Marla's Blog

I'm on the phone with Julia...

and drinking mojitos and she is complaining about my lack of blog postings.   I have worked for 12 days straight, 10 - 13 hours a day.  I'm pooped.  The $12,000.00 Point of Sales System is up but not without tons of problems and what should have been fun and exciting has been as wonderful as 65 hours of hard child birth. My manager is telling me to go home....so that's what I'm going to do.

Am I going to my weight watchers meeting in the morning....I DON'T THINK SO......

Oh my goodness, where have I been?

Time certainly marches away from me. 

I went camping with my daughter and some great friends over Labor Day weekend.

I came back to a very nice review in the AJC.  Brought lots of new customers but even more importantly brought back some old customers who hadn't visited us in a while.

I hired a professional photographer to take pictures of the restaurant, our wine tastings and formal food portraits.  It took two afternoons of plating food, inviting guests in to be photographed and setting and resetting tables.

My husband was out of town on business for two weeks, so I was left running home from work to drop my daughter off at different dance classes.  I even had some good friends do the afterschool homework, dinner and dance run one afternoon.  Thanks Deedee and Lou!  Mona's loves you.  She stayed with friends on the weekend evenings.  It sure does take a village.....

I had the flu.

I ordered a new point of sales system for the restaurant.  The manufacturers of the system I bought 12 years ago has just informed me that it will not be able to become compliant with the new credit card security measures.  This is a $12,000.00 investment.  Ugh.  Today, I am working on finishing the database and ordering the remote printers since my old ones don't work with the new system.  The new system is being installed on Monday, October 1st.

I took the National Restaurant Association's Safe Serve course to renew my certification in food safety.  My Chef de Cuisine is certified as well.  You will be happy to know I passed with flying colors.

I implemented a fall menu.

I updated my workman's comp and liability insurance policies for the restaurant.  I have to prepare the paperwork for the annual audits coming due the first week of October.  Since the policies are based on estimated payroll and sales, I have to send the companies the actual figures and will have to pay for any difference.

I added a 2nd Wednesday per month for wine tastings so have worked on sheduling those for the rest of the fall.

I booked seven parties, designing menus for each.  We're having the Navel Academy Alumni join us for the third time, another college for the second, a group of doctors for the second, a travel group for the second, two wedding rehearsal dinners and father's birthday party.  I have two holiday luncheons to finalize.

Did I mention I had the flu?????

Training and OCD.

I spent today training a server who is young, new and has been on the floor for a couple of weeks.  Concentrated on Food, Food, Food.  He incorrectly answered a question about our crab cakes the other night so today he made them with me today.  Even waiters can pick crab meat.  We also worked up an allergy chart for all the waiters.  Allergies are a hot topic these days and we are very careful.  It goes so far that the person making paella with shellfish must scrub their hands before making anything else for someone with a shellfish allergy. 

I worked with new salad person in setting up.  It was a little rough.  I am convinced that people who work in the restaurant business successfully must have some form of OCD (Obsessive, compulsive disorder).  It just doesn’t work any other way.  The kitchen term is “mise en place” which literally means everything in its place.  This is the term line cooks use when talking about setting up their station.  They have everything ready to go.  But it applies to toilet paper in the rest rooms, backup sugar caddies, and polished forks.  If an employee is not neurotic about neatness they will not survive in this business.  There is no room for dirt, germs and no time for disorganization.  I drive my husband crazy at home, but my walkin coolers are perfect.

Compressor replaced on kitchen AC unit is down again.  It’s 7:30pm and I’m waiting for the repair man…..

The truth about Open Table….

Open Table does not have a brain!  I get guests tell me all the time that they tried to come in one week night and saw that we were “booked” on Open Table.  I try not to cry. 

Each restaurant “programs” Open Table for their restaurant and allocates tables for 2, 4 or more guests and at assorted times.  If your request matches one of the preprogrammed spots, you’re in….But, if your request does not match, you will not get the spot.  If you called and spoke to a manager/hostess and the manager had to pay for a new…let’s say, compressor for the kitchen ac unit….that manager would probably be more than happy to work you in.  If you have a party of 6 or more people, Babette’s has a few tables assigned for that number, but if it’s a weeknight, we can put other tables together to make more “builds”.  Open table does not know this.

