glenn

Mongo, sounds like a fair plan but its implementation in anything but a small restaurant doesn't seem practical. It also seems like its placing a lot of faith in people's honesty, though any pooled system basically does that. All it takes is one bad apple to screw things up.

I think mongo was saying you don't have to do much other than offer very ordinary or somewhat less than ordinary service to get 15%. I agree. Of course you'll run into exceptions (cheapskates and the uneducated in cultural mores.) A lot depends on geographics (Boise vs. NYC) and the type of restaurant (family/chain vs. upscale.) But I'd have to guess 9 times out of 10 the tip will be at least 15% in an upscale restaurant in a major city unless the server goes out of the way to merit a pittance.

This is not the first time for this very same topic. I wish I remembered what I said the previous time. Aside from raising my blood pressure a few too many times, I'm quite sure that without eglutton I would not have had the balls to pursue my dream of opening a cafe. As a back of the house person with no culinary skills and a very big yellow streak running down my spine, I don't think I ever would have considered it if I couldn't have relied on the folks here to help out in those areas I was lacking. And there are plenty of those. That is, skills that are lacking. This whole endeavor has really given me lots of gratitude. It boggles my mind the extent that some people have gone to help, and not just with words and advice. This board even came up with the name of my cafe. And even the small bits of advice I've gotten. I've expressed my gratitude before, but I can't say thank you enough to this community.

Please send it in a hermetically sealed tamper-proof jar to the eglutton labs and our scientists will put it under our chock full o'nuts microscope.

The topic of "training wage" was recently touched upon. I believe this needs much more attention and I wonder why servers and line cooks don't raise holy hell over it, or the lack thereof. At least in New York. It is customary not to pay anything to restaurant employees in training. Highly illegal, but it seems to be taken for granted and is accepted.

7 PM last night. I haven't been in Bergenfield after sunset for quite some time. Seems like the nightlife is gone. The streets were empty on N. Washington as was Batalla. Well, there was one guy sitting on the end stool slumped over reading the paper waiting for a take out order. He looked like an extra from "Night of the Living Dead." The door was open and it was chilly. The 2 Mexicans behind the counter were making jokes and leisurely doing whatever needs to be done when there's no business. They were speaking Spanish and I couldn't understand what they were saying, not that I could hear them anyway with the 1960s Mexican music blaring. All I could think of is what the f890 am I doing here and what the f890 is a dump like this doing in nice middle class Bergenfield?? Then my world lit up. I saw all the groovy nostalgic Mexican sodas stacked against the wall. I went over and ogled. Wow, I haven't seen a bottle of coke like this for 30 years! Well, make that never. This was the gray market kind, or if Coke had their way, the never to be seen again kind. After all, this was the real deal coke somehow smuggled in from Mexico where they still bottle it in the old thick glass bottles and are apparently unaware of today's 21st century chemicals. Then my taquitos came. I may as well have been in Mexico City. I got a combo of 4. Unlike my usual self and since I was in foreign territory and no one knew my face, I braved it and ordered 2 tongue taquitos along with 2 spicy beef. Holy molely! I wondered why it took so long to make these things, and now I knew. You can't rush art. I have not seen or tasted tacos like this since I was last in Mexico a bazillion years ago. And I think the prices were about the same, well, almost. $6.50 was the total tab which included the controversial coke. I have a feeling they do a lot more business during the day. The place reeks of good food and good times and a pleasant escape from gardens and the garden state.

yeah but glenn started it. True, and you guys drew your own inferences :)) I was actually responding to the post that preceded mine which implied (at least in my view) that people have no right to order wine based solely on a sommelier's opinion and expect something satisfactory. That point has been addressed very well by Fat Guy and tommy. However, I don't know if I'm of the same mindset. I do have a basic knowledge having worked in the industry (and have taken part in tastings often enough) and even took one of those Learning Annex courses. But still, my knowledge is limited and I'm perfectly satisfied with that and I have no desire to further educate myself. Frankly, I don't kow or care nor will I ever care what grapes comprise Bordeaux and other such trivia. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but that stuff bores me to death. That's an extreme example, but you get the idea. Perhaps I'm one of those hapless diners that will never get the most rewarding experience due to my lack of ambition, but I'm fine with that. I also don't need to dine at 2 or 4 star restaurants to have a superb experience for the same reason. I freely admit that I do not have a refined palette and simple things make me happy. An expensive bottle of wine (100+) would be wasted on me and I suspect I'm not alone.

Jason, I keep meaning to ask, do you have any info on the distributor?

