Wine happens...

Today was whiplash day. One minute you are standing with your Sous Chef admiring the wall of work you have accomplished (frankly, not unlike how Michelangelo must have stood back after finishing the Sistine Chapel and admired his accomplishments). And then the next minute, you are on the phone hearing that they've started the structural work on the restaurant and... if everything goes perfectly (and it won't... but if it DID) you might able to open on September 1!

Whoooa... so Steinster and I hit brain overload on the billions of details... but in a good way. And now I've had a lot of wine. I will have to list the litany of details streaming thru my brain... tomorrow... some time.

Jeez, can you imagine... I might actually be opening a restaurant!

Monday starts with M

And M is also for Money!

Today was a good paperwork day. I wrote down the new new recipes (Saffron Salumi and the Saucisson Sec) and answered an email from a small tasting room that is interested in our Salumi for wine pairings. I am kind of excited about the tasting because it is a shared tasting room for 7 small vintners and I am looking for small wineries to showcase in the restaurant so it could be really mutually beneficial. Stein and I will go down there on Thursday and bring a nice sampling.

I also chatted with Chef Tony Baker (online) and we will be filling the first order on Monday for Montrios Bistro in Monterey. YAY! I love this restaurant and I feel like the garage band who just got signed for it's first major recording deal that my stuff is going to be not only served there, but I am going to be credited on the menu! It is SO cool.

I was also contacted by the Contra Costa Times today by their Food and Wine columnist who is interested in doing a piece on us! It is so frustrating that I still don't know when we will be able to open. Stan has told me point blank on the phone last Friday he does not have any idea when the stuff with be fixed. I will go down some time this week to see if the retrofit has been started, but I am less concerned with the retrofit than the ADA issues. I really can't open until he fixes both, and I suspect he isn't sure how to even start.

So I called David and whined mightily and he will probably call Stan this week and try to get something rolling. Unfortunately Stan just doesn't respect me and trying to get anything done is like wading thru molasses. I am hopeful things will happen a lot more quickly if David can help talk him thru the process. Go Team Compass Star!

Tomorrow Stein and I will stuff the capicolla into bungs and hang them and then work on some duck sausages.

WE HAVE SAUSAGE!

Stein and I looked at our cache of product a few weeks ago and went, "AHHHHHHH! We are dangerously low!" So we got down to bid'ness and have probably made 120 pounds of charcuterie in the past two weeks.

And what beautiful Charc it is! To the left you will see the most beautiful head cheese known to man. Yes, we flayed the entire flesh from the head and wet brined it for 5 days, then sous vide cooked it for 36 hours at 150 degrees. It is a solid mass of deliciousness. That strip of white that looks like bacon is actually part of the jowl.

We also made Summer Sausages, Saffron Salami (with whine and cardamom), Saucisson Sec (hard French salami with out added fermenting agent, just garlic oregano and wine), Finocciona, Tuscan (sweet) Salami, capicolla, hot coppa, Nduja and... and... lardo... and... pastrami... other stuff too.

It is a big relief to feel like I have product coming since our stuff takes SO long (sometimes 6-8 months).

Mr Toad's Wild Ride

It was a really weird week on the restaurant front...

Apparently my landlord showed up at the inspections to close the walls and tried to talk the inspector into making them do a bunch more work before we could pass the inspection (this was after the inspector was done approving the work). Then he called the inspector again the next day and talked him into going down to the site when the contractor wasn't there to crawl around under the building and try to get them to... I am not sure? Rescind the approval?

David finally got fed up and told him off. He's been in the industry for more than 35 years and never had that happen... ever. It sometimes feels like this nightmare I cannot wake up from. I don't know how it got so bad or why? I am taking a very outdated simple space and making $70k worth of improvements and the building owners are furious with me and trying to prevent it (They were fully aware of everything I planned to do and even had input into the scope of the work). I just don't understand how they think? They are always full of rage and complaints, obstructionist and abusive. David was going to try to help them get the ADA work done, but none of his guys want to work with Stan/Kevi any more. Stan has no idea when the work will be done, or even how he is going to get it done. It's all so unorganized and angry and strange... I don't understand why they are trying to sabotage my business. It just doesn't make any sense. We all succeed when I succeed.

I informally called a good friend who is a real estate lawyer to see what my rights are. We've set up a chat tomorrow morning. God I hope we can come back from this and forge something good from the chaos.

Wow!

Bri and I visited the facility on Monday and (of course I forgot my phone so no pictures yet) there are walls and everything! Plus David called this morning and said the engineer Stan hired was getting started this week. Whew! Finally movement on that end.

So this week we will go to Oakland to my favorite equipment guy (Danny, he is fantastic if you are looking for used restaurant equipment) and finish paying for our cold storage. I also need to send Brion over to pay for the under counter keg storage in the So Bay as well. I am hoping we will be able to move equipment in there in a couple of weeks and get it all hooked up to make sure everything works and make any repairs that are needed as well before we try to get our Health Dept permit (another $500 bucks).

I am hoping Stan will get back to me soon about the time frame on the front so I can start planning an opening date! Whew! There are times I thought that would never happen (knock on wood). I am SO ready to be in my own kitchen.

Cheering myself up is not so hard to do...

I did some Tarot, and it made me feel cheerful. I think there may be some inertia short term, but things will flow eventually.

I also finally hung the Finocciona Stein and I made last week. It is so pale! I think the shoulder-butt we used was really really fatty. I am sure it will make for yummy salumi, but it is definitely not the standard color. I wish we had used the fattier pork for the saffron salumi as it would have showcased the mild yellow color really well.

I also put some hot coppa to cure and used my new "Smoking Gun" to cold smoke the Nduja with some apple and cheery woods. I used Alder last time and I wished for the sweeter wood when I was done, so this time I used fruit woods.

The Smoking Gun works well but it has to be frequently refilled with tiny wood chips. It worked well when I cater-wrapped a lexan and left the gun inside for two bowls full of wood. . . I am curious however how much smoke flavor it really imparts? We shall see!!

The last batch of Finocciona is almost done curing, the beef middle sized ones maybe need another week or two. I am going to mist them with water so they don't dry out too fast!

Bri and I are spending the lazy weekend at home with me getting some loose ends tied up for work. I still need to case the Tusan which means I need to clean and tie some beef middles and set up the stuffer. The problem is it is easily 100 degrees today and not the best weather for stuffing sausages. I will try to get to that early tomorrow morning when it is still cool.

I had a fantastic day on Thursday with Stein and his best friend, who is moving up to the area. We went to the city and dropped off product then out to Napa. Napa is one of the world's most perfect places. Rolling vineyards, great food, goats roaming in pastures... we came home and watched Bottle Shock and drank two bottles of V Sattoui Sangiovese and then we watched Sucker Punch, which I also thought was fantastic. I slept most of yesterday... and was grateful for it.

I have been feeling pretty depleted, but the rest has cheered me up and I am feeling a lot more zen today. I have come so far and I am doing great! It is not my fault my landlord is not very organized and I have enough catering and restaurant business that I should do ok until he can figure it out. I wish things were moving faster, but I need to stop being a spoiled baby about not getting everything I want, the first second I want it. I am pretty sure I will survive this process!

Feeling worn out...

I think human beings can take a ton of stress for short periods of time, but to have it go on for months at a time is grueling. The saddest thing is my primary reason for stress can be summed up as having landlords with a personality style that is really different from mine.

We had inspections on Wednesday. Stan and Kevi came by and actually tried to sabotage the inspections by pointing out the thing they thought were wrong. The really strange thing is, I know they want David to help them get the front fix done, but they have been so miserable for the guys to work with between the outright sabotage of the inspections and the ongoing bizarre accusations (peeing on the roof and "Critters" etc) I am not sure why David would sign on for more abuse? I just don't understand how they think. They act like I am the enemy and everyone is out to get them and the only way they can do things is by being totally antagonistic. It seems a backwards way to get things done to me.

Now Stan is not returning my calls and I suspect I know why... he has not taken the steps he needed to take to get the front fixed and now I am nearly done with the kitchen, so I am not going to be able to open. And there is no solution in sight. I think the problem is pretty complex and will take some time to get thru the design, approval and construction process and that process, as far as I can tell, has not been started at all. He hired an engineer that is a total flake and has refused to hand over drawings to the contractor. So we really are at square one. I wish he would get help from someone who can follow thru and get the work done.

The thing that gets to me the most is how carefully I planned for my dream and how excited I was to reach for my goals but the reality is the logistics have been a total nightmare so far. I can't continue on like this forever but the primary cause of stress is not going to end any time soon. I can't make Stan and Kevi be reasonable and predictable and they will be my landlords as long as I am at this place. I am losing sleep and irritable. I worry that by the time I open I will be so worn down I will not have the energy and enthusiasm to do a good job. It is clear they have zero respect for me and seem to be trying to sabotage my business. I just don't understand this... if I am successful we all win.

In the lease there are provisions for mediation and I think if there isn't movement soon, I will try to figure out what the process is to go thru mediation and see if that doesn't help get things back on track. I am worried I am going to have some kind of nervous breakdown.