The Modern Cafe [Hardcover]

Francisco J. Migoya (Author), The Culinary Institute of America (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 2009

• Includes nearly 250 recipes plus 150 sub-recipes, more than 100 photographs, and approximately 75 illustrations
• Breaks the café down into its five key components -- the bakery, the pastry shop, the savory kitchen, beverages, and the retail shelf -- with expert advice and contemporary recipes for each area
• Author Francisco Migoya is an assistant professor at The Culinary Institute of America, where he teaches the Café Operations class for the Baking and Pastry Arts program

With information on all aspects of the café business-finances, human resources, food production, recipe/menu development, and even décor-The Modern Café offers both inspiration and instruction for anyone who wants to operate a successful café.

"The Modern Café is an impressive volume in both breadth and dept h that elevates standard café fare to something worthy of the term cuisine. Francisco Migoya generously shares his years of experience and research, offering a fresh, contemporary approach to casual dining. His technical skill and eye for detail are inspiring, resulting in respectful yet inventive interpretations of the classics. Migoya has given all of us professional cooks, pastry and savory alike, another invaluable resource. " —Michael Laiskonis, Executive Pastry Chef, Le Bernardin

 "What a high level of professionalism in a book full of originality and creativity! Francisco Migoya has created a new work with technology, sensitivity, and passion—an invaluable contribution to the world of gastronomy. Enjoy it!" —Oriol Balaguer, Pastry Chef and Owner, Oriol Balaguer Boutiques

"Francisco Migoya's The Modern Cafe is a beautiful book that will be used as a practical guide and inspiration for professionals and home cooks alike. " —Grant Achatz, Chef and Owner, Alinea

 "This book is just amazing—there is so much information, detail, and inspiration. You can really see Francisco's passion for pastry. This is an outstanding follow up to his first book, Frozen Desserts." —Patrick Coston, Pastry Chef and Chocolatier

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A professional guide to every aspect of the launch and management of a modern, upscale café.

The Modern Café is the first comprehensive, must-have reference for the aspiring restaurateur or café owner who wants to make sure he gets every detail right.

This exquisitely illustrated volume is packed with professional guidance and master recipes for breakfast pastries, artisanal sandwiches, truffles and treats, and much more. Additionally, an entire chapter is devoted to the retail shelf, a key contributor to any café's financial health.

Recipe Excerpts from The Modern Cafe

Pan-Fried Baby Artichokes with Lemon Aïoli

Financiers

Elderflower Ganache Pops

From the Inside Flap

The Modern Café

As consumers become ever more informed, more sophisticated, and more pressed for time, the modern café must adapt to meet its customers' needs. Operating a successful café requires the chef to be a master of many trades with a deep understanding of quality, refinement, and business strategy. Today's café might offer breakfast baked goods, artisan breads, desserts, cakes, savory items, chocolates and confections, beverages, packaged retail items, and frozen desserts, and The Modern Café is the first book to address them all. Pastry chef and CIA Assistant Professor Francisco Migoya examines these major categories in information-packed chapters covering everything from recipes to pricing, displays, and packaging. Chef Migoya provides wonderful recipes for many popular café standards as well as some imaginative, colorful, and eclectic recipes that are sure to delight a wide variety of palates. Chapters include:

The Bakery: This is typically a low-cost/high-profit area, where most sales come from volume production. Migoya covers the seven key ingredients and provides master recipes for brioche, croissants, Danish, pound cake, muffins, scones, biscuits, and breads, with multiple variations for each.

The Pastry Shop: This area requires special skills and a certain level of expertise to prepare cakes, individual desserts, tarts, and specialty cookies. Migoya includes contemporary recipes with ingenious twists and provides tips throughout to increase efficiency.

The Savory Kitchen: With a focus on soups, salads, small plates, side dishes, entrées, and hot, chilled, and warmed sandwiches, this section in a café requires a particular attention to speed and prompt service, and à la minute preparation is key. Migoya provides dozens of mouthwatering recipes and he covers the most cutting-edge equipment available for today's savory kitchen.

Beverages: Most people walk into a café to buy coffee, tea, and other hot drinks. Successful cafés prepare them well and serve them at the proper temperature. Migoya covers all the essential techniques for hot and cold beverages, as well as beer and wine sales, which can be a great way to improve any café operation's bottom line.

The Retail Shelf: House-made chocolates; confections; jams, marmalades and jellies; spices; salts and other condiments; and special-occasion items are just a few of the options for expanding sales and extending the café's reach through the retail shelf. This chapter includes tips and considerations for packaging and display, along with dozens of imaginative recipes.

