Knife's Edge - Restaurant Rants & Raves

Becoming an Owner

Someone pointed out I shouldn't leave readers dangling. The plumbing was fixed the morning after the debacle. Fortunately our city council member-plumber is a really skinny guy and was able to wriggle under the building to get to the spot where the blockage was. Mr Screwed did his bit and the water flows freely. The music is back on and spring weather prevails.

It evidently is spring break somewhere in our trading area. The customers have kept coming. Fortunately after Monday we are better prepared. Unfortunately, this means no days off. This is what an old friend calls a high class problem.

The new menu approach is working. At least for me it is. Our asparagus dish was tanking and the price of asparagus shot through the roof so we replaced it with grilled vegetables and green pea pancakes.

I've tried out two of the new Mayans although it was pretty hard to evaluate one of them since it was the evening of hell. I'm calling them today to offer jobs and to see when they can start. I've got two more tryouts, both part-timers and I'm pretty sure I'll be hiring one of them.

This is part of my plan to become an owner. My business card says chef/owner but my day typically doesn't reflect that. Most of my days are spent doing prep, production and working the line. All of which I love but all of which can be done by others. Thomas Keller can give a nice interview and say he loves to tourne a case of artichokes, and he probably does but if he doesn't do it, it will get done. He also said in an interview when he opened Bouchon that the French Laundry has fulfilled his creative goals, Bouchon will fill his financial goals.

Don't get me wrong. Thomas Keller I'm not, nor do I think I'd want to be. But I do need to spend less time as a line cook and more time on new dishes. More time on equipment maintenance schedules to avoid problems like we've had. More time giving menus to local B&B's. More time focusing on ordering, cost control and better sources. More time at home to enjoy what I'm working hard to afford.

The GM is much better than I at systems and holding people accountable for their implementation. Perhaps she can help me work out a reasonable schedule for myself and my crew. I don't want to remove myself from the kitchen and I don't want things to fall apart when I have to.

Don't worry though. I'm sure there will be other crises to entertain you.

We've been getting some beautiful wild striped bass. Last night we served it with a ruby port sauce. I've been getting a lot of inspiration from Alfred Portale lately. I know Gotham style presentation is a bit hackneyed these days so I'm not doing architecture (ok, some of the desserts maybe) but there's much about his style that attracts me. He's in NY, 12th street to be exact, he has a background in jewelry design, he's not gay although looking at him with his arched, plucked looking eyebrows and what looks like a layer of pancake makeup but is probably an artificially maintained tan you might think he was a big queen, he really revolutionized presentation of food and until pretty recently with his partnership with Mr. Starr of Philadelphia has stuck to one restaurant, unlike many high profile chefs.

On the last paragraph, I'm not saying being gay is a bad thing. But when you're straight and you're a guy who doesn't like sports, likes fashion, reads Genet, Mishima and Rechy alongside Miller (Arthur and Henry) and Mailer and know who Tallulah Bankhead was sometimes people get confused. I hear the term for this is metrosexual but I'm not in a metro area and it's kind of a stupid word. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Let's just I'm more drawn to Portale's style than say, Charlie Palmer's who looks like a football bully.

OK, off to the dentist, then a little prep, then to acupuncture, then back for another evening of hopefully very busy, very smooth service.

When It Rains

it's usually good for business. The cliche applies as well.

Today, I'm preparing to have one of my new potential employees come in and had called to have our drains snaked since they have been acting sluggish. In between calls a woman whom I do some board work with comes by to arrange a meeting. We agree to 11 am tomorrow. The plumber and the new hire arrive at the same time. I'm trying to deal with the plumber who appears to know less than I about the working of drains and grease traps, which is scary, since the extent of my plumbing knowledge is that most plumbers have big, hairy ass cracks. So his snake encounters nothing, I show him the grease trap, he professes total ignorance, does what he thinks is right, leaves and sure enough my drain backs up. Mind you we are upstairs and the water which is overflowing will eventually leak onto the lower level.

A few calls later I locate the only service in town which can handle the job. This guy comes out and claims he can't get access and starts talking about blazing holes in the side of the building. His most frequent comment,"You're screwed." is not exactly what I want to hear. He is however, a nice guy and wants to help.We follow the lines as best we can, he opens the trap and is digging the thing out by hand, we get water flowing but there appears to be a block between the trap and the city sewer line so he calls another plumber, who sits on the city council. He is just about to go to a city council meeting so he won't be coming until tomorrow morning (today most likely for you dear reader). Many "you're screwed's" later I realize it's basically time to open and I hope the crucial things on the prep list have been done. I come up with a quick and dirty (very dirty) plan of action which will allow us to operate safely until we can resolve the problem. Just as I am coming up the stairs another Mayan guy is asking "You have one work for me?" I tell him to come back tomorrow.