Restaurants also try to spread their tables out.  We cannot take everyone at 7:30 pm and make a living.  But that’s another blog.  But if we’re slow, we sure do get creative with those programmed tables.  I recently went to Ecco in Midtown on a Sunday night.  We had tried for 7:00 on line reservations and were told there was nothing available.  We went anyway.  We walked right in and the dining room with more than half empty.  People came in, but it was never full.  We had a nice meal and a super waiter.  I never got around to speaking to the manager about the Open Table deal, but there’s not anything he could have done about it.

On Friday and Saturday night, please don’t bother calling, we can’t change your spot, but for Tuesday through Thursday, we can help.

Bad Juju?

This is getting ridiculous.  The Air Conditioning guy caught the filters and ductwork in the kitchen on FIRE when putting in the new compressor.  Sous chef pulled the alarm and went outside.  The ac guy was able to put the flames out and repair the melted thermostat wires.  The fire department checked and everything was out.  The ac is working.  But have to get the alarm company out to reset the fire pull and the smoke detector in the kitchen. 

This has officially been the worst 6 months for repairs.  I'm chalking it up age;  the building's, the equipment's and mine!

Repairs, repairs, repairs

OK, the espresso machine has been serviced, the bathroom lavatory sink replaced, the stand-up freezer replaced, the heating coil on the ice cream freezer replaced, now it's time for the ac unit in the kitchen.  The compressor I replaced two years ago is shot and is being replaced tomorrow morning.  Seems the compressor was not guaranteed for more than one year in a commercial environment because it's a replacement compressor.  Ahh.  At least the dining room ac units are working well. 

Fire inspector came and we passed, as we always do....need to fax the inspector the copy of my hood cleaning report and my fire alarm inspection report.  Hoods scheduled to be cleaned on Thursday, August 16, so I'll wait until that report is generated.

Good news is that business has been good because it's too hot in Atlanta for people to do anything but go into air-conditioned buildings!

Summer is very very hard on commercial kitchen equipment and repairs this month are always high. 

New Menus

It’s a ton of work.  It begins with phone calls to purveyors to find what product is available and from where.  I have to discuss specs and try samples.  I have to get firm commitments from local farmers as to when their produce will be ready to pick   Due to many new and necessary fishing restrictions, I have to find out specific dates of seafood availability.  Then I can start playing with ingredients.  Most new dishes I have run as specials or for our wine tastings, so by the time it hits our menu, it’s ready.
Things to consider:

• Can the ingredients be used in more that one dish?
• What station will prepare the new dish?
• How does the new item affect the station?
• What is the cost to produce the item?
• What is the customer perceived value?
• What is the most appealing portion size?
• Who will prep what parts of the dish?

Then,       

• Costing the new menu
• Writing the new menu
• Purchasing the menu items
• Teaching the new menu
• Updating the computer system
• Updating the website menu
• Writing recipe cards as necessary
• Updating to go menus
• Updating menus for our brochures
• Sending a email out to our customers announcing the new menu

This takes a good two to three weeks to finish and gives me many gray hairs.

Friday Update

Friday Update:

The plumber never came last week.  He forgot about the sink.  Came this Thursday, installed sink.  The sink is defective, leaking around the drain stem, right through the porcelain.  Have to order another sink, and try to get the sink’s manufacturer to reimburse me for the extra plumbing charge.  Pending.

The panic bar I purchased two weeks ago wasn’t the problem, it’s the electronic lock.  Had the panic bar returned (I never installed it) and am waiting for the electronic lock to really break before I go back to that problem.

