The Daily Special

Again, with the Dr. Oz Show reference. Dr. Oz suggested, and his guest discussed the restaurant daily special as being a "clearance rack" for items and ingredients that are near their expiry date or at the end of their shelf life.

I would vehemently argue that's not the case in my diner! I can only speak for my own kitchen, of course, but I would never hesitate to choose our special and here's why:  We are such a small diner, with limited dining space but also limited freezer and fridge space. We operate on an on-demand supply system. We get stock 4-6 times a week. Yes, that's nearly every day. We operate with one head chef, and 2 sous chef. There is constant communication and we always know what's fresh, what's new and how we rotate stock. Fresh is our way of life. And our kitchen motto is "if you wouldn't serve it to your own Grandma, you don't serve it to our guests. Period."

The way we choose our daily special is based on stock availability. What do we have the MOST of. Keeping the right quantities on hand, so you never have to tell a guest "sorry, we're out of your favourite" can be a delicate balancing act. Therefore, in order NOT to run out of chicken fingers, we would discount and feature a burger instead. When something is discounted and marketed as a daily special guests tend to choose it, especially if they are in a rush or consider it in the top 3 items they would eat at your restaurant normally.  So, it takes the "pressure" off chicken, if burgers are the popular choice that day.

Similarly, we can choose a special to counter-act a mistake in ordering. Whoops.... ordered all bottle cokes instead of cans? Then today's special is a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a bottle coke for take-out. It's a perfect set.  Hard to sell a taco salad with a bottle coke.

There have been instances where a supplier will offer you a quantity discount on in-season produce. I like to jump at those opportunities and cook with what's fresh and delicious in the moment. Fresh peaches make amazing parfaits with hot caramel sauce. While it's not on our regular menu it sure sounds good, tastes good and sells well as a special.

That's how we roll at the Retro Diner.

Restaurant Secrets

Today on the Dr. Oz show they talked about restaurant secrets. They video clips and previews they showed made it look like something sinister and like running a restaurant was some sort of sneaky society attempting to deceive the public.

Curious, I watched the show.

Ultimately, they simply offered a few common sense tips. They talked about the bacteria levels on cafeteria trays. You know, the plastic trays you might use to carry your meal to the table at the mall food court. They revealed that they are rarely washed and dozens or even hundreds of hands can touch the trays between washing. Oooooooh.... a good reminder, but hardly shocking.  A real world remedy to this situation would be to use hand sanitizer after you touch the tray and not eat any of the food that comes in direct contact with your tray.

Another supposedly shocking "restaurant secret" was that buffet food can spoil if left out too long, or at incorrect storage temperatures. Yes. Absolutely right, but again I think that is common sense. If something is crusty or dry looking or has been there a very long time, don't eat it. I would suggest, if you do love buffets to go early, within the first hour or so, of the buffet commencing. Never in the last hour. (That food is just minutes away from the garbage, for a reason.) For example, if the lunch buffet is served from 11AM-4 pm, I would never consider eating it after 1 pm. (But I might be more cautious than most.)

Another note was how restaurants design their menus to lead your eye to the items with the greatest profit margin. They can do this with bold print, or feature symbols or even by putting it at the top of the page. Absolutely that's correct. Not sinister, or deceptive in my opinion at all. It's called marketing. The restaurant business has a very narrow profit margin and in order to compete, you need to be able to provide the meals customers want, at a price that the consumer is willing to pay and that the restaurant needs in order to cover its costs. It's BUSINESS. Very simple.

If I could go a little further and add a snippet of my own restaurant advice, I would urge the guest to stick to the popular menu items if they are at all concerned about the restaurant's food quality. If you are at a place that is not very busy, has an incredibly detailed menu, or perhaps has uneducated kitchen staff, ALWAYS choose the most popular item. (Get this info by asking the waitress. - Don't be confused with the daily special, but ask about popularity.) Why do I give this advice?  Because, the most popular menu item will be the freshest, because quantities are always being replenished. Plus, if the staff is weak, or untrained, they should still be able to make the best seller.... because they are doing it 20-30 times a day anyway.  There.... there's an insider tip, not seen today by millions of viewers.

Just add bacon

We've been making a Canadian specialty... poutine, for a long time. Like, "forever." It's always been a best seller on the menu. It's definitely a staple at the burger joint.

What is it you ask? Well, there are 1000 different ways to make it. It's like chocolate chip cookies that way. Everyone seems to have their own recipe that they think is the very best thing going.

Our poutine is made with fresh cut, twice fried potatoes. A beef gravy and blend of cheeses. Some people add ketchup at the table, but most eat it exactly the way it is.

It is the perfect side to a mushroom burger or a salisbury steak and is great on it's own. Definitely a comfort food.

This summer, we decided to add bacon to it, as an alternative menu choice. So we took the same basic ingredients and added chopped and crisp fried bacon. We did the chopped bacon in butter and diced onions with steak spice and black pepper. And we switched out the blend of white cheeses, for a blend of cheddar cheeses. It was an instant hit. Like a huge hit. We were kicking ourselves for not trying it earlier. I mean it's logical isn't it.... all things are better with bacon!

So you want to own a restaurant?

I was driving home a babysitter the other day, and making small talk with the young lady I'd barely known two days. (Ok, let's stop for a second before I get a lecture for leaving my kids with a near stranger. Let me assure you that the young lady's references were rock solid. Most of my close friends are high school teachers. Believe me, that's invaluable when choosing a potential sitter. High school teachers KNOW the kids in their classes and give detailed references.)

Forgive the sidetrack. I'm actually going somewhere with this story.

So, in polite exchange, I ask the girl if she's taking any classes that she really likes or has she identified a direction for a her future career.