Oh, did I mention the wind and hail storm last night blew the satellite for our music system out of alignment so there is no music in the entire building, just the noise of the construction of the raw foods cooking school which is going in across from us. Yes, raw and cooking school is a bit of an oxymoron but believe me, it'll be better than what was there. So I choose some cd's, throwing in some weird instrumental stuff I like to listen to to break up the (mostly) Mingus, Monk, et al. Things are set up, I tell the waiters we're running the same specials as last night but that may change if we can get things sorted out.

Thankfully I have one solid guy to help train the try-out because we then proceed to get our asses kicked. We track our numbers and average them out to get a reasonable guess as to what we expect for the evening. We should have done mid-50's tonight and wound up with 97, running out of bread at the end of the evening. Chaos ruled, food was given away, one waiter who had come in for dinner on her night off had to get up, put on her apron and start helping.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to assess this new guy. He I'm sure is seriously rethinking his desire for a position. My weird music is bothering some patrons and then starts bothering our maverick waiter who keeps turning the music off. When I can I am checking our downstairs drain (which is away from any other businesses and hidden) and sure enough it's making the mess I knew it would.

It felt like 6 years ago when we opened without enough staff and did twice as many people as we were expecting. Hey, wait a minute...

It also didn't help that the two waiters on tonight were the weakest ones we have. Actually one does alright but she has been on extended vacation is just getting back into the swing.

The night ends, I tell the new guy I'll call him tomorrow because today wasn't a real good day to evaluate and I've got another guy coming in to try out. I tell the dishwasher what to do about the downstairs drain. I try walking the dogs. We do for a minute but they're both in training mode right now (actually I am in training mode, they're just suffering along) and a bit excited and I am a bit frustrated and I'm sure you can see that's not a good recipe so I decided we should make it brief. The pouring rain didn't make the decision any harder either.

I hope Mr Screwed can figure out how to get the job done. I miss Michel (the person who built the place for us). I certainly miss him as a friend and I miss him as a problem solver. If it wasn't for him we might not have a restaurant because we couldn't find anyone smart enough to handle all the problems of construction on the second floor of a majestic 100 year old redwood monument that was built long before there was a Uniform Building Code.

For consolation I checked the sopressata while we're doing inventory. Oh, did I mention we have a theft problem? In two weeks over a half case of wine (various bottles) had disappeared. More in the neighborhood of 8 bottles. We're trying to solve it but it's a bit difficult because we have no doors and can't lock the place up. WHAT? No doors? Yep. The building has doors but we don't, we're on the mezzanine and if the building's open anyone can get in to our space. This has its advantages like purveyors being able to leave orders when no one is there and mostly we seem to have had good luck with "shrinkage", but it does make it difficult to tell whether it's an employee or not. The sausage looks beautiful. So does the guanciale.

I've at this point really only mentioned the major stuff. There are dozens of other little deadlines and explosions popping like firecrackers all around us. The magazine that wants a photo of a dish with barbecue sauce. The description of the restaurant in a tourist mag we've been trying to fine-tune for a few weeks. Family Easter brunch at our house, out of town appointments and visits, an upcoming winery consultancy,  a building we've had our eye on for some time becoming available and trying to see if relocation is an option. And so on, and so on.

One of these days I will write about cooking. Or at least food.

Light at the End of the Yucatan Peninsula

It appears the Mayan calvary will be saving my ass for summer. The brother of one of my current part-timers has applied as have two other Mayans who work at other places (they'd keep their current jobs). All three speak English and at least two of them have substantial work experience. I think the third does as well but am not sure.

I think I'm going to hire all three. I need more room in the schedule and more time to be a chef not a line cook. Plus with people who have two jobs you need to have a bit of a backup because at some point schedules will collide or they'll start to get burnt out. Now if one of them turns out to be really interested in food, so much the better.

Best Tools

People say your best tools are your hands and your knives. As to importance some say the former is more important and some say the latter. I'd say tools in order of importance: brain, mouth, hands, knife.

Had a massive filling done Thursday and it hurt all Friday, even after a followup with the dentist and 3 doses of 600mg ibuprofen. When you can't chew, it's pretty hard to cook at an inspired level

Dara Moskowitz Please Move to California

I see on other blogs links to favorite food writers so here's my entry. Dara Moskowitz you say. Who's she? Restaurant reviewer for City Pages Minneapolis that's who.

