It's been an exciting, if exhausting, week. We drove over 700 miles each way to visit my son and experience his new restaurant. The trip was far more grueling than we had expected, which was a shame, as it meant I was very tired through much of our visit and, worst of all, for a trip centered on food, my stomach was a bit off.
Nevertheless, I spent a wonderful day at the restaurant watching my son displaying his chef skills, managing his staff, and handling an overflow crowd of happy diners. The place was gorgeous, far nicer than the photographs had led me to believe. They had used a designer and an architect who did a brilliant job. The building is old with a beautiful facade and a two story high wood ceiling. The kitchen is right there where you can watch everything happening. The decor is industrial with beams and pullies, and jars of spices and ingredients filling the walls. It was by far the nicest decor we saw anywhere in his city and we dined several other places.
The food was wonderful, too. Since my son's previous restaurant experience was running a place that delivered fried chicken, this was not a given. His cooking is entirely self-taught, much of it out of classic cookbooks. But it works. While we were there a reviewer in a local magazine called one of his creations a "destination dish" and just this morning another magazine review raved about everything the reviewer had tasted.
This isn't the kind of restaurant where you will find bizarre ingredients arranged in peculiar combinations. What they do is take simple stuff, like a turkey or meatball sandwich or BLT and make it perfect. They make their own mayo, cure their own bacon, and the turkey is carved off a roasted breast. They bake all their own bread and desserts each day, and their baker's brownie was as good as my own, all buttery and dense with fudgy chocolate.
The restaurant is in a downtown business district, so it's purpose is to offer a delicious lunch that people can get in and eat in 30 minutes. The food comes out within 30 seconds of being ordered, as everything is cooked before they open for lunch, and assembled, in public view, on a line. So it is pretty much fast food that has died and gone to heaven. When I was there, they had so many customers coming in that they sold out of everything they'd made by 1:30 and had to close early. For now they only offer lunch, but they have plans to expand to dinner if they get enough customers to support that. Downtown tends to empy after businesspeople go home, but they do have many hotels within walking distance, so it may work.
I only wish I had been able to eat more. After sampling three sandwiches, soup, slaw and a brownie I was so full couldn't even eat dinner six hours later. I wonder if fasting has shrunk my stomach, because in the past this would not have been an issue for me. But it may also have been because that very long drive left me frazzled and, unfortunately, messed up my already messed up neck and back, so I was quite achy the whole time.
We ate several other places, including a very good Italian restaurant where the best thing I ate was a deep fried rissoto ball and a very good chicken marsala served over a creamy polenta. We also visited a big hall, something like Seattle's Pike's Place, where there were a large selection of food vendors selling artisanal food. They had a wonderful pretzel bakery and a French bakery where I got a maple glazed pecan danish-style pastry that was ambrosial. There was also a little hole in the wall restaurant, walking distance from my son's house with killer Thai curry served over sticky rice. We ate there twice when I was too tired to go anywhere fancy. And the breakfasts! Wonderful bacon, thick, yummy pancakes. (This too may have something to do with why I didn't have a large appetite for food the rest of the day.)
It's probably a good thing my son is 700 miles away, though I miss him dearly, because if I lived in my son's city, I would easily balloon up to 300 lbs, there was so much good food everywhere and I am not good at self-control. Coming home I really had to face just how mediocre the food is where I live. Time to get cooking! If my 29 year old son can make food that good, so can I. And I have the same books. <G>
Note, this is a midsized midwestern town that I have never seen written up anywhere as a foodie heaven. But the quality of what we ate was far superior to what we had in the Seattle area this spring.
Nevertheless, I spent a wonderful day at the restaurant watching my son displaying his chef skills, managing his staff, and handling an overflow crowd of happy diners. The place was gorgeous, far nicer than the photographs had led me to believe. They had used a designer and an architect who did a brilliant job. The building is old with a beautiful facade and a two story high wood ceiling. The kitchen is right there where you can watch everything happening. The decor is industrial with beams and pullies, and jars of spices and ingredients filling the walls. It was by far the nicest decor we saw anywhere in his city and we dined several other places.
The food was wonderful, too. Since my son's previous restaurant experience was running a place that delivered fried chicken, this was not a given. His cooking is entirely self-taught, much of it out of classic cookbooks. But it works. While we were there a reviewer in a local magazine called one of his creations a "destination dish" and just this morning another magazine review raved about everything the reviewer had tasted.
This isn't the kind of restaurant where you will find bizarre ingredients arranged in peculiar combinations. What they do is take simple stuff, like a turkey or meatball sandwich or BLT and make it perfect. They make their own mayo, cure their own bacon, and the turkey is carved off a roasted breast. They bake all their own bread and desserts each day, and their baker's brownie was as good as my own, all buttery and dense with fudgy chocolate.
The restaurant is in a downtown business district, so it's purpose is to offer a delicious lunch that people can get in and eat in 30 minutes. The food comes out within 30 seconds of being ordered, as everything is cooked before they open for lunch, and assembled, in public view, on a line. So it is pretty much fast food that has died and gone to heaven. When I was there, they had so many customers coming in that they sold out of everything they'd made by 1:30 and had to close early. For now they only offer lunch, but they have plans to expand to dinner if they get enough customers to support that. Downtown tends to empy after businesspeople go home, but they do have many hotels within walking distance, so it may work.
I only wish I had been able to eat more. After sampling three sandwiches, soup, slaw and a brownie I was so full couldn't even eat dinner six hours later. I wonder if fasting has shrunk my stomach, because in the past this would not have been an issue for me. But it may also have been because that very long drive left me frazzled and, unfortunately, messed up my already messed up neck and back, so I was quite achy the whole time.
We ate several other places, including a very good Italian restaurant where the best thing I ate was a deep fried rissoto ball and a very good chicken marsala served over a creamy polenta. We also visited a big hall, something like Seattle's Pike's Place, where there were a large selection of food vendors selling artisanal food. They had a wonderful pretzel bakery and a French bakery where I got a maple glazed pecan danish-style pastry that was ambrosial. There was also a little hole in the wall restaurant, walking distance from my son's house with killer Thai curry served over sticky rice. We ate there twice when I was too tired to go anywhere fancy. And the breakfasts! Wonderful bacon, thick, yummy pancakes. (This too may have something to do with why I didn't have a large appetite for food the rest of the day.)
It's probably a good thing my son is 700 miles away, though I miss him dearly, because if I lived in my son's city, I would easily balloon up to 300 lbs, there was so much good food everywhere and I am not good at self-control. Coming home I really had to face just how mediocre the food is where I live. Time to get cooking! If my 29 year old son can make food that good, so can I. And I have the same books. <G>
Note, this is a midsized midwestern town that I have never seen written up anywhere as a foodie heaven. But the quality of what we ate was far superior to what we had in the Seattle area this spring.
You must be so proud of your son, his vision and his achievement. Congrats!
