Saturday, January 10, 2009

Fresh is Fresh , but there is so much more

I had dinner last night in San Rafael, at a restaurant that will remain anonymous " If I was reviewing this place it would not be good" but that's not the point I am trying to get at, the owner was talking to myself and my friend and complaining about all the other restaurants in the town and how they do not use fresh ingredients, cans in the kitchen, distributors delivering heat and eat products you know the places I am talking about!!!! and she said shes "dying" not sure she will make it

It is too bad that a people accept that kind of food preparation, we have become LAZY when it comes to eating out, and yet we expect low prices and great food or we jump on YELP and become half assed critics!!

Now this restaurant owner has got to get her kitchen together, we paid $18.00 for a bowl of Bucatini that was so small I was shocked, and while the food was fresh the portions were VERY SMALL

No restaurant will survive if the local diners do not come back and eat on a regular basis, FRESH OR NOT, if the portions are small and expensive then the place will be closed in no time, so what do I do?

It is so easy to make great recipes using fresh ingrediants everyday, so write your menus utilizing your local produce meats and other ingrediants when at all possible

Be generous in your portions! go the extra step and make your pasta dishes a little bigger! add a couple of ounces to your beef dishes, unless you are a restaurant that specializes in Tappas then you better feed your customers becasue if you do not THEY WON"T COME BACK!!!! even worse is they will not "spread the word" and no matter how much marketing you do it will not help in turning tables.

I have seen this first hand in some of the restaurants I consult for, and then there are the places that are always packed and everybody loves them, go eat at one of them and see what they are doing!!!! are you listening? put your ego asid eand go learn first hand the secret to their success.

I am goign to start a series of posts that focuses on recipes that really make diners happy and are very easy to make, I will spell it all out for you, includeing food costs preperation and plating, and remember size does matter ;) in plating that is.

Ok its saturday night and I am going down to my favorite Italian Restaurant in P-Town and have nice bowl of Penne Pasta Arrabiata!!!!!

Remember everyone, PASSION make it with all the love you have and it will be great!

Chef Glenn