Chapter 1
2 months after the fateful encounter
Mimosa: You're being ridiculous, Yuno. I'm not going again to burger alley with you. I AM DARN VEGETARIAN, YUNO!
Mimosa: I don't knock those who eat meat, but Yuno, I just can't with the smell of meat anymore.
Yuno: Aren't you supposed to be my best friend? I can't eat anymore awful burgers BY myself.
Mimosa: You're a menace to me. Listen, if this burger boy of yours is as good as you say he is, then he'll spring up somewhere in Clover. Just be patient. I don't understand you're obsession with this…WAIT, OH SNAP!
Yuno: …
Mimosa: OMFG! You don't want his damn Holy Grail burgers, you want him! Yuno! C'mon, you're a brilliant young chef, there's plenty of fish in the sea as they say. Just forget that guy!
Yuno: I'm cancelling this friendship.
Mimosa: I veto that cancellation. We're going to the opening of Jack's newest restaurant tomorrow on our collab reviews
Yuno: Pick you up at 7pm then?
Mimosa: Yep!
CLOUTUBE VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
"GOLDEN DAWN CHANNEL PRESENTS
William Vangeance Eats: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (With Guest Star Golden Dawn Restaurant Sous-Chef Yuno Zephyr)"
WILLIAM VANGEANCE: Thanks for joining me once again, Yuno! This young man here, ladies and gentlemen and other persons, is a brilliant young chef. I can't wait to see what he'll come up with in the future. So this time on William Vangeance Eats, we are going to go over a classic. Chocolate chip cookies! Yuno, what's your favorite cookie?
YUNO: I prefer oatmeal raisin cookies or sugar cookies. I'm not too big on sweets.
VANGEANCE: A savory guy! I love chocolate chip cookies. The first time I ever met Julius at his bakery, I fell in love with those chocolate chip cookies there.
YUNO: You say that about everything that Chef Novachrono makes.
VANGEANCE: Hah, yes, true. Well, let's not keep out sweet-tooth fans waiting.
YUNO: Alright, make sure you wash your hands before you start preparing food and then we can go over what you need for this recipe.
VANGEANCE: Kitchen cleanliness is key to a good kitchen and good food!
YUNO: What he said. So this particular recipe takes about 20 mins to prepare, 1hr to chill the dough, and 30 minutes to cook for 2 dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies. Of course, we're going to seemingly speed the process up with the magic of video editing.
VANGEANCE: Quite. Remember the recipe is always in the description down below so you can follow along.
YUNO: We start with 8 ounces unsalted butter, melting the butter in a 2-quart saucepan over a low heat, set aside once melted to cool slightly. You have to let it cool. This is why this is step one. If you don't, when you put in later, you'll get cooked eggs in your cookies. No one wants that.
VANGEANCE: (chuckles) Yuno, you are so blunt. Who else loves this guy?
GOLDEN DAWN GROUP CHAT
Captain My Captain (William Vangeance): Yuno, you did such a great job today!
Yuno (Yuno Zephyr): Thanks, glad to be helpful.
BestBOI (Langris Vaude): I would have been better.
GardenQueen (Mimosa Vermillion): The fans think you're a dickhead, Langris.
BestBOI (Langris Vaude): Well, you're just a pretty face, Mimosa.
GardenQueen (Mimosa Vermillion): (A MILLION MIDDLE FINGERS AT THE HATER)
TraditionisKey (Klaus Lunettes): MIMOSA VERMILLION, LANGRIS VAUDE, YOU WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE AND GESTURES!
GardenQueen (Mimosa Vermillion): Lol, no.
Alecdora (Alecdora Sandler): This is what happens when you have brats become sous-chefs right out of culinary school.
AlltheFoodAlltheTime (Hamon Caseus): You're just salty that the boss man didn't ask you to help with the latest video.
Captain My Captain (William Vangeance): Now, now, children. I love you all equally. No fighting on the group chat.
FishistheWay (Siren Tium): It's all we do on the group chat, boss.
Captain My Captain (William Vangeance): (pauses) AH, you're right, Siren!
Yuno (Yuno Zephyr): Boss, you're an odd duck.
AlltheFoodAlltheTime (Hamon Caseus): OMG, he is, that's why we love him.
Alecdora (Alecdora Sandler): CHEF VANGEANCE IS A GENIUS!
Captain My Captain (William Vangeance): (blushes) Thanks, Alecdora. I know I can count on you to boost my ego.
TraditionisKey (Klaus Lunettes): Sir, at least, don't admit it out loud. Or in this case, writing.
GardenQueen (Mimosa Vermillion): LMAO
Yuno (Yuno Zephyr): I'm retiring from this place.
Captain My Captain (William Vangeance): Klaus, make a note, this is the 75th time that Yuno threatened to retire like an old man on us!
TraditionisKey (Klaus Lunettes): On it!
5 months after the fateful encounter
Klaus: I'm getting concerned with Yuno.
Mimosa: You and me both. I think something else is going on with him, but he won't tell me.
Klaus: While Yuno is passionate about food, he doesn't like talking much about himself. It took us two years before he even told us that he was an orphan and lived in an orphanage in Hage, if you recall. Something about this young man that he met at the last Festival really is driving Yuno to find him.
Mimosa: All I know is that how is he still being obsessed with finding his mystery burger guy and still find time to turn his frantic search into the most read series of articles on the Golden Dawn food blog.
Klaus: There was a reason why he got a scholarship to the Culinary School, Mimosa. He's prodigal. Anyway, I think we need to do one of two things.
Mimosa: Which are?
Klaus: We stage an intervention and break the news that he's not finding the guy in a city of millions of foodies. OR…
Mimosa: Or? Don't leave me hanging, Klaus!
Klaus: We sincerely join Yuno on his search so he can finally talk to the burger guy and maybe finally get him to stop being a menace.
Mimosa: Ugh…
Klaus: The second thing, then?
Mimosa: Yeah, of course.
GOLDEN DAWN TEST KITCHENS
A Blog for All Things Related to Food
A Blog for the Golden Dawn Test Kitchens CloTube Channel
Yuno's Burger Alley Adventures- Part 20
By:
Yuno Zephyr
Today's Featured Burger Dive: Cornell's Burgers and Fries
Note for Continuity Purposes: For those of you who have been following this series of blogs, you all know that "Burger Alley" is not merely an alley in Clover City. In fact, it is a five-block area of the city (located between 45th St. and 50th St.) where the majority of burgers and comfort food dives, restaurants, and food carts/trucks have found a home. Since the last Annual Clover Citywide Foodie Festival, I'm searching for a perfect burger. This is the origin of this article series.
And now to the good stuff…
For a place supposed to be known for their burgers and fries, Cornell's Burgers and Fries does not live up to the hype in that regard. Its same old, same old with the burgers and the fries needed to be crispier. The burger tried to emulate the classic Cheeseburger, but the wrong bun was used for this burger. A lot of people don't realize but the bun is one of the most important aspects of the burger. If you had a poor bun choice, then it can't pull together the rest of the burger.
On top of the bun issue, the cheese did not compliment the burger either. Don't get me started on cheeses and their uses. (You can head over to read my colleague Klaus Lunettes' "History of Cheese and Their Uses Article" for more information).
However, there was one area that Cornell's Burgers and Fries excelled—the apple pie. Quite fascinating, the apple pie I ordered for dessert was the best thing there. The crust was warm and flakey, the filling was sweet but not too much, and with the homemade vanilla ice cream to go with the warm apple pie, it was simply amazing.
Grade: B-
It was gonna be a C, but the apple pie won me over. Whoever does desserts deserves a pay raise in my opinion.
"Hey, Yuno," said Mimosa, slowly, non-diary fruit and vegetable smoothie in hand as she walked side-by-side with Yuno as they headed to the market. Mimosa always looked "cute" (she claimed). Today, her ponytail and spring outfit was getting them a lot of looks. Or maybe it was just the two of them being internet famous.
Today, they were charged with fetching some new ingredients (namely eggs and sugar) after Langris had a meltdown over meringue. It was Dessert Week and the Golden Dawn Test Kitchens were providing the desserts for a big fundraiser (for the repairs to the community center). "Did you notice that girl following us with her camera?"
Yuno raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, she's been following us since we left the kitchens."
"Why do you think she wants," Mimosa asked, out loud.
Sighing, Yuno turned to make eye-contact with the little wisp of a teenage girl. The girl froze in place when she was caught. Apparently, she thought she was being sneaky. Yuno sighed and motioned for her to come over to them. Yuno never saw someone run so fast. "What do you want?"
"I'm Sylph! I'm your biggest fan, Mr. Yuno!" The girl, Sylph, went into a long-winded rant about Yuno and his life, knowing way too much information for Yuno's liking.
Yuno inwardly cringed.
Mimosa giggled, so unhelpful as always.
