Knife's Edge - Restaurant Rants & Raves

Wintertime Blues

Our Crab & Wine Festival is over up here which means a return to the winter doldrums. We're fortunate in that a number of restaurants here close in January and early February so we stay pretty busy during the "slow" time. By President's Day however, everyone who will be open for the season is and our numbers usually drop. We've grown every year so that's good and the winter always starts by being busy and I usually fool myself into thinking that it's just going to stay that way.

Then March comes. And April. And May. June kicks in and we think it's summer and supposed to be busy. But usually it's not. Again, we grow every year and we've tried to cater to the locals so we're better off than some of the place which focus exclusively on tourists but it's still dispiriting.

It's hard to be passionate about a dish 20 people may see, much less order. 20 friends at your house, sure, but 20 customers in an 80 seat dining room?

Fortunately we've got a couple of trips planned but that brings up the equation fewer customers=more time, which also means fewer customers=less money. Therefore, more time=less money. So paying for said trips becomes something of a hat trick.

Steering this back to food a bit. For the wine judges I made a short rib risotto with fried kale (my latest garnish love) and a poached egg. Like I told them, I usually try to do something ill-advised when I do this lunch every year. Last year it was serving Southern food (one of the judges is something of an authority). This year it was the poached egg. One of the judges wrote the chapter on eggs in the revised Joy of Cooking.

Of course now I need to work on my own eating habits. Like many chefs I forget to eat and don't keep any food in the house. Well, at least like many working chefs. If you're Alice Waters you've probably got food in the house. So last night found me with a peanut butter sandwich for dinner and some cheddar cheese potato chips (don't ask) for dessert. Pretty gross and extreme nausea was the result. I need to make time in the day/evening to have dinner.

I need to make time for a lot of things. Fixing my closet door, walking the dogs, reading, seeing friends. Oh wait, that's called having a life. I forgot I own a restaurant.

Michelin Scandal Rocks Food World. Not.

I read the latest Michelin scandal (a Benelux countries restaurant was awarded a "bib gourmand" before it had even opened) exposing what everyone knows anyway. Backscratching and glad-handing will get you a hell of a lot farther than than anything else. The myth of the dedicated, solitary craftsman cooking purely out of love and respect for the ingredients is just that. Because no one ever hears about those people. They're too busy cooking to work the PR angle.

Before you get the idea I'm trying to posit the idea that I embody the craftsman you don't know about, back up. I spent yesterday morning cooking for the press, including the LA Times food editor, a semi-local wine radio personality (for whom we scrambled and pulled strings to get a comped room at a local B & B), two cookbook authors and the PR arm of a county promotional organization. I will spend most of today in the same company, with the addition of a celebrity chef/author and a columnist from the SF Chronicle.

Am I hungry for notoriety ? In a sense, yes. I wouldn't be blogging if I didn't want my voice to be heard. I dress essentially in costume, or as Liberace would put it, " go ahead, look. I'm not dressed this way to not be noticed." I'm active in community events and promotional efforts and try to put on events at the restaurant which are different from others, like our dinner with the circus to celebrate our anniversary.

When I was younger I suppose this stance was a natural outgrowth of my hippie upbringing. Being raised on the fringe made me embrace and accentuate the aspects of my character which were at odds with "normal" society. As I grew older it became a point of pride to show that a punk rocker could have manners and escort old ladies across the street. Now, I'm trying to turn the stance to a different form of marketing. That is, one which makes me a living.

The Michelin scandal is more blatant in the publications here, which are obviously ad-driven and seemingly directed by PR firms. I started this blog to be able to give voice to things I couldn't say publicly in my small town, like how many of the restaurants that get a good amount of press here are mediocre at best. Not necessarily in a mud-slinging sense but in a incredulous sense.

Case in point. Some months ago I went to Quince in SF. Yes, the one Gourmet, and every other food & wine publication getting heaps of accolades. Service was terrible. I dined alone, the waiter removed the chair and setting from the empty place and I sat. And sat. And sat. Finally another waiter came over and asked if I wanted something to drink. I told him I was ready to order, he ran over and had a hurried conversation with the original waiter who had removed the setting and chair (I had assumed he was a busser). The original waiter returned, apologized and said he had assumed I was waiting for someone. Then why the hell had he removed the extra setting and chair 15 plus minutes before ? The food came and was OK. Not bad, but if that's what getting touted nationally, then many of the cooks I know should be household names. Waiter checks in with me and another table, using the exact same rote language, and paying no attention to the response. Check arrives (after of course sitting forever and making the annoying "holding the notebook and signing"sign to signal I'd like to be on my way) and it's for a party of five. This gets resolved and I leave feeling ripped off. Because I believed the press.

