SUPPORT LOCAL: SPINDRIFT SURFBOARDS

Spindrift Surfboards, custom-made by Jeff Pollack 

(www.spindriftsurfboards.com)



((Screenprinting a new batch of propaganda...soon to be on a body near you.))

((Ride-able art))

((Chris (yes, Aeby), team rider, on his signature Spindrift Texxxas Outlaw Series board.))
((Boardmaster Jeff  - a day surf trip to Port Mansfield.))
((Chris again))

NEW & RETIRED

THE DINING ROOM'S NEW AND RETIRED ARTWORK (ALL BY THE CHEF HIMSELF)

RANTS & RAVES: BERNARDEAU A NO?

(Flo, Sous Chef)

I can hear the telephone ringing over the thud of the oven door closing, plate rattling, and vegetables in a wok crying, “We are about to be over cooked!” My hands are tied up plating a dish. Chris grabs the fuming vegetables from the stove and places them carefully on the dish that I am plating. I tinker with it a little more, a little more, almost there. I can feel the eyes of the servers as they wait at the bar for table 43’s meal; Finally, Chris shouts, “C’mon, Flo, stop fingering the dish, and put it up!” Pleased with the dish, I cautiously hand it over to the server to deliver to the hungry patron. I look at the parting dish as if I was l sending off family on a greyhound bus, farewell.

I begin working on the next ticket. I am feeling good, and the kitchen is clicking as a unit. Suddenly, I see the server coming to the kitchen. The customer is unhappy I hear.

"Why?" I ask the server if the vegetables are overcooked.

“No”, he responds.

I ask if the meat if under or over done.

“No”, he responds again.

I ask if the potato or the sauce is the problem. His response is indifferent. Then why is the customer unhappy? I didn’t understand.

“Well, he said the food is great but the plate is too large”.

As in portion size I wondered to myself, but before I can ask he tells me that the actual plate is too large, and he is unhappy and wants to talk to Chris about it. The customer wants Chris to stop production, and bring the kitchen to a standstill.

There goes the clicking the kitchen was doing earlier.

LAURA CUNNINGHAM

Wherever she is now, I'm more than confident that she is perfecting it. Even though she's moved on to other ventures, she remains one of the most influential women in the restaurant business, and this article is not a one-timer for me.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/10/20/FDG6U99KI01.DTL

PLAT DU JOUR: AGED LEG OF ANTELOPE

AGED LEG OF ANTELOPE

>> ramps, glazed chinese shiitake mushrooms, soy-lemon verbena jus

DIY MONDAY NIGHT: PAINT IT RED

What do you do when you have a gallon of red paint, bottle of Bordeaux Blanc for two, Michael Jackson's Greatest Hits on re-play & a dining room for a canvas? Simple. You paint it red (bye, bye purple cherry blossoms)!

THE MANUAL

Simply put, the truth of the restaurant industry - a glimpse at our life (minus the filth; A well-known chef in town as actually told us on many occasions that our main problem is that we are too clean!)

We give this to everyone who joins our team - front and back of house alike (okay, and all of our friends, and well, people we don't even really know, too!)

SUPPORT LOCAL: COVERED UP SURF & SKATE

(www.coveredupsurf.com)

Opened earlier this year by our friends Brian & Jeremy, Covered Up on the island offers a fresh approach to serving the surfing community. The shop's goal is to promote the local surf scene as a whole - open to anyone and everyone from all aspects of the surfing community. Now, if only they'd start selling Insight!

A few month ago, the shop hosted their first annual Coastal Chaos Surf Competition, complete with Arial Surfing division, which unfortunately was cancelled due to lack of waves (what!? in Corpus?) Still, they are bringin it on for the next generation of riders, water or land. 

NIGHT-TIME LULLABIES

Last week's read:
The Shack,
By William P. Young
(www.theshackbook.com)

This week's read:
The Children's Hospital,
By Chris Adrian