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.