"Oh yes!" she gushes.  "I've been really excited to meet you. I know you own a restaurant and that's kind of like what I want to do, you know, for my career and stuff. "

Then came her barrage of questions. "What kind of recipes do you use? Where can I get some good knives? What does a good knife cost?  How much money do you make? How many staff do you have?" And she went on and on.

I was glad to answer questions, though already exhausted from my day. I do feel that it's important to inspire youth to consider Culinary Arts as a career path. So many of us, in the business, are exhausted though and our own enthusiasm has disappeared. It's a fairly short lived career for some. It's not something the body can keep up with 7 days a week for a decade or more. And if you do have the personal stamina, sometimes the finances and business circumstances force you out before your time.

I encouraged her to consider evening classes through the local college, to get a glimpse of what life could be like. I also suggested a part time job in a restaurant. I asked her what in particular did she see herself doing... front of the house manager, chef, pastry chef, restaurant designer, waitress, or what?

She replied, as only a dreamy eyed teen could... "Oh actually, I already know." She said. "I'm going to own a Bed and Breakfast, that is also a cafe and tea room. But we'll be kind of like a youth hostel too and I hope to make wedding cakes for people on the side and do gourmet dog biscuits."

"Wow. Good for you." I said. "Sounds great! Better work out a detailed business plan and start saving your money. That's going to be a lot of work."

Lucky for me, I had her safely at her house by that point. Goodnight, I told her and thanks again.

I have to admire people who dream big. That's the kind of things great stories are made of. Some people will do it, you know. Others have their dreams shattered all too young by other circumstances. Others still, will take a life path dictated by others and put their own dreams aside.  I'm glad that night I bit my tongue and did not let out the jaded beast within me - the beast that says "you're kidding yourself, kid. Life will eat you up and spit you out. There's no way you're going to do it all."

I don't want to be the one who tells people they can't, especially young people. There's a whole big world out there that people battle daily. Everyone overcomes something in an effort to be happy. If it's not drama, disease, natural disasters or peer bullying, the economics of life and the walls that surround you will get in your way. I wish people would help each other more. Say, "go for it, or let me help" rather than "you can't or you're kidding, right?"

Nothing today is handed to anyone on a silver platter. Well, except for high tea at the Empress. But I think at least we can support each other's dreams. Dreams still cost nothing. Dreams are still meant for everyone.

My Kinda Fun

I wish I knew. Really, I'm not sure what I enjoy anymore. It's been so long since I've been out on a Saturday night I'm not sure what fun looks like, never mind feels like.

I'm not all "boo hoo" so don't stop reading because you think I'm going to suck and whine about my life. It's hard to do that in this world nowadays. With natural disasters, disease, politics, crime and the crazy misfortune that plagues everyone, I can't compete. Nor do I want to.

You've got to want what you have, not just try to have what you want all the time. And I have a lot. I get that. I have great kids, a husband who doesn't try to drive my vehicle anymore,  and I get to travel a fair bit. But what I don't really have are any hobbies or anything that get me out of the house in the winter.

For 9 months of the year, I work every Friday and Saturday night at my restaurant. Most Sundays too. And those are the days when real people - you know - people who are NOT married to restaurants, go out and do things. And now that I'm in the off season, I have to figure out what happens on Friday nights. I hear that some people get babysitter and go out with their spouses. I think I'd like to try that.

I hear that sometimes ladies go out for things called "girls' night." I think I'd like to try that. I hear that there are places where strangers can go and eat popcorn and all watch the same thing on a giant screen... movies, I think they call them. I'd like to try that.

I'd love to go to an NHL game, but I guess nobody is doing that right now.

What I don't want is another Saturday night of mini-sticks and boys yelling at me "mom, you need to practice more, your shot sucks. You never score. I don't want mom on my team."  I think I've had enough of those.

I suppose there's always laundry. But who really wants 7 nights a week of dirty socks and wet towels? I think I'm going to need a new hobby. Please don't anybody say scrapbooking. I'm no good at that. Writing.... LOL.  What about curling... nah, I think I prefer to wear grippy shoes in the winter rather than things that slide. And is somebody started yelling "sweep" at me, I'd think I was at work. I'd probably start filling a mop bucket out of habit.

Ugh... I'm thinking about work again.  Ohhh, maybe I could take up stand-up comedy. I seem to think I'm pretty funny. Oh never mind, if people started throwing tomatoes at me and my bad jokes I'd probably just make a sauce and start doing "restaurant stuff" again.

TV Fare

It's a wonder we ever leave the house. The Food Network keeps raising the bar and enticing viewers with fabulous new cooking shows. I'm pretty much glued to the Food Network, if I'm not at work in my own restaurant.

I don't know anyone who hasn't tuned in to shows like Iron Chef, Diners Drive-Ins & Dives, or Cupcake Wars. Or anyone who hasn't referenced an episode in conversation.

Personally, I'm into anything done by Bobby Flay. I think he's a fabulous chef and just as good as a TV host. His show 3 Days to Open is pretty great.

As a restaurant owner, I can related to the challenges shown on TV. None of it appears unrealistic. You'll always face challenges with staff, trends, schedules, suppliers, customers and outside forces (like weather, economic conditions etc). So it is genuinely interesting to see how other restaurants face and overcome their obstacles.

Creative recipes and learning about regional cuisine will always interest me. In order to succeed in this business, you need to stay current and stay inspired. Lucky for me, the Food Network is there, in my off hours (the wee hours of the night) to keep me company and show me what the outside world looks like. It's a comfort that we all face the same challenges, and an inspiration to see how people succeed in their local markets.