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Welcome back for another fun-filled year of cuisinal explorations, flavor journeys and even the occasional international excursion. I thought I'd take a few moments to share my hopes and plans for the year. One of my favorite things to do each year is spend the week between Christmas and the New Year reviewing what has and hasn't occurred and project what I'd like to see happen in the new year. Because I do such a thorough inspection, I am often delighted to discover that I have moved even further forward than I had anticipated previously. This inspection includes reviewing what did and didn't work, areas where communication or flows could be improved, as well as setting targets for production. We all have our blind spots, but this helps to minimize them while allowing us to keep our eyes on the goals ahead.
Accomplishments this past year include:
- adding dinner service four nights a week
- adding beer and wine to our menu and jumping through the hoops to get there
- increasing our sales by nearly 60%
- expanded into the annex space next door
- adding helpful staff who really care about your comfort and happiness
- greatly increased number of private parties and caters
- consistently higher quality of musical performers
- connections for quality wild seafood delivered less than 24 hours out of the water
- adding 3-door cooler plus full-size freezer allowing us to buy in bulk
- addition of a talented, independent baker who custom makes the breads we don't make ourselves
- addition of a skilled bookkeeper to help keep us legal
As the year moves forward, Jon and I both are hoping to have a bit less time in physically running the cafe. Jon turns 60 next month and I am just starting my last "50," so we are feeling like using less energy, not more. One of my requisites for any expansion is that it doesn't demand more of our time physically. I don't mind spending lots of time in planning and goal setting. I just don't want to be working 60+ hours a week on my feet. Don't worry. We'll still be around A LOT.
Rick has been a wonderful addition since he first joined us last February. He has a wonderful can-do attitude that makes execution of plans a simple A-to-B process. I know that whatever task I set before him will be completed with a minimum of deviation and an eye toward quality. His knowledge of the field of food service is wide enough to be able to add to my novice efforts and steer me away from potential disaster. Plus he'll actually offer an opinion when asked for one! Do you have any idea how rare that is?
With his help and that of our other enthusiastic gang members, we are planning several events this year in addition to our regular lunch and dinner service. I have talked for a couple of years about doing major quarterly feasts. With the addition of our ability to serve beer and wine plus the number of requests I have received for just such an event, we are planning at this point to do this quarterly. I am calling them Flavor Excursions. They will explore various ethnic cuisines, include many courses and be paired with specific wines for each course. The first will happen in late winter, probably late February and will be well-promoted and hopefully will sell out well ahead of time. I am truly looking forward to planning these events. Paula will add her touch to the tablescapes with her extensive knowledge of floral design.
We are planning to have 2 beer tastings as well as 2 wine tastings. At each event, the foods paired will have as much importance as the beverages offered. I am also hoping to take part in more community-based fund-raising events that showcase our skills while raising money for strong causes. Whew! Fortunately, we have the whole year ahead of us.
Speaking of beers, we have a few beers that we are not going to restock and we have a few remainders of the cases. These are mostly specialty beers that normally sell for the $4 price range. We will offer them at $2 each until they are gone. We don't expect them to last the week, so get in early.
We have found ourselves repeatedly very grateful for the support you have shown us. So far, most everything we have tried has worked out. Bringing in the fresh seafood is a big financial risk for us each time. I am having to commit the equivalent of half our weekly food budget into one or two items. The fact that you make that worthwhile is something I treasure. You have faith that the food we prepare is worth your time and money, and we have faith that you'll be there to enjoy it.
One of my most treasured aspects of what we are doing is the fact that most of our growth has happened very organically through word-of-mouth. We really appreciate that you have found what we do worth sharing with your friends and loved ones. This is vital to our success and we encourage you to tell more people about us. With the exception of Friday nights, which are usually fairly busy, we have room to grow on the other weeknights. If you have only come in on Fridays, you'll be surprised how fast we can get your dinners out the other nights. Rick, Ashley and I have worked to streamline the food delivery on Friday nights. We know you are not in a hurry but want to make sure you are not having to wait any longer than necessary. Our policy has always been to encourage you to stick around for the evening with no effort to "turn the tables."
We are adding a couple of items to the nighttime appetizer and dinner menu. As we are attracting more vegetarians, I am wanting to make them welcome by offering options that will satisfy their dietary choices. We have always been willing to adapt our dishes to work around most allergies and food choices, but I wanted to have items that don't leave room for questions. To that end we are offering hummus and chips. Did you know that hummus is now the most requested refrigerated dip around the country? We are also adding a spinach-artichoke dip. As always, we'll be making these items from scratch. While the artichokes we start with are canned, the garbanzos for the hummus are not.We are also adding brown rice with stir-fried veggies and a pesto pasta prima vera. The latter is linguine with our in-house pesto plus fresh in-season vegetables.
One area that I think needs to be explained or perhaps just communicated about is the availability of our various appetizers. Not all the appetizers are available all the time. I could just list the ones we know will always be there, but then you might not know about some of them and we'd never know you wanted them. Hopefully, your server will keep you informed. If you have a question about a menu item it is perfectly okay to ask questions about how things are prepared and to voice your preferences. If you keep mum I'll never know what you like unless I stumble upon it. So please tell us what you want to see. Are there big gaps in our menu? What is missing? Because you are dealing with the owners, we can make changes easily.
One of the reasons that some items are not always available is that we make things in small batches. Most restaurant kitchens have large freezers and literally walk-in refrigerators. Not us. So whatever we make has to be able to be served in a timely manner and kept fresh. We are also limited in the time we have to create some items. Most of the time we have good time-management skills and can get everything prepared. But sometimes it comes down to a decision of whether to make another batch of an appetizer or a dessert. We've seen what happens when we don't have desserts. It isn't pretty.
You may have noticed that we do not offer deep-fried items on our menu. There are many places in town that serve primarily fried foods. Most of those items come in from the supplier already prepared and are just dropped in a fryer. We opted to stay away from that cooking choice because we just don't need more fried foods in our diets. I am no paragon of virtue here. I like fried foods, too. But I am happy not having to mess with the oil, the smell and the extra clean-up frying requires.
We have raised our prices a bit. It scares the heck out of me to do so, but if we wish to remain in business it is vital to our ability to stay profitable. Many of you have pointed out that our prices are pretty low and have actually suggested we might raise them. I know we are not the cheapest lunch in town, but I don't want to gouge you or make it impossible for you to enjoy your meals. Every time we go out of town for a meal we are hit with sticker shock. You are right. Ours prices are low. Overall, we've bumped lunches by about 50 cents and dinners a buck. We hope that works for you and keeps you coming in. We could reduce the quality of our ingredients and keep prices lower, but you have told us you want the good stuff. We believe you.
With the solstice comes a change in the seasonal salad. This time the winter solstice salad is made up of spinach and a bit of arugula plus red onion slivers, avocado slices, a bit of feta, red grapefruit and orange slices, pomegranate and sliced almonds topped with our wood-fired chicken. We are making an orange vinaigrette dressing to pair with it. I'll never forget the first time I ate a similar salad. I was only about 14 and living in Florida. A friend's mother fixed it to go with dinner. I can still taste it. We've added the wood-fired chicken to make it a meal in itself.
This week's menu—
Soups~ we'll start the week with a bean and ham soup. I'll use black-eyed peas so we can get our dose of "good luck" for the year. That will come with a hunk of cornbread. We make ours with whole wheat flour, corn meal and honey for sweetness.
Wednesday~Grilled cheese with cup of soup $7.50
Thursday~Bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich with side $7.25
Friday~Quiche Lorraine(Swiss cheese, bacon, onion) and side salad $7.50
Flavor journey~Roast Sirloin of Beef plus au jus. Studded with cloves of garlic and cooked to a medium rare, this juicy roast is made from the same cut as Kansas City Strip. Served with garlic mashed potatoes, winter stir-fry and a creamy horseradish sauce. Paired with a soup or salad.$14.99
Seafood~Cioppino (pronounced chuh peen' oh) Didn't get your Christmas Eve dose of Feast of Seven Fishes? This might do the job. This hearty seafood soup is pure Sicilian. It consists of a fish and tomato based broth loaded with mixed seafood of calamari, clams, shrimp, scallops, octopus and chunks of wild caught coho salmon. (Okay, the salmon isn't Italian) Served in a bowl and accompanied by lots of fresh bread for dipping. Served with salad. $14.99
Thanks for being a part of our lives. You, along with your continued support and encouragement, make our lives fuller and help to put a future there that we can believe in. Thank you!!!
~~Susan
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