Shot of Za Za pizza

Everything tastes better here…

I will provide better commentary at a later date but here are some photos from my ongoing trip in Santa Barbara County. 

Santa Barbara at dusk

 

Really good sushi at Arigato.

 

Santa Ynez Valley

 

 

Foxen Vineyard tasting shack. Really good Pinot and Chardonnay.

It’s all about the margins..

Chateau Mouton

I might have mentioned this before but restaurants operate on very thin margins when it comes to food.  Most casual dining restaurants are good to make 10% on food sales.  By comparison, Microsoft has operating margins in the 30+% range and Goldman Sachs is anywhere from 30-40% depending on the markets.  Most businesses maintain 20-30% operating margins.  So, how the crap do restaurants stay afloat?  Booze.  Wine, especially, is marked up somewhere in the neighborhood of 300-400%.  So, let’s say, for example, a restaurant can purchase a bottle of pinot grigio for $11 (a fairly common price for wholesale), the restaurant will turn around and charge somewhere in the neighborhood of $11-12 per glass for that wine.  Wine bottles average about 4 glasses per bottle.  Meaning, in one glass you can pay for a bottle of wine.  So, if you ever wonder why restaurants have corking fees or push alcohol when you begin the meal, there is your reason.  It keeps them in business.  So drink up! 

The Mouton sold for $1000/bottle at Gramercy Tavern.  My guess is that the restaurant purchased this bottle for $250-300. 

Food inventory:

Imagine having to predict dining patterns, 6 or 7 days in advance, where any number of variables (weather, social events, competition, etc…) can alter previous data points.  Each week the chefs have to purchase inventory for the week (some perishables will be purchased the day before) and, given those thin margins, it’s important that food inventory does not go to waste.  It’s a weekly, sometimes daily, exercise that determines whether the restaurant is profitable for the day.  Too much tuna for the day’s entrée and you might wind up throwing out several pounds of very expensive supply.  Last night at Za Za, we had an unexpected influx of diners and, more importantly, they flocked to the shrimp pasta entrée.  By 8:30, we had run out the shrimp and that is an opportunity cost of unknown quantity.  It happens in every restaurant but you try to avoid disappointing customers as it leaves a poor impression if you find yourself running out of favored dishes.  Despite the shrimp issue, the night turned out great as all the pizza was sold, pasta was cleaned out and most importantly, every customer was fed.  My only regret is not having enough leftovers to sample. 

I plan to learn some baking recipes and salad vinaigrettes on Sunday so I’ll make sure to share what I learn. 

Political Point

Republicans are acting like nincompoops!!  I’m not in favor of single-payer health insurance but I think a small government option is completely reasonable.  Right-wingers are making all Republicans, which I’m not one of, look like idiots.  Argue your points with some truthful facts and legitimate ideas and you might win back some of the independent-minded centrists.  This is rational thinking.  Christ!  I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!

Hot & Hot Fish Club – 6/10

Hot & Hot has great potential but never seems to deliver consistently on their efforts. They have some items on the menu that are just amazing and they do those select things really well. And then you try a fish entrée or, in my case, the pork trio and you are left wondering where the talent went that cooked those amazing sweetbreads or your dates seared trigger fish. My latest visit started off with a really well crafted appetizer of sautéed sweetbreads (thymus glands) over a bed of vegetables. Sweetbreads were slightly creamy in the middle with a great mild sauce covering them and the vegetables. Fantastic dish! I then spotted the pork trio, 3 different cuts of pork served in 3 different ways, one of which was pork belly. Pork belly is just amazing if you cook it properly and it’s actually pretty hard to dry out with all that delicious fat. Unfortunately, the chef overcooked the pork belly, the pork shoulder was tough and the third piece of pork was cooked well. 1 out of 3 isn’t great score. It was disappointing that the meal did not finish as spectacular as it started. Hot & Hot has been a staple in the Birmingham restaurant scene for years and should have worked out a kitchen with more steady results.

