Floral Chef Series Dinner

The weather is dark and gloomy so we thought it was “thyme” to brighten your day with a floral dinner. This adventuresome six course dinner features edible flowers. Flowers for the palate are not a new idea rather a forgotten one. Flower grazing has been done throughout the world for thousands of years. Roses and orange flowers are commonly used in Middle Eastern and Persian dishes; day lilies in China; cherry blossoms and Chrysanthemums in Japan; Lavender is a favorite in England and France; and the Mediterranean countries enjoy saffron in their food. With our dinner (a collective effort of AZUR's chefs), we wish to re-introduce flowers from the garden (not the florist) to your plate to arouse your senses of sight, smell, taste and texture. Wines from Southern Wine & Spirits will accompany the dinner. Cost is $55.00 per person.

Edible Flowers

The Floral Chef Series Dinner has been set for Wednesday, January 30, 2008. This dinner will showcase edible flowers in the courses. In keeping with our adventuresome cuisine, this dinner will truly be an interesting one. Chef Ashby will be writing a personal note on the dinner in the next few days. Please check back for his comments. We haven't seen a dinner this edgy since the Appalachian dinner early last year.

Discretion & Respect

While surveying the table service last night, I noticed several faces that I knew and realized that most people in Central Kentucky would recognize them too. Our policy has always been to respect our customer's privacy. We don't take photographs or plaster pictures of customers in advertising because we respect our customers. As we have stated before, our function is to fade into the background and not draw attention to ourselves or customers. AZUR believes that this is what is expected in a upscale restaurant or should be.

Floral Dinner

Several weeks ago, AZUR begin researching edible flowers for a Chef Series dinner (themed dinners that we host 5-6 times per year). Yesterday, we completed the menu which includes a variety of tasty flowers. Really, it's not something new as flowers were used in Victorian cooking as well as other ethnic foods for centuries; however, it fell from favor until now. AZUR will announce the date and wine parings in the next couple of days. Please check back for details.

Cold Outside

In AZUR country, we haven't seen temperatures this cold since February of last year. When temperatures hover in the teens, people tend to head straight to the house. We are pleased to report that the heat is on at AZUR and it's very cozy. Apparently, the three gas stoves in the open kitchen generate a lot of heat (according to the chefs). So if you need to warm up on the drive home, we can put you near the kitchen to thaw out.

Planning

As you would make personal New Year's resolutions, AZUR also makes yearly plans for improvement. We reflect on what we did well and what we could do better. Gathering input from customers, staff and owners, we will make adjustments to our operations. AZUR will also plan events for the year including our Chef Series dinners. We look forward to another year and hope that we continue to please our customers in the path we selected as a casual, upscale restaurant with continental cuisine.

New Year's Day

AZUR is once again silent today. The New Year's band music has faded and only a few balloons are left behind to mark the party that took place last night. As predicted, the winter storm hit just after 11:00 p.m. with light rain and gusting winds (40 M.P.H.). The owners and staff quickly adapted to the conditions in the party tent and the celebration carried on. We saw customers who have been with us every year since we opened, we saw our faithful "regulars" and we saw new faces. Although we normally promote our cuisine maybe it's more the people that make AZUR. Happy New Year! We'll see you in 2008.