Thursday, October 30, 2008

No more designer

Yeah, they're totally done-zo. Still trying to figure out if there's any recourse, since there were some deliverables I was waiting on, and we had a contract. I'm guessing no, but you never know. What's frustrating, is that we were basically locked into a concept & I have all the colors, materials, fabrics in my head - just don't have that company as a conduit to actually get them ordered (and who knows from where??!!) These guys have (had, I guess) a jacked policy that you don't get to physically take any samples until you actually sign a sales order for the job. So all the while as we were working through the concept, I was able to visit the samples/swatches at their office, but now don't physically have anything. So, we'll see if all that is scattered in the wind. Am I making sense?...I'm tired. Anyone want to drive up to Oakland with me and ransack what WAS their office?

I forgot to blog a little less than a week ago that we got approval from the planning department at the city. Really great news. Next we move to the building department for our actual construction permit. Can't wait to finally get in there and have some work done on the building. ;)

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

So here's something interesting


You may remember a good while back - around the time of this blog's inception - I talked about the cool color palette, and generally neat plans from the interior designer I was working with. It's a company called REDs - Restaurant Equipment Design. Or should I say, it WAS a company called REDs. I called again today after 2 unreturned emails and a voicemail - to see what the heck the status was on their rework of the proposal. I was greeted by an operator's voice saying the number was no longer in service. I fanned out to people I know, and one person tells me he heard they closed. OK, WTF!?

Story Developing....

Sunday, October 26, 2008

lunch

This is pretty off-topic for the new restaurant's development (because believe me nothing like this is planned for the menu), but we had a late lunch at Bouchon yesterday in Yountville, and it was stellar. I enjoyed the Poitrine de Veau Braisee: braised veal breast with sweetbread sausage, warm bean salad, arugula & sauce gremolata. I can't stop thinking about it. Unfortunately and surprisingly, not everyone at the table loved their food, which was a bummer. Bouchon was really cool because it's pretty swanky, but casual & approachable. Prices, unfortunately, reflect the former.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

12 steps

Alright, now we're just addicted to food photography. Enjoy.









Thursday, October 16, 2008




On another front, Erik came over a 2nd & 3rd time to take food photos. At this point, 800+ photos have beenw hittled down to 120 or so great ones. Exciting.

Reflections

The city's planning department is still reviewing the overall package for the new restaurant, and very soon we should start making headway with the building department - to get the actual building permit. OK, that's where the project stands.

But in the face of an economy that's...you know...in the shitter, I had a revelation recently that comforts me somewhat. I finished SCU in March 2000, and started the next month at a high tech public relations agency. Valley historians may remember this is almost exactly when the dot com bubble burst. It was kind of a hot mess at my company, and I navigated it, and survived in the PR game basically as long as I could stand it. So I left on my terms. Second career is starting as a ridiculous recession seems to be getting underway. I don't know if I learned any lessons the first time around that I can apply here, but it's just an interesting observation that makes me feel better, OKAY.