bigboss

This is exactly the type of hidden costs that my current employer is incurring while trying to open his restaurant. Union b.s. in order to begin construction, finding a liquor license and having a lawyer broker the transfer, schmoozing the city councilman, begging the neighborhood association to allow the construction, paying a premium for expediting a zoning hearing. It all adds up to a hefty economic cost in both time and money. I would like to know how the process of opening a restaurant happens in other cities and if this is normal or not. As I see your post pop up, you do raise a good point that Greg Ling seems to be doing well at Raw. That space is right around the corner from where I live, and I always thought that it would make a neat restaurant space. Perhaps I can pick is brain for some inspirations and/or enlightenment.

Wow, I am really impressed that this thread has evolved from a snarling admonition of our former boss to an interesting and intellectual discussion of some real issues for the city of Philadelphia. It seems to me that the dining scene here is trapped in a vicious cycle that needs to be broken in order for any of the changes suggested to begin to happen. And at the core of the problem, like satan ensconced at the bottom of the inferno, is money- the most honest descriptor of human behavior. Vadouvan and Market hit the nail on the head with the real estate issue. It's extremely difficult to operate a restaurant, particularly a seriously food-oriented one, at some of the rents being charged let alone accumulate enough profit to reinvest and grow one's business. This in turn translates into higher prices on the menu that limits the market of customers going to one's restaurant. Further complicating matters is the PLCB monopoly on alcohol distribution and the politics of liquor licensing. Having a fixed number of licenses creates an unnecessary economic impact on the potential restauranteur from the legal fees in the application process to the actual cost of the license, which has become commodified. Not to mention the taxes the State and City put on alcohol once you have been granted the right to buy it from them. Once again this is reflected on the menu and impacts the market of potential customers. BYO's circumvent this, obviously, by not serving alcohol and keeping their prices accordingly lower. Starr smartly markets the atmosphere of his restaurants and sells gallons of pricey drinks. The apex restaurants ( Le Bec, Fountain, Striped Bass, etc.) have defined their clientele to be willing to spend the money necessary to be successful. Vetri somehow gets away with charging the prices they do by marketing the value of "cucina rustica." But to make a long story short, without some SERIOUS financial backing and a good bit of luck it is difficult to operate a restaurant that both serves high-caliber cuisine and is not prohibitively expensive to your target core clientele. The cycle is further continued by the proliferation of mediocre restaurants that the aforementioned economic conditions create and their influence on the dining public. If you are an average person who is not in the business or who does not travel to New York or Europe to dine, the restaurants in Philadelphia probably seem quite fine. That's because they are. But, as matt stated previously, the types of restaurants out there tend toward the "ultimate average" with few exceptions due to economic conditions. Thus, the dining public is unaware that the quality of dining in the city could be categorically better, at all price points. The education of the public and its consequent raising of expectations for all restaurants is a crticial issue being arrested currently. This, in turn, keeps average businesses afloat, Starr filthy rich, talented cooks fleeing and both investors and chefs from outside wary. Then there is the issue being debated about the importance of the food media and their role as advocate or observer. Frankly speaking, if there's nothing interesting happening in the restaurant scene then why should the yoke (ha-ha) fall on their shoulders to create something? It is our responsibility as culinary professionals to give food writers something to report. Perhaps there can be a dialogue created whereby food writers can discuss potential topics with local professionals (i.e. what's the hottest seasonal vegetable?, what is cooking a la plancha?, etc.) when crafting their stories. Creating a sort-of collaboration between the media and the culinary professionals may benefit the average reader by introducing them to the world of cuisine. It could help to educate the customer as to what they are purchasing in a restaurant and why it may be costly to prepare. Of course, because the population reading a given publication is necessarily diverse, there will always be the need for articles about chocolate chip cookies and who makes the best cheesesteaks in town. However, welcoming and encouraging the involvement of the media in the culinary world could have a profound impact on the understanding of the cuisine in Philadelphia. So the cycle needs to be broken somewhere. Will it be the State, the chefs, the public or some deus ex machina? We shall see. The economic conditions in the city are a challenge, but it only takes one forward-thinking restaurant team to demonstrate that success is possible and that this city can do better. Sorry this is so long; I was away for the weekend and had plenty of time to mull over my thoughts.

Congratulations Mr. Peterson on your new position. Don't let this thread throw you for too big of a loop. Having the opportunity to work with Fred is entirely worth any b.s. you would have to deal with from the rest of the operation. Chef usually lets pastry run with a reasonable degree of autonomy and creative freedom. Just be mindful of the fact, as I mentioned previously, that the upper management may not be committed to fine dining in the long term and that you may find yourself working for Treetops Part Deux next year. Shawn, what's up with you throwing fastballs like Roger Clemens in the playoffs? Simmer down buddy.

Nope, just a regular day for now... and murckury came to work w/ me too. Congrats on your new job!

