Yes, we Can...and Did!

Ahhh, to feel hope and confidence in one's government again. Although I stayed up to watch McCain concede and Barack triumph and was woken up at 5am by Claire, I feel refreshed. I feel like we're going back in a positive direction as a nation and I am excited for the future. I've been consumed, obsessed and completely stressed out about whether we could, as a nation, elect Barack president and now I know we can. Just the simple fact that my kids can now grow up without the assumption that the White House should only be occupied by some old white guy is a great and beautiful thing. Just that makes this election worth it. But no, there's more. We get a man who is articulate, intelligent, measured and thoughtful in his approach to dealing with problems, and willing to accept that he doesn't know everything and must sometimes work with others to make something good happen. Of course, I am a little biased, but I think Barack ran a campaign that he can be proud of, both ethically and organizationally. He kept the moral high ground; didn't go after the extremely tempting and easy target of Sarah whatsername. McCain lost any respect that I had for him with his campaign strategy of doing/saying anything to win despite often being contradicted by reality.

Anyway, I think we're back on a positive course as a nation. I hope we'll hold this course so that I can go back to writing about bread which is what I really enjoy. Thank you Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com for keeping me sane. Without him, I would be completely dysfunctional. K bye, gotta go be hopeful now!

Working on the Fall Menu, Here's version 1

Donovan’s Steak & Ale
Appetizers

Chicken Wings

Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail

Shrimp Corn Dogs
Roasted Garlic & Caper Aioli (or something?)

Clams Steamed in Beer

Crab Cakes
Cucumber Salad, Spicy Remoulade

Duck Pizza
Caramelized Onions, Roasted Apples (???), Smoked Gouda or Smoked Mozz or Smoked McCadam Cheddar, BBQ

Beer Battered Mozzarella
Puttanesca Sauce

Baked Brie
Seasonal Fruit Compote

French Onion Soup

Lobster Bisque with Madeira Cream

Salads

Grilled Sirloin Steak & Iceberg Wedge
Crumbled Bleu Cheese, Bacon, Red Onion,
And Balsamic Glaze

Caesar
Home-made Dressing, Croutons, and Tomatoes
With your Choice of Grilled Chicken or
Pepper Grilled Tuna

Seared Duck Salad (doesn’t sell much)
Roasted Apples, Pistachios, Bleu Cheese
Mixed Greens and Gorgonzola Vinaigrette
Steaks

Entrees Served with Seasonal Vegetables

Grilled Delmonico Steak
Steak Fries, Balsamic Glazed Mushrooms and Onions
Maple~Bourbon Sauce

Bacon~wrapped Gorgonzola Stuffed Filet of Beef
Roasted Garlic Whipped Potatoes, Red Wine Sauce,
Haystack Onions

Slow~Roasted Prime Rib
Herb Roasted Potatoes
Jus, Whole Grain Mustard & Horseradish Cream

Grilled Dry Aged New York Strip
Bacon, Cheddar and Scallion Baked Potato Pie,
Haystack Onions, Brandy~Mushroom Sauce

Grilled Hanger Steak
Steak Fries, Roasted Onion~Red Wine Sauce

Other Meats

Beef Short Ribs Braised in Beer
Roasted Garlic Whipped Potatoes

Grilled Cider Brined Pork Chop
Fried Mac & Cheese, Ubu Demi

Venison Pot Pie
Leg of Venison Stewed with Rosemary, Juniper
And Root Vegetables under a Puff Pastry Lid

Pan~Roasted Half Chicken
Corn Bread Stuffing, Tarragon Pan Sauce

Sautéed Chicken Marsala
Herb Roasted Potatoes, Mushroom Marsala Sauce

Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken Stewed with Sage and Root Vegetables
Under a Puff Pastry Lid

Seared Duck Breast
Fried Mac & Cheese, Cider Glaze







Seafood

Pan Roasted Chilean Sea Bass
Sam Adams Oktoberfest & Crab “Beernaise”, Herb Roasted Potatoes

Sautéed Crab Cakes
Vegetable Couscous, Spicy Remoulade

Pan~Roasted Atlantic Salmon
Vegetable Couscous, Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

Grilled Yellowfin Tuna (shall we change this too?)
Herb Roasted Potatoes, Tomato~Caper Sauce


Pastas

Seafood Bake
Shrimp & Crab, Penne, and English Peas,
Baked in a Marsala & McCadam Cheddar Sauce

Shrimp Scampi with Linguine

Pumpkin~Sage Ravioli
Mushroom & Caramelized Pearl Onion Marsala Pan Sauce
(if we’re getting duck confit, that would be kick ass in this, except for the vegetarians)

Grilled Eggplant & Mozzarella Stack (I hate this)
Grilled Peppers, Portabella Mushroom
Tomato~Pepper Coulis

And now for something completely different...

Yes, I occasionally let the geek flag fly. Two geek posts in one day.

Do you have a hadron for particle physics?

Worried that the LHC has destroyed the world and we just don't know it? Check this out to find out. I wish I had taken Physics in school and not been so intimidated by math because of a sucky 6th grade math teacher that I never followed up on my interest in this kind of thing because it's cool stuff. Last year I saw a documentary on the building and implications of the CERN collider and got excited about the project. Besides if it does create a black hole big enough to swallow the world maybe we'll be spared the possibility of having another republican administration. Instantaneous annihilation doesn't seem so bad anymore does it? But most of the physicists agree that that isn't a credible possibility. Just in case though, I recommend checking the above link periodically to make sure.

Mostly though, I just saw a T-shirt on Wil Wheaton's blog saying something to the effect of "Particle Physics gives me a Hadron" and have been trying to figure out a way to work it into my blog somehow. Amy gave me the perfect method when she found the collider update link. By the way, St. Lawrence county, my home area, was in the running for either CERN or another super-collider back in the developmental stages but the NIMBY's won out.

If Barack can sing this well...

He should be president, right? The final, conclusive proof that Barack deserves to be the prez. The grumpy old coot sure doesn't despite being a slightly less repugnant, repulsive, embarrassing and oafish republican than our current one.



And in case you need more real reasons to not vote for Palin/McCain check this out.

OK, gotta stop now. I feel a rant coming on and I need to get all my facts right and ducks in a row so that at least it will be an informed rant.

First Review for Donovan's Steak & Ale

We've been visited by two of our regional newspapers in the past few weeks and our first review appeared in the Watertown Daily Times this Sunday. Overall, very positive; 4.5 forks out of 5 is a good place to start. Everyone deserves a lot of credit for our success the first two months out of the gate. Donovan, Dana, Art, Marilyn and all the Reyome family have all put a crazy amount of time, effort, thought, and more into getting the place looking great and the waitstaff trained properly. It's great to be somewhere that everyone is on the same page and the owners are intimately involved in the daily operation of the restaurant and not simply absentee distractions. The servers, Laurie, Chelsea, Meagan, Paula, Erica, Natalie and Trevor have done a great job and exceeded my expectations in a short amount of time. Jeremy, with whom I worked at Maxfields, has been great; a terrific worker and good complement to my style and attitude. We've pretty much lost Chris to soccer and his senior year at high school unfortunately; but he's still a big help on Sunday nights. Trevor (the same one who is a server) is obviously good at multi-tasking and has come a really long way in just 2 months. Sean, another Maxfields transplant, is finally on board on the weekends and is a great addition to the kitchen. He managed to jump on the grill his first night (a Friday) and put out 100+ dinners with no problem. And, no restaurant could function for more than about an hour without a good dishwasher. John, our dishwasher keeps us loaded pretty well with plates and saute pans and does it without a complaint despite obviously being way too smart for such a repetitive boring and unpleasant job. We're planning on phasing him into cooking a little at a time to get him off dish a couple nights a week.

Anyway, things have gone really well so far thanks to the great team effort and good leadership. We're expecting another piece October 4 in the Plattsburgh Press Republican from their reviewer who dropped in for dinner and was so impressed that he decided to profile us. I'll try not to let it go to my head. We still have to get that last half a fork next time around. Thanks for the review Wally! This'll be a busy week. Time to work on the fall menu and try to figure out a Beer Dinner. I really want to have an opportunity to do some more upscale and intimidating stuff and a Beer Dinner seems a good venue for that.

Yeastspotting, Finally some time to bake bread again!

I decided to dust off a Miche recipe I've been tinkering with for a year and work on it some more for my first foray back into bread baking since opening the restaurant earlier this summer. I decided to use more Rye and less Whole Wheat since I prefer the flavor of Rye. Sorry Mr. Poilane! I guess I'll still call it Miche since it still looks about as butt-cheek like as any other miche.


My Miche

Build 1 7:20am

40g KAF Bread Flour
21g Rye Flour
19g Whole Wheat Flour
95g Water
22g 100% Hydration Starter

Build 2 3pm (Build 1 had doubled and looked like bubbly pancake batter)

153g Rye Flour
147g Whole Wheat Flour
158g KAF Bread Flour
3g Sea Salt
550g Water
all the levain from Build 1

Final Dough 7:20pm (Build 2 had increased by about 50% and looked like slightly thicker bubbly pancake batter)

525g KAF Bread Flour
21g Sea Salt
80g Water
all the levain from Build 2
plus about another 50g Bread Flour while kneading

1. Mixed until incorporated (about 2 minutes) and allowed 15 minute autolyse, then kneaded for 6 minutes and pre-shaped into large boule.
2. Allowed to rise at room temperature for 90 minutes then divided in 2 and shaped into smaller boules.
3. Allowed to rise at room temperature for 45 minutes then retarded overnight
4. Pulled Loaf #1 from refrigerator at 7:20am to de-chill. Sprinkled Loaf #1 with Caraway Seeds and Cumin Seeds. Oven set at 450 with steam pan in lower rack. Slashed with a # Sign. Loaf #1 in @8:40am 425 with steam for 15 minutes, then 40 more minutes without steam. 10 more minutes with door open.
5. Loaf #2 baked directly from refrigerator with oven set at 475 during re-heat. Then down to 425 when loaded. No seeds since Amy hates Caraway for some inexplicable reason. Baked with steam for 15 minutes, then without for 40 more. 10 more minutes with door open.

Sliced Loaf #1 after 1 hour and tasted it. Now I remember why I love bread and baking it! Nice slightly sour grainy flavor, great crumb & crust. I'm glad it's cooling off outside and I have some free time to bake again. At least I managed to keep one starter alive! Bagels tomorrow morning. I'll add the pictures once I figure out our card-reader.

"Like Angels Pissin' on your tongue"

Apparently this was the enthusiastic reply by one of our customers last night when Donovan asked how dinner was. I'm not sure it's slogan material, but at least the people where happy with the food! Things are still going well and we're into our second month of business.

...and here's the more later.

Like I said, things have gone quite well considering the stress and uncertainty of the last few days pre-open. Our soft opening Tuesday, July 8 went off without a hitch and we started off with a relatively easy first week averaging about 70 covers per night. The next week, as word got out that we were open, we got busier and started to really get into an effective group groove. The next week we got our liquor license and things really got busy when word got out about that. That Saturday night we did 160+ with no trouble at all. Well except for having to send Chris over to do dishes in the middle of getting slammed and having to muddle through down one cook. I guess we muddled well since I can't remember a single problem that night. Dishwashing has been the sore point during our first month. Our first dishwasher quit last week in a fit of anger over the fact that the waitstaff wouldn't do his job for him. He had expectations of the waitstaff well beyond any that I've experienced anywhere in my years as a cook and chef. Ijit! And this is in addition to the cooks doing a lot of his clean-up at the end of the night which is about the last thing that I want to be doing after a good 11 or 12 hours there already. So now we have a new dishwasher who has a fine attitude, but really needs to figure out a system to move things along a little faster.

