Starting a high profile new restaurant (after closing another)

[Alex]

There's an article about Rob and Bulrush on the BBC News website for December 3.

 

Quote

It was during the first interlude of my inaugural foray into Ozarkian food, moments before the toasted koji butter-cooked winter squash was set in front of me, and not long after the aroma of persimmon-wood smoked cornbread – fixed atop a rich, blonde pool of sorghum custard – had hijacked my olfactory nerve, when Rob Connoley shifted my attention, halting the sensory delight.

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Alex (log)

[kayb]

Great story. Thanks, Alex.

 

[kayb]

Good piece on Rob and Bulrush in Barron's.

 

Here

 

[Alex]

9 minutes ago, kayb said:

Good piece on Rob and Bulrush in Barron's.

 

Here

 

 

Agreed.

 

I'm hoping Bulrush will be back to indoor dining by the spring, or early summer at the latest. I'm looking forward to planning another road trip.

[gfron1]

4 hours ago, Alex said:

I'm hoping Bulrush will be back to indoor dining by the spring, or early summer at the latest. I'm looking forward to planning another road trip.

Thanks Kay, and I know I'm remiss in posting here...but so much has happened over the past year and emotionally it's just hard...but you all get it. Alex, we are already open for in-house dining, limiting to just 6 families a night (normally that means 12-14 in a space the is rated for 100). 

 

FWIW, here is my most recent shared info:

Here is my road map for 2021:

1. We have been conducting genealogical research on freed slaves from the Coffman, MO area. With the loss of our SLU History interns (due to COVID and SLU moving off campus), we haven't been able to get any more recent family connections than the 1980s...we're very close. I want to finalize this research and work with any living decedents to support them in sharing their story, if interested.

 

2. We had been working with the National Archives to identify shipping records, agricultural records or tax records related to the Missouri farmers/researchers who sent rootstock to France in the 1860s and 70s. Surely there will be some record of it leaving the country or entering France. By finding the records, our ultimate goal is to identify a farm, a town, a region where Missouri rootstock was used with more detail than what we currently have.

 

3. Our 1841 seed project had a great start last year. I want more farmers, more production, and more seeds and produce getting out to the general public to excite people about varietals that have not been grown or eaten in this area in generations.

 

4. Back in April I had a chef "rant" about the "fad" of locavore restaurants. I've been chewing on this for a long, long time. It has become clear to me that those of us who grew up on the Michael Pollan school of thought and the Laura Reilly awareness of how restaurants use this, have failed at maintaining awareness of the principals and hard facts around why local is important. It's not a fad and never has been so expect to see cold, hard numbers from me throughout the year. And I'm a believer in actions not words, so we will dig even deeper, and explain why, very publicly.

 

5. Lastly, I am so excited about working with Tosha Phonix and EVOLVE. A small part of her work is supporting African American growers in the STL area. We're not sure where this relationship may go yet, but we're committed to finding out both with support and finances.

[heidih]

I am in awe of your focus, passion, attention to detail, and sensitivity to the big picture. As always look forward to hearing about your journey.

[gfron1]

As usual, so much has happened since my last post. A while back I found an old pamphlet showing cemeteries down near my family cabin. It included a "slave cemetery." That cemetery is now on the campus of Crown Vineyard, which used to be the John Coffman farm. While digging around I found a WPA era interview of free slaves HERE. Searching through I found three slaves who were enslaved on John Coffman's farm. My history interns spent most of the past year doing genealogical research, and two weeks ago finished the family trees for each of them.

 

I'm not sure where this will lead to, but I want keep things rolling to find out. A few days ago I reached out to the great, great, grand daughter of Mariah Douthit, and tonight she responded! 

 

I know none of this makes sense for a restaurant, but I also can't imagine not following these leads.

[Kim Shook]

19 hours ago, gfron1 said:

As usual, so much has happened since my last post. A while back I found an old pamphlet showing cemeteries down near my family cabin. It included a "slave cemetery." That cemetery is now on the campus of Crown Vineyard, which used to be the John Coffman farm. While digging around I found a WPA era interview of free slaves HERE. Searching through I found three slaves who were enslaved on John Coffman's farm. My history interns spent most of the past year doing genealogical research, and two weeks ago finished the family trees for each of them.

 

I'm not sure where this will lead to, but I want keep things rolling to find out. A few days ago I reached out to the great, great, grand daughter of Mariah Douthit, and tonight she responded! 

 

I know none of this makes sense for a restaurant, but I also can't imagine not following these leads.

I, for one, find it fascinating and am anxious to hear more!

[heidih]

18 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

I, for one, find it fascinating and am anxious to hear more!

Cemeteries, location, headstones/tombstones/monuments and proximity of graves can tell lots about culture, mores and relations, I too find it fascinating. And all that influences food culture by trickle down.

[gfron1]

As always more to share than time, but this week we were featured on a local PBS show called Living St Louis. I think they did a great job capturing our work. We're also on a national PBS show called A Taste of History (Episode 4) which you can find on Prime Video as well.