Freezer Lowe’s delivered was not the “commercial” one I saw in the store.  Because I had just unloaded the old leaking freezer, I was pissed.  While the delivery men were pacing back and forth, I got on the phone with Lowe’s and on Frigidaire’s website at the same time.  It seems they don’t make that commercial freezer anymore and that the one being delivered was newer.  The man from Lowe’s suggested I try the new freezer and if it didn’t work, I could switch it out with the floor model that I saw in the store.  Whatever.  I kept it.  Do I really want to take a freezer that the company is no longer making?   

The new freezer leaks like crazy.  When I say leaks, it’s the normal water that is produced from the defrosting process.  Usually the water is heated and evaporates off, but if the freezer is overworked, the extra water will flush out into a little pan and then evaporated.  If there’s a lot of water, it pours over onto the floor, loosening the tiles.

I purchased a commercial freezer from my fixtures company and it was delivered Wednesday.  Now in all of this, new freezers take about 16 hours to come to temperature.  So I have lost a ton of product and crammed my one ice cream freezer with all that I can.  We are serving Store bought ice cream instead of our own.  Yes, we’re telling the customers.

We finally get the real freezer up and running, it’s chilling to minus 10 degrees.  It’s wonderful.   Our small ice cream freezer goes out.  Refrigerator man, whom I love, comes and orders a part.  I pay overnight freight.  He comes two days later to replace the part, but has been sent the wrong one.  Another part is shipped overnight and is replaced.  I don’t pay any of the shipping.  Both freezers are working.

Took me 8 days and 12 phone calls to get the freezer from Lowe’s picked up.  I finally had to call the corporate office to lodge a formal complaint.  Freezer was picked up next day.

Now in the meantime, I have started a new summer menu.

A Monday: My "day off"

We’re closed for business. 

Came in to strip the office and back hallway linoleum tile floors and put down new finish. Tried to get some guys from the kitchen to help, but I couldn’t get our schedules coordinated. This wasn’t supposed to be a big deal, but get me around some TSP cleaner and I go nuts. I scrubbed the floors with a brush and then hit the stairs by hand. I got a little carried away- 4 hours.

I found a problem under a freezer in the hallway. It had been leaking water and all the tiles were loose. I just so happened to have some tiles in the basement, the glue, but the trowel was at home as well as the planer which I needed because the tiles were not sitting flush and were cracking. Put some finish on the newly stripped floor that wasn’t under the freezer and ran home for the trowel. Upon returning, I found more tiles loose, more planing and patching to be done. 

Now I’m pissed. I plane, sand, wood putty, apply glue, press down tiles while covering myself in dust, glue, putty and whatever. I even had to pull out my heat gun; yes I have a heat gun, to remove tiles that were cracked and only partially loose. Ok. It’s all down. I’m a candidate for Holmes on Homes, the TV show where a contractor (Holmes) comes in and shows all the shoddy work that had been done before. It didn’t look sloppy, but underneath was questionable.

Now I have to finish the 2 coats of sealer and 4 coats of finish that need to go down. Drying time is 1 hour + on each coat. You can do the math. During one of the drying times, I go to Lowes to look at a new freezer. I had calls into my commercial equipment people at the same time but they were out. Part of me, (the cheap part) didn’t want to spend $1400.00 on a commercial freezer, when this one had been working fine, but leaking.

The lavatory I ordered from Ferguson’s arrived UPS. On my way to Lowe’s I see my plumber driving by, so I remember to call him. Yes, my plumber’s number is in my sparse cell phone list. He’s on his way out of town for a few days and will replace on Friday. 

I was very excited to find a Frigidaire Commercial Freezer at Lowe’s. This is perfect. It’s high off the ground, which is needed for cleaning and has a higher quality evaporation system. Ordered freezer for delivery on Tuesday.

Back for another coat of finish. Go home, take a shower. Back for another coat. Go to grocery store. Back for another coat. Home with groceries and Popeye’s for dinner. Back for the final coat of finish, this time with my daughter. Afterwards we head to a friend’s pool for a quick swim. I drink vodka. 