Anyway, even with the Franklin County Fair in town, we had our best week yet, coming close to or exceeding the 100 mark every night this week. It took its toll on me, Jeremy & Donovan this week; with all of us remarking last night that our asses were kicked. I hurt from the bottoms of my feet to my neck and I'm definitely ready for the temperature to drop below 120+ in the kitchen. I'm glad I've got 2 days off now to recover. It's a good feeling anyway, working this hard and being this well received and doing it for the benefit of someone whom I like and respect instead of who I worked for over the last 3 years. But I won't say any more about that. I'm trying to keep this nice and that would not be a pretty rant. Hearing Donovan and or Art or Dana say thank you at the end of each shift is a big deal for me. I appreciate it.

About the best thing I can say about bread right now is that I've managed to keep my original starter viable despite ignoring for days at a time. One starter...out of four! Damn me! Also, we're making some of our own bread, in the form of corn muffins; which is something to be proud of. I will get back to baking and blogging about bread (soon?) but I need to be spending less than 12-14 hours/day out of the house to make it work. And it will be nicer when it cools off a little.

I'll try to keep the updates coming at a more regular pace, maybe with some actual bread posts too. No promises though, we keep getting busier week by week. Smoked BBQ Beef Ribs coming this week, made on our very own smoker! Woohoo!

"I'm not a cooker"

This is what one of our more promising cook candidates said when asked by Dana if he'd be interested in being a cook instead of server which is what he really applied for. Turns out Chris is a cooker. I was pushing for people with little or no "experience" aka bad habits, and Chris filled that requirement well. He's a seventeen year old baseball/soccer/hockey playing high school senior who worked at his family farm and another farm before coming to work with us. No restaurant experience whatsoever. He is fantastic! Calm, cool, and collected. Follows directions wonderfully and has a great memory. Has a great attitude and is pretty fast considering that he's still learning the dance. Not to forget anyone, our other hire besides Jeremy and me, Trevor, is just as good and comes with some experience and apparently no bad habits. But Chris was a particularly pleasant surprise considering we were all worried about him after his opening line.

Things are going ridiculously smoothly considering the new staff, new restaurant and new everything. More later I think.

"We're not the geniuses, are we, really? Just the technicians."

great quote from Marco Pierre White talking about making great food and the importance of the initial ingredients.

Yeastspotting-Power Bread

I've been busy working on getting the kitchen/restaurant ready to go and have been out of the bread making loop for almost an entire month. Well, except for making bagels once a week, struan, and a couple varieties of corn muffins which I'm testing to use as a fresh bread option at the restaurant. If anyone has a great corn muffin recipe, pass it on and maybe you can be immortalized at Donovan's Steak & Ale. I think we're looking for a combination of sweet and savory since we're Yankees up here and like our corn bread and muffins on the sweetish side.

So here's the recipe, nearly verbatim, ingredient-wise anyway, from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads

Day 1: Pre-Soaker
71g Raisins (I used Golden Raisins)
14g Flax Seeds (I used golden and brown)
170g Water

1. Combine all and soak for 8-24 hours.
2. Puree.

Day 2: Soaker
255g (all) Pre-Soaker
170g Whole Wheat Flour
14g Wheat Bran (Reinhart calls for Oat Bran, but as I didn't have it, I substituted)
4g Salt

1. Combine and hold at room temperature 12-24 hours.

Day 2: Biga
170g Whole Wheat Flour
1g Instant Yeast
142g Buttermilk

1. Combine and knead about 3 minutes.
2. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours until ready to make final dough. Pull from refrigerator to warm up 2 hours prior to making final dough.

