Culinary Style, Plates, Buffets & Action Stations
1. Culinary Style, Plates, Buffets &
Action Stations
thoughts on a personal culinary style process seen
through working photos, published dishes and
banquet events
by
chef gregory g. webb
2. Chef Gregory Webb
This presentation is intended to illustrate my
culinary style by presenting a few examples of
some recent work. The effort has made me reflect
on the subject of ‘my style’, and for that I’m
thankful. This slide show contains some sixty
photos spanning several recent executive
positions; however the reality is I haven’t diligently
kept a digital record for my work. All included
here are from my own hand or prepared under my
immediate direction. All slides included were
sourced from my “working shots” taken with a
smart phone for featured specials and recipe &
platter development; photos scanned from
published print articles; and the professional
photography of an event I worked while at
Lakewood Country Club. These Lakewood shots
are of a grand reopening gala, and used to develop
promotional and sales materials for the club.
3. Chef Gregory Webb
On the subject of my CULINARY STYLE
I carry a couple of touch-stone style concepts in
my head: ‘clarity first, flavors front’, and also ‘bold
flavors, colorful plates’. I seek ‘balance’ in both
plates and menus, with an ‘unpretentious’ approach
to high design. Keys to my ‘culinary style’ is a
commitment to scratch cooking, using the freshest
and highest quality products available. This is a
‘Slow Food Movement’ emphasis. I love sauce
work. My preferred banquet ‘plated’ style is
centered plates designed to ensure good thermal
integrity, executed ala minute when possible. My
buffet presentations are generally ‘designed chance’
cascades featuring plenty of negative space,
individualized components for easy replenishing,
and action stations rather than a heavy reliance on
chaffers.
4. Chef Gregory Webb
I feel comfortable in a wide range of kitchens and
culinary applications. I have sought a breadth of
experience and have received a diversity of training
and exposure to new techniques. I am committed to
maintaining a standard of excellence, used with my
best skills, creativity and training in executing the
highest quality of product consistent to the business
and mission statements of the specific operation.
Ultimately my presentation style fits the needs of the
business. First I find the intended “synergies”
between the product sold, the facility, and the
staffing guidelines. I then style my culinary
accordingly. This can be called “same-voice”
culinary.
My style is that of a Professional Working Chef, who
is passionate and striving to lift the profession higher
every day.
5. Market Salad, Fire & Oak Brasseries
Simple, hearty and
robust. Carries a nice
crunch and plenty of
variety for the palate. This
is served with a house
made white balsamic
vinaigrette
6. Southwest Salad, Fire & Oak Brasseries
Chunky, colorful,
thematically consistent,
dressed with a spicy-
sweet chipotle lime
vinaigrette. We did a lot
of entrée salads and this
one proved to be really
popular, with grilled
chicken breast, the
roasted fresh corn, ripe
tomato, avocado,
slivers of poblano,
jalapeno and squash.
7. Tuna Lo Mein Salad, Fire & Oak Brasseries
An Asian inspired
marinated salad and
tuna duet. This dish
features sesame seed
crusted and seared
tuna sliced thin,
with a salad of lo
mein noodles with
young sweet greens,
balanced with sharp
Mizuna and Thai
basil, plus cooling
avocado, sweet
mango and red
pepper, dressed with
rice vinegar, ginger
and soy.
8. Stir fry Vegetables, Fire & Oak Brasseries
A good popular side,
nice flavors, good
textures, colorful and
fun.
9. Side BLT, Empire City Casino 1865
Steakhouse
Simple, attractive and a
little different in the use of
Boston Bibb rather than
Iceberg. One special
feature is the use of a
house prepared
Worcestershire syrup-we
found that by just slightly
bringing down the
viscosity of the traditional
condiment the sauce
dressed the leaves and
tomatoes better.
10. Wedge Salad, Fire & Oak Brasseries
This is a rustic,
“chunky” style of the
Classic Wedge, which
goes with the overall
tone of the Brasseries.
