Juanito

Well done. The memories came flooding back. Actually, in looking at the carte (thanks so much for including that) for L'ami Louis, it is more reasonable than I had imagined. Everyone always says how expensive it is, but it seems as if one can dine for $125 pp or so. Not so out of line, IMO.

I ignore the sell by date, but I always give the milk a sniff prior to using it, whether it's been in the fridge for an hour, or a week. Just a habit, I guess.

It is available all over California. The bread is sold par baked, and frozen. It simply needs a ten minute "finishing" in the oven, and, viola, freshly baked bread. I sell tons of the stuff. I really like their demi baguette for sandwiches. And they have something they call a rustique roll, that also makes a good sandwich. Any foodservice distributor worth its salt is carrying this product now.

If your suppliers are familiar with, or have access to, the NAMP (National Assoc of Meat Purveyors) Guide, tell them you want #118 beef brisket. That is the whole brisket with the deckle still on. (120 would be deckle off) Depending upon the weight range of the animal it comes from, it could weigh as little as 12lbs or as much as 20+

are you new at this? A confirmed number is just that, the number of meals you will provide, and for which the client is to pay. No way should you absorb the cost. No way. That must be your policy. This will happen again and again. You might as well set your precedent now.

I think this is a really, really bad idea.

Just to add another data point, my wife and I dined at Ze in April, and loved our meal. We found the service more than accomodating, the dishes interesting, tasty, and artfully presented, and the atmosphere fun and energizing. I've not yet read the Lipp thread, but I will say we did not enjoy our meal there. I thought the choucroute sucked, and they were out of Riesling, for god's sake. It's been said that there are no great wines, just great bottles. Maybe there are no great restaurants, just great meals. J

Your concern regarding noise is well founded. True and Traulsen, both mentioned in this thread, make fine units, but they are going to make noise. In a commercial kitchen, that's no big deal. In your house, I think you will find it annoying, to say the least. And the heat. My God, the heat. These things throw a ton of it. So unless you're going all the way with a split system (compressors outside) I would advise against a commercial refrigerator in the home.

The first time I popped one in the oven, I thought to myself, "if you were so smart, you wouldn't be going in the oven now, would you?"

Our local market was carrying these a while back, and I began to buy them. They're fantastic. I only bought the whole bird, and found it about 50% more in price than a supermarket bird - but still, a bargain for a product this good. Sadly others didn't agree, because the market has now discontinued them. One of the things I found when roasting these babies is that they smell "chickenier" than supermarket birds. My whole house smelled wonderful. The skin is indeed the best part, getting all crispy crackly, but the meat is tender and moist and loaded with flavor. Highly recommended!!

bread pasta oranges

When you get to the Carmel/Monterey area, go to the Inn at Spanish Bay. Try to time your visit for sunset. You don't have to eat, but you can sit near the golf course, on the cliffs of the Pacific, around the fire pits, have a few cocktails, and listen to the strolling bagpiper play. It's an unforgettable experience.

Balsamic vinegar on EVERYTHING, and sun dried tomatoes. Please, make it stop.

Servers in fine dining establishments addressing my table as "you guys" Servers responding to "thank you" with "no problem" rather than "you're welcome" Neither of these items will cause the earth to leave its orbit, but they just get under my skin, for some reason

Sand dab?

The meal to serve would be the typical Santa Maria/Santa Ynez barbecue, which, btw, is an excellent match with the local Pinot Noir. Any grilling needs to happen over red oak: Appetizer: grilled linguica Main course: grilled tri tips or whole tops and grilled split chickens pinquito beans iceberg/romaine salad with oil and vinegar dressing grilled garlic bread Dessert : your call

We were there two weeks ago, and I'll second the recco for Ze Kitchen Galerie. We enjoyed terrific, professional service, and beautifully presented, tasty food in what I thought was a very attractive space. We also had a very good meal at Fish, but not in the same category as ZKG, IMO.

Yeah, I'm a big Louie and Ernie's fan - everytime I'm in NY, I hit that spot once or twice. They just recently remodeled. I've also been happy with the slices at Full Moon - while certainly not my favorite Bronx pie, it's heads and shoulders above Catania's, at the other end of the street. I still like Catania's calzone, though.