With all that said, most cities would be thrilled to have Hot & Hot as a restaurant choice and Birmingham is no different. You will still have some amazing food and it’s important to know what to order. The shrimp and grits are famous at Hot & Hot and while I think butter is used to excess in the grits, most people really enjoy them. The heirloom tomato salad, when it’s in season, is a stunning appetizer.

Unfortunately, the restaurant hasn’t been consistent enough to put it in the same class as Café DuPont and Highland’s Bar & Grill but it certainly sits in the top 10 for restaurants in the city. If you go, sit at the chef’s table, it’s a treat to watch the cooks at work.

Seared fish over risotto and peas

The infamous shrimp and grits

Fried green tomatoes in a chilled tomato gazpacho

Living on less

I have a good friend that recently moved to another state, without a job, and not a lot of savings but enough to get by on.  After talking to her recently, it occurred to me how expensive my lifestyle has become and how much of it is completely unnecessary.  Almost 70% of my current income is tied up in fixed expenses!  That’s just crazy-pants Johnson.  The economic recession and uncertainty with jobs has caused a lot of people to reassess their lifestyles and make adjustments.  I think our society is overdue for a shift towards more fiscal responsibility.  As I’m able to, I plan to adjust the expenses in my life down to a more reasonable level.  Something for us all to reflect on. 

Changing subjects:

Is it just me or has Food Network become a complete joke?  What happened to the old cooking shows with actual chefs?  From what I can tell, Bobby Flay is the only chef left on the channel.  And he’s not all that impressive to me.  I swear the guy puts honey in everything.  If only I got the Bravo channel so I could watch Top Chef.  That show actually features quality chefs, doing some good work.  At least I have Bourdain…

 

Scallops at Jean Georges

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Another fine example of me not living on less…dinner at Jean Georges.   I will have to make sacrifices in other areas. 

Weekend Off and Santa Barbara

Za Za is closed for the Labor Day holiday weekend which means my Friday and Sunday will be much less exciting but also less tiring. I’m amazed at how chefs work 70-80 hours each week. I work a 5 hour shift and I’m beat. Plus I’m not cooking.

Courtesy of Catherine Hartman

I will be heading out to Santa Barbara in a couple weeks for my weekly job and plan to do some investigating of the restaurants and wineries. I’m quite curious about the food scene in the area. I know San Francisco is a great restaurant city with a broad mix of cuisines and discerning diners. I don’t have as good of a feel for the quality of food in Santa Barbara and cities below SF. I am stereotyping here but I imagine a lot of Mexican influenced restaurants featuring local produce and fish (fish tacos in abundance). I hope to discover some really good regional food. Knowing California’s religious zeal for the locavore movement, I will probably not be disappointed. As it stands now, I will be having dinner at Bouchon on my first night in SB. (Side note: When I was first told of the restaurant, I immediately thought Thomas Kellar was involved. Sadly, he is not.) On the up side, I’m told by locals that this is one of the better restaurants in the city. Documenting the meal will be difficult as my guests that evening will be business so photographing plates will probably not go over well.

Touring the local wineries will also be on the docket for the weekend. Now, I’m a bit of a Negative Ned when it comes to California wines. I rarely find one that I like. The Chardonnay’s taste awful; Sauvignon Blancs are too acidic or lack much depth. I’ve had a few good Pinot Noir’s but on the whole I’ve not been real impressed with the wines I’ve tried. France, to me, produces the best white wines, that I’ve found, but I hope to discover some really great smaller vineyards doing good work. My challenge will be choosing the right wineries, seeing as I have no knowledge of the wines produced in the area. The only one I recognize is Firestone and I flat out hate the wines I’ve tried from the Firestone brand. Don’t let me down Santa Barbara.