She's got the perfect balance for a food critic. She has personality, she's funny but in a non-annoying way, she's willing to educate her readers about not only food but the importance of supporting local businesses, she's fair although the link to this article might make her seem otherwise, she's just catty enough unlike the British press who are fun to read but you'd shudder to be on the receiving end and most importantly, she seems to be knowledgeable about food.

I say seems because I've never eaten anywhere she's reviewed so I don't know if I can really trust her palate. Maybe her local readers will tell me she is completely off the mark but I don't think so.

Part of her appeal for me is she is thoroughly entrenched in her location. She knows the history of the town, palates of her readers and is involved in her community.

However, if she wanted to move to California, particularly Northern California, there is a job I would lobby ferociously for her to get. The daily paper which serves our area has a "food writer" who is a joke. His writing is weak, his food knowledge marginal and even as entertainment he just lacks. He's in one of the major wine producing regions of California with restaurants that are among the best in the country. Why the paper employs him is beyond me. Perhaps he has some serious dirt on the publisher.

So, though I know the hope is slim, please Dara, come enjoy California. We need you.

Tourism and The Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company

Struggling with menu terminology and marketing always bring up the question of identity, which in turn makes me wonder how to reconcile the various aspects of my personality and to be able to present them in a palatable way.

Let me illustrate. In this month's Food & Wine there's a full page ad for Monterey County and at the the top of ad is a quote from Henry Miller. Now I never got the opportunity to meet him when he was alive but something tells me the author of "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare" might not have been thrilled at seeing his work used to attract tourists to his beloved Big Sur.

As a young man I read everything by Miller I could find and no, not for its use as one-handed literature. Now I sit on the board of 2 promotional organizations one for our county (which is not Monterey) and the other for our town. I have turned into the most horrible of creatures. The Junior League Booster.

The GM points out to me that it's important I do these things, not just to attract business to our area but from what my perspective may bring to the table. She's got a point, but there's a nagging voice in my head that tells me the young man I was isn't entirely happy with the man I'm becoming.

I sure as hell would have nixed the idea of using Henry Miller as a promotional vehicle but another side of me wonders if that's such a bad idea. Perhaps if Monterey County built something more substantial around Miller in order to bring his ideas about America into the mainstream that wouldn't be bad. Unfortunately though I think as deep as it goes is an ad in a glossy lifestyle magazine.

To quote Henry, "To be generous is to give before the man even opens his mouth." How to take this to heart while engaged in what is at once one of the most elemental (feeding people) and frivolous (feeding people with excess income as entertainment) vocations is my eternal dilemma.

St. John's We're Not

Pig update.

Guanciale is hanging. Will be ready about three weeks from now.

Soppresata is looking and smelling tasty. Still a good way to go.

Bacon is at this very minute smoking in the backyard. Every dog in the neighborhood is jealous.

We've been serving the fresh ham, usually paired with coppa di testa since on its own the coppa doesn't sell. Again, one of those things that if people just tried it, they'd love it but getting them to order it.... A friend forwarded an article from the San Jose Mercury News about dishes that don't sell. As always, the message I come away with is marketing, marketing, marketing. What to call something so people will try it.

Fergus Henderson can get away with selling pig's spleen. But he's in London and there are a few million more potential customers there than here.

I don't want to play it safe. But I don't want to throw away food either.

We Need Help

Haven't blogged much lately because first we've been out of town, then playing catch-up from the accumulation of things and then because we've been unseasonably busy. Or so it seems. The numbers actually seem consistent with previous years.

One thing is for sure. I've got to find some other people for the kitchen soon. One pantry person is leaving in a week with no replacement in sight. My star line cook has been doing a really great job lately. I think he got the word from his cousin who works part time for us that the main reason he doesn't have the sous job is because his English skills aren't quite there. When I promoted him to cook a few years ago we agreed he would learn English as part of his end of the bargain. He understands quite a bit but is painfully shy about speaking. I am no help either as I continue to speak to him in my fractured Spanglish.

So I'm still in a bind. Small town, no cooks. No housing so bringing outsiders is difficult. Tried to post listings with my alma mater, CCA and didn't hear from the placement person until after we returned and couldn't call back until today which I will do after blogging.

We are known to some as the neighborhood restaurant that overachieves. This is more true today than a few years ago. The desserts particularly have become much more lavish, which on the whole is a good thing but almost getting to the point of needing a dedicated pastry assistant.

So all you cooks who are dying to move to the country and want to work somewhere where you will learn everything you wanted to know about all aspects of cooking, send an  email ngaudi@yahoo.com . I'll put a hut in my backyard.