Just to set the record straight, I said that the food cost in some dishes might be as high as 45%. I did not say, nor did I mean to imply, that the total food cost was that high. That surely would be a recipe for disaster.

Where does this idea that restaurants don't make money on the food come from? I've seen it here, and elsewhere, and I simply don't think it is true. To be sure, wine sales are a very effective way to boost check averages, and profitablility. Still, if the menu is priced correctly, the restaurant should make a profit even if not one diner orders wine. The food cost in some dishes might be as high as 45%, but overall, it's probably between 35 and 40. If they serve lots of pasta, it's probably a hell of a lot lower. Labor, another 35 or 40 on the high side. The other crap comes out of the remainder, and if things are going right, there's 10% or so left over for the operator. In working with operators costing out menus, I've never, ever had someone say, we're not making anything on this dish, but we'll make it up on wine sales. Not one time. Typically, we figure the cost of the ingredients on the plate, and divide by .3, and a buck or two to cover linens and bread and sides, and that's it. Others, rather than divide, multiply by a factor of 3 or 4 (or even 5). There's profit in the food. Now one might make the argument that it's not enough profit, and that's why we want to boost check averages by selling wine. Still, there's more than one way to skin a cat - sell fewer bottles at a high mark up, or more bottles at a lower mark up. I believe the latter method puts more dollars in the checkbook. Of course, I don't own a restaurant.

Matthew, no, I don't own a restaurant. I do work in the periphery of the business, however, and I understand the economics. Your 4 to 12% figure is right on the money. It still doesn't justify the need for the kinds of markups we're talking about here. If I did own a restaurant, I'd rather sell more bottles of wine at a lesser markup, than fewer bottles at a higher markup. You bank dollars, not percentages. My wife and I dine out often, and we generally like to have a white or sparkler with our apps and salad, and a red with our entrees. More often than not, the markups make me think twice about that approach, and I'll forego the first bottle to keep the check within my budget. So the operator that could have sold me two bottles winds up selling me one. In the process, they'll likely clear less gross profit dollars on my meal than they otherwise could have. The lower markup approach is working in practice. Ask the folks at Plumpjack's in San Francisco. At the Biltmore here in Santa Barbara, they have one night a week where every wine on their list is half price. Can you guess which night they move the most wine? Great markups do nothing for an operator's profit margin if it dissuades clients from ordering wine.

You're preaching to the choir. It really bothers me to pay obscene markups on mediocre bottlings. Until the dining public slams shut their collective wallet, and orders iced tea with their meals, or better yet, enthusiastically support those operators that have a sane approach to wine pricing, the fleecing will continue. I recently read a book by restaurant critic Alan Richman, and my favorite line in it was this: Any restaurant can list wine. I'm interested in restaurants that want to sell wine.

Meatless Fridays are my tradition, too. Sadly, my wife doesn't care to participate, thus requiring two separate dinners to be cooked on Friday nights, which can often be a PITA. My SOP is to have a pasta dish or soup first. That would likely be escarole and beans, pasta e fagioli, or spaghetti alia olio. I will follow that up with a piece of fish, last night, it was polenta coated trout filet, pan fried. It could just have easily been roasted salmon or halibut, or stuffed filet of sole. You know, whatever looks good in the fish case that day. Anyway, I'm glad to see I have company in my avoidance of meat on Fridays. Most of the people who know me think I am nuts for sticking to this now mostly out of favor tradition.

We plunged and made reservations to travel from CA and visit Paris for the first time, for one week. Not realizing that Easter Sunday and Monday were such big holidays, we timed our arrival for Easter Sunday, sometime mid afternoon. We figure once we get settled in our hotel, in the 6th, we'll get out for a walk and get our bearings. We're concerned about dinner, however. The first night in town is often a challenge, and this will be more so because of the holiday. We won't want a fancy, formal dinner the first night, so does anyone have any recommendations of a bistro type place that might be open that evening? And will we need reservations for a party of two? TIA

Restaurants use 35lb containers of oil - you should be able to find them at Costco, Smart & Final, or your neighborhood food distributor. It should cost you around $30.