Day 3: Final Dough
443g (all) Soaker
313g Biga
57g Sunflower Seeds, ground into flour in small batches in coffee grinder
57g Whole Wheat Flour
29g Sesame Seeds
10g Flax Seed Meal (my only addition to the original recipe)
4g Salt
7g Instant Yeast
21g Maple Syrup from my trees

1. Cut Soaker and Biga into 12 pieces each.
2. Combine remaining ingredients in mixer bowl.
3. Add Soaker and Biga to mixer and work on low for about 1 minute until it all forms a ball.
4. Knead on low (kitchenaid 1) for about 3 minutes until tacky and nicely cohesive.
Or knead with your hands on a lightly floured board until tacky and nicely cohesive.
5. Rest 5 minutes and then knead 1 more minute.
6. Remove to an oiled bowl for 45-60 minutes until increased to 1.5 times its original size. Pre-heat oven to 425F. Place a steam pan in the bottom of the oven.
7. Form into loaf and place in oiled loaf pan, slash down the middle, and allow to rise for 45-60 minutes until increased to 1.5 times its original size.
8. Put in the oven. Reduce temperature to 350F. Bake with about 4 oz. water in the steam pan for 20 minutes.
9 Remove steam pan, rotate 180 degrees and bake 20 to 30 more minutes until nicely browned and hollow sounding when thunked on the bottom.
10. Cool on rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.

I just cut into it and tried it. It's very tasty and lighter & airier than I was expecting having gotten used to the struan which is a similar looking bread. I think that is due mostly to my using the Biga pre-ferment rather than my white levain. I guess I'll have to try a Biga-struan to make sure.

And here's the photo

Drive Easy

Heard this on NPR this morning and it makes sense to me considering that now that I have a 75 mile round trip commute each day I'll be spending something like $250/month just getting to work. I can afford an extra 3-5 minutes in the car to save $.20/gallon on gas. Yikes!

Here's a link to the interview I heard on our local NPR station.

Lunch Menu

Finally, the exciting stuff!


So far it seems like we'll be starting dinner Wednesday 7/9 and lunch Friday 7/11, just to give ourselves a slightly more manageable opening schedule. We'll be corning our own beef, making our own Pastrami and smoking some brisket too. Very excited about all that. Here's the Lunch Menu...

Appetizers

BBQ Veal Sliders
Roasted Garlic Aioli


Chicken Wings


Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail


Clams Steamed in Beer


Crab Cakes
Cucumber Salad, Spicy Remoulade


Beer Battered Mozzarella
Puttanesca Sauce


Baked Brie
Seasonal Fruit Compote


French Onion Soup


Lobster Bisque with Madeira Cream


Salads


Grilled Sirloin Steak & Iceberg Wedge
Crumbled Bleu Cheese, Bacon, Red Onion,
And Balsamic Glaze


Caesar
Home-made Dressing, Croutons, and Tomatoes
With your Choice of Grilled Chicken or
Pepper Grilled Tuna


Spinach Salad
Brie, Strawberries, and Honey~Sherry Vinaigrette


Seared Duck Salad
Roasted Apples, Pistachios, Bleu Cheese
Mixed Greens and Gorgonzola Vinaigrette



Burgers
All Burgers are accompanied by freshly made Potato Chips and a Pickle

Donovan’s Burger
Chive & Horseradish Havarti, Haystack Onions
Garlic Aioli

Bacon~Bleu Burger
Applewood Smoked Bacon, Bleu Cheese
Caramelized Onions

Steakhouse Burger
Swiss cheese, House Steak Sauce, Sautéed
Mushrooms and Haystack Onions

Up North Burger
McCadam Cheddar, Home made Maple
Horseradish Mustard, Applewood Smoked Bacon

Royale with Cheese
Brie, Sautéed Mushrooms, Caramelized Onions
Our special Thousand Islands dressing

Cheeseburger
American cheese

Other Sandwiches
Reuben
Our own Home made Corned Beef, Kraut,
Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing

Pistol on Whiskey
Our own Home made Pastrami on Rye

Rachel
Oven-roasted Turkey Breast, Kraut
Swiss cheese and Thousand Island dressing

Turkey Club
Layers of Oven-Roasted Turkey Breast,
Applewood Smoked Bacon, Garlic Aioli, Lettuce and Tomato

Tuna, Avocado & Bacon “Club”
Seared Tuna, Lettuce and Tomato,
Spicy Remoulade

Three Cheese Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Lettuce and Tomato

Tarragon Chicken Salad Sandwich
Lettuce and Tomato

Crab Cake Sandwich
Lettuce and Tomato, Spicy Remoulade

¼ Pound All Beef Hot Dog
Kraut, Spicy Mustard

Open-Faced Prime Rib Sandwich
Jus, Balsamic Onions and Mushrooms
And Swiss cheese

Next up, the Dinner Menu!!!

I don't think I'll bother posting the Kid's Menu; nothing to very excited about. Boring old kids.

Dinner Menu Finalized???

or anyway, close to finalized.

Donovan’s Steak & Ale

Appetizers
BBQ Veal Sliders
Roasted Garlic Aioli

Chicken Wings

Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail

Clams Steamed in Beer

Crab Cakes
Cucumber Salad, Spicy Remoulade

Beer Battered Mozzarella
Puttanesca Sauce

Baked Brie
Seasonal Fruit Compote

French Onion Soup

Lobster Bisque with Madeira Cream

Salads
Grilled Sirloin Steak & Iceberg Wedge
Crumbled Bleu Cheese, Bacon, Red Onion,
And Balsamic Glaze

Caesar
Home-made Dressing, Croutons, and Tomatoes
With your Choice of Grilled Chicken or
Pepper Grilled Tuna

Spinach Salad
Brie, Strawberries, and Honey~Sherry Vinaigrette

Seared Duck Salad
Roasted Apples, Pistachios, Bleu Cheese
Mixed Greens and Gorgonzola Vinaigrette


Steaks
Entrees Served with Seasonal Vegetables

Grilled Delmonico Steak
Steak Fries, Balsamic Glazed Mushrooms and Onions
Maple~Bourbon Sauce

Pan-Seared Filet of Beef
Garlic Whipped Potatoes, Béarnaise Sauce,
Haystack Onions

Slow~Roasted Prime Rib
Herb Roasted Potatoes
Jus, Whole Grain Mustard & Horseradish Cream

Grilled Dry Aged New York Strip
Bacon, Cheddar and Scallion Baked Potato Pie,
Brandy~Mushroom Sauce, Haystack Onions

Grilled Sirloin Steak
Steak Fries, House Steak Sauce

Other Meats

Applewood Bacon~Wrapped Pork Filet
Fried Mac & Cheese, Caramelized Onion Sauce

Pan~Roasted Half Chicken
Herb-Roasted Potatoes, Tarragon Pan Sauce

Sweet Tea Brined Chicken
Fried Mac & Cheese, Red-Eye Sauce

Seared Duck Breast
Herb-Roasted Potatoes, Balsamic Glaze

Seafood

Crab Stuffed Trout
Vegetable Couscous, Sage~Madeira Brown Butter

Sautéed Crab Cakes
Vegetable Couscous, Spicy Remoulade

Pan~Roasted Atlantic Salmon
Vegetable Couscous, Cucumber Salad
Roasted Pepper & Tomato Sauce

Grilled Yellowfin Tuna
Herb Roasted Potatoes, Tomato~Caper Sauce


Pastas

Shellfish Mac & Cheese Gratin
Shrimp & Crab, Penne, and Asparagus Tips,
Baked in a Madeira & McCadam Cheddar Sauce

Shrimp Scampi with Linguine

Four Cheese Ravioli

Grilled Eggplant & Mozzarella Stack
Grilled Peppers, Portabella Mushroom
Tomato~Pepper Coulis