I don't know of a distributor that delivers Hansens - I checked. As it stands, it will be a combo of Boylan's, Whooppee and Jones. The first 2 are local (and great) and Jones has a major distributor. It's strange how we all want we can't get - boylan's is a hot commodity out west and it's very hard to find. I'm surprised at is the lack of distributorship for nostalgic sodas in the east. Such a shortage does not exist out west. I wonder if it's correct to assume that no east coast distributor has stepped in to fill the void because of lack of demand. I don't think so though. It's an opportunity waiting to happen. If things go well, sometime down the road, the plan is to buy a palette from realsoda.com. The shipping would add to the cost by about 20 cents per bottle, but I think it would be worth it even if I had to eat the added cost.

I did another cupping today - this time blind and I chose the 2 roasters that came up on top yesterday. Terroir topped my choice easily, though I wouldn't be disappointed if I were served gimme coffee anywhere. Two of the 4 roasters had roast dates on the package - both of those roasters, gimme coffee and terroir shipped the same day as the roast date and I rec'd the packages the next day. Terroir claims to have developed a new vacuum packed system that adds to the shelf life -- they're changing their label to reflect an expiration 90 days from the roast date instead of 30. This is quite helpful as I expect to sell coffee by the bag.

Ohmygawd, you had my head spinning with all those numbers and converting it to grams and ounces! :)) The concensus seems to be there is no concensus. The numbers are all over the place. I wish the closing were sooner so I'd have something better to do with my time! Thanks, good suggestion. And thanks for asking about the Bunn.

Just when I thought I had settled on coffee equipment, someone threw a wrench into my plans. I was orginially going to go with the automatic Fetco 31AAP as recommended by a number of people. A highly respected source, a previous Fetco diehard, is now recommending this Bunn. Actually, the Bunn he recommends the CDBCF 35, but it's not shown - the only difference is the amps and it's 240V. It seems a bit larger than my needs - the Fetco 1.5L should be fine. However, according to this source -- okay, Terroir -- making less than a full pot does not detract from the quality? True? Another thing stated contradictory to other statements - I was under the impression that the better/more efficient the brewer, the less coffee you needed. According to Terroir, not so. He claims the recommended amt. of coffee is about 3.9 ounces per half gallon of water. If my arithmetic is correct, that comes out to close to the standard formula I see for home brew - 7 grams per 5 oz. coffee. Thoughts?

Thanks, Owen. I guess I'll go ahead and give the points back that I took away to Gimme Coffee :))

Jeez, so now I have to do homework before going out to eat? :))

I did a coffee cupping today in order to choose a roaster for my cafe. Maybe I did something wrong, like too much at once (?) - my palette started to deteriorate to the point that by the end, all the beans started to taste the same. I tried 4 vendors who gave me samples of 3 to 5 roasts each. I did my best to limit myself to 2 sips of each one. Anyone else have this problem? I made sure to drink water in between coffee tasting - any other tips? I've still got one more vendor to try (Hi Owen!), but I was able to easily rule out 2 of the 4 vendors. It boils down to Gimme Coffee and Terroir plus the one I still need to try. One of the reasons I eliminated one of the vendors was because the samples weren't sent in vacuum packed bags. Is that a valid reason to take away points? Regardless, I also thought the coffee wasn't at the same level as the two I chose. Also, this took like forever. I cleaned (not super thoroughly - I did the super thorough cleaning at the onset) the grinder before grinding every single coffee - that's a lot of cleaning. The grinder is a Rocky Rancilio, making it somewhat of a pain. Did I go overboard? Any other thoughts?

Jason, have you actually tried Jones soda? I never have. I did find a local distributor for Jones as well as gus (grown up soda.) However, the reviews on sodapopreview.com aren't very good for the few sodas they rated. I'll have to pay a visit to dreaded starbucks and try it. Have you tried gus?

Ah, Jones sounds perfect for the big gay population in JC :)) What's with popsoda.com and whooppee? Getting wholesale info from them is like pulling teeth. What about Hank's? I think I found a local distributor. However, the bevnet forum comments also dissed them but their rating are up there.

Ya know, I got a whole bunch of snickers when I asked about Jones in the bevnet forum. But they have good reviews. Henry Weinhard seems to have the most universal appeal among the afficionados. However, even though they're owned by Miller Brewing, they have no distribution in the east. But popsoda carries a big selection. Another one with big appeal is Whooppee, who happens to be local. But they have a small variety. Here's the list I put into popsoda for a quote - Henry Weinhard root beer Whooppee cola Boylan's creamy red birch beer boylan diet birch beer hansen's sasparilla hank's black cherry whooppee cocoa cream henry weinhard orange cream orange nehi san pellegrino limonata strawberry crush

Yep, I came to those conclusions after banging my head against the wall. Bevnet is a great site - I get lots of my info there and from sodareview.com. Right now, it's coming down to one of three choices.... 1. Boylan - my only hesitation is that they're fairly common in NJ and don't carry that "snob" appeal. But I agree, their quality is up there. 2. A bottler I found in W. Va. (Forest Park Premium) who delivers to NJ. A sample is currently on the way. They went into infinite detail about how good the product and selection are, plus I can affix my own label. How cool is that? Prices are comparable to Boylan. We'll see what the sample brings. 3. I'm waiting to get a quote from buying from popsoda.com by the palette. They say they have a number of stores that buy from them and shipping isn't too prohibitive. That would be my first choice, but I have a feeling they'll be charging more than I wanna pay. Another drawback is not being able to get a free refrigerator displaycase ($1000 or so value.)

Ira, thanks for responding. However, I'd hate to have heard your initial reaction to my post :)) Much of my reaction was due to my high expectations based on your place(s) in the city which I've dined at several times. And I stand by what I said -- the experience was all around unsatisfactory especially compared to your other businesses. If the prices weren't so sky high, I could've shrugged it off to the place just opening. As for not raising any issues at the time I was there, what should I have said? If the service was poor, I would have said something. If the food in my opinion was not prepared properly and was inedible, I would have said something. Yes, the macaroni and cheese was awful, but I figured that's the recipe. What should I have said? I'm glad you decided to lower the prices and even more so, that your macaroni and cheese was off that night. But I stand by my comment that your prices were 22nd century on the night I was there. Surely you can understand my being peeved at paying $14 for something that didn't taste as good as the stuff that comes out of a box? I honestly wanted to order the meatloaf, but I couldn't bring myself to pay $17 for it. And I'm quite sure all 3 steaks were in the 20s when I was there. My comment about the steaks and morons should have been elaborated on and I apologize. It wasn't aimed personally at Comfort - it was meant to be a general comment about ordering steaks at a place other than a steakhouse. The chef's hat comment was simply a general observation - hell, cooks at the restaurant I worked at wore those hats for a short time and I cracked up every time I walked through the kitchen. You shouldn't take things so personally. Same with the decor. I was not being critical that you hadn't changed much. I happen to like it and used to eat at your Comfort's previous incarnation frequently, Liberty Grille, because it was a comfortable atmosphere. Despite our previous experience, Anabelle and I ate at Comfort again - a week ago last Sunday for lunch. I was tempted to add another post, but I figured enough was enough. We ate outside and chose the table all the way at the southern end. The table was absolutely filthy! I don't mean filthy from food - it just hadn't been wiped down seemingly for days. I asked the busser to clean it and he sheepishly apologized and said he wasn't expecting anyone to sit all the way at the end. The fact that the table was dirty wasn't that bothersome to me - it was what I perceived to be a general lack of care on management's part. All I could think of was why there was no owner or manager overseeing such details. Re the food, Anabelle's omelette (I forgot what kind) was okay, but my hamburger broke into several pieces when I picked it up. I truly hope you succeed and work out all the kinks. A place like Comfort is right for the area and is my type of place. No hard feelings and I appreciate your taking the time to write a thoughtful response. thanks for the offer to check out the macaroni and cheese again. I'll give you a ring.

Ibby's in Jersey City for felafels. Madame Claude in JC for mussels in musard sauce.

Once again, I'm begging for opinions to help me in choosing products for my upcoming cafe. Sorry to be such a pest. I previously posted asking for wholesale distributors of unique and hard to find sodas. However, I think I goofed - a better way to go about this is to have people chime in with their favorites. Sorry if this has been discussed - all I could find was a thread on ethnic and int'l sodas. It would also be helpful if you could include a few words about your choice(s). Much appreciated.

I've got a good top 5 but you don't wanna hear it. Besides, I've been told it's off topic. ;-)

Thanks for those links. I'm gonna pop over to coffeforums and make a fool of myself and ask some silly questions. I'm getting used to that. I still have respect for Zoka. I think they had good intentions with the video -- they have award winning baristi doing the show and tell -- they just really blew it and should stop selling it, or sell it for $20. [Owen, did you get my PM from yesterday?]

Joanne, thanks for the links. And you're ready to stop by knowing tea is not up there among the priorities? -)) It's in Jersey City, or rather, will be - if you're in the area, I'd love for someone to help me set up the tea end of the business. If the truth be told, I was only looking to offer it as an accomodation to the few weirdos that drink that stuff. However, after looking around the net, it seems this may be a more lucrative area than I thought if done right. And I'm firmly in favor of lucrative.