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FlourPower

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Everything posted by FlourPower

  1. As mentioned in our PMs a month or two ago, Billy's might be worth a stop.
  2. The Kitchen Table: Brennan's of Houston (Oct., $29.95) by Randy Evans, the restaurant's executive chef, is divided into seven chapters reflecting the seven courses served at Brennan's of Houston. This one's great. The recipe for Tasso ham, although labor-intensive, is worth getting this for alone.
  3. I'm late chiming in on this, but for the love of God do NOT buy a hood new if you can help it. Salvage yards, auctions or even a restaurant supply store with a used one will work just as well and cost less. Save as much as you can.
  4. This is sort of related to the mask thing -- many bakers develop baker's eczema. It itches like crazy and the usual methods of treatment don't seem to work. Our doctor either misdiagnosed it or wasn't familiar with it. It's not as common as it used to be since so many "bakeries" now use frozen or par-baked dough and thus don't have ambient yeast in the bakery. They're not really baking but don't get me started on that. But you know what does work? Monistat or the generic knockoff. No kidding.
  5. You'll get a different answer depending on who you ask. Some would say Johnny's at 32nd and L near the Stockyards but ever since I got an ice cream scoop of braunschweiger and saltines as an "appetizer" I've had a hard time getting past that. Some consider it a classic. To be fair, I haven't been there in 10 years so what do I know. I think Anthony's at 72nd and Grover is decent as well. Another one that comes up a lot is Gorat's, where Warren Buffet regularly eats. Nothing special and nothing fancy -- straight out of the 1960s. That one's at about 45th and Center. The Drover on 72nd isn't bad, and neither is Brother Sebastian's at 120th and Pacific. I've heard good things about Flemings in Regency, although that's a chain. With the exception of Fleming's, those are old school steakhouses if that's what you're looking for. The Flatiron, mentioned earlier, is an excellent choice, especially if you have some in your party who aren't into steak. For pure kitsch you can't beat Mister C's up north. They've got photos in the lobby of the owner with the prize winning steers at the fair. But for the love of God don't go there for the food. Just cocktails. Steak was not meant to be served with a side of spaghetti.
  6. Before you get a space, be sure to talk to the local authorities (health dept, planning, etc) so you know what you'll be looking at in terms of cost. Do you need a handicap-accessible restroom, for example? That stuff can really come back to bite you. Check out the electrical box to make sure you either have or can get enough power. Is it single or triple phase? Make sure there's enough room for storage. What about parking? Signage? Find out what you can get away with. Go to auctions for equipment. If necessary, buy stuff at auctions and rent a storage facility so you can get stuff cheap when you find it, then move it to your space. Do you have all your materials designed and printed? If not, and if there's a university near you, you might be able to become a class project. They can design all your materials and they'll get a solid portfolio piece out of the deal.
  7. This is an interesting topic and I think the subject's been pretty well addressed. I agree that profanity can add to a piece. Look at some comedians -- in many cases a well placed "fuck" can add to the delivery. In other cases it's just a weak crutch. To mix my metaphors, it's a lot easier to be "funny" or "entertaining" in the Applebee's sense when your set is laced with expletives. Same with writing. To sort of extrapolate on the theme, what I'd really like to see in food writing is more objectivity that incorporates negativity to some extent. When was the last time you read a review that basically said "I wouldn't even serve this to Dick Cheney?" Everything's great, intriguing or interesting. Rarely is anything even described as pedestrian, let alone bad. If nothing's bad, how can anything be great? The name of the publication escapes me -- it was some design magazine -- but the author was talking about an architect's new museum and he said the guy basically phoned it in. This was a multi-million dollar showpiece and the author took the guy to task. He laid out a well-constructed argument about why it was bad and even interviewed the architect in question and called him on it. Personally, I didn't think it was all that bad, but it was really refreshing to read an actual critical review for once. I realize that a lot of publications, especially weeklies, live and die by their advertisers so there's a reluctance to run less-than-positive reviews or even the cop-out of "faint praise". What's the deal? Is it a situation of "This publication paid X amount to fly you to Spain/Famous Chef's Restaurant/Des Moines and by God we're going to get a glowing piece out of this?" There's so much mediocrity out there in terms of phoned-in menus that play it safe not to mention the Satanic proliferation of pre-baked/prepared food but I just don't see that reflected in the writing when it comes to restaurants. It's always tempered. That said, I know there are exceptions. Robb Walsh, for one, does a great job of assessing a restaurant's strengths and weaknesses fairly. And no, you can't compare the French Laundry with Abe's Diner. I'm not talking about fine dining reviews. I'm talking about the $50 per person and under reviews because really, those are the places people go to more frequently.
  8. The set thing doesn't bother me but the camera work certainly does. Good God. Extreme close ups, sweeps and pans...it's almost like the cameraman's had a pitcher of margaritas or something. It's really hard to watch.
  9. This is easy. When I was bartending it irked me to no end when some jackass would ask what beers we carried. I'd proceed to rattle off a list of 20+ beers (the windup) and then get the pitch: "I'll have a Bud Light."
  10. Definitely Christmas. People are usually pretty nice around Thanksgiving but by Christmas a small but very vocal percentage turn into raving assholes in need of a twenty minute beating with a tire iron. Another thing that adds to the stress is people's inability to plan. Despite the fact that 90% of the population has cell phones strapped to their hip they're unable to call ahead and order. And when it comes to baking you can't just whip out an extra cake or make it "special" without some notice. Baking takes time. People leave a lot of things for the last minute at Christmas. Valentine's Day and Easter can be stressful but people aren't near as mean as they are when it's close to Christmas. I think part of it is all the emphasis that's put on making Christmas perfect. So even if Uncle Charlie shows up drunk, grandpa's belligerant and the kids are screaming and yelling, "at least the turkey was moist/cake was good/there was plenty of food." Nostalgia is really just a longing for a time that never existed, and few holidays are more nostalgic than Christmas.
  11. I should have reread the thread before replying three times. The name of the place with the fried fish is Joe Tess'. One of the only restaurants in town offering fried carp.
  12. Oh, for burgers, check out Dinker's bar. It's in a neighborhood off the interstate. I want to say 19th and Vinton -- somewhere around there. They use trimmings from Omaha Steaks for the hand pattied burgers. And the onion rings are great too.
  13. Definitely, definitely try Riveras. Awesome, made-from-scratch Mexican. There's a good barbecue place way, way north, off the Irvington exit called Big Jack's Barbecue Shack. You might also like Lo Sole Mio or Pasta Amore for Italian. The Bread Oven has two locations. They make terrific baguettes and croissants. Dharma Bread, sold only at Wohlner's market in midtown, is an excellent sourdough. Feel free to PM me with questions.
  14. They're fantastic. They cost a bit more (It's typically $4 - $6 for three skinless breasts and a whole chicken's usually around $5) but they're totally worth it. It's almost impossible to dry them out.
  15. I don't know where you live, but you might have some luck tracking down an edible flower vendor at a farmer's market this summer if you've got them near you.
  16. Those comments are just priceless, aren't they? People with no clue/no business of their own are just FULL of suggestions. Among others that I've heard: "You should be open 24 hours." "You should make cat treats." "You should buy pre-made/frozen items from a wholesaler" "You should sell beignets." "You should expand [insert geographic location]" It's so tempting to fire back with "You should get up when we do and work a fourteen hour day five days a week, dealing with employee, equipment and supply issues, the public and aching feet. THEN we'll talk about beignets!"
  17. My feet are as flat as pancakes and I have some fancy schmancy arch supports as well. The best shoes I ever had to work in were some New Balance ones that I got at a store for runners. They were around a hundred bucks and worth every penny. This wasn't a Foot Locker mall store -- it was by and for runners and they carried different lines than the malls. Depending on how bad your arches are you might want to get some custom supports. They aren't cheap but they help quite a bit.
  18. How true that is. The world doesn't care if your boyfriend/girlfriend/mom/neighbor made you cry before you left for work. Cookies still need to be made. Cakes still need to be frosted. Orders still need to be filled. Oh, the drama!
  19. Someone new in town asks where the grocery stores are and it takes you twenty minutes to answer. A special meal involves stops at at least five different businesses.
  20. Thank you all for your replies. They are all great ideas. I think the tart idea may work the best in this situation, because the reception is cocktail style. And the cherry blossoms are brilliant. But in the future I will remember a pie for a centerpiece.
  21. We're working on a wedding for a bride who's into the rustic thing (which we're into as well) and she wanted cherry pies for her wedding. She understood that cherry pies for everyone was not practical. After much discussion, she decided on a chocolate ganache cake with cherry mousse. She'd still like to serve some cherry pies. She's got 300 people coming, though, so we're thinking about doing something that would serve 50. The rest can have cake. What's an elegant way of presenting cherry pies for 50 people?
  22. Are there any auctions coming up? I once saw a two month old, 10 burner Viking stove go for less than $500 because nobody wanted it. Yeah, it can be a real time eater but it's a possibility. Lastly, and this is a real stretch, but do you know any salvage guys? My wife's dad has a salvage company and he scored us a stove, hood and a 20 qt mixer. Sometimes it'll go to auction and sometimes it's easier for the owner to just gut the building. They'll make a deal with a salvage crew in which they gut the contents for x amount of dollars. So refrigeration units, any and all fixtures and in some cases equipment all go at once. Grocery stores often do this when they go under. It's just easier for them. There have also been times where the business was so behind in their bills that they just skip town. We got a credit card machine that way -- the owner of the building just wanted stuff gone. He sold it to us for $15. I feel for you. Good luck!
  23. FlourPower