A Thursday

Dropped my daughter off at camp on the way into work at 9:30 am.  Brought the sink I had purchased on Sunday to see if it fit in the men’s room to replace the one broken over the weekend.  Of course not.  Got down on my hands and knees to try to find the manufacturer and did.  Went on-line and found Eljer’s website.  Matched my model and called to see if I could order directly from them.  Of course not, but customer service was excellent. Gave me a supplier here in Atlanta-Ferguson’s Plumbing.  Was told place a LTL order.  “Less than Truckload” which is used for special orders.  I’m always learning something new.  Order went through without a hitch and sink(lavatory) will be here on Tuesday.

Made a pot of coffee.  Filled out prep list and organized cooler while pot was brewing.

Linen Delivery Came.

Placed an order for glassware to arrive tomorrow.

Got online to check email.  I find that once online, I can spend an easy hour or more updating information so I have to be careful.  Updated website with new wine tasting information for September.  Had my webmaster update a review item.  Posted the September wine tasting info on LocalWineEvents.com, a great free listing that goes out Nationally.  Tried to update my Citysearch listings but could not get through.

Called Heating and Air guy to come replace filters on our rooftop ac unit for the kitchen.  Two months behind schedule.

Went upstairs to start cooking. 

            Fresh Tomato Sauce

            Roasted Pepper and Tomato Soup

            Date Pastries

            Pate a Choux

            Pastry cream

            Crème Anglaise

            Banana Ice Cream

            Scallops

            Grilled Asparagus Tarts

            Cleaned and Pounded Chicken

            Gaufrette Potato Chips

            Simple Syrup for the Bar

My backup came in at 1:00 pm.  He’s my tournant which means he rotates stations throughout the kitchen.  He’s been with me 6 ½ years and I love him to death.  He’s working Saute tonight, but comes in early and cuts fish/ meats and does hundreds of other prep items so I can run around and order bathroom sinks(lavatories)

Checked in liquor throughout the day. Short one case of wine.  Reordered for Friday. Back door is not closing properly.  Called a repair company but they can’t come until Tuesday.  Back upstairs to continue cooking, meanwhile mulling over broken door and problem we’re having with salad refrigerator leaking coolant.

Got a call from our Chicken purveyor.  Our case of chicken was stolen off their truck during another delivery and since my item is a special order, can’t send until tomorrow.  What ya gonna do?  86 Chicken.

Back to look at door again.  I think it’s the panic bar that’s not closing properly.  Went online to find company called Grainger which sells all kinds of stuff.  They have what I need and since they’re right downtown, placed an order and will pick up in the morning and will install it.  If that solves the problem, I will cancel service call scheduled on Tuesday. 

Received meat order and the veal top round was terrible.  Sent back and reordered from another company.  Had to coordinate with my my sous chef over the phone(his day off,) about orders coming in on Friday so I could make a minimum order to get the veal in.  He had ordered our puff pastry from a different company and though the description of the product is the same, the quality is crummy, to we had to shift that order as well. 

Problem with my salad guy.  He didn’t know how to make shortbread cookie dough.  I told him I would help him, but he had another employee do it for him.  I suggested that he pay the other person to make the cookie dough.  Needless to say, he stopped what he was doing and came over and finished the dough.

Called cooler repair man and suggested he had not looked at all the possibilities with the cooler he serviced on Tuesday.  He didn’t agree.  He’s been doing my coolers for years and is so excellent, I’ll have to give him this one.  Have to replace the cooler by the end of the year.

Scrubbed shelf under prep table.

Tried to fix mop sink.  Drain is loose.  Need to come in on Monday when we’re closed and  caulk with silicone and reset with shorter screws.  The long screw are keeping the rim from setting where it’s supposed to.

Booked a baby Shower for August.

Booked a Pharmecutical Company Dinner for August.

Confirmed order for Reservation Magnets that I give out to customers.

5:30  PM. Ready to open.  I worked expo during service. This is the person who puts the plates together for an order, making sure the meats are cooked properly and arranged properly, garnishes the food and trays up for the waiters.  Easy when slow,  very very hard when busy.

9:00 Placed fish and produce orders for Friday.  Thanked my kitchen staff and went home.