First review of GOOD FOOD BAD FOOD is in..."The book is a marvelous read. Candid, honest and heartfelt...and teaches wonderful techniques. Don't think I ever thought about poaching in olive oil!  Can't wait to try it.  Everything is beautifully put together and authored by a most fascinating and funny woman who obviously cares about the health of America and beyond! I will cherish this and share the info with my clients." Dr. Susan Solomon, Charleston, SC.

This unsolicited first time review of Good Food Bad Food arrived in my email box on my birthday last week.  What a gift!  Thank you, Dr. Solomon.  The book is available on Amazon and Createspace online as a paperback or as an ebook for Kindle and Nook at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 

                Now back to the business of opening a restaurant.

Installment # 4 of Diary of a madwoman uh, I mean chef, in the throes of opening a restaurant…

               Still in phase one, improving the infrastructure (floors, plumbing, etc.), my team and I decided to travel the state and leave the contractors on their own while we continued our search for equipment that fit our budget.  Considering the small size of our miniscule budget, this is no easy task, but we are determined and have thus far met our goals.  Crisscrossing the upstate from NC to GA, hauling a utility trailer behind, we came back empty handed except for one thing…the PERFECT steam table. 

                For those of you who are unfamiliar with food service terminology, a steam table is a hot holding station containing wells. or whales as they say here in the South.  Being from Maine, I wondered about the relevance of the underwater mammal to the discussion of the steam table until my embarrassed, red faced husband translated on the tech’s behalf.  Back to the steam table---the wells heat water to a certain temperature, into which a hotel pan of food is placed to keep it warm.  And this one is perfect, right color, size, condition, price, and is essential for cafeteria style service, the type of service customers will find at Beyond the Bull.  Picture a Subway sandwich service counter, but replace the cold food with hot and you have cafeteria style hot platters like the ones to be served at the Bull.  Customers will not only see the scrumptious looking eat smart versions of Hammonasset Chicken, Duck Cakes Caramel, Dad’s Easter Rabbit, Sage Chicken Livers with Figs, Bison Osso Bucco, and Scallop and Shrimp Ceviche, but they will be able to choose their house made fresh salsas, dips and side items like fried brown rice with chili and sage fried corn or quinoa with butternut squash from what is right in front of their eyes, all thanks to the steam table, which we have now nicknamed the whale.

The Whale

That leaves only one last piece of equipment to find---the sandwich station.  Although the Bull will not be serving sandwiches (one of man’s worst inventions) the cold station is an essential piece of equipment from which every restaurant serves condiments, salad ingredients and cold sauces.  We did find one not far from here this week, affordable and looking oh-so- good in the photos, but sadly disappointing when seen in person.  There was enough greasy dust on the fan to fill a king size pillow case.  Badly maintained, it would no doubt fail ten minutes after being plugged in.  So, now the hunt continues.  Any leads from my fellow restauranteurs will be considered and greatly appreciated.

A special shout out to our RNDC wine representative for supplying samples of varietal wines for us to try before deciding on the final offerings of single serve wines to complement our eat smart menu.  Yes, I know that wine is acid forming and therefore, not smart.  But, remember, we strive for balance, at least 60% alkaline forming foods.  Consider wine to be in the acid forming portion and if you add a little piece of lemon, as I do, it makes it just a little less bad.  The Santa Rita Carminere and Barefoot Merlot were especially good choices for bison and duck.  Next week we sample whites---yummm…I love my job!

Buon Appetito e Buona Salute, Chef AngelaB.