7 months after the fateful encounter
CLOTUBE NEWS TRANSCRIPT:
"CLOTUBE NEWS: BLACK BULLS EXPERIENCE TRENDING"
"Well, well, folks, it looks like the Golden Dawn finally has some serious competition. The Black Bulls Experience channel has recently skyrocketed in views and subscribers thanks to their latest video which went viral at the beginning of the week. The Black Bulls Experience is not just a food channel, but a lifestyle channel. Led and founded by Yami Sukehiro, the video to go viral was the 10-minute video of Black Bull chef half-pint Charmy creating every recipe in KING Chef Julius Novachrono's most famous cookbook and eating it all by herself. The video is presented as a montage! The link to the video is in the description down below.
In other food news…"
GOLDEN DAWN GROUP CHAT
Captain My Captain (William Vangeance): Finally some new competition! Yami is something else. Crazy, but a great chef.
Yuno (Yuno Zephyr): You know the founder?
Captain My Captain: Hmm, believe it or not Yami was a sous-chef when I was a sous-chef under Julius.
Yuno: That's rather impressive.
Captain My Captain: I respect Yami, but he can be irritating.
BestBOI (Langris Vaude): My idiot older brother joined the Black Bulls as the camera and editor. He can't even cook.
GardenQueen (Mimosa Vermillion): Leave your brother alone Langris, he's such a nice guy.
BestBOI: EVERYONE LOVES MY BROTHER MORE THAN ME.
GardenQueen: Yeah, pretty much.
Yuno: Yeah.
Captain My Captain: Agreed.
TraditionisKey (Klaus Lunettes): (Sigh) Mimosa, stop pushing Langris' buttons.
GardenQueen: Lol, no.
Alecdora (Alecdora Sandler): I repeat, this is what happens when you have brats become sous-chefs right out of culinary school.
AlltheFoodAlltheTime (Hamon Caseus): Alecdora, I worry for you sometimes
Alecdora: Screw you Hamon.
AlltheFoodAlltheTime: No thanks, Alecdora. I'm married. The Black Bulls have Charmy and Vanessa. Vanessa is the queen of alcoholic drinks. Charmy is a beast!
Captain My Captain: Everyone, food is about bringing people together in peace and harmony. We shall respect the Black Bulls…as long as they stay in their lane.
FishistheWay (Siren Tium): Geez, don't be so passive-aggressive, boss.
CLOVER CITY LOCAL LEGENDS FORUM
Topic: So did you hear that William Vangeance and Yami Sukehiro were sous-chefs under Julius Novachrono? And that they were rivals.
LifeNeedsChocolate says:
According to my parents, it was a pretty big deal when KING first opened like 7 years ago. Julius had all the best sous-chefs working for him. Other than Vangeance and Sukehiro, I believe that Charlotte Roselei, Nozel Silva, Jack Rippa, Dorothy Unsworth, and Fuegoleon Vermillion were all sous-chefs. The best of the best, until Julius let them go off on their own. Some had their family restaurant businesses to go back to run, like the Silva, Roselei, and Vermillion. That must have been some training at KING. All of Julius's former sous-chefs are big names in the food industry.
WhyCantThereBeLight82 Replied:
I think the Golden Dawn chefs are too snobby and way overrated. The Black Bulls seem like a blast to hang out with, especially Vanessa!
ISTANQUEENVANESSA Replied:
Geez, WhyCantThereBeLight82, this is not the place to gush over Vanessa!
To the topic at hand, William Vangeance and Yami Sukehiro were probably rivals? I mean, everyone knows about Nozel and Fuegoleon's rivalry is intense af.
Ultimately I don't think it matters because it just means that there's going to more and more good food out in the city with more different kind of chefs, bakers, grill masters, etc.
Sister Lily: Yuno, I just wanted to catch up with you. How have you been? I hope you're taking good care of yourself, eating and sleeping properly. How's work?
Yuno: Everything's fine, Sister. Yes, I'm eating. And sleeping as much as I can. Work is work, but I enjoy it.
Sister Lily: That's great. We're all so proud of you, Yuno! Whenever you're on CloTube we all watch you. You're getting so big.
Yuno: That's nice, Sister. Everyone okay at the orphanage?
Sister Lily: All good!
Yuno: Hey, Sister Lily, question. I know I was one of the oldest in the orphanage, but did I have any friends when I was younger?
Sister Lily: Umm, you had a couple of kids you played with but I don't think any real best friendships like the one you have with Mimosa and Klaus.
Yuno: Oh, okay.
