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 Adrià 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/
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.