    Panera Bread

    Fascinating, I did not know that! I don't get back to St Louis all that often. My mom loves the original chain & always took us there once or twice during a visit. I thought their sandwiches were decent & reasonably priced - that seems to have changed a bit from posts above. As with most things, seems that once you try to standardize it & then expand it, the quality of the experience suffers. ← My wife is from St. Louis and the last time we were there we went to the St. Louis Bread Company. I don't remember exactly what we ate -- some type of paninis -- but they showed up on the Panera menu about a year later. Maybe they've hung onto them to use as an incubator for new menu items without using the Panera name. The food there was much better and fresher than Panera. It's been a couple years since I've been there (oh how I miss Ted Drewe's!!) so it's possible that things have changed.
  24. We had some issues with our commercial 6qt from KitchenAid. After two months the switch/handle broke. They sent us a new one that promptly died. Third one is performing like a champ. Yeah, it was a little frustrating to have to return two of them, but their customer service and prompt response outweighed the inconvenience in my opinion.
  25. FlourPower

    Panera Bread

    My understanding is that the St. Louis Bread Company was the beginning of Panera -- they just expanded the concept and it's owned/run by the same people. A Panera opened about five minutes away from us (we're a small neighborhood bakery but we don't do bread) and it hasn't made a dent in our business. Customers have told us our pastries and muffins are light years better than Panera's. So that's nice. The food's not bad but the service is horrific every time I've gone into one. I know how hard it is to find an employee with opposable thumbs who can show up on time but good God. Someone's been whizzing in the gene pool.
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