Dinner Rush

It has been exciting to see Za Za turn into such a popular restaurant. I’ve been able to witness firsthand the way in which word-of-mouth marketing works when a restaurant is doing good food. The place has buzz and it could not happen to a better group of people. My internship, thus far, has been an incredible learning experience. The learning curve is quite steep and you pick up so many facets of the business quickly…mostly because you have to. The place gets slammed and you’ve got to function at a rapid pace or risk putting the other employees behind. Unlike the corporate world where a slacker can skate by unnoticed for some time, a well run restaurant needs all the team members working in unison. The guy doing the dishes has to keep up or the chefs can’t plate their food. The bussers, waiters and money changer must constantly be flowing or the whole system will backup. It means constant work for everyone involved and you can see your input effecting change every moment. My other life in an office doesn’t have these same outcomes. My input isn’t as impactful and certainly isn’t recognized as much. But there are tradeoffs in the restaurant industry and money is certainly one of them.

After taking two weeks off from the restaurant, one weekend to celebrate my birthday and the next to visit Cleveland, I returned on Friday night to do a shift in the kitchen. Most of the night was spent trying to maintain our dish supply but I found myself at various points, busing tables, running food, pouring drinks, doing prep work, just about everything but actually cooking. As with any restaurant, we had our fair share of complete fuck-ups but I never saw a dish returned or an angry customer unsatisfied. Pretty impressive for the amount of turnover in tables that evening.

Sunday morning I arrived around 8:45, I had been up the night before cooking, drinking and bar hopping so my early morning rise was delayed. Anyway…I showed up with a small hang-over, but cheerful demeanor, and began my routine of chopping fruit and vegetables, cleaning roasted chicken of skin and bones and preparing the accoutrements for our brunch menu. The menu is something special.

Entrée’s

1. Biscuits with chicken gravy with scallions and corn. This is a twist on the standard sausage gravy using roasted chicken breasts.

2. Pork medallions over a plating of grits

3. Shrimp Panzanella

4. Frittata with olives, tomatoes and goat cheese.

5. Breakfast Za with a fried egg on top. (Breakfast pizza)

The brunch went as dinner had on Sunday…slammed. People were flowing in from all over the city it seemed. Rain curtailed the rush around 1:00 but it was packed for about 2 hours as we scrambled to meet the onslaught. My day ended around 2:30 and I left exhausted. The life of a restaurant employee is such a different experience from my daily routine. It is a great contrast.

Lola Review – 7/10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My singular visit to Lola does not give me an exact picture for what Michael Symon does on a regular basis but this is my observation nonetheless.  In many ways, Lola personifies the Cleveland food scene.  Cleveland is a meat-centric city with heavy influence from German, Polish and Italian immigrants.  The Polish bring pierogi’s and sausages, Germans their bratwurst and cured meats and Italians have their own version of the sausage as well as heavy pork use.  Thus the menu at Lola features Michael Symon’s take on some of the cities ethnic foods, typically using French techniques.  Our dinner started with the veal sweetbreads and a charcuterie platter.  The sweetbreads were fried and piled atop a tomatillo sauce.  The charcuterie was a little disappointing as I was expecting the usual pate/mousse fare and instead it had all cured and smoked meats.  I believe all were done in-house and while most were good, a few left much to be desired. 

For the entrée, I chose the duck breast which of the three we ordered that evening was probably the least liked.  My companions had the pork and scallops entrée.  Both were excellent with the scallops in particular featuring a unique melon sauce.  The wine list was reasonable and featured a good selection of wines from various regions.  Overall, I thought Lola was a good restaurant but it reminded me that Birmingham still has one of the best per-capita restaurant scenes.  I think Highlands Bar and Grill and Café DuPont put out a better food product, although, the atmosphere and design of Lola leaves the other two playing catch-up. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The duck breast above was the most dissapointing entree in the group but was still a well cooked duck breast.   The picture is quite fuzzy but you should be able to make out the look of the dish.

Westside Market

Here are pics from the Westside Market. One of the stalls at the market had a wonderous display of encassed-meats. Cleveland has a great assortment of sausages and cured products. The market was a highlight of the trip. Certainly worth exploring if you enjoy food in all forms.

You have to give the gyro a try in a stall towards the back of the market. The regular is plenty big. Best…Gryo…Ever….Ever.