Granted, any place can have a bad night. I certainly have them. But you can tell when something is the norm. And this was the case at Quince. It's an average SF restaurant that hired the right firm.

Not to say don't trust the press. Guidebooks and reviews have their place. We've used Patricia Unterman's Food Lover's Guide to SF as a fairly reliable source. But only after a few experiences and realizing we (in general) trust her palate.

Fortunately, we have great word of mouth. Most new visitors to our place we talk with say they polled a number of local people and we were the unanimous choice. Guess all that glad-handing is working.

Frank Bruni and Everyone Else, Get Over It

Frank Bruni writes a big article in today's NY Times about the Time Warner Center with Per Se, Masa, V Steakhouse and Café Gray being a big shopping mall. Who fucking cares ? I mean, check this out

After hours in the dimly lighted fantasy of Per Se, a diner is thrust not into moonbeams and fresh air but into the harshly illuminated, stale reality of the rest of the center. A cold slap punctuates a warm hug.

In Manhattan ? Please. Show me the moonbeams and fresh air. Don't get me wrong, I love NY, but an idyll in the country it isn't. Also, i agree that ambiance contributes to the dining experience but the NY Times is getting ridiculous. The review of Babbo talks about the rock music playing in the dining room. In order to get a certain number of stars, things are codified, like Michelin. A certain amount spent on flower arrangements, the "right" music playing, identifiable china and linen (think Villeroy, Frette).

Whatever you think of him, kudos to Mario Batali for playing Led Zeppelin and the Black Crowes in his dining room. Now, I'm no fan of dated classic rock, but it's what he likes to hear, not what he thinks Frank Bruni or Amanda Hesser will like. Or his customers for that matter. To follow his lead we should be playing Godspeed You Black Emperor !, Pell Mell, American Music Club, The Delgados, Idlewild and Surface of Eceon.

I'm a little sensitive to this because our restaurant is in a mall. There are parts of it that drive me crazy

Or sometimes the rest of the center is thrust upon a diner. One night I watched a woman and her two teenage daughters, all three dressed in white Capri pants and brightly colored T-shirts, march straight into Masa and then into Per Se, just to have a look. Understandably they treated the exclusive restaurants on the fourth floor the way they had treated stores on the lower three, as crannies of a mall that invited exploration.

Happens all the time to us. Even worse because we have no doors so it happens all day long when we're closed.  Glad it happens there too.

I'd love to have a stand alone location where we could control the environment. Half of a restaurant's business is creating or catering to a fantasy. But we don't. And that doesn't detract from the food or service. So Frank, shut up.

Dreams of Anthony Bourdain

Have had 2 dreams now that I'm spending time with Anthony Bourdain. Weird because I have no real opinion about him. I read the famous New Yorker piece and Kitchen Confidential and I saw him once on I believe, Letterman and that's it.

Perhaps it's because we share a similar history. New York in the late 70's early 80's, except I was playing in the bands he was going to see rather than cooking. Perhaps it's just the physical act of writing about what I do. Perhaps it's because I got an email from another ex-junkie friend named Anthony yesterday.

Anyway, he was nice enough in the dream.

Teaching a class today. I always feel a little weird because I don't really know what people expect. Maybe I should start watching the Food Network. Bourdain has a show doesn't he ?

Alchemist

I watched a video tour of the Per Se kitchen led by Thomas Keller yesterday and later that night cooked a brewer's dinner. The brewer and I met 6-7 years ago at auctions when we were both putting our places together and like many of my auction friends we conspired to get the best deals by consulting each other about what we had our eyes on at particular auctions.