Days 5 thru now

I've heard through the grapevine that I'm disappointing people by not posting about our progress like I said I was going to. What with the terrible weather that smacked NNY around a couple of Tuesdays ago and losing a big maple tree, and losing our power for several days, and this & that I slacked off a bit. Anyway, cataloging every bit of cleaning I did made for some dry writing, and reading too I'm sure. By now, the kitchen is clean and nearly organized and about ready to open. I think we've finalized the menu...for now. At least we have a menu we're ready to distribute to the waitstaff in a day or two and open with on the 9th. Donovan, Dana, Art (Donovan's dad) and Marilyn (Donovan's mom) and many others have done a lot of work getting the front of the house looking great. Between the staining and poly-ing of the bar and bar floor that Art has done, the cleaning, planting, painting and pruning that Marilyn has done, and EVERYTHING that Donovan and Dana have done, the place is going to look fabulous when we open. They've begun the process of filling the place with cool antiques that really lend personality, and have found some Malone newspapers for June, 1944 to dress the table-tops with. One of Donovan's uncles was in yesterday doing some electrical work and will be back to do more, including installing a 220v electrical service somewhere in the kitchen so we can plug in the Alto-Shaam. Jeremy, a fellow Maxfields alumnus joined the crew and started working last Saturday. Unfortunately for him, he's tall so I gave him the job of cleaning the ceilings. Now they're all done though. My mom, Janet, even pitched in several days worth of kitchen cleaning for the cause too.

That's about all for now. I'll try to come up with some good pictures and maybe post the menu soon too. Sorry for the hiatus. Opening a restaurant is a lot of work, but it doesn't necessarily make for gripping reading. Back with more soon.

Day 4

I didn't get too much actual labor accomplished today besides steel-wooling the burners for the six-burner stove so that they're clean and new looking again as opposed to rust and crud encrusted. I washed some more of the walls in the kitchen and finally got the menu planned. Now I need to type it up over the weekend, make it look and sound nice and let the owners, Donovan and Dana Reyome give it the twice over and price it. Sorry if I mis-spelled your name Dana. Now I also know the name for sure...Donovan's Steak & Ale. In Malone, New York. Tentative opening is July 9. Once we get the menu truly finalized I'll post it.

We also went to lunch at St. Lucia in Malone to check out the competition. It's a very nice looking place, with a reasonably interesting menu and well-prepared food. Of course, ours will be better! But they seem to be geared more toward lunch and we'll be shooting more for the dinner clientèle. Donovan also gave me a tour of Malone, his hometown, and a place that although I grew up only 30 miles away I am totally unfamiliar with. Very nice-looking town, and not at all what it looks like from my only experience of it driving through on Rt. 11 on the way to Vermont. That's about it for now. More pictures some day soon.

Day 3

Nothing very interesting to write about today. I chiseled cooked on grease off the fryers and then boiled them out three times to get the several inch thick layer of sedimentary gunk out of the inside. Now they look almost like new. Started the super fun task of scrubbing down all the kitchen walls so the Health Inspector can't complain about them. The kitchen is starting to look pretty clean. The only remaining off odor is that of gas that isn't being consumed by pilot lights or sucked out through the hood yet. There's still plenty of organizing to do. I wrote out some questions for potential cooks/dishwashers. I did the critical walk through to see what points there are to tighten up before our preliminary health inspection. I made bagels, brought home-made Strawberry Rhubarb Jam and other goodies to share with the owners and ended up being the only one to show up today. Oh well, more for me & my family. Anyway, that's all I accomplished today. More tomorrow and maybe exterior pics if the weather's good.

