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[Houston] Laidback Manor - pre opening

greensNbeans

By greensNbeans
in Texas: Dining

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greensNbeans

greensNbeans

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Randy:

When are you expecting the soft open and the grand opening?  Based on your comments, looks like Mid-November to early December.

What about wines?  Will you be acting as sommelier?

Who were your greatest influences in developing your style?

Look forward to your opening.  My wife and I are more likely to support a venue where we have some interaction or relationship with the proprietor or kitchen.

The dinng area will hold close to 100 guest but I think we are only going to put 65-70 seats out so everyone can be comfortable! There will be a bar, but I don't really want a "bar scene" - I will offer a seperate menu, special cocktails, and exotic beers and microbrews. There will be a small lounge area for guest to wait at and there will be 6 places to sit at the bar! Another great question!

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  • 3 weeks later...
ChefGEB

ChefGEB

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My hats off to Chef Rucker for not only sticking to his culinary guns in regards to what cuisine he believes in, but also for opening his first restaurant in a new market. Also, to pull it off before the age of thirty is a feat anyone should be proud of. I look forward to dropping by the great city of Houston sometime to try what sounds likely to be, some of the most thought provoking food in Texas.

Graham Elliot

@grahamelliot

www.grahamelliot.com

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greensNbeans

greensNbeans

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Well, where do I begin? We still have not been permitted to begin our construction yet, but my GC has an appointment at 8:00am with the city to “walk” the plans thru and he cannot see why we would not be permitted. I understood before I started this project that the City of Houston is one of the hardest cities in the nation to build a restaurant. That is an understatement! We are at a complete standstill right now. Of course, I have been planning the menu and I believe that it is finished now, and I am very very happy with it. At this point I’m trying to spend time finalizing the china, flatware, equipment, ect … so that when we do get permitted we will not miss a beat.

I have had a tremendous amount of support from friends, family, and other culinary professionals. Chef Richard Blais and Chef GEBowles have given me many words of encouragement to keep my eye on the prize and keep looking forward to gift at the end. I believe that the opening will be slated for late November to early December. The website is almost finished and I will link you guys directly when it is ready. Thanks for given us the link to the Wall Street Journal and thanks for keeping me busy with updates.

Thanks to all here on egullet for your interest and I look forward to seeing everyone when the time comes.

Cheers

Randy Rucker

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FoodMan

FoodMan

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Randy-

If a month delay in opening is your only problem, you are lucky. Seriously, we rarely hear a restaurant opening "on time". In Steven Shaw's book he provides a short profile of Cafe Gray (I think it is Cafe Gray) in the Time Warner building, talk about delays. We are talking months and months of delays.

Best of luck to you and we will be looking forward to the end result.

E. Nassar
Houston, TX

My Blog
contact: enassar(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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greensNbeans

greensNbeans

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Got the call from my GC this morning around 8:45 (I was still asleep, Im still on restaurant time) and our plans were passed and approved for permits! The city can take as much as 10 days to print them by law, but we expect them to be done by the Friday. Everyone cross their fingers and hope we get them by Friday! Once again, thank you for the support! A very happy day for me! GO ASTROS!!!!!

Edited by greensNbeans (log)
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FoodMan

FoodMan

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Got the call from my GC this morning around 8:45 (I was still asleep, Im still on restaurant time) and our plans were passed and approved for permits!  The city can take as much as 10 days to print them by law, but we expect them to be done by the Friday.  Everyone cross their fingers and hope we get them by Friday!  Once again, thank you for the support!  A very happy day for me!  GO ASTROS!!!!!

Congrats! I guess you have to wait to have them printed before starting construction? the actual approval is not enough? Sorry, I am very ignorant in these matters.

E. Nassar
Houston, TX

My Blog
contact: enassar(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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greensNbeans

greensNbeans

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Let's just say we cannot legally do any construction until the permit is posted outside the door - we have already completed a few major items, though. We connected the two spaces to make one and we now have a hallway that connects the dining area with the bathrooms. There still is a lot to do, but it shouldn't take a long time to complete construction. It is mostly cosmetics and not mechanicals.

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theabroma

theabroma

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Methinks the envelope has been pushed to the point of requiring a tummy-tuck.

The menu is ambitious, but having just passed my Orals in tasting menus, and now having a great and fresh grasp on the responsability of the diner/marathoner to ramp up, persevere, and ramp down from such an event, I question the sanity of a chef throwing all one's training, education, and firepower into one menu. I was out for the count for two days. I dreamed the whole meal, aleph to zed for three days.

I also find it interesting that the first menu seemed to stop at entree, and totally bypass cheese, dessert, and mignardise. Are these offered? What might they be. The Sweet Tooth demands to know. Amuse guele? And the wines?

Theabroma

Sharon Peters aka "theabroma"

The lunatics have overtaken the asylum

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greensNbeans

greensNbeans

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Methinks the envelope has been pushed to the point of requiring a tummy-tuck. 

The menu is ambitious, but having just passed my Orals in tasting menus, and now having a great and fresh grasp on the responsability of the diner/marathoner to ramp up, persevere, and ramp down from such an event, I question the sanity of a chef throwing all one's training, education, and firepower into one menu.  I was out for the count for two days.  I dreamed the whole meal, aleph to zed for three days.

