Marla's Restaurant Blog

We had the opportunity to have a private party on Thanksgiving Day. We're normally closed that day. I went around and asked for volunteers from the staff before I committed and had it covered immediately. It happened to be for the Rockette's Touring company which is performing at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta over the holidays....I bought way too much Turkey. It was fun. It was one of the nicest groups we ever had. Everyone was in a good mood. The best part was sitting down with my staff at the end of the day and eating a Turkey Dinner with them. It made a dreary week in the restaurant business much better.

Same old, same old...

Pretty good business this week.  It kept us hopping.  Implemented a couple new menu items this week and had some trouble working out the purchasing and production.  Sauteed Sea Scallops with Crispy Pork Belly is not selling as rapidly as my other scallop dishes have in the past even with good reviews from the staff and guests.  So I have a lot of pork belly on hand.   Don't know if I should continue the scallop dish or change it.  My most popular dishes continue to be somewhat more conservative in presentation.....

Got a new hot water heater...what fun.  I think our oven is not heating evenly.  The repair man couldn't find anything wrong with it. 

I had to leave early Saturday night with the onset of a really bad cold.  Pulled a server off the floor to host.  I couldn't work Sunday.  I was supposed to work a fund-raiser south of town and had to rearrange the staff to be able to send another good cook down to work in my place.  Pulled a server to expedite brunch, salad guy stayed later to cover the station till the night guy came back from the event.  I went in and packed up the coolers and such for them, came home and slept.

Health Department inspection on Wednesday....I hate to admit, but this was the first time in 4 years they had been by.  Scored a 94.  They were happy, I was happy.  Just two minor things which we corrected that evening.

Oh yes,   we also won "Best French Restaurant"  on Citysearch. 

weekly update

Working on a new menu.  Pieces coming together slowly and a little clumsily.  Deliveries have been delayed.  Some purveyors wouldn't send samples, just full cases of product.  A little crazy around here.  Can't get my head around this one.

Taxes and Insurance.....

Most of people who read my blog from last New Year's Eve about my battle with the Georgia Department of Revenue commiserated with me and my misfortune.  One guy said maybe I shouldn't wait till the last minute....there's always one in the bunch.  So I've taken his advice and have already mailed in my liquor application for 2010 which isn't due until November 15th.  I sent in certified mail, return receipt requested and they have it....

Last week I received a scary letter from them insisting that I submit my forms electronically.  I've been doing that since February.  I can't seem to find a place to apply an overage on my on-line submissions and they owe me $22.40 for an overpayment I made in June.   I also realized that I had never received an updated Sales Tax Certificate with my new address (it's been 8 years), though I have all my numbers correctly on file.  So I headed there today to get this all cleared up and to head off any unforeseen delays in my license.  (You cannot reach them by phone anymore.)  They printed a corrected Sales Tax Certificate.  They gave me a form to request my refund and they told me that the letter that was sent was just to inform everyone that wasn't filing on-line that there would now be additional penalties and interest.  They checked my account and I'm all clear to date. 

So I'm waiting.

Tonight I came home and filed my insurance audits.  Upon the completion of the insurance year (mine ends the 16th of September each year), the insurance companies request a copy of all the sales figures for the year, a breakdown of alcohol vs food sales and all the quarterly payroll figures.  Because you give them an estimate at the beginning of the year, they reconcile to actual figures and either charge you if you went over or refund money for the policy if you were under.....  I think I'm under on payroll, so am hoping  for a refund next month.

Glamorous isn't it?

Left Brain/Right Brain Day.

I'm not sure which is was yesterday.  It was not too long, but was filled with very tedious detail work.  I updated  and printed our "ToGo" menus, finalized the brunch menu, updated the "Pantry" menu including costing, then printing. I updated our Point of Sale computer as well as our on line menus.  I'm just remembering that I didn't update the "Pantry Menu" on line...I updated the menu and printed copies for the books the Concierges have at the hotels, of course this is in a different format.  

I paid bills which I still do by hand with stamps and such. I was thinking it might be time to update and run it through my accounting software, but that software I keep at home and that means I would have to do all my bookkeeping at work and not in my pajamas.  I don't think so.

I worked with the salad guy on the set up of his station...He was off last night when we launched the fall menu.  I developed a new dish for brunch.  Tried to do a grilled shrimp salad or something else off the pantry station so alleviate the pressure on the hot line but all the attempts stunk. Ended up doing a Shrimp and Grits that was delicious but I'm wondering if my line guys will be able to keep up with that dish on Sundays when we are always busy, busy.  