1 year after the fateful encounter
GOLDEN DAWN TEST KITCHENS
A Blog for All Things Related to Food
A Blog for the Golden Dawn Test Kitchens CloTube Channel
Mimosa's Industry News Rundown:
Noelle Silva and Asta Black Join the Black Bulls Experience
By:
Mimosa Vermillion
Well, it's official. The Black Bulls Experience finally broke the internet.
Joking aside, the Black Bulls introduce a new video series featuring their two latest recruits—Noelle Silva and Asta Black. (I call it the Asta and Noelle Hour, despite the videos not being more than 15 minutes, but you get the idea).
For those of you with some knowledge of the Clover City food royalty, you'll recognize Noelle Silva's name. She is the daughter of Acier Silva and the sister of Nozel, Solid, and Nebra Silva. And seemingly, the youngest child of the Silva family has jumped ship.
(NOELLE, MY COUSIN, IS LIVING HER BEST LIFE.)
As for Asta Black, well, he's a newcomer for certain. But he looks like no slouch in the kitchen, so it'll be interesting to see him make a name for himself.
Asta and Noelle will be doing a weekly series of videos on comfort food recipes in a more instructional sense than Black Bulls' fans are accustomed. This video series definitely targets the more amateur chef in viewers, being an easy step-by-step process for any of the recipes. There are already two episodes up: Asta and Noelle Tackle Meringue Desserts and Asta and Noelle Grill the Best Burgers.
JULIUS' OG SOUS-CHEFS GROUP CHAT
Nozel: Yami, I will never forgive you for stealing my sister. Now I know where she was going on the weekends for the last year.
Yami: Easy, pretty boy. Noelle is an adult and can do what she wants. And if you and your other siblings were not such assholes to her maybe she could have gone to you for extra help. How could the daughter of Acier Silva barely boil water? She's come a long way.
William: OMG, Asta is a delight and he works so well with Noelle's more serious personality. I can't wait to see what other videos they do, Yami. I'm sensing some collabs in the future.
Yami: Yeah, sounds good. I'd like to see what Asta and Noelle could do in comparison to that Yuno boy and Mimosa.
William: Definitely.
Nozel: Hey, you two, don't get off track. I'm still mad at you, Yami. You could have at least had the decency to tell me that you were teaching my sister.
Yami: I never said I taught her anything. She just needed a place to practice without certain people hovering, like she was going to blow up the kitchen or whatever.
William: HAHAHAH!
Nozel: I hate you both.
Yuno: Mimosa. The new Black Bull chef. Asta. He's the one.
Mimosa: I literally just posted the article on the blog! BUT OMG YOU FOUND HIM! I told you just had to give it time!
Yuno: He's not dating Noelle Silva, right?
Mimosa: …
Yuno: Mim, not the time to be silent!
Mimosa: LMFAO! My cousin is definitely not dating your boy. Noelle's got a long-time girlfriend. You heard of Kahono, the CloTube singing sensation partnered with her brother Kiato? Well, Noelle and Kahono are in a happy, committed relationship.
Mimosa: Noelle and Asta are just best friends. I got a lot of info out of my dear accident-prone cousin. Would you like to know about Asta?
Yuno: ! That's creepy right? It's like internet stalking. I'd rather get to know him myself now that I know where to look.
Mimosa: So it's gonna be another year of you pining and working up the courage to go to the Black Bulls headquarters to talk to Asta?! God grant me the patience to deal with your dumbass?!
Yuno: You're a terrible person.
Mimosa: Love you too.
Mimosa: By the way, do you think it's hilarious that Asta and Noelle mastered meringue better than Langris? I can hear him having a meltdown about his greatness now.
Yuno: Lol.
Before Yuno knew it was time once again for the Annual Clover Citywide Food Festival. This year since he was no longer a culinary school student, but a full-fledged sous-chef for William Vangeance. He was going to be doing the demonstrations with his boss this festival. But what had Yuno worried and stressed beyond belief was the fact that William in all his infinite wisdom decided to invite his old friend/rival Yami Sukehiro to the demonstration. And Yami's two sous-chefs were going to be Asta and Noelle.
"This is so exciting. Alecdora and Langris are beyond pissed that they were chosen to the sous-chefs this time," said Mimosa.
"Agreed." He and Mimosa were standing off the stage that was temporarily put up in front of the Golden Dawn Test Kitchens for the Festival. William was on stage speaking to the crowd, explaining the demonstrations details. Yuno and Mimosa, despite being recent graduates, were chosen by William to be the two sous-chefs. Normally it was Langris and Alecdora, but William was up to something. Yuno just had a gut feeling.
