Still on Cloud Nine..

Not sure if it's the sunny day... or my dream so tantlizingly in reach... but I am feeling chipper!

Talked to Stein this morning a little bit about "the Plan" moving forward, but we will meet on Monday to go over menu changes, sausage schedule and other general stuff (like you know, what are going to WEAR!?).

It never ceases to amaze me how many little details go into something like this... no wonder people buy turn key restaurants! Just a few details that could easily slip thru the cracks...

What to wear? We've decided on baseball jerseys with Compass Star Cafe on them... but what about quirky sayings? And how long will take to get the jerseys made? And what pants? And what kind of aprons?

General Set up (this list is mighty daunting)

Plates or sandwich baskets?
What kind of wax paper inside?
Paper or platic... or linens?
Coffee cups... ceramic and paper... or just paper?
How to do the to-go food? I hate plastic wrapped sandwiches, they look like shit... so clam shells? Do I want to then wrap the sandwiches in wax paper to keep the bread from drying out? How to make that look right? Do I want to have some kind of garnish in the clam shell?
Salads: do I put the croutons in a 2 ounce plastic cup so they don't get soggy? Will it look too busy with the 2 ounce dressing in there too?
I still need to find a good source for local cheeses that is not astronomically priced
How much time will we need to prep the food before we open?
Which sausages on the opening menu? I can't do a ton of dry aged stuff because we won't have time to do the big ones before we open. I have some stock at home, but not a ton and some of that is already earmarked for clients. So early charcuterie will have to be emuslified (mortadella), hot smoked (Spanish style chorizo), quick cured (gravloxs), and cooked (rillette). But that should be a pretty decent Ploughman's lunch. We should be able to roll out the non-pork farmer's lunch pretty easily too (fish and poultry based until the bresaola is done)
Pickled items... we are doing seasonal pickles, but I will have to do the cucumber dills right away whether they are in season or not. Apsragus will be coming soon, that will be our first seasonal pickle. Need to map out a pickle schedule too.
Need to have a tight schedule of prep for the pre-opening time. First cured items and pickles (most need to cure/pickle for 2 weeks or so), then emusifiled items and terrines, then stocks and sauces and soups. Finally hot smoke cured items. Unless we have pancetta in a dish early on, I can't think of a reason we would need to make some... Bacon we will need to make right away for sandwiches.
Once all of that is done, all of the dry aged items will need to get started. Capicolla Lonza and Bresaola into cure. All of the meat processed for Magna Grecia, Tuscan Style Salame, Finocciona and Hot Coppa and cased and into cure.
Soups: I would like to have at least 5-6 varieties stored for early rotation, especially if we do the soup trio: three 2 ounce shots of different soups.
Bread: I need to nail down who is doing our breads
Morning pastries: I need to nail down who is doing our morning pastries
Decide if I want to do a morning individual quiche Which will be a great way to use up end cuts of salami.

Man there is SO much.

Today we are checking out the Martinez Wine Stroll, which is one of the special events Main Street Martinez does each year. I want to see how they set up these smaller festivals to strategize the best way to capitalize on potential Saturday business. We won't be technically open on Saturdays, but for some of the larger festivals, if I am not catering I wouldn't mind picking up the extra day of business, especially if I can develop a good catering weekend crew.

Anyway... YAY for planning!