11. Chilled Spiced Shrimp, Fire & Oak Brasseries
This is a good
example for the need
to match
presentations to the
business mission
statement. Fire &
Oaks are trying to be
friendly, casual-
upscale toned
restaurants, with
hearty, value front
foods and friendly
service. Places where
it’s ok to pick up and
peel chilled shrimp,
or eat the ribs with
your hands.
12. Raw Tuna Stack with Avocado, Ponzu
and Micro green, South City Prime
This is obviously an eye
catching, photogenic
dish, but the flavors are
also tremendous
together. Citrus Ponzu
washed micro greens
with house pickled
ginger, fresh yellow fin
tuna, and ripe avocado,
all touched with shaved
English sea salt.
13. Oysters Rockefeller, South City Grills
When you work in a
traditional fish house, your
going to be asked for
Oysters Rockefeller. I
wanted to update the dish
little, but stay true to the
profile. These are freshly
shucked malpeques gently
breaded with fresh brioche
and grated parmesan, then
lightly fried crispy in butter,
served in their shells on a
sauté of fresh spinach with
béchamel and green onion.
14. Day Boat Scallops Simply Grilled,
Empire City Casino 1865 Steakhouse
Just lightly seasoned and
grilled, a bit of beurre
blanc, and some cress to
balance the sweetness of
the fresh scallops.
15. Tuna Flatbread App & Bar Item, South City
South City had a busy bar
crowd who enjoyed the
walk up style raw bar we
set up at the end of the bar
and also a few items we
put together for the bar
menu. This flatbread is
grilled, with sesame
crusted and seared tuna
over a roast red pepper
aioli with micro greens
and an avocado
mayonnaise.
16. Espresso crusted Sea Scallops, Potato
Crisps and Black Sambuca Sauce, South
City Prime
Espresso beans blended
with a few roast and
ground tellicherry
peppercorns, rubbed onto
one side of a fresh sea
scallop, then charred
quickly to remain a bit
rare in the center, with
potato sticks and a sauce
of the fond, a fennel nage,
napoleon butter and black
sambuca.
17. Progression of Shrimp Solea, W Hotel,
Mexico City
I did lot’s of progressions
while at Solea-they were
very popular. This is a
grouping of 4 small plates,
each a stand alone tapas in
itself. Spring Roll with
Spicy Mango Sauce; A
Jamon de Serrano wrapped
Shrimp with Jalapeno and
Achiote Citrus Sauce; A
Shrimp Cappuccino; and
Shrimp Ceviche.
18. Wild Salmon Charred & Raw, Solea, W
Hotel, Mexico City
This was a really nice
appetizer. Ribbon sliced
salmon dusted with raw
sugar and torched lightly,
then marinated ala
minute in ponzu, citrus
and soy, and given crunch
and texture with a
refreshing salad of
avocado, cucumber,
pickled red onion,
cilantro, and few little
serrano slivers.
19. Triple Stacked Crème Brulee, Solea, W
Hotel, Mexico City
A good example of simple and
delicious not too much fanfare,
but not typical either. This is
three squares of barely set vanilla
cream custard layered ala minute
with hazelnut praline and phyllo,
then sauces with house prepared
cajeta sauce-kind of a Mexican
caramel, and a dark chocolate
sauce. Simple but still attractive,
rich, crunchy, and sweet.
20. “Fruishi”, Solea, W Hotel, Mexico City
A great concept-use fruit
juices for the rice japonica,
and strictly fruit sushi
comes alive, thanks to the
great diversity of
tremendously flavorful and
sweet native Mexican fruit.
This was a perfect sharing
platter, and ideal for a table
at brunch. Playful,
photogenic and delicious.