Maintanence Problems

Stuck in Nashville on a plane. Engine had a dent in it and they are measuring the dent to see if it’s problematic. Been on the ground for an hour, so far. I don’t know how I feel about the diagnosis of meauring a dent in the engine to determine if it’s an issue. Doesn’t sound very scientific. Or at least precise.

Cleveland’s food scene

On my way to visit Cleveland for the first time. Normally, this rust-belt city is not on my radar for places to see, however, I have family living there and, most importantly, they have a budding reputation as a food town. I will report back on my dinner at Lola and the West Side Market. Hopefully, I’ll try a few other spots that will be worthy of writing about.

Birthday weekend

I’m taking the weekend off from Za Za to celebrate my birthday in proper fashion.  The weekend was filled with a series of really good meals.  Friday night was spent at Za as friends and family had insisted on trying the food that I am always raving about.  Dinner started with mussels cooked in a tomato and fennel broth that was outstanding.  I then tried the flank steak with pasta for the main course.  Both highlighted what I enjoy about the chefs at Za and there ability to take simple dishes but use superior ingredients and create really good food. 

Saturday night I visited Chez Fon Fon, a traditional French bistro, with some good friends.  I started with the charcuterie platter as the restaurant does a great job on pates and mousses.  Despite the previous nights endeavor with steak, I decided on the steak frittes for dinner.  I was a little disappointed with the cut of the meat.  It was a flank steak, as best I could tell, and it was a little undercooked with tough sinew still intact.  The salsa verde and salad that accompanied the steak were excellent and despite the cut of steak, it was a great experience.  The wine list, I will add, is far superior to most other restaurants in the city.  Great selection of mostly French wines.  One of the few places that I can find a Sancerre. 

Today, I had to go back to Za for a follow up brunch.  I decided to take the day off knowing Saturday night would probably end late, with me being intoxicated.  So, I staggered over to Za around 11 and, after catching up with the guys working, enjoyed biscuits and gravy.  The twist on this traditional brunch meal is that the chefs roasted chicken thighs and substituted those for the sausage.  A great substitute that worked really well with the gravy.  It was a great way to close out a fun weekend. 

Next weekend I will be traveling to Cleveland to visit a friend and try Michael Symons restaurant Lola and a few other local spots.  Cleveland, thanks to shows like No Reservations, is getting some good praise on their local cuisine.  Looking forward to reporting the experience.

Highland’s Bar & Grill Review – 8/10

Beef Carpaccio

If you were to ask a casual passerby in Birmingham, “What is the best restaurant in the city?”, I can say with a high level of confidence that most answers would be Highland’s Bar & Grill.  I would venture to guess that a number of those people haven’t actually been to Highlands but are basing their answer on reputation alone.  Highland’s has been a staple for fine dining in Birmingham since the 80’s.  It’s hard to believe that a restaurant that has been around the better part of two decades is still cranking out innovative food and challenging the next generation of chef’s in this city to keep up. 

Frank Stitt’s flagship restaurant, currently up for a James Beard award for top restaurant in the country, is without a doubt one of, if not the, top restaurant in Birmingham.  Frank has created a well rounded restaurant which leaves little room for criticism.  His staff is well trained, educated and enthusiastic about the place in which they work.  The restaurant’s wine list is far and away the most thoughtful and interesting in the city.  The most important variable, the food, will (for the most part) live up to the reputation this kitchen has developed.  Highland’s is a French-influenced, high-end dining restaurant which will at times feature southern ingredients cooked using, largely, French techniques.    