Working under the Chef is more of a quid pro quo transaction than a bestowment of knowledge as I would typically define mentorship. You give him your patience with his caprice, you interpret his musings into practical food or people management, you tolerate his criticisms both valid and not and question his compliments because that means he wants something from you. Don't get me wrong, I learned a great deal about how to manage (use) people from him, and I suspect that this understanding of human nature is not unique to the food industry. What you get in return is not necessarily a tangible nugget of truth or a set of recipes for success. You get an environment in which you as cook or manager are able to explore and learn as much as you push yourself to do (to his credit ultimately). You can be a shoemaker (the word of the day) or the next real-deal chef; it's up to the individual to decide that for him or her self. The best success stories as Vadouvan listed are the cooks who took it upon themselves to make themselves the professionals they aspired to be in spite of the Chef. Regardless, in the eye of the public the Chef is still the one making the magic in the kitchen. Is that a book title?

I always enjoy watching you revel in your invective nature, Matt. Only the son of a beekeeper would stick his hand into the hive like you. Skulky, that is an adorable little story about your first night on the line, congratulations to you. However, the duplicitous manner in which Chef manages his people, his lying and manipulation, pitting friends against each other and so forth in order to create an atmosphere in the kitchen diminishes the value of each time he has been outright helpful and encouraging. There's a big discrepancy between the Chef you know as a line cook and the Chef we have known as sous-chefs. And believe you me, I would love to open my own restaurant in Philly and dole out my particular vision of Good Food; I just gotta get more involved in matters of business and see what comes up.

Holy mille-feuille of meaning Mattman! That yolk reference went right ova my head! It appears to me that we all are in agreement on the matter, just arguing different angles of it. What Philly needs is more full-service restaurants that can compete on a national level in terms of cuisine yet still of reasonable price. While I have never eaten at Gayle, Ansill or Vetri, these restaurants sound like they are beginning the trend. More importantly, these chef/owners all have aspirations beyond their current operations. This is the type of business that can evolve into mini-empires like Perrier's over time. Hence my intention to call out people like you and vadouvan to start thinking about changing the scene here. The customers are out there; we just gotta feed them.

I read this thread a few days ago and have not had a chance to respond. How was your dinner buddy? I'll bet it's getting hot down there now. Let me address a couple of tangential points before getting to my thoughts on this thread. First of all, Matt, your spelling and syntax are deplorable... it's "yoke," not "yolk" farmer boy. I love you but I gotta break your stones here. Second of all, I can't believe that they are still running my brunch menu items, or at least poor incarnations of them, in June. I'm shocked and insulted that the guiding hand of hubris would allow the Lacroix staff to coast off someone else's sad and sorry ideas for this long. I guess that's what happens when "Chefs... Stop... Caring," the new hit series on Fox. Matt, Vadouvan, Murckury, etc., you guys all know that Philadelphia does not seem to want to support a fine dining culture outside of the established echelon. That's because fine dining is expensive, labor intensive and requires vision, commitment and acumen from the chef and/or owners of a restaurant. Hence the success of Le Bec-Fin over time, as a particular example. With Chef gone and the rate of turn-over I hear they are experiencing, I can't envision good things for the restaurant. The management does not seem committed to operating a fine-dining restaurant, since the numbers don't add up in the short-term. And furthermore, the absence of the Chef means that the ethos of fine dining, the attention to detail, customer service, staff training, discipline and so forth, will not be inculcated as the staff turns over and over. While little room at the top exists for high end restaurants, Philadelphia can support a market for smaller restaurants that feature smart, creative cuisine with a more worldly appeal than a Starr joint. There are a lot of young people in the city that either have a lot of money to spend or soon will. My brother-in-law, for example, is finishing his residency at Temple. He is symbolic to me of a market that must be tapped in the city, the next generation of potential diners who need to be educated in the art of dining. I always voiced this opinion to Chef. These people are the customer base that will support the type of creative and honest cuisine that we appreciate. The yoke, as it were, falls on people like you, Vadouvan, and you, Matt, when you make your MacArthur-like return to the area someday, and me amongst others I suppose. I think that we can offer customers the upside of fine dining, excellent food, smart service and an understanding of the value of a good restaurant, in a smaller venue without the fuss and cost of fine dining... for now. And ten years from now, once your customer base has been established and some modicum of financial success has been reached, maybe one of the yoke bearers can take a shot at being the next George or Chef. So drink your tall glass of Jamba Juice and get after it. That means you too, Farmer Boy.

