But I Still Want to Dine Out!

Top of mind today: how most restaurants (I'd say all, but then again, I've been to LoCoco's twice of late and each time it's been a zoo) have been impacted by the economic downturn. Today while talking with my chef friend Monica Sallouti (no web--yet), she mentioned several restaurants that she's heard are hurting. And there's a big article in today's Press-Democrat how more business workers are brown-bagging their lunch (bringing their own) as opposed to eating out (even a $5 sub sandwich... with a drink and a bag of chips... adds up if done 3-4-5 times per week). But in Every Meal A Feast land, I still want to dine out! So here are some of my thoughts and what I do to help my dollars go farther and still eat out.

1. More and more, before a nice meal, I like to eat a small appetizer (usually some cheese and crackers) and drink half a glass of wine AT HOME, before going to the restaurant. Not only does this help keep the bill low (less wine, I usually skip an appetizer), it helps take the edge off my hunger, which allows me to relax and enjoy the meal more, particularly if I've caught the restaurant at a busy time or when waits are long.

2. I've stopped buying bottles of wine. Instead, I order the best wine-by-the-glass that they have and try to have just one glass. By savoring one glass of a high-quality wine, my bill stays low... and I usually feel better too. (And if I don't particularly care for the wine, I only have to drink one glass, as opposed to being "stuck" with a bottle.)

3. I'm much more apt these days to have dessert and a glass of port AT HOME after the restaurant. Again, two benefits: keeps my restaurant tab low, and stretches out the meal, aiding digestion and incorporating, I like to think, the 'slow' food movement of not rushing through a meal. (In fact, this concept can almost become like a progressive dinner: appetizer at home, entree at the restaurant, dessert at a coffee shop or back at home, etc.).

Anyway, I still want to dine out OFTEN... and the just-mentioned ways help me do so. Cheers.

The Fantasy Rages: Shine On

The butcher arrives, looking like he woke up under a bridge. I rush downstairs, hot on his heels, to pick up my meat order: a towering stack of milk crates, loaded with plastic-wrapped côtes due boeuf, entrecotes, rumpsteaks, racks of lamb, lamb stew meat, merquez, saucisson de Toulouse, rosette, pork belly, onglets, scraps, meat for tartare, pork tenderloins larded with bacon and garlic, pâtés, rillettes, galatines and chickens.

~ Tony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential

My restaurant, of course, will need wine. And since it's my restaurant (well, maybe the concept, anyway), it should have my wine in it, right? Anyway, let's just say that wheels-are-in-motion re: my friends at the Wine Country Inn coming out, in 2009, with their own wine label. How does this work? Do we have to make the wine? No! Let me let you in on a little secret in the wine world, one only spoken about in the most hushed tones: not every winery sells all its wine. There! It's been said in public. (I feel better, somehow.) So what we're doing is talking to several wineries who have, shall we say, extra wine... which they bottle but then don't put their labels on. Later, when they find someone like us, we put our labels on their wine. Viola! Our wine. These unlabeled wine bottles even have their own name: shiners (see pic).

Anyway, Jim and I are now involved in a very intensive exploration, tasting various wines, negotiating prices, etc. In my mind, I'm playing with label concepts, names, the all-important (to me, the marketing guy) story behind the wines, if you will. Things are coming together: spreadsheets, notes scribbled on napkins, and so on. All so that one day when you walk into my restaurant, I can offer you a very small, hand-selected list of wines... including one of our own. Shine on.

The Fantasy Rages...

Twelve noon and already customers are pouring in. I get a quick kick in the crotch right away: an order for porc mignon, two boudins, a liver and a pheasant all on one table.

~ Tony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential

Saturday was an amazing day. In the morning, I suddenly had a zing! an oh-my-God, that-was-the-ONE-card-in-the-deck-I-needed moment. I was getting ready to go help my friend, Monica (no web site), at her catering gig, and it -- inspiration? a moment of grace? -- struck me. I had been thinking about (and talking about, here at Every Meal A Feast) my fantasy to own and run a restaurant. Now the trouble with a restaurant is that you need a lot of, well, stuff: a building, pots and pans, ovens, plates, dishes, refrigerators, permits, tables, chairs, a wine cellar, and so on, ad finitum (or so it seems). It's a lot of coin, in other words. And then it hit me. My friends at the Wine Country Inn have a full kitchen. They have a gorgeous dining room. Because they make and serve a full gourmet breakfast to their guests each day, they have all the "stuff" you need to cook and serve and clean and store. And here's the zing!: It all sits empty every night. That's right; they only do breakfast and some afternoon appetizers. What if I went in there in the evenings and put together a little prix fixe menu, served in-room or in the dining room? I figure I could run things, be the host. I'd need a chef, and a hostest/waitress, probably one runner/dishwasher/cleaner-upper person. That's all. Maybe some young chef, hungry to make a mark. He/she could work out some kinks, experiment a little, get a little resume time in....

Why not? The Inn has 30 rooms. That's a total of 60 people. Most would venture out, but those who wanted to relax, hang out at the Inn.... Something small, limited menu, a limited wine list... only our friends, wines I'd know inside and out. Maybe a little Ghost Horse cab, some Carter Cellars. Maybe during the week we'd even open it up to non-guests, get some local money, if you know what I mean.

