Technical difficulties

I'd like to be posting some pictures, but technical difficulties are preventing me from doing so. Living out in the country as we do, fast, reliable Internet is not an easy thing to get. So, we have a galaxy tablet pc we use. However, I recently wiped out our desktop and can't get it back on the Internet. Further complicating things is the fact that our laptop disintegrated to the point of not turning on. So, I haven't been able to upload any pictures or update the blog in a while. Soon hopefully we will have high speed at the restaurant and I am working to get an adapter for the laptop hard drive so I can pull files off that I need. Will keep you posted...

Our tables and chairs are in now and arranged. We are currently interviewing for the positions we have open. Several people have popped in hoping we were already open. As soon as possible!

Update on WOUB spot

Here are some pics from WOUB filming at the restaurant, and a link to the video on WOUB.org:




http://woub.org/2011/11/29/athens-restaurant-could-be-featured-food-network

Party at Sol

So, we decided to throw a little private party over the Thanksgiving weekend. Some friends from out of town were visiