Family Meal Face-off

Craig Koketsu, who oversees the menus at Park Avenue Spring and Quality Meats, is a serious chef with an impeccable background (Delouvrier and Kunz), who cares as much about what his staff eats as he does about what his customers eat. So, everyone eats well. The menu at Park Avenue Spring, an elegant restaurant on a quiet corner of Park Avenue, combines classic Upper East Side with clean Asian flavors. Dishes like Thai "Minestrone" with Lemongrass Tapioca and Scottish Salmon with Beets, Dill and Yuzu Beurre Blanc show off Koketsu's razor-sharp palate. He also makes one mean burger -- his take on In-N-Out. Koketsu is responsible for the menu at Quality Meats as well, Park Avenue's sister restaurant where surf and turf are given equal attention.

Koketsu and his staff make family meal twice a day, every day, and in the spirit of fun (and good food) they have turned what is usually a chore into a friendly, informal competition to see which restaurant can turn out the best staff meal. This isn't the first restaurant-versus-restaurant competition. They've fought over who makes the best French fry and the best bar snack. But, the family meal competition was the most popular among the cooks, who took pictures of their dishes and sent them to the other restaurants -- perhaps as a scare tactic. Word is Quality Meats is the reigning champion, but there are no losers here, as these two recipes show.

The first dish, Hungarian Goulash, comes from Quality Meats' morning sous chef and purchaser, Steve Kiss, who learned to cook by watching his father, a chef from Hungary. Kiss has been cooking since he was 14 and has worked for Fourth Wall (the group that owns Park Avenue Spring and Quality Meats) for the past 25 years. The second recipe, for a quick spicy Bolognese, comes from Cameron Slaugh, the sous chef at Park Avenue Spring. Like Kiss, Slaugh found inspiration to cook from his father, who farmed as a hobby. He had never made a Bolognese before he whipped this one up one day, when he needed something comforting and filling enough to feed a crowd. We can't think of a better dish. Well, maybe the Goulash. They are both delicious and we'd be lucky to eat this well on the job.

Steve Kiss' Hungarian Goulash with Spaetzle

Serves 6 to 8 as a main course

Goulash

• 5 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 pounds beef chuck, cut into two-inch cubes
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika, plus more to taste
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 3 to 4 cups beef broth
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
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1. In a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, brown the bacon until crisp. Drain the cooked bacon and remove all but one to two tablespoons of fat from the pot.

2. Season the beef with salt and pepper and brown in batches on all sides, removing as needed to a plate.

3. Add the bell pepper and onion to the pot and sauté until softened. Stir in paprika and cook for about a minute. If you want stronger paprika flavor add two teaspoons. Add the wine and scrape up all of the brown bits.

4. Add the beef back to the pot along with enough beef broth just to cover. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer.

5. Cover and cook for 3 to 4 hours, or until the meat is tender. Adjust seasoning. Serve over spaetzle.

Spaetzle

• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup water
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
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1. Bring chicken stock to a rolling boil in a wide, deep pot.

2. Meanwhile combine the flour, water, eggs and salt in a medium bowl and mix together thoroughly with a wooden spoon until smooth.

3. To make spaetzle, press large spoonfuls of the batter through the holes of a large-holed slotted spoon or colander. Cook the spaetzle in the boiling chicken stock until they float to the top. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate to dry.

4. When ready to eat, melt butter in a skillet (preferably nonstick), add dried spaetzle and sauté until golden brown and crisp. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Cameron Slaugh's Spicy Bolognese

Serves 6 as a main course

• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 carrot, diced small
• ½ Spanish onion, diced small
• Salt and freshly-ground pepper
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 2 jalapenos, halved lengthwise
• 2 bay leaves
• Small bunch thyme
• 2 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 24 ounces chopped, canned tomatoes
• 2 cups pitted kalamata olives, halved
• 1 pound penne rigate 
• ½ cup cream
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup chopped chives

1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat and add carrot and onion. Season with salt and pepper and sweat until translucent.

2. Add the jalapenos and the ground beef. Cook the beef fully, breaking it apart with the tip of a wooden spoon.

3. Tie the bay leaves and thyme together with twine and add to the cooked beef. Stir in the fresh and canned tomatoes and simmer for 30 minutes.

4. While the sauce is simmering, cook penne in a large pot of boiling, salted water.

5. After 30 minutes, add the olives and cream and simmer for five more minutes. Spoon some of the starchy pasta cooking water to the bolognese to loosen the sauce and add the drained penne. Stir in the butter, Parmesan and chives and serve.