D'Artagan arrives, my specialty purveyor, bearing foie gras, duck legs, and an unexpected treat -- a 200-pound free-range pig, whole, which Jose...has ordered for use in pâtés and tête du porc by the charcutier.

Can someone please tell me, why not?

Donning the Apron

"To want to own a restaurant can be a strange and terrible affliction. What causes such a destructive urge in so many otherwise sensible people?"

~ Tony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential

Alas, I must confess: it has been (and growing) a food fantasy of mine to own and run a restaurant. Mentally, I'm playing with concepts, names, locations. Asking little questions here and there; perusing some web sites; jotting a note or two.... Wheels are, as they say, in motion. You will here more about this. When? Well, lets just say the card pulled now is X-The Wheel of Fortune; anything, in other words, is possible.

As part of my make-a-life-in-food-and-wine fantasy, this weekend I'm donning the apron in support of my super-chef friend M., who has a big catering gig and needs my body. (I would give you a link to her web site, or her blog, or her Facebook page or SOMETHING, but she has NONE of these things. I know, I know: It's VERY strange. Maybe one day she'll run into a marketing guy, or something. Anything is possible.) Yes, I'll be serving drinks and passing plates and prepping and clean up and all the 1,001 things that go into making great food and wine look effortless to the people who are supposed to be enjoying themselves. It'll be hot and sweaty and hectic and a bit grueling. And I can't wait.

And oh, yeah: Soon, you'll be hearing about my Every Meal A Feast apron. Here's one I've just developed for my friends at the Wine Country Inn. Cost? Eighteen bucks, plus tax. If you want one, send me an email, and I'll make sure you get one.

The Night My Poker Buddies ATE Very Well

You FROTB will remember the time last June when my poker buddies drank very well (long story short, I took the EXPENSIVE bottle of Conn Valley wine when I thought that I had grabbed the EVERYDAY bottle). Anyway, we played again Friday night, was my turn to host, so I splurged, hiring my friend monica s. who's a certified natural chef and caterer to cook for the guys. WOW! SCORE! Check out this menu:

~ Fresh pineapple and fresh strawberry salsa... with plantain chips

~ Turkey and two-bean chili... with m's spice blend

~ Cornbread with serranos... hot but not hot-hot

~ Spicy lime slaw

~ And m's killer brownies

Awesome! We all loved the chili and cornbread, and Jimmy Z went to town on the slaw, but the real head-spinners-arounders for the night were the salsa and the brownies. m even let me in on her secret brownie ingredient, which is... well, I'm not gonna tell. Not only was the food great and the meal truly a feast, I learned some new things too, such as:

~ m cooked the beans with Kombu seaweed, which helps pre-digest the beans, making them easier for us humans to digest, and

~ m's focus is on "SOUL" food: Seasonal, Organic, Unrefined, and Local.

So all in all, an AWESOME time, and the guys were quite happy. (Robert, was it REALLY necessary though to knee me in the groin, to get to the head of the line? There was PLENTY of food for everyone.) Anyway, give m. a call next time that you want to do something special for a group... or for your family. Contact monica at: (707) 495-4682, or sallouti@sonic.net.

P.S. And do you wanna know the icing on the cake, to use a trite term? Look, ma--NO DISHES!

P.S. And oh, yeah, the Really Important Stuff: yours truly quite held his own and then some in our two poker tournaments as part of our 19-month, winner-goes-to-Vegas-to-play-in-a-World-Series-of-Poker-event tournament, finishing second and second, for a total of 18 points, which was tops for the night. The reason for the high finishes? Well, my usual solid play... and NOT getting out-drawn by one Mr. Jimmy Z (who, seated to my right, once ran into my AA and another time into my KK--ouch!). It's such a nice feeling to be ahead in the hand... and actually win. (James, I hate to say it, but your fate in the two tournies was determined before the first hand, when you picked your seat position and ended up on my right. Oh, well, better LUCK next time....)

Wood-Fired Cooking

In my previous post, I shared my Food Fantasy about purchasing a wood-fired oven. I got the idea for this by attending a couple of months ago a "Wood-Fired Cooking" class through Healdsburg's Relish Cooking School.

The class was awesome. It was hosted by Andrea Mugnaini, whose Mugnaini company has helped re-introduce to the U.S. authentic Italian wood-fired ovens. Andrea cooked all kinds of goodies (see pics below) as well as went over the highlights of wood-fired cooking. Here are some of the tid-bits I took away from her class:

* Wood-fired ovens don't use gas or electricity, and have no moving parts

* You don't use a thermometer to cook: you look at the various colors of the charcoal and use your hand

* When the oven is fully heated, food cooks FAST (pizzas take about 3 minutes)

* While the floors are the thickest part of the oven (cause that's where the fire is), once the oven has heated, the TOP of the oven is actually hotter than the floor

Andrea prepping:

Pizza!

Simple:

Even desserts!

O.K., and if you really want to dream, how about this: every year Andrea leads a week-long "Art of Wood-Fired Cooking" class in...Tuscany. Now THAT would be cool.