21. Ruby Lacquered Duckling, Fire & Oak
Brasseries
This really became a
signature dish of mine while
I cooked in Texas. I’ve
served it in about every
restaurant I could work it
into. This duck was named in
1998 as a Top Ten Dish of
Houston, and that year I
won the Texas Open Wild
Game Competition serving
this as my main course. Here
it’s presented at the Fire &
Oak Brasseries with young
Brussels Sprout leaves,
pancetta lardoons and
reduced port wine duck jus.
22. Marinated & Grilled Baby Octopus, South
City Grills
This is a wine braised
baby octopus appetizer
that we seasoned and
grilled to order before
tossing with the roasted
potato, peppers and red
onion. We used the
reduced red wine for the
vinaigrette.
23. Glazed Sable, Wasabi Yukon Potatoes,
Stir Fry Julienne, South City Grills
This is a really well
balanced dish. The
roasted sable is very mild
and just enhanced with a
miso glaze baste. The
Yukon Golds are folded
with wasabi and sweet
rice milk; the julienned
vegetables touched with
ginger and stir-fry sauce,
and the green crunchies
are roasted and candied
wasabi peas.
24. Pad Thai Shrimp, South City Grills, Fire &
Oak Brasseries
Pad Thai is like Gumbo-
there’s a million recipes
that call themselves the
original. Mine is a dish of
rice stick noodles
steamed with egg
ribbons, cilantro leaves,
and topped with toasted
peanuts and shrimp
cooked in a wok with
freshly grated ginger,
garlic, red peppers and
celery, with a fairly spicy
sauce of Thai chilies,
peanut, lemongrass and
coconut milk.
25. Huachinango, Bok Choy & Pomegranate,
Solea, W Hotel, Mexico City
This is another really visually
pleasing and delicious dish.
Huachinango-a favored fish in
Mexico similar to snapper, is
filleted and seared in browned
butter, tomato concasse and
garlic. The fish is plated as the
baby bok choy is flashed, and a
sauce is prepared with the
fond, rice wine and
pomegranate seeds.
26. Wild Salmon with Wild Mushrooms, Roast
Artichoke, Solea, W Hotel, Mexico City
The salmon featured is pan
roasted for it’s really crispy
skin and is plated with
porcini, morel and cepe
mushrooms, baby artichoke
hearts and a red wine-miso
reduction. Always looking for
a way to serve salmon that’s
not so commonplace, and
this was a big success.
Interestingly, these showcase
mushrooms are abundantly
available in Mexico City, and
we relished the chance to use
them.
27. Tuna with Port Poached Figs, Solea, W
Hotel, Mexico City
Here’s a very
sophisticated and elegant
presentation. The block
cut tuna is rubbed with a
house prepared Chinese 5
Spice Rub and seared
rare. The figs are poached
in spiced port and the
port is then reduced to
the syrup on the plate.
The dish is finished with
succulent purslane tossed
with chicken broth.
28. Grouper with Shrimp and Curries, Solea,
W Hotel, Mexico City
Center of the plate stacks
usually lend a clean and
elegant style point, and with
these colors and textures
this dish is right on track.
The Grouper is block cut,
seasoned and pan roasted.
The shrimp is brushed with
a red curry butter and
grilled. The seafood is
stacked and plated with
yellow curry sauce, spring
pea nage and tomato
concasse.
29. Swordfish Au Poivre, Triple Cream
Croquettes, Asparagus, Veal Jus,
Empire City Casino, Steakhouse 1865
This dish demonstrates
that successful flavor
profiles typically reserved
for beef can if thought out
also work with fish for a
little twist and great
results. The swordfish
medallions are pressed
with a three peppercorn
grind and panned with
whole butter, then a pan
sauce of brandy, shallot
and veal jus is made. The
triple cream potato
croquettes are rich and
balancing against the
peppery heat from the
rub.
30. Roast Beets, Warmed Panna Cotta, Spiced
Pecans, White Truffle Vinaigrette, Fire &
Oak Brasseries
This is a really colorful,
aromatic and visually
striking appetizer or salad;
kind of skates the line
between a clearly
composed dish and a
chunky, more casual,
‘designed by chance’ plate.