i apologize for jumping in to the conversation in such a confusing manner; i really just wanted to say my peace and be done with it. i am the former executive sous chef of lacroix/rittenhouse hotel to which vadouvan referred. to respond more properly to this thread, i would like to assert that all complaint and/or compliment letters addressed to the chef ended up on his desk by my hand, as well as those addressed to the g.m. or other executives. faxes to the number you were given go to the mailbox of the restaurant manager, where little in the way of misplacement should occur. personally, i sincerely think you should have said something that evening. because it was restaurant week, the dining room was chock full of diners unlikely to return (i think less than 10% of restaurant week reservations became repeat guests). you would have been given the requisite lip service and received your free apology brunch letter in the mail shortly thereafter. part of the problem of that dining room, as matthewjr can attest, is rooted in inherent flaws in the design and conception of the space. in order to qualify for five diamond status, there must be a casual dining outlet open for all-day dining. however, the hotel would not permit demolition of its precious boathouse row bar (pigsty) in order to create a bar area that complimented the restaurant. thus the cafe room, which is nothing more than an extension of the lacroix dining room, exists to fill that void, where an all-day menu is served for hotel guests and residents. that's the problem: the space devoted to fine dining is not sufficiently exclusive from the rest. furthermore, i would like to add that in my experience both at lacroix and at the fountain (hello cherie), there is a percentage of guests out there that perpetually test the limits of tolerability. i've seen everything from pro athletes sit in the fountain and demand food at 1 am, to a person demand that the music be turned off in the dining room, to the more innocuous complaints of any given day. my point is that many people, unfortunately many of whom are wealthy, cannot sublimate their selfish desires. i agree with cherie that a dining room manager cannot simply walk up to a table and tell the guests to quiet their child. but, proper redress can be made more efficiently if the tolerant guest is forthcoming with his or her complaint. that is where the level of customer service provided by a fine dining establishment can be met, in spite of selfish, uncivilized customers. I agree. to clarify a few points: We were seated at 6pm. At that time, there were no large parties surrounding us, no sounds coming from the adjoining "communal dining room" for hotel RESIDENTS, and only the one sided view to object to. As Cherie pointed out, I also prioritize my companion and the food...and I asked my husband if he minded the brick wall...but he assured me it was fine. ( Actually he said"oh, I'll just look at you! " or something to that effect, which is almost too corny to believe but true ) My husband wants the wine list, just give the guy a wine list and you could seat him near the kitchen door on the path to the bathrooms. So, after very briefly considering it, but after weighing the pros and cons ( I had a nice view, after all!), I shrugged it off and began the dining experience. I always have plenty of time to analyze and dissect a menu, because as mentioned Mr. B is settling in with wine list. The table changed dramatically after aprox 1 hour, when the large tables filled, and then the baby started crying. I was clear to state that the waiter did offer to move us for dessert to the chef's table...it was our choice not to move. At that point, we had sat through the baby crying, we had coffee, after dinner drinks, some wine left on the table. Regarding the fax, I called Lacroix Restaurant and confirmed their fax number. If any of you in "the biz" are saying that a customer, either to register a complaint or book a million dollar wedding, needs to be more proactive than that, I don't agree. In my place of business, there are controls and procedures on how to handle incoming communication, and how to get it to the person who needs to see it. If I had sent a fax to that number inquiring about booking a party for Gourmet Magazine, do you think it would have gotten to the right person? I used the fax number that the restaurant represented as a way to contact them. I really don't think that the client or customer should have explore the heirarchy of command in a restaurant in order to communicate with them. I agree that a restaurant is a business, ( for those that don't know me, suffice to say my children's tuition is paid by the direct proceeds from a restaurant.) and that's why I was trying to notify the business owners that there was a problem. Yesterday I called the guy who owns the tree cutting service I use. His guys did a great job pruning the trees around my electrical wires, and I told him that. However, I also mentioned that they came two hours earlier than scheduled, and that since I have a 1/2 mile driveway, I wasn't able to leave my house because I could not drive around the truck. Now, there were no emergencies or critical appointments..if there were, I would have certainly made them move. So, I suggested to the owner that perhaps they should keep a record of the homes that have narrow driveways, and make sure thsoe folks are contacted if there is a change in schedule. Not a big deal, I reiterated, just a suggestion. Friendly, short, positve conversation. He said hadn't realized that, and it will be easy enough to note that on my file, he's glad I called. That's all..its done millions of times a day in businesses all over the world... As an independent contractor, Real estate , I've asked clients at the end of the transaction if there was anything that could have made the house hunting better. Usually its' stuff out of my control...housing prices, dealing with municipal inspectors...( although I have passed that on, too) but once it was that my car's backseat was "tight". Well, the next time my lease was up, you could bet that I was sitting in every backseat, even making the larger salesperson sit there, to check leg and head room. Thanks everyone for contributing, the different perspectives are interesting. ←

now that this subject is a matter of discussion, i would like to take this opportunity to thank any and all members of the egullet society that came to brunch, referred customers to brunch and/or discussed brunch in this forum. your unabated critiques helped me to better provide customers with a more satisfying meal within my cost/labor constraints. i found the posted photographs particularly helpful and encouraging, as they illustrate the food rather attractively from the customer's perspective (after two years it all starts to look the same). in any event, thanks again for your input.

I hope that you have not already left for your trip, because I actually have some dining tips for that stretch of road. I used to live out in the Shenandoah Valley about eight years ago, where I worked for a chef named Lucio. I last heard that he opened a new restaurant, most likely eponymous, in Culpeper, Va. It can't be too hard to find with a little web searching. Also, my friend recently moved back to West Virginia to manage his family's inn and restaurant. It's called the Bavarian Inn and is just off I-81. I think there is a website you can visit for a preview and directions.