I also find it interesting that the first menu seemed to stop at entree, and totally bypass cheese, dessert, and mignardise.  Are these offered?  What might they be.  The Sweet Tooth demands to know.  Amuse guele?  And the wines? 

Theabroma

I am afraid I do not understand what this means? Did somebody feed you too much?

Construction will comence on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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tetsujustin

tetsujustin

Posted
Posted
Methinks the envelope has been pushed to the point of requiring a tummy-tuck. 

The menu is ambitious, but having just passed my Orals in tasting menus, and now having a great and fresh grasp on the responsability of the diner/marathoner to ramp up, persevere, and ramp down from such an event, I question the sanity of a chef throwing all one's training, education, and firepower into one menu.  I was out for the count for two days.  I dreamed the whole meal, aleph to zed for three days.

I also find it interesting that the first menu seemed to stop at entree, and totally bypass cheese, dessert, and mignardise.  Are these offered?  What might they be.  The Sweet Tooth demands to know.  Amuse guele?  And the wines? 

Theabroma

For the tasting menu or "the voyage":

The amuse guele (or bouche, whichever you all prefer) I do believe is the margarita cocktail, I think... if its not, for sure do expect them at the restaurant. Most of the time, they aren't printed. The dessert is the confit of grapefruit sorbet though one might become confused for it being a palate cleanser. I say it's sweet and sour enough to be both. Cheese I do believe will be at request (multiple composed cheese plates are available) and mignardises will be served... again, a lot of times they aren't printed on the menu.

I believe the wine program is still in the development stages.

But if you do love those tasting menus, I believe this will be the way to go. Plus Randy'll make sure you won't have the same thing twice when you come back.

Other than that, lets just hope construction will be quick and painless. My chopping arm's getting rusty

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  • 2 weeks later...
greensNbeans

greensNbeans

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I wanted to take some time to update everybody who has expressed a little intrest in the "laidback manor" :

Construction began last week with demo and framing almost complete. All the key players have been hired with the execption of one more culinarian to be determined. Wine list "construction" has also began and the opening menus are complete. The opening "voyage" and "treatment" tasting menus will be determinded at a later date. Waitstaff and bartenders will be interviewed starting November 15.

Cookware, flatware, china, stemware, glassware, ect have all been ordered with execption of a few specialty serving peices. The awning should be erected by the end of the week, giving us an identity to downtown. Thanks for everybodies intrest and we will see yall soon!

Rucker

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greensNbeans

greensNbeans

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Pictures of construction are coming very soon - I think I may have to email them to "foodman" because Im not very good at computer stuff. Anyway, I would like to introduce to you all the laidback manor kitchen staff:

sous chef ~ Shaun Duffy

Born in Dallas, Texas Shaun never aspired to be a chef but after enrolling in the culinary program in Houston he soon found his calling. Upon graduation from the Art Institute he worked at many notable restaurants in Houston including Aries Restaurant and The Houston Country Club under Master Chef Fritz Gitchner. His career path lead to Las Vegas where he worked under James Beard Award winner, Julian Serrano, at Picasso in the Belligio hotel and when he found the time he worked at Commander’s Palace in the Aladdin Hotel. Shaun decided to follow his heart and moved to Austin, Texas to be closer with his girlfriend and found himself cooking at Zoot Restaurant where he first met Randy Rucker. He soon then found himself at The Four Season Hotel in Austin and then transferred to The Four Seasons Hotel in Houston where he and Randy met again. Shaun was promoted to Chef de Cuisine very rapidly working under Tim Keating and most recently Paul Wade. Shaun is now the sous chef at laidback manor in Houston, Texas where he and Randy have teamed up once again.

sous chef ~ Seth Siegel-Gardner

Seth Siegel-Gardner acquired a taste for his future in culinary arts as a child. Born in Houston, Seth put his pricy Montessori tuition to good use by peeling carrots in a corner. At the age of 14 Seth parlayed that into a job for Tony Mandola, as an illustrious napkin roller. While attending college at the University of Denver, obtaining a degree in Philosophy he worked as a chef at several Denver fine dining institutions, including the Brown Palace. After graduation he moved to Connecticut and joined the Max restaurant group which oversaw catering for the Wortham and was voted one of the top 4 restaurants in the state. In 2001, Seth moved to New York and served as sous chef at the destination spot, three star Scandinavian restaurant, Aquavit. He not only traveled with Marcus Samuelsson, but learned some Scandinavian words of ill-repute and Japanese along the way. For the past year, Seth has worked along with Scott Conant, as Tourneau Chef at his new restaurant Alto in New York City. Seth is now back in his hometown working as sous chef at the laidback manor in Houston, Texas.

I feel very fortunate to have these young, talented, and eager chefs to work next to. I think that we may just be on to something here!

Edited by greensNbeans (log)
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greensNbeans

greensNbeans

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I cant wait to taste your food.... Alto is one of my favorite restaurants, even if it was snubbed by the michelin guide.

yeah, that "list" is only what you make of it, ya know ... glad to see your exicted about the restaurant and we are eager as well ...

Edited by greensNbeans (log)
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