High cuisine yet still very
much of the earth
ingredients-and it’s really
delicious. Quick to serve,
too. Exemplifies what I
consider ‘high casual’.
31. Thai Spiced Tuna Seared Rare, Stir fry
and Buckwheat Pasta, South City Grills
This is a best selling
dish at all the South
City Group
Restaurants. A really
spicy Japanese
blackening spice
rubbed onto Yellow
fin tuna and blistered
with a sesame infused
soy oil, over steamed
Asian inspired
vegetables, with
buckwheat pasta and
crispy fried onions,
all over spicy Sriracha
and cooling cilantro-
avocado sauces
32. House Sorbets, Tuiles and Ice Wine,
Solea, W Hotel, Mexico City
We prepared ice creams,
sherbert and sorbets daily,
made from the freshest
fruits and ingredients. Many
were processed by hand as is
the local custom in Mexico.
Long before the current
retail marketing push at
Solea we made quality wine
infused sorbets-a terrific
way to end a robust,
flavorful meal. Here I’ve
prepared a featured ice
wine sorbet paired with
fresh figs
33. Apple Cobbler ala Mode, South City Grills
and Fire & Oak Brasseries
Comfortable, nostalgic
freshly prepared dishes
and presentations were
the goal in developing
the Fire & Oak
Brasseries’ menu. This is
a warm cobbler of flaky
pie dough filled with
apples, brown sugar,
vanilla and salt, with a
crunchy streusel and
topped with both creamy
vanilla ice cream and hot
butterscotch.
34. Peach Cobbler ala mode, South City Grills
and Fire & Oak Brasseries
Ditto for this summer
dessert-peach cobbler.
Comfortable, homey, and
good eating, a warm
cobbler of flaky pie dough
filled with fresh peaches,
brown sugar, vanilla and salt
with a crunchy almond
streusel.
35. Promoting the new weekend race time
buffet, Empire City Raceway and Casino
All casinos are high volume operations; Empire City Casino
certainly is. Casinos attract a very broad demographic, a
wide price point and service level variety is required. There
are two large ala carte restaurants, a seven island food
court, a high end steakhouse, 12 bars, a live venue lounge,
and both premium and mid-level concessions served
throughout the facility. There are more than 2200 people
ordering food and dining at any one time. A huge part of
the effort there was finding ways to quickly serve and keep
our guests satisfied. Gamblers eat quickly to get back to the
tables, and this translates into multiple turns. On the
weekends the ‘3meal a day’ ala carte sat 640 and turned 3
times; the Food Court rang 30k daily with an $8 per person
average(ppa); Concessions handled another 15k at a $3.50
ppa; the Grandstand Dining Room sat 560, turned once and
carried a $56 ppa. The 1865 Steakhouse-125 dinner covers
at an $85 ppa. Also, 14 separate bars to serve, plus the live
stage show lounge, and 1400 employees to feed. Our
catering department also handled Columbia University’s
football and soccer game concessions during those team’s
seasons.
36. Banquet Presentations, Lakewood Country Club
This is a good photo to start with in presenting my banquet work, with the atrium area adjoining the main
ballroom of Lakewood Country Club. To the right is the Sushi Station-very popular and consistently requested.
Center-left are Chilled Presentations and the Raw Bar. Detailed photos follow. The excellent camera work is all
done by Bradley Images, a local professional photography group that worked this particular event at Lakewood,
and much more like these can be seen on the web at Bradleyimages.com. Go to the Lakewood Country Club
folder.
37. Carving Station Set Up, Lakewood Country
Club
I try to move beyond the
‘chaffing dish standard’, instead
using lot’s of action stations. All
were nicely filled out; some
were traditional such as a
Carving Station or our Flaming
Crepes Dessert Station; others
were less typical, such as an
Asian Hot Pot and Tepanyaki
Station. The Hosts set the tone-
we sat down together and
created a lot of unique service
experiences, from the formal
wedding to the casual and fun,
like our Comedy Night Lounge
Event, with
BuildYourOwnDagwoods and
Philly Cheese Steak Stations.