On my most recent visit, I started the night with the popular appetizer, beef carpaccio.  This is raw beef sliced very thinly, sitting over a horseradish sauce, with fresh arugula and indescribably good parmesan shavings over the top.  This is a simple but flawlessly executed dish.  I’d also recommend giving the charcuterie platter a try.  Charcterie platters will typically include a country pate, assorted meats, radishes and pickled beets.  For my entrée, I had the veal tenderloin and sweetbreads (thymus glands).  Both were sautéed and although the veal was slightly overcooked, both were tasty.  The waiter, an Italian immigrant named Marco, was one of the more knowledgeable and well-trained restaurant staff members I’ve had the luxury of interacting with.  He was pushing me towards an off-menu beef cheek dish that the kitchen had prepared and while I would have loved to have tried that, my date was less than excited about the idea.  My date had the Alaskan Halibut over smashed peas and new potatoes.  She exclaimed the dish to be the one of the best she’s had in her lifetime.  I can’t give mine quite that much praise but it was a rewarding dining experience overall.  With 5 glasses of wine, an appetizer, 2 entrée’s and a dessert the tab came to $140 which I found to be very reasonable given the quality of product served at Highland’s.  Frank, and the staff at Highland’s, are worthy of the top 5 ranking from James Beard and I’m hoping they receive even more praise in the future.

First day of school

The internship started last Friday and it was one of the best learning experiences I’ve had in quite some time.  Like many people that enjoy cooking at home, I assumed that if you could cook well at home, you had a good base from which to work in a restaurant kitchen.  I couldn’t be more wrong.  The knowledge, stamina and passion that it takes to work in a good restaurant will make you acutely aware of your own inadequacies.  Firstly, the actual cooking process, while vitally important, is a small part of running a good restaurant.  You need to be an accountant, manager, marketer and handy-man or at least have someone on staff that can fulfill all those roles.  The chef must try to predict inventory needs, price ingredients, all in an attempt to maintain reasonable profit margins.  We’re not talking great margins either, on the high-end, 20% with more expensive dishes running much lower.  It sounds great that you sold 40 flank steaks with salsa verde (chopped herbs, olive oil and lemon juice) but your margins might be half of what they are on slices of pizza.  It’s a constant balance trying to offer the right mix of food whiles also maintaining near 20% margins.  Then you’ve got staff to monitor, keep motivated and stay loyal.  It’s no secret that the restaurant industry attracts some interesting people.  Turnover is high in most staff positions.

So, my first day was mostly spent washing dishes which isn’t the most glamorous job but certainly important to keep the flow of the restaurant going.  In between doing dishes, I spent time watching and asking the chefs questions.  “How do you make that sauce?  Where do you source those herbs?  How long to cook the flank steak? And so on…”  These are elementary questions for good chefs and I’ve been cooking for 10 years, yet I felt like it was my first time around a kitchen.  For example, at the end of my first shift, the restaurant had 8-10 tuna steaks leftover and had to do something with them soon or face throwing away expensive inventory.  On the spot they came up with a Tuna dish that they would prepare for the next Sundays brunch.  It would turn out to be a great use of the fish.  I have so much to learn…

My internship starts:

My obsession with food and wine started quite early in life and thus far it’s been limited to cooking at home, reading food-related books, following blogs and generally talking like I know what it takes to be a good cook. I realized that my skill set would increase exponentially if I was surrounded by people who actually knew what the hell they were doing. My education as a diner in great restaurants and reading Harold McGee was fun but I wasn’t going to grow as a cook nearly as quickly as if I had joined the staff in a respectable restaurant. And so, my dream of working under a great chef became a reality in 2009.

After working for several years under the tutelage of the famed local chef, Frank Stitt, two friends set out on their own to open up Za Za Trattoria. Brian and Geoff, one a chef and the other a restaurant manager, respectively, opened up a casual modern Italian restaurant (No veal parmesan here). It’s simple preparation with the best local ingredients the restaurant can source. Just the kind of place and team I wanted to work with. After proposing a mutually beneficial arrangement, the guys were gracious enough to let me join the team. I’d work as an employee and observe every aspect of the working restaurant, my goal, being, to become a better cook and also see if life as a chef is better than life behind a computer. I’m not the first person who has dreamt of doing such a thing and I wanted to share my experience with others. So this is my attempt to give a narrative of my journey into the restaurant world. It will also serve as a place to offer my opinions on other restaurants and any other food-related observations.