Met with a beef company whose reps had an appointment with me and who are trying to get my business back.  They've been bringing samples and have been very generous, but some of the items are the same old thing and the others just mean more work for me.  There's always the bullshit factor of kitchen speak which takes up time.  Wholesale bread company dropped bread samples by unannounced. Bread was good, but not something I would use....a little more kitchen speak BS.  Had an afternoon appointment with a guy trying to get me to join a food service alliance, a company the brings small restaurants together to bargain contracts with the suppliers.  I agreed to give it a try, but hate to have the little guys lose out even more by big companies that can handle the lower margins.  I truly believe that all the people on this industry's food chain need to make a living.... But a better deal on toilet paper and toner cartridges, why not.

By the time we opened for service, I couldn't think.

"Seating waiters."

This is an expression used when quests are seated at a table in a waiter's station.  A server is sometimes "double seated",(two tables are seated within a few minutes) and then there is the dreaded "triple seated" event.  This is when the waiter's eyes start to roll back in their head and they give the hostess a "you're a shitty hostess" look and they may begin to pout if you let them. 

It happens.  Guests come late, other guests come early, a table you were expecting to finish in another section is still lingering over coffee.  Guests don't like the table you have selected for them.  A call party comes in for a waiter who is already busy. 

Guests want to be seated on the deck instead.  Guests hate the deck and say they would never have made the reservation if all that was available was the deck, even though the host's notes say this was discussed and the host was aware that the guest would prefer inside. 

Guest who made a reservation for a party of 6 (which can only be seated on a few specific tables) walk in and say "sorry, we're only 4".  So the waiter who has been waiting an hour with an empty table gets it reconfigured for 4...which could have been done an hour ago.  And then of course there are the guests WHO DON'T CANCEL THEIR RESERVATIONS, so the table that we have been holding in a section goes empty until we decide the guest must not be coming and adjust our seating.

I have often said that the host's job is thankless and underpaid and undervalued.  This is why I get to do it on the weekends. 

Julia Child Week, Day 4

It's 8:38 am and the ovens are heating and the coffee is brewing....Again.

I haven't worked this hard in 10 years.

I'm on my 80th lb of Beef Bourguignon and my 12th Duck Pate.  I'm having more sole sent by UPS from Foley's in Boston to arrive this afternoon.  I'm getting ready to start my last 6 Orange Almond Cakes.

I am taking motrin earlier and earlier each day.  But my biggest problem is that my hands hurt.  That, my friends, is old age.....

Julia Child Week update

I came in at 8:30 on Monday, a day when we're closed, to prep for Julia week.

I came in at 9:00 on Tuesday to finish prep and pull everything together.  Went home for a hour to shower, eat a slice of frozen pizza and go back to work the floor on the "opening night".

In 4 hours, we sold just about all of the food I worked two days prepping.

Couldn't wind down last night so found myself cleaning the bathrooms at home at 10:30pm.

It's now Wednesday, 8:22 in the morning and I'm back at it, coffee is brewing, ovens are heating.  This is going to be a very long week.

Tossing it all!

Last night for the first time in many years I tossed a whole tray of food in the trash and told my staff to start over.  I was putting a steak on the tray and checked it's temp and found it was overcooked.  We had to fire another steak which meant everything else that was ready would be dry by the time the steak was done.  I couldn't put the other entrees onto trays for other customers, though I was so freaking pissed off, I didn't look too hard.

I went to the table and explained that we had overcooked the steak, that there would be a delay.  I brought a couple of complementary small plates out to the table to keep the guests busy and bought them a round of desserts.  They were very understanding and nice.  Thank goodness.

Keeping up!

Business has been good.    Ran a "Lobster Night" which was a sell out this week.  Had to offer a second "Lobster Night" for next Thursday and that is sold out as well.  My friendly competitors are running a neighborhood restaurant week next month and they excluded me because I moved 40 yards outside the neighborhood in 2001,  (I'm the oldest restaurant in this part of town, besides Manual's Tavern) so I'm running a series of Julia Child specials during the same week.  All's fair in love and war they say.

I have an old kitchen employee that wants to get back into the restaurant business and I'm trying to find a spot for him in the kitchen. 

I'm trying to concentrate on food which by the tone of this blog one may think that I don't concern myself with it at all.  But it is the center of everything.  I'm always looking at product, prices, availability.  I got a bad batch of table salt which I use primarily on the tables and in my baking.  I made the dough for my date pastries the other day and of course I tasted it, (that's why I'm not skinny) and all I could taste was salt.  I threw it out and made some more with less salt even though I have been using the recipe for a long time.  My pate sucre for the Blueberry Tart was salty.  The shortbread cookies were salty.  I finally brought some salt from home and did a comparison tasting.  The salt at the restaurant had a funny, chemical taste.  I reordered another brand, threw out the case I had and started over. 

I was cleaning fava beans on Wednesday and noticed that the number of beans in each pod was much less than usual.  The beans were tiny in most of the pods as well.  That tells me it's the end of the season and to work through this batch and change my menu items that feature fava beans next week.  This means a menu change.

The organic farmer has eggplant this week.  I need to plan the supper menu with that item in mind next week.

And so it goes.