Day 2

Today I took a break from scrubbing stainless steel and scooping up gobs of grease and did something a little more fun. I hunted through the kitchen and located a good powerful bar blender, assembled a functioning food processor, cleaned all the kitchen utensils I could find, found squirt bottles and bar pourers to use on the line for wine and oil etc, and cleaned them. Ok, I said a little more fun. At least I have a better idea what we have and what we need. Considering the state of cleanliness of the place, it is remarkably well equipped. There's a nice, mostly well maintained six burner stove
and two nice "sandwich" units, here's the big one on the saute side











On the other hand, the 2 nice fryers were left in disgusting shape, see


But I can fix that when I get some of the magic fryer boiling-out powder. We get our dish-machine from Ecolab in about 10 days to fill this space in the dish room


Tomorrow I'll work on scrubbing down the walls in the kitchen and take a long, hard look around to start getting prepared for our pre-open health inspection. Maybe it will be nice enough outside to take some pictures of the property.

Opening a Restaurant Day 1

Today was my first day at my new job after a 10 day vacation since finishing at Maxfields. I saw the restaurant about six weeks ago after the principal owner found the site and offered me the job, but not since then. Quite a bit of cosmetic work has been done in that time. Of course, today I didn't remember to bring the camera so I have no shots of the kitchen before I started cleaning. Maybe I'll remember tomorrow. The last tenants left in a hurry after getting in too far over their heads with debts from previous failed ventures. Anyway, they weren't too careful about cleaning anything before running away. There was a big fat layer of grease and grime all over every piece of equipment in the kitchen, even in the utensil drawers. Plenty of left over potato chips, dead lettuce, and nameless goo in the deep dark corners of the reach-ins. I fixed all that today, cleaned and polished all the stainless steel, and began a list of needs, wants, and wishes as well as some thoughts about how to re-arrange the kitchen for maximum efficiency and proper flow. More cleaning, sorting, and cataloging tomorrow. Time to finally go back to Maxfields and reposess my meat grinder, sharpening stone, and radio so I can feel at home. The new restaurant will be a Steakhouse with some twists. I'll check with the owner about publishing the name, his name, and the menu in the near future. We're supposed to be finalizing the menu the day after tomorrow so that will be a big step out of the way. I'll try to keep this updated regularly if for no other reason than the fact that it will be a resource for Amy & me if we're ever crazy enough, and out of debt enough, to do it ourselves. Also I'll try to remember the camera so there will be something to look at.

Semolina-Sourdough English Muffins for BBD #10

After my croissant catastrophe yesterday I regrouped, decided to make English Muffins for the first time, and then spent a food-filled afternoon in Ottawa, our nearest city. Before leaving though I fed my new Semolina Levain to try a different take on Susan's Sourdough English Muffins. I did make a couple of changes to her recipe, using the aforementioned Semolina Levain, substituting Semolina in place of the Whole Wheat Flour, and substituting my homemade Maple Syrup for Honey/Agave Nectar. I kept the amounts of each the same though. I also translated her measurements in teaspoons to:

7g Baking Soda
5g Sea Salt
6g Maple Syrup/Honey/Agave Nectar

since I've become hooked on the success that precise gram measurements seem to guarantee. Never having made English Muffins before, they seemed to behave as I expected they would in all steps of the process. I'm giving my last one 1 more minute on the griddle as I write, cooling the rest, and trying to decide whether to go with butter or Douanier, a Morbier-like cheese I got in Ottawa made by Fritz Kaiser in Quebec. I'm leaning toward the Douanier. By the way, if anyone out there needs a restaurant recommendation in Ottawa, we ate at Domus yesterday and it was a great lunch! Very seasonal/regional. The chef even used Cold Pressed Canola Oil in place of the ubiquitous EVOO as a nod to favoring Canadian ingredients over non-. I was not a fan of the flavor, slightly nutty & bitter, but I respect the motivation.

Anyway, back to the English Muffins. They're done, fork-split, toasted, and very nice with the Douanier. The crumb is a tiny bit tighter than I expected, probably due to the Semolina. They taste great though & next time I'll try them with the Whole Wheat Flour just for the sake of comparison.

Ahhhh. I feel much better than I did after baking yesterday. Thanks for the great topic!