We had, in retrospect, so little money to spend. Of course to me who had never had more than a thousand dollars in the bank it seemed astonishing that a bank would let me borrow anything. My wife and I spent countless months driving 4 hours to San Francisco, trying to arrive by auction start of 11 am, doing an incomplete and bleary-eyed evaluation of the equipment, buying and loading my much abused pick-up with way more stuff than it was ever meant to hold. My Swiss friend who built our entire restaurant called me Monsieur Ficelle after yet another precarious load with my spiderweb of thin cord keeping everything from toppling over arrived.

When we were about two thirds of the way done the dining room looked like this: After a busy night is still feels like it sometimes. There are certainly times when I feel frustrated by the limitations of my equipment or budget. Particularly after seeing the kitchen of Per Se, or reading about places like Pim's favorite, Manresa I get high powered tool lust and start to dream about what I would be able to do if I had a Pacojet or or a Bonnet cooking suite. Just having two level stoves, with calibrated ovens, burners that don't soot up and a couple of new, flat sheet pans would make me happy.

I realized that with my equipment, and my crew I'm doing the equivalent of pot-roasting. I'm taking something that's tough, hard to work with and inexpensive and with patience and craft, turning it into something not only palatable but delicious.

I used to say that given a large enough budget and a dedicated staff a trained monkey could run a kitchen that would be the equal of any you read about. Certainly this is overstating the case, but money, location and a hungry, career-minded staff go a pretty long way. In the meantime, I'll continue with what I have and we'll still be the best restaurant you've never been to.

Brewer's Dinner Menu

Mixed seafood platter
Yokayo Gold

The Ploughman's Lunch Lightened (cheese-onion souffle)
10 Guilder

Red Curry Chicken with Crab Wontons
Orr Springs IPA

Belgian Style Short Ribs
Coops Stout

Chocolate Malt Cake
Emancipator

Kitchen Mystery #1

Why can't cooks manage to get their dirty uniforms entirely into the dirty clothes bag ? Every night I change my clothes and there are uniforms put halfway into the bag, the other half draped over the outside.

Once a Year

Our restaurant is in a small town in the process of shedding its redneck past and image. 10 miles to the south of us is another, smaller town formerly known for its arts community and laid-back, quasi-spiritual feeling. There has always been antipathy between the two communities, starting of course with the local schools and continuing on through adulthood. In the past there was real reason for animosity as the the two were quite different but now, with our neighbor's rising commercial rents and impossibly high home prices many of the artier types have trekked 10 miles northward and helped effect some change in our redneck burg.

However, there is still a certain "type" representing the old-guard that comes into our place from time to time. They are particularly thick this time of year because so many restaurants close seasonally to the south of us. We're talking small town here, so most of these people I know by sight, occupation, children and in some cases a little more detail than I need to know about anyone.

Last night was funny, because we had a whole crop of them. Coming up the stairs and giving me this expectant glance, like "See. I'm here." And while I'm glad they came, (well, at least most of them) I felt like saying, "You know, we're here year-round. It would be nice to see you more than once a year."

The Importance of Mise en Place: or how to be a jackass in 5 excruciating hours

After I wrote the title I realized the first part of it sounded all pretentious and Thomas Keller-like. I also realized there are a number of "day in the life of a chef" things published. But that's the key word. Published. In order to get people to buy your editor helps craft this persona, which may be an extension of yourself, or may be just a projection of what you'd like to be. The problem is obviously you become one-dimensional, whether you're a wanna-be badass like Anthony Bourdain, an old world style craftsman like Paul Bertolli or an arch old queen like Jeremiah Tower. The most real example I've read has been "The Wife of the Chef" by Courtney Febbroriello". So what I'm saying in this blog isn't something new, but hopefully something honest.

As for mise en place, I should never have quit the Webelos, perhaps if I had made it to Scout I'd be always prepared. Yesterday, after getting sidetracked by Juxtapoz magazine and checking out a wonderful bunch of pop surrealists, I get to work late, to be faced with a a letter complaining about the restaurant. We get one about every year or so, so hopefully this takes care of us till at least 2006. Not a great way to start the day and I'm trying to change the dessert menu. The circus people are in the restaurant doing rigging for our anniversary dinner/performance and they have the inevitable few questions. The decisions on the new desserts went quickly but the prep was daunting. Part of making everything in house with a minimal crew means I end up trying to do more than we  actually can and am constantly pushing myself and staff.

Service starts, desserts still aren't finished, panna cotta is not setting up properly and the freezer which has been steadily increasing in temperature, keeps increasing. Gelatos are soupy. The repair guy was just there yesterday for another refrigerator, I had asked him to look at the freezer but he didn't have time.

And we're busy as hell. In the past MLK weekend hasn't been busy but not this year. So, I proceed to be stressed out and a total jerk to my waiters. All because I'm not prepared. I should have added this to my list of resolutions. Be prepared. Always. And if you can't be prepared, at least be nice.

Dining in San Francisco

Haven't updated for a few days. Not that any one reads this anyway but... Just returned from 3 days in SF which happily coincided with their Dine About Town promotion. 3 course meals, lunch $22, dinner $33 at participating restaurants. Glad to see January is the doldrums for the Bay Area as well, not just the sticks.

Oddly enough we didn't end up going to too many of the places listed. However, lunch at One Market  was wonderful. Not just saying this because I did my externship at Lark Creek Inn.On the way in I ran into co-owner Michael Dellar who had presented me with an award from the American Institute of Food & Wine way back in my student days. I've seen him at a few panel discussions throughout the years and he's always remembered me. Now that I'm on the road to feeling 100%, I'm going to write him a letter asking if I could stage there. All my experience has been in relatively small, scratch kitchens. I'd like to see how a bigger operation is organized.

Back to lunch, White Bean Soup with Crispy Fennel, Duck Risotto, and Pear Turnovers with Cinnamon Ice Cream. Our lovely manager had a Winter Salad (lots of veggies on the mandolin), Skate with Mustard Sauce and Mini Creme Brulees.

Dinner at Piperade was hit or miss. Sat at the bar, got an assortment of small plates, the best of which was Whole prawns with garlic, parsley and lemon. The Warm sheep's milk cheese and ham terrine was pretty damn good also. Warm piquillo peppers with goat cheese, California raisins and moscatel vinaigrette were not really my thing, but I'm not a big stuffed pepper fan. Our GM thoroughly enjoyed them. Bacalao fritters with pimenton aioli were decent as well but hey, they're fried. The taloa (a Basque whole wheat pizza) was a soggy mess.

The great thing for me was seeing Gerald Hirigoyen bussing tables, running food, greeting guests and opening the door for people to leave. This is stuff I routinely do and sometimes wonder how it looks to the diners.

The following day was the updated diner day. Luna Park for lunch and Chow for dinner. Monte Cristo for me and Cheelitz Flatwich with Tomato Soup for her. Was fine but given the Chow connection (chef/owner worked for a long time at Chow) and that we don't drink, I think we'll stick with Chow. Unless of course we're wandering around the Mission. Chow never disappoints although on Tuesday we went during peak dinner hour, which we've never done before. Food still good but the service missing their usual snap and sparkle.

Next day Hard Knox Cafe for Turkey Wings, collard greens, black-eyed peas and rice, as well as Fried chicken, collards and green beans. Place was deservedly packed for lunch. Good solid Southern food, not fussed with, (unlike the Blue Jay Cafe which we were excited about given Patricia Unterman's review).  We ran into a former employee on the street in the afternoon and met at Taqueria La Corneta for dinner. Nothing special, but not bad either.

Getting ready to head into work to assess the damage. The whiny Republican sous chef, was whining on Tuesday evening that it was busy. Granted, he was working a new menu with an under trained guy but his attitude just stinks. Instead of being excited about the challenge, he's always looking for a way to make it a drag. This year, and early this year, he's going to have to change or move on.

Winter Menu

Is finished. At least the first go round. We usually do the major change then tweak it in the succeeding weeks. I don't knw why I put myself under such pressure, it's only food. But I read a quote from Alison Barshak talking about new dishes and she said "I want things to sell really well". I guess I do too. I hate to have dogs on the menu.

Since I've been working on the menu I excused myself from the dish a day requirement. Back to it today. Even though I have 5 other event menus to do.

I'm a little worried about going to San Francisco in a few days. New menu, low on staff, one of the few restaurants open here this time of year. Hmmm. I think we'll be alright but this only brings up my fundamental skepticism about our staff. May the heavens send me a qualified, likeable, easy-going culinary partner to work with. Soon.