38. Breakfast Iron Skillet Action Station,
Lakewood Country Club
Breakfast buffets typically
feature omelet stations-so
does Lakewood’s; however
we strive to add twists,
such as the Skillet Egg
Dish station seen here.
Another big favorite is the
stuffed French toast station
39. Peking Duck and Scallion Crepes
Action Station, Lakewood Country Club
The Roast Peking Duck
with Scallion Crepe
Action Station was a clear
favorite-I don’t know if
we ever did an event
without at least passing
some of these. Here the
shredded roast duck is
heated on a griddle. About
now the lines started
forming in front of the
action station.
40. Peking Duck and Scallion Crepes
Action Station, Lakewood Country Club
Here the station cook
adds the ginger-hoisin
sauce. Next to the
flatiron griddle is a
steamer where the fresh
scallion crepes are
warming in anticipation
of the glazed duck.
41. Roast Peking Duck & fresh Scallion Crepes,
Lakewood Country Club
We keep up with the
demand, as the crepes
are hand filled and
served at the action
station, we’d typically
have a cook in the
kitchen also making
platters to fill in any
service gaps.
42. Antipasti Bar details, Lakewood
Country Club
Salumi Platter; sliced salami,
capacola, sopresata, pepperoni
47. Assorted flatbreads and crackers,
Lakewood Country Club
Freshly baked, breads,
soda crackers, lavash,
flatbreads, ficelles and
foccaccia crisps make a
difference no matter the
event.
48. Chilled Raw Bar, Crab, Shrimp and Lobster,
Lakewood Country Club
A good chilled seafood
display is a real crowd
pleaser and a nice
upgrade.
49. Sushi and Dumpling Station, Lakewood
Country Club
The sushi station is always a
highlight at Lakewood
events. We have worked with
an outside service that is
consistently excellent in the
presentation, quality and
freshness of the product.
Also these professionals
work with me so I can
customize the station to my
client’s wishes. Typically I’ll
have a cook of ours work a
hot presentation service with
this station. Their sushi is
beautiful!
54. Desserts, Cookies and Sweets Presented,
Lakewood Country Club
At Lakewood we prepare all ala
carte desserts in house, as well
as most of the banquet
desserts. We work with a
privately owned pastry shop
right around the corner to
produce the balance. For large
events typically I’ll recommend
a nice variety of small desserts
plus an action station-crepes,
sabayon, or flaming
strawberries, etc.
55. Desserts, Cookies and Sweets presented,
Lakewood Country Club
I find that at the end on an
evening, everybody will reach for
one or two small tasty cookies or a
candied nut tart.
Others will indulge their sweet
tooth with chocolate mousse
and berries.
56. Desserts, Cookies and Sweets Presented,
Lakewood Country Club
Mini Crème Caramels
Petite Parfaits and Bavarians
57. Cold Buffet, Wyndham Princeton Hotel and
Conference Center
This spread was done for the
reopening of the recently reflagged
hotel’s refurbished Business Center.
There were 250 meeting planners,
local businessmen, and top
Wyndham Corporate executives
attending. A key to the refurbishing
effort was the design, purchase and
delivery of six state of the art, self
contained induction heat, wood
paneled food service carts. These
were to anchor upgraded meeting
breaks and our action station based
banquet and event menus. Murphy’s
Law; not one cart purchased arrived
in time for the reopening-back to
skirted collapsible banquets tables
and chaffing dishes for the day.
58. Charcuterie for a break service, Wyndham
Princeton Hotel and Conference Center
At the conference center we
faced a challenge in the
presentation pieces-No
budget to use, and what we
had was hopelessly outdated
and pretty roughed up. The
wooden tabletop used here is
right out of the butchery area.
So, we concentrated on
raising the quality of products
served. Most of these meats,
pates and terrines were
prepared in house.