetizer below:

Delicious

Followed by the main course:

Beautiful Presentation

And last but certainly not least, dessert:

Carmelized Bananna Torte

So the question you should be asking:  Did you get to eat the food?  Yes, and it was fantastic.  Every dish had not only beautiful presentation but wonderful characteristics.  I would love to go through each dish individually, but “Dammit Jim, I’m a photographer not a chef!”.  Suffice it to say they were wonderful…all of them.

The entire experience was great.  I look forward to watching the team grow and see how well they compete in upcoming events…but mostly I look forward to shooting…and eating more of their food.