Buddakan NY Executive Chef Micheal Schulson Creates Chinese New Year Menu

BUDDAKAN NEW YORK

EXECUTIVE CHEF MICHAEL SCHULSON

CREATES CHINESE NEW YEAR

CELEBRATION MENU



NEW YORK, NY - Michael Schulson, Executive Chef of the highly anticipated modern Asian restaurant Buddakan New York (opening February 2006 at 75 Ninth Avenue) and one of the stars of Discovery Channel's "Go Ahead Make My Dinner," has assembled an exciting menu of dishes for amateur chefs and home cooks to celebrate Chinese New Year on Wednesday, January 25. Ushering in the Year of the Dog, Schulson's menu includes variations on the imaginative recipes he will use at the new Buddakan.

"I picked this menu because Chinese tradition calls for lots of different ingredients to be used for the special New Year Dinner," says Schulson, who spent nine months traveling throughout Asia, exploring and learning the diverse techniques and traditions of time-honored Asian cuisine. "Also, the New Year menu always includes more or less than four courses because the number four is bad luck. I've selected seven dishes since it seems to be a good luck number worldwide."

Chef Schulson's exciting Chinese New Year menu includes: Velvet Hot and Sour Soup, with mushrooms, bamboo shoots, silken tofu and Lilly flowers; Salt Baked Jumbo Shrimp, with ginger, scallions and Mandarin orange; Black Bean Lobster "Pot," with lobster, squash and bok choy; Sweet Honey Pork, with yellow mustard foam, Asian pear, scallions and red finger chili peppers; Crystallized Ginger Glazed Beef Hot Pot, with pineapple, star anise, lemongrass and Chow Fun; "Sunny Side Up" Crab Egg Foo Young, with scallions, ginger and Shao Xing wine (recipe attached); and Mao Pao Vegetable Tofu, with garlic, ginger and bean sauce.

"It's also very important to serve lots of vegetables in this meal. Some Chinese families eat only vegetarian meals throughout the entire week of the New Year's celebration because vegetables are intended to cleanse the body," adds Schulson, one of the most talented American chefs, known for his focus on all Asian cuisines.

Fascinated by the culinary craftsmanship and degree to which food is an integral component of Asian culture, Chef Schulson moved to Tokyo with only a faint understanding of the language and a few personal contacts. From there, his extraordinary culinary expedition took him to many exotic Asian regions where he explored centuries-old cooking methods that are rarely explored by American chefs.

While residing abroad, Chef Schulson participated in a month-long cooking class at Thailand's renowned Chang Mai Cooking School, where he learned the art of preparing traditional Thai cuisine. In Tokyo, he worked in such prestigious kitchens as Spago and Four Seasons Hotel.

Back in the United States, Chef Schulson was hired by Philadelphia's Starr Restaurant Organization as Executive Chef at the restaurant group's futuristic Asian restaurant Pod. Based on his extraordinary talent and one-of-a-kind experience, the group's owner and founder, Stephen Starr, personally selected Chef Schulson for Buddakan New York.

His cutting-edge Buddakan menu, which incorporates new "gastro-science" techniques with traditional Asian ingredients, includes a dazzling variety of over 15 dim sum selections such as Wok Hay Frog Legs, yellow golden chive and Crispy Taro Puff Lollipops, minced pork and ginger. Other spectacular dishes include: Char Sui Pork Belly, spicy shallots and cabbage; Crispy Snapper, lily bulb and gelee; and Foie Gras Fried Rice, roasted pineapple and chili.

For more information on Chef Schulson, please contact Profile Public Relations 215.985.2106 or www.profilepr.com.



ALL RECIPES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST





Crab Egg Foo Young Fried Rice "Sunny Side Up&quot