Migoya's modern, refined recipes require precise execution, attention to technique, and the highest-quality ingredients. The art and craft of the baker, pastry chef, and chef are evident in every recipe. With stunning photography, real-world advice, and expert instruction on the launch and management of a café, this book is a pioneer in the field of modern café operation.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (December 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047037134X
• ISBN-13: 978-0470371343
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 1.5 x 11.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #31 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Professional Cooking > Professional
  • #74 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Hospitality, Travel & Tourism

More About the Author

Biography for Francisco J. Migoya

I am the owner and chocolatier at Hudson Chocolates (www.hudsonchocolates.com) and I am also a Professor at The Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park, New York, teaching the Cafe Operations class for the Baking and Pastry program. I am in charge of the Apple Pie Bakery and Cafe,, where students work in the different areas that compose a cafe: breakfast pastries and bread, pastry, savory, frozen desserts and chocolates and confections. I have worked at the CIA since April 2005, where I was named 2007 Faculty Member of the Year.
My previous job was Executive Pastry Chef for The French Laundry, Bouchon Bakery and Bouchon Bistro in Yountville, CA. All of these establishments are owned by Thomas Keller. The French Laundry is perhaps one of the best restaurants in the world, and I was fortunate enough to head the baking and pastry production for this establishment, as well as Bouchon Bakery and Bouchon Bistro simultaneously.
I have also worked at a number of upscale restaurants in New York City such as Veritas, Ilo and The River Cafe. At Veritas and The River Cafe I was the head pastry chef. At Ilo I was the pastry sous-chef. All of these establishments are held in high regard for the quality of food and service they offer.
As for my culinary training, I spent a year in France on a full scholarship at the Lycee d'Hotellerie et de Tourisme in Strasbourg. I further refined my education with The Culinary Institute of America's program in Mexico City, where I was born and raised. I not only studied during this time, I also worked for free wherever I could to get real world, hands-on experience.
Growing up in Mexico City, my experience with the culinary world began at a very young age. I am the son of an Italian-American mother and a Spanish father, and food proved to be an integral part of every day life. Although I had never considered the culinary field as a career until I was in my mid-teens, I found my interest in food to be a natural progression that ultimately developed into a passion and a successful career.
I am fluent in Spanish, English and French. I can read and understand Italian. This has enabled me to have access to culinary books that are only published in those languages, furthering my knowledge of food.

Having worked at The French Laundry was one of the most satisfying achievements of my career. Precision, consistency, knowledge, organization, cleanliness, and leadership were constantly put to the test. Thomas Keller wouldn't have it any other way, and neither would I. Day in and day out, it was these skills that kept my part of the kitchen running. The only way to stay on top was to master all the skills that I had honed throughout my education and career. The education process never stops. You need to keep up with new trends, techniques, products, notable pastry chefs, notable restaurants, awareness of the industry and technology
.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Made for a commercial business January 3, 2010

By Austin

Format:Hardcover

Francisco Migoya has done it again, a wonderful book on a variety of pastries, entremets(cakes), savories, and more. It is divided into sections of business such as the pastry shop, bakery, etc. Mainly made for commercial use with servings of 6 cakes to 20 individual portions and special supplies. There are some mistakes in the components of some recipes such as 12 cake layers instead of 2 but if you read through the recipe first you'll be prepared. Overall it is nice but geared toward larger sizes and specialized machines so it might not be suited for the avid home baker but a good book.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent tips for new cafe owners March 26, 2010

By Love 2 Bake

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

As a graduate of the CIA's baking and pastry program at Greystone, I've chosen to go the entrepreneurial route toward business ownership rather than working my way up in the pastry field. This book provides relevant, practical information that will help readers run their kitchens and cafe businesses. It includes such tips as what products you can freeze (and for how long) without compromising quality, the best ways to position items in your display cases, how to handle to-go requirements properly, and much more. Yes, as other reviewers have mentioned, the content includes some special equipment and ingredients that many of us will not purchase for our kitchens, and some of the recipes will not suit everyone's setting. Still, the components and ideas presented provide a palette (pun intended!) to use as each reader sees fit, and that is a gold mine. As I am currently in the process of purchasing a small neighborhood cafe/bakery, this book is both inspirational and practical and was released at the perfect time.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating textbook on how to design and prepare food offerings at your Cafe. July 14, 2010

By Craig Matteson HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

As a person who has been cooking for about 2 years and become even more fascinated with food, this textbook on the food aspects of running your own Café is like a trip through wonderland. Not that I am ever going to have my own eatery. However, I found it fascinating to see what a person putting together a Café as a business has to plan for and consider.

Just as an example, in the introduction the author points out that your Café has to have at least three and probably more from the following categories of items on offer: breakfast items, artisan breads, pastries, savory items, confects and chocolates, packed shelf-stable foods, ice cream and other frozen desserts, and beverages.

The book spends most of its time presenting recipes for items and dishes that you might want to sell but more likely use in creating your own offerings. The recipes are for the larger quantities a professional Café would want to prepare rather than for us home cooks. And we can't just simply divide. You have to carefully adapt them and it will likely require experimentation. Plus, there is equipment required most of us do not have. The recipes are all designed for professional preparation and being ready to finish and serve in a few minutes when the item is ordered. Interesting techniques for us home cooks. However, how many homes have thermocirculators?

Not to fear, the author lists resources for foods and equipment you will require for certain recipes in the back of the book. That being said, outfitting your Café with large pieces of equipment such as stoves, broilers, ovens, mixers, freezer, refrigerators and the like must be covered in another book and another course. It is not covered here.

Since this is a textbook, the author presents the recipe instructions in great detail and with great specificity. You will learn by making these recipes. The photographs that accompany the recipes are fabulous and even awe inspiring. Some make me want to try and make those things and others leave me to daunted to try.

I love the pages with the brown boxes that present information you will need to consider and choices you will have to make when setting up your Café and deciding which items to prepare and serve.

Fascinating stuff.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Saline, MI