Taste testing at Sysco

I love watching chefs work. It's like catnip for a foodie like me. So, of course I was in heaven when I had an opportunity to learn about offerings from Sysco, the country's largest food distributor with headquarters here in Houston. Let's see ... observing the cooking, learning about the food and sampling non-stop for two hours in a pristine commercial kitchen - yes please!

This is Chef Ojan Bagher, corporate executive chef at Sysco. He's highly professional, creative and a pleasure to watch. He put together some pretty outstanding dishes for us, most of which he made up that morning to suit the kind of catering my friend is doing. I'm going to give him an A plus!

Here is a little sampling of what we tried:

Grilled andouille, goat cheese mousse and baby arugula with a gorgeous texture and just small enough ...

Seared diver scallops on a bed of red onion jam, with caramelized grape tomatoes ...

A teres major filet, my first time trying this cut of meat and I must say it was a pleasant surprise. This is with simply done fingerling potatoes, and with a highbrow salsa which tasted like the Mexican response to Romesco ...

Grilled mahi mahi and colossal shrimp with andouille cream sauce - decadence ...

... and I must include this pic from a recent visit from Chef Robert Irvine, second from left (Dinner Impossible, Restaurant Impossible), who is the new spokesperson for Sysco. How cool is that?

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