"You're gonna meet your crush today," said Mimosa, cheerfully. "Ooh there they are!" Yami Sukehiro was a big man who looked like a shady dude and not a well-known chef. Noelle and Asta trailed behind the big man. Noelle was similar looking to the rest of her siblings—with the light silver hair, dainty pale skin, and poised enough to think she was actual royalty.
Asta looked so gorgeous, as always in Yuno's opinion. The shorter man clearly looked beyond excited to be there.
"Please, don't embarrass me," said Yuno, glaring at Mimosa, who was waving at her cousin from the opposite side of the stage. Now, the nervousness Yuno felt earlier increased tenfold at the sight of the brilliant chef. Asta probably didn't even remember him from the last Festival. Honestly, Yuno knew he was a pathetic mess for obsessing over one guy for the last year.
Mimosa smiled amused. "Oh I won't. But I can't stop you from embarrassing yourself."
"Terrible," muttered Yuno.
Before Mimosa commented, their fearless leader William started introductions. "And now, I want to introduce to you my sous-chefs for this little competition—Mimosa Vermillion and Yuno Zephyr. I'm sure you all recognize my latest recruits from their videos and articles, as well as their excellence during their time at the Golden Dawn Culinary School." Yuno and Mimosa both walked up the stairs to stand center stage with William.
With a flourish, William ten gestured to the guests, who already began making their way to the stage. "Of course, now let me introduce our guests from the Black Bulls Experience. My old friend Yami Sukehiro and his two sous-chefs Asta Black and Noelle Silva!"
By now, a large crowd was formed around the stage, set up with makeshift kitchens. Yuno spotted the various camera phones being held up to get video footage of the event. People were so annoying since it was being filmed by the Golden Dawn to put up later on their CloTube channel and the Golden Dawn version will be better quality than anything an amateur can do.
"Let's get started!"
Yuno and Mimosa went to their cooking station along with William. They had Charlotte Roselei from the Roselei Bakery moderating the competition. In addition, William managed to get Nozel Silva, Dorothy Unsworth, and Fuegoleon Vermillion as judges.
They were making a three-course meal (appetizer, main, and dessert).
When Yuno was in the kitchen, he was normally so focused and always set to what he had to do. After all, William commanded attention as the head chef despite being relatively chill outside of the kitchen and on their group chat. Mimosa was handling the appetizer—her teenage years were spent at one of the many Vermillion family restaurants and she had been on the appetizer station for years before going to culinary school.
He assisted William with the main course. Once the appetizer was done, Mimosa would start on the dessert and have Yuno finish it up with her once the entrée really got going.
Unfortunately there was someone very loud and distracting on stage. Yuno tried to pay not mind to Asta at the other station. But it was very hard when Yuno had been looking for him for the last year and finally get to see Asta in person again and be in this kind of competition with him.
But thankfully, William and Mimosa were not about to let Yuno's attention get diverted.
"Focus, Yuno," said Mimosa, snapping, as she maneuvered around him to get the grater.
"You're doing great, Yuno, keep it up," said William, encouragingly.
After a grueling hour, it was done.
And naturally, the Golden Dawn won according to the judges—though to be fair, Yuno thought that maybe Nozel took out some serious sibling feud out on the Black Bulls because of Noelle.
"You got me this time, Will," said Yami, amused.
"Too true, but your stuff was amazing as always," said William. The two old friends and rivals went off to the side once the new demonstrations were up and running, leaving Mimosa and Noelle to reunite as one does with your favorite cousin.
Yuno attempted to fade into the background and maybe go back inside the test kitchens. He was not so lucky.
"I remember you," said Asta, coming up to speak to Yuno. Asta looked the same as he did a year ago. The other chef had that same intense look in his eyes as the first time. It was thrilling.
"Oh?"
"Mhm, I never got to ask you. Did you like the burger," Asta asked, excitedly.
"Better than most," said Yuno. He wanted to punch himself in the face—why didn't Yuno just tell Asta that it was the best burger Yuno ever ate in his life?!
Asta grinned wildly. "I guess from a fancy chef's perspective that's a killer compliment. But man, the way you handled both prepping the entrée with Chef Vangeance and the dessert with Chef Mimosa showed you have some major skills in the kitchen. Oh! Geez, I never introduced myself properly! I'm Asta Black, nice to meet you."
Yuno nodded and shook Asta's hand. "Yuno Zephyr, nice to officially meet you."
Asta laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "So, I think we should be rivals."
"Sure, sounds fun."
Wait, what?! Yuno did not see this coming and why in the world did Yuno agree?