Diary of a madwoman uh, I mean chef, in the throes of opening a restaurant…

As promised, here is week one in the life of Beyond the Bull, an eat smart kitchen,  located in downtown Central, SC, home of Southern Wesleyan University and next door to the very proud winners of the 2012 Chick-Fil-A Bowl, Clemson University---go Tigers!  In spite of the holidays and the high absenteeism in most business and municipal offices, we managed to get all of the systems turned on in the building, bugs exterminated, the coming soon banner hung and the dish room clean.  No, we were not without problems, but we managed to solve them all.  The most baffling one was figuring out why there was no power even though Duke Energy swore (in three separate phone calls) that they had indeed turned it on.  Yes, I replied for the third time, the outside main breaker was on, the outside individual breakers were on as were the inside breakers, and still there was no power.  Talk about redundancy!  It was not until I spied a tiny metal door thickly painted over and hidden behind fire department certification tags and gas pipes that we finally solved our dilemma.  Just three more breakers and voila, let there be light.  Gasp!  I liked it better when the light was dim and hid the dirt, droppings, floor cracks and grease in a kitchen long awaiting a new chef. 

                Unfortunately it also allowed me a better view of the dish room, the three bays of the stainless steel sink caked with ancient dried spaghetti sauce and rotten mozzarella cheese left by the previous tenant, a pizza parlor whose owner was obviously in a hurry to vacate, and an un-obscured view of the single most hated piece of equipment in all restaurants---the grease trap.   For those of you who are not familiar with this piece of equipment, the very name says it all.  The purpose of the grease trap is to trap grease (and solids like mozzarella cheese) that make it down the sink drain, preventing a clogged system further on.  And as one would suspect, leaving the contents in the grease trap for any length of time ( in this case two years) allows bacteria to grow and bugs to move in creating an odor worse than any gases produced by the human body.  Now, since my experience with grease traps has been limited to calling a service and paying someone to bring a big truck with a pump to suck out the waste, I wasn’t sure how to proceed.  So I did as I always do when presented with a problem with which I am unfamiliar.  I asked the world wide web, after all, if it is on the internet, it must be true. 

                Fortunately for me there were some very good demonstrations and tips as to how to clean an under the sink grease trap.  

Tip number one, wear protective clothing, goggles, mask and gloves up to your elbows.  I chose an old chef coat (to throwaway if necessary), big rubber gloves, mask, and my designer progressive lens eyeglasses (goggles would render me blind).  

Tip number two, fill a large garbage bag with kitty litter to absorb the liquid.  Double bagged just in case, the bags were filled with half the kitty litter that I had just purchased for the job.  The second half was soon added as I bailed the liquid and scraped the rubberized mozzarella depositing both into the bags.  

Tip number three, never do this when you have customers.  It didn’t really hit me (literally) until I removed the cover how important this tip was.  Even through the mask I was able to smell the odor.  I imagined the homeowners in the area were checking their toilets and the manager of the restaurant next door was yelling at the dishwasher for not having cleaned his trap when he said he did.

                One hour later, the dirty deed was done.  Thirty minutes later I was home scrubbing the smell from my nostrils in a hot shower, proud of our accomplishments at Beyond the Bull, the first week.  Along with a sparkling clean and sanitized dish room, we had water, gas, electricity a working, clean restroom, a parking lot and a banner out front that proclaimed our arrival.  It feels good to be tired when it is the result of a labor of love.

A happy and healthy New Year to All…

Eat Smart, America!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB.