Friday, April 19, 2013

Till We Meet Again, Vin Antico

Risk: verb; act or fail to act in such a way as to bring about the possibility of an unpleasant or unwelcome event: Life is full of risk. I am not going to bore you with all of the definitions of Risk; be it a noun, verb or board game. Let it be suffice to say that life is full of risk. I risk my comfort by waking up in the morning and hoping our rickety old dog has not left another "dog bomb" next to my slippers each day.

Nothing is more risky than venturing out on your own while others may mock or ridicule you as you are putting your self, your reputation, your fortunes at "risk ". One of the most risky financial ventures is to open a restaurant. Being either a visionary like Ferran AdriĆ  with his ground-breaking elBulli or Carl Karcher's first hot dog stand, which later became Carl's Jr (Hardee's if you are on the East Coast) you will undertake risk.

High rate of failure, low profit margins, increasing food and labor cost, insurance premiums, fickle diners... sure, I want to go into a business like that. Every once in a while a gem may shine in the culinary world. Maybe for a short magical time. The memory of a romantic dinner with a loved one, meeting out of town friends, a quiet dinner with a family member burns in my memory like midnight oil sometimes. Having the setting, tone, food and service all come together is magic.

Vin Antico was one of those magical places to dine. Chef Ed Vigil could turn ordinary farm to table bill into a Mediterranean landscape. Using recipes from Spain, Italy and France made Vin Antico the best restaurant starchy, uptight Marin County ever had. Had? Had did you say? Yes, sadly, had.

This momentary gem, for undisclosed reasons, is no more. I had my first fiddle head fern, dancing with orange zest and madeira wine with fine seasonally available vegetables, cooked to perfection there. Marin County never knows a good thing until it is gone.

Marin County will continue consuming fondue dipped cheese burgers as it ever has done in the past. Continually wishing for something new but afraid to change. Marin County is hanging on to memories of acid indulged past, burning out on the Grateful Dead while the rest of the world has moved on once again.

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2013/01/28/san-rafaels-vin-antico-is-no-more/

Monday, April 15, 2013

Toast should be Toast

The culinary world is a beast and extracts a high price to those who work in the field. It is full of long hard thankless hours pressed into service cooking to the masses. As a cook, you feel very much like Charlton Heston in Ben Hur, rowing on a galley ship awaiting the slave-master's lash or death. It is a feeling I am oh so familiar with thus, I am sympathetic to the plight of the line cook. Anyone who has worked in the hospitality field knows that there are three NEVERS:
1) You never know when your guests will show up
2) You never know what they will order
3) You never know how much they will eat.
Any good General Manger, Owner, Kitchen Manger, Chef or Line Cook will tell you that. These are some of the fundamentals which will help you plan for a successful dining experience and help you to have return customers.

I am glutton for punishment. There I admitted it; that is why I play the lottery hoping some day I will ensure my good fortune and never have to work again. I, however, am not a glutton for punishment when it comes to dining. This could either be from a hip new food truck to an old pedigreed established restaurant. If the food is poorly done I most likely won't be back. This bring us to my latest dining adventure. Being still new to Charlotte we have asked for tips on where to find good food and have found most everyone loves Toast Cafe http://www.toasthousecafe.com/
.

This well loved family staple has been serving the Charlotte area for years. I am trying to understand why? Okay, I may be sounding like a soulless elitists from California picking on the the natives of Charlotte but, rest assured, friends this is not the case. My wife and I first tried Toast Cafe shortly after we first arrived here in Charlotte. We where pleasantly surprised by the quality of food and service from Toast Cafe. However on two other occasions our hopes have been dashed. Poor service and even poorer food was to be found in abundance when we took an out of town guess with us to Toast Cafe before the holidays on a busy Sunday morning.

Hoping that this was an "off day", we where willing to let things slide . Retuning today knowing on a slower day with fewer patrons amassing like a barbarian hordes we where sure that no mistakes would be possible. Right? Wrong!

How can you over cook toast and serve it cold with piping hot eggs and under cooked, cold hash browns? Or serve luke warm mushroom soup with an ice cold, semi-toasted meatloaf sandwich? This was after waiting 20 minutes for food that couldn't have had more than 8 minutes of prep on a slow day?

The General Manger did comp the meal so that was something I guess. Yes I maybe a glutton for punishment but, I am not stupid. Like Charlton Heston in Ben Hur, I will be watching the slave-master go down with his ship.