Oh Solenoid Mio ...

Some days there is so much going on that throughout the day I have all these blog post titles going through my head (yes, I do think about what to write for the blog throughout the day). Today I was thinking about:

• Oh Solenoid Mio (the winner)
• In Through The Outdoor (the title of a Zep album, Led Zeppelin for those not in the know)
• Taking Reservations (to be used soon)
• Parade? What Parade?
  

My day started out a little after 2am. I had to use the bathroom, when I noticed that the water pressure wasn't particularly high. So I ventured into the basement and looked at my water distribution system.

There are the usual tasks and tests I perform, on of which is to drain some water from a drain valve past the solenoid valve (the black thingy in the upper right-hand corner in below picture). Normally, the water should be gushing out of that valve, but after an initial gush, it quickly died down to a trickle.

Aside from this there was some gurgling noise from the solenoid valve, which to me meant only one thing, the solenoid valve didn't let any water through, i.e. it must be broken. So I spent the next hour to read up on the solenoid valve, how it works and such (well, most time I spent finding information, which is scarce, at best), but at the end I had to admit to myself that we simply need to get a new one.

Now that I am looking at the picture below, and re-read what I just wrote, I realize that I should explain really what all these things are that you see. As we are a restaurant and we draw our water from a well (instead of municipal water supply) we are considered public water supply, and therefore have to treat the water to kill (potential) micro-organisms. The choices are either chlorine or UV light.

As chlorine makes the water taste like a swimming pool, we had opted for the UV light solution. In thew picture you see the UV lamp house in a four foot long steel tube through which the water passes. On top of the tube is a control unit, which measures the UV intensity. Connected to the control is an audible alarm and the solenoid valve. If the UV intensity drops below acceptable standards, the control turns on the alarms, and shuts the solenoid valve off, thereby cutting the water supply to the building.


All this means that we were pretty much out of water today. After two or three trips to Lowe's I found the right parts to solve this problem by installing a bypass from the pressure tank to past the solenoid valve. This is only a temporary solution, and we could not open with it. In fact, I believe the health department would shut us down immediately if we were open with this hack. For being Saturday, no supply houses were open, whom I'll call on Monday, and have a new solenoid valve shipped express, because we are determined to open next weekend, by hook or by crook.


We interviewed more prospective staff today, and hired a dishwasher on the spot (it is rare to find people who are just enthusiastic about taking on work most people would snub their noses at).

Our neighbor James stopped by to help us out with lighting. We are trying to use energy efficient light bulbs as much as possible. Unfortunately the light emitted by CFL light bulbs has a greenish hue (at least against the plaster on our walls). James brought by some color correcting foil, which we tried this evening. It definitely makes the light less green and warmer.

For dinner we tried the smoked sausage Mark Elia dropped off yesterday, and it was the bomb, and then we tried it with E!'s homemade curry ketchup, and it was the atomic bomb!!! It was quite the surprise when Mark and his wife Tony stopped by again this evening and dropped of boxes full of wine glasses (we had talked about it yesterday, that we were still in need of some). I cannot tell you how blessed E! and I feel by all the support we have had from the closer and larger community, friends and neighbors. I hope we will be able to give back one day.

And because so much happens right now, I totally forgot to mention that a few days ago our neighbor Butch Anson stopped by and asked to make a reservation, for Sunday, for after the parade. What parade?! That's when we learned that the town of Plattekill holds its annual Memorial Day Parade in one of its three hamlets, and this year it is in Clintondale, passing Gunk Haus just a block away. Seasoned restaurateurs would be happy about news like that, we, however, are scared as hell. More over, we already have reservations for 16 for Sunday. Gosh, this is really happening!!! PANIC!!!

Dirk

Sleep Is Overrated ...

I woke up at 4am this morning, again. Sleep is overrated, so we were told by our neighbor David (owner of The Bakery) the other day, and he's been in business long enough to know.

So here I am again at 3am, writing my daily blog post, trying to remember what happened, who came by, who called, what was said and decided, and there is a lot going on right now.

The day started out well, because in the morning Yancey of Whitecliff Winery stopped by. We tried six of their wines, and I have to say, there was not a single wine I didn't like. We will have two or three of their wines on the menu, including the Awosting White.

If I weren't so tired, I'd talk a little more about wine, why we decided to go with more expensive local than cheaper imported wine, which could lead to a discussion about how the price of a menu item is determined, and on and on, but as I intend to continue this blog after we are open (famous last words), there'll be plenty of time.

Slightly buzzed, it was time to go to work. Jack and I worked on the banquette in the beer hall, which is the last major construction we need to do. At the end of the day, the corners were nicely mitered and connected. By Sunday we should have it all done, and then it's cleanup time.


In the evening we had Tony and Mark Elia of Elia's Meat Market and Catering over. They brought by samples of Weisswurst and their all-beef smoked sausage, which will be the basis of our curry wurst dish. E! had worked for Mark for a while, back when she was still at the CIA, and he has always been very supportive and helpful.

Dirk

The Days Are Getting Longer ...

I should take more pictures, these days anyway, so I know what happened that day. We are busy, busy, busy.

This morning I remembered I wanted to take a shot of the building. The one I have on my profile still shows Gunk Haus buried in snow.


E! meanwhile headed out to get a new mixer, a little bigger than the KitchenAid she's been using thus far. It's a 20 quart Hobart, which is the largest table-top model there is (most likely because it is as heavy as myself, or worse).


With all the pretzels we're going to make, we needed a bigger mixer. Speaking of pretzels, one could think that a lot of people read this blog to skim off ideas for their restaurants, at least when you read this article in the New York Times today. A bunch of copy-cats is all I have to say.

I spent most day building feet, or legs, for the banquette in the beer hall ...


... and by 9pm we finished staining them. Yes, we were busy. Visits by vendors, beer deliveries that we didn't expect, and sent back, interviews with prospective staff, and I don't know what. As I said, I should take more pictures to jog my memory at the end of the day.

Dirk

So Much Going On ...

Gosh, where do I begin? Our place is starting to turn into a beehive. There is a constant traffic of vendors, and we interviewed more prospective staff.

All this of course is somewhat distracting as well. I had meant to do a lot more work today, but was constantly interrupted. Don't get me wrong, it was actually a very satisfying day, even if I didn't get done what I wanted to.

I have some good news, and in a second you'll find out why this is good news. We signed up with a credit card processor today. Why would this be good news? Well, only a week ago we were seriously considering opening on a cash basis only.

OH MY GOD!!!, I hear you say, DIDN'T YOU READ OUR COMMENTS?!?! Yes, I have, and I can assure you we don't make such decisions lightly, but we were completely frustrated and turned off by dealing with credit card processors, and their perceived secrecy of what fees we would have to pay, and how they come to be.

That was until we met Barbara yesterday, who gave us a clear insight on rates, who sets them, and who adds what to the final bill. So, we had her back today, and spilled our (financial) guts. As another positive result of this, we will almost immediately be able to offer gift cards (we already have had a few requests for something like that).

We also setup accounts with some of the liquor distributors, and, I am happy to report, placed some orders already, orders for beer of course ... ;-)

Speaking of beer, I will have a post soon about our initial beer selection, and a few other things about our ideas on opening up, and such, and I hope I won't be too tired to do so, because you, as my loyal readers, have all the right to be informed about these things.

Dirk

Liquor Locker ....

Yesterday was so busy, that I forgot to mention that we got our silverware in. Well, so here you have it.


Today was an equally busy day, and I apologize upfront if I forget something. We are getting closer and closer to opening, which means more and more people stop by, vendors mostly, but also prospective staff.

The highlight, I want to say, was the visit by a credit card processing representative, and we got the lowdown of credit card processing. I make it sound bad, but it was great education, and we learned a lot.

We had prospective service staff over this evening for a group interview, which went pretty well.

For most of the day E! was on the phone finding a new dough mixer, because our six-quart KitchenAid crapped out. Now you wonder why we don't just get another KitchenAid. Well, the reason why it crapped out is because it is actually too small for what we need, so E! was looking for a commercial dough mixer, clocking in at 20 quarts, which is the largest counter-top mixer you can get.

I was busy in the basement building a liquor cage, which we are required to have to lock up the liquor.


So I framed out a nook in the basement, slapped some chicken-wire and recycled fencing on, installed a door, and called it Fort Knox.


Dirk

Clean Bill Of Health ...

Ever since we had to put this humongous and enormously expensive new septic system in last year (not to speak of the loss of our rental property), I have had a strained relationship with the health department. I admit, I project the negative experience with one health department official onto all others, but why should I be nice and assume they will be, too.

Well, there are of course nice people working at the health department, and one of them came by today for our final inspection. We had stressed ourselves quite a bit the last two or so weeks to get things ready for this momentous event. We were all concerned about all these little things that restaurants commonly get dinged for, or things we thought might be an issue.

It turned out to be a non-event. We walked through everything, looked at everything, at least casually, and chit-chatted about god and the world, and afterward we got a certificate that showed that we are good (at least from a health perspective) to open a restaurant.

Now we really just have to finish this place, and open our doors. But there is still some work that needs to be done. I did some cleanup in the basement for liquor and dry goods storage. Tomorrow I'll build the liquor cage, hook up a chest freezer, and a few other things that will come up.

We interviewed a potential bar tender this evening, and tomorrow we'll have several people over for server positions, and then on Wednesday for line cook position.

It is getting exciting, this might actually happen ... :-)

Dirk

Booth Fairy ...

As I announced yesterday, Jack and I worked on getting the booths done today, and aside from a little detail work, and a lot of cleaning, we got it all done, and boy, are they comfi ... :-)


We also started on the banquette on the western side of the beer hall. Hopefully by the end of this week it'll be done.


Dirk