Only one other person will get the reference. In my former life, I could do a wicked light show to Mr. Roboto (not that I'm bragging or anything).
Enough with the chit chat, on to...
Notes From The Line...
Pandora is a fickle bitch
Don't know what was up with Pandora yesterday but, it was frustrating. Not only was it like ballad Tuesday, but it seemed like every time I put in a station it would:
- Play numerous live tracks. (more so than the norm)
- Play Ballads
- Try to push Led Zepplin on me
Now for the record, I like Zep - but it was the point of ridiculous. Three different stations I pulled up would play Zepplin - even Stairway [can't you read the sign? No Stairway!] when you're trying to prep up and new menu. Maybe it's the anal retentive former Music Director in me, wanting a good 'flow' of music instead of back to back ballads and what not.
Help me Obi-Wan you're my only hope
It finally happened on Saturday night - a six top that included chef's mentor Chef Franz (instructor at LCB PDX and former executive chef of the Benson) we'd been waiting since the day we opened for chef to come in and see the amazing work we're doing. What was interesting is we had no clue he was coming in, you see the reservation for that table was called in by someone else - so's to not give away the surprise (well that's our line of thinking anyways).
For those not in the 'know' Chef Franz was our advisor for the ACF Junior Hot Food Team, and one hell of a chef. I had him for International Class. If there was one chef instructor at that school that I never wanted to disappoint/let down it has to be chef Franz hands down. He was a proud 'pappa' Saturday night.
Menu Mayhem
We're 3 menus in now, which also means that we've been open for 3 months. The first day of a menu change (like yesterday) is always a mix of fun, nervous energy and more often than not in the weeds right up until service. Most people say it's the "calm before the storm".
As near as I can tell in a restaurant, it's the storm before the calm - the mad prep and then service hits which to be honest is more calming (call me crazy, chef does..). He's raised the bar this menu, (not that he hasn't with the previous two) but this one is frakking amazing. So far, I think I'm really liking our veal dish - off. the. chart.
Pictures of some of the new menu items are forthcoming.