 

FWIW, we are really focused now on a concept we're developing that we're calling Reparative Restauranting. I'll dangle that right there and hope to expound later.

 

And lastly, we're in the final stages of our new bar menu concept - a truly consumer directed menu. I'm sure many will have words on this:

 

pdf bulrush menu (1).pdf

[donk79]

Few words -  lots of questions!  Are those wheels sliding against each other?  I eagerly wait an explanation/demonstration!

[gfron1]

11 hours ago, donk79 said:

Few words -  lots of questions!  Are those wheels sliding against each other?  I eagerly wait an explanation/demonstration!

Three wheels independently spinning. Laser etched wood with ball bearings. Well over a year's worth of focus groups to get to this point. Final focus group is being held in a week. Then we go to production.

Edited October 21, 2022 by gfron1 (log)

[donk79]

@gfron1, It's been a few days, but I am curious how this landed.  Are there any updates/stories/reflections that you can share about the menu.pdf above?  Really enjoyed the "Taste of History" episode, btw!

[gfron1]

On 1/12/2024 at 10:01 PM, donk79 said:

@gfron1, It's been a few days, but I am curious how this landed.  Are there any updates/stories/reflections that you can share about the menu.pdf above?  Really enjoyed the "Taste of History" episode, btw!

I'll share some thoughts shortly. There's a lot of reasons I've been silent, most of which is just ridiculously long hours. 

[gfron1]

Let me try this, because, geez, how do I summarize 5 years?! If anyone has anything specific they want to know I can easily respond to questions...FWIW, I am wrapping up a paper on 5 years of operating as a Reparative Restaurant. HERE's a link to the working doc.

[ElsieD]

17 hours ago, gfron1 said:

Let me try this, because, geez, how do I summarize 5 years?! If anyone has anything specific they want to know I can easily respond to questions...FWIW, I am wrapping up a paper on 5 years of operating as a Reparative Restaurant. HERE's a link to the working doc.

That is a fascinating document.  Thank you for sharing it and I wish you many successes as you continue with your endeavors.

[gfweb]

My access was denied @gfron1

[donk79]

@gfron1 I am hard-pressed to find many others living with the integrity and conviction that you do.  Thank you for your example. 

[gfron1]

Now is as good of a time as any to ramble on my day off. We're up for our 3rd JBF recognition this year, and I feel like I understand the process so much better than in the past. JBF has undergone so many changes in recent years, and I've got more industry supporters now than my first nom, that more of those friends are sharing with me what no one tells you about the process. Over the past weekend we served a minimum of 5 judges. I research all of our guests to know who I am serving, and how to best tailor their meal, so 5 guests were pretty obvious...who knows how many others might have come in. It's a stressful time for staff because there are no off-nights allowed. There never are in fine dining, but service is even more intense than normal knowing the consequences. They're also very aware that it will reman this way until the first week in April and so we are talking about how to best care for ourselves and each other.

 

Last fall we missed an amazing opportunity with a national outlet because we had an off night at the worst possible time. I've beaten myself up ever since...recognizing that we're human and can't be perfect at all times. That gaff was a harsh call-back to New Mexico when I blew an opportunity to be a Best New Chef for Food and Wine when they asked me how long I had been cooking, and I gave them the wrong date because I didn't understand the consequences of rounding my answer.

 

I think the JBF process still has some structural flaws (to my outsider knowledge). The biggest is that X number of judges are used to examine X number of restaurants. First, the judges have to be able to grab a seat in the restaurant (I take care of my staff so we're closed 2 weeks after NYE which means 2 weeks of not being able to seat judges; and I have private events on the books that block judges from grabbing seats), and then if they CAN get seats judges don't necessarily go to every restaurant on the semi-finalist list. And I assume they have to pay their own way so a higher ticket restaurant like mine may not be in the budget of all judges (I would suppose JBF would offer scholarships for some judges). The point being, I know I have a smaller group of judges visiting me than some of my peers. My guess is then that restaurants with more seat opportunities, and lower price points are more likely to get more judges. And I don't know how things are tabulated, but I would hope that the more places you visit the more power your score has, but IDK. That's not griping, just analyzing. Related to all of that, I think the more restaurants represented in one community, the worse the odds because you essentially split the vote. IDK know how the initial selection happens, but just acknowledging what seems to be basic math for those of us in large geographic regions.

 

On another note however, I am so thankful that the judges are more diverse. I'm glad farmers, activists, academics and all of the peripheral professions related to restaurants, are now included. That certainly will help deter the old boys clubs and nepotism in awards. And I think judging what the standards and goals for restaurants can shift from the perfect quenelle to a meaningful meal. 

 

Anyway, just rambling to my eG friends since my beginning was in this forum, and my heart remains, even if my keyboard time has disappeared.

[TdeV]

Thanks for the news, Rob, and good luck!

[Alex]

You're undoubtedly are deserving of the award. And when you do, we'll put together an eG delegation in Chicago to cheer you on.