But We Live in San Francisco

Meaning, we sleep up here but get our cultural and culinary fix in SF. We just returned from a quick trip which was filled with less dining than usual. We did try Lichee Gardens on Powell where the food was quite good, especially the curry pan-fried noodles but the teapot was so filthy it made me question whether I should eat the rest of the meal. Monday found us at Memphis Minnie's on Haight St. The brisket was great, the rib tips good, should have skipped the chicken. The GM wasn't wild about the really sweet greens but the rest of the sides, mac n cheese, red beans and rice, and the corn muffin were well-executed. We got the opportunity to chat with Bob Kantor, the owner, to compliment him on a well-run, well-intentioned place. Go there and help him save real barbecue from extinction. That night we wound up at Shalimar on Jones and it was the best Indian meal we've had in a few months. The lamb curry was rich and the carrot cooked in milk with coriander and sugar was a dessert after my own heart, not too sweet and just the right thing after the spice of the meal.

Tried the Baglery on Polk on Tuesday. Just to be obnoxious, I have to say it. It's not New York. We're tempted to open a deli and call it "It's Not New York Deli", because that will be the inevitable comment from 75% of the customers. Wasn't bad, wasn't good. SF is not a bagel town. The burger at Taylor's in the Ferry Building was nothing to recommend either. Perhaps I'm just bitter about getting about a ticket. Nah, the GM's burger was cold, my patty melt had marbled rye (why?, what's wrong with monochromatic rye?) that had been sitting under the heat lamp for way too long. The quest for the perfect SF burger is still on.

Wednesday was a day for meeting new people and starting to really get to know others. Lunch at Fish in Sausalito fit the weather and the mood. We met a woman we've known for a while but have only recently found out just how fascinating she is. She lived in NYC in the mid-fifties-early sixties and was in a circle of amazing writers, musicians and artists. She's a terrific writer herself and we're quite thankful to be getting to hear more of her story. It was also nice to sit on the dock, eat a crab roll and watch the bay.

We had dinner with Pim who was one of the inspirations for this blog. A casual encounter at Kiss a few months ago led to discovering her blog via Saute Wednesday and my deciding that blogging would be a good outlet for me. We went to Ton Kiang on Geary and ordered too much food for 3 people but we usually order too much food for 2 people so this was a welcome change. The salt and pepper calamari was good but after her recommendation of Yuet Lee's version, I'd like to try it. I think I'd prefer the less battered. The peas shoots were great, bits of caramelized garlic offsetting the tender spring sweetness. The emein with crab was fine but nothing spectacular and I loved the oxtail clay pot even if it was a bit heavy for the season and the day. Most of conversation is not yet for public consumption but I will say we share an admiration for Delfina on 18th.

Between those two meals I was able to get yet more clarity on who we are as restaurant owners and what is appropriate for our location. We are a casual, friendly place with good, palate-pleasing food. While I might have fantasies about trying to be a high-end place at some point, it just isn't our location, and I must admit, it just isn't me. However, I don't think I'll ever lose the longing because I've never actually had the experience. If I get the chance I'd like to stage at a place like the French Laundry, or Daniel or some ridiculously expensive haute cuisine palace with precise, challenging plates, just to confirm I'm doing what I should be doing. And what I should be doing right now is getting to work.

It Takes a Village

It's time for our monthly jaunt to SF which is part of what makes it possible for us to live here. We share an apartment with a few other couples who live here and our share of the rent gets us a weeks worth of time. Not, mind you that we ever use that much. Maybe once. But we do get to go away for 4-5 days per month.

Of course the consequences are being away from the restaurant for that long, which is good for our psyches but not so good for the wallet and sometimes the reputation. Even so, having the stimulation of city life has made both of us a lot more comfortable here. After writing that sentence I can't believe I'm calling SF a city. When I moved there from NYC I thought I had moved to a village. Little did I know... Not to insult any San Franciscans, I indeed had a vigorous argument with Paul Bartolotta about what was the best restaurant town in the US.His contention was NY because the top talent was there and "you can bring in anything from all over the world". My theory was that I could walk into a cafe just about anywhere in SF and find a well-prepared meal, probably made with local ingredients, not something flown in from around the world. So sure, if you're going to Daniel, Jean-Georges, Per Se et al NY is a great restaurant town. But for everyday eating SF beats it hands down.

That said, we're always looking for new things to try so if anyone has any suggestions, please post them. I'm not sure I'll get to a computer on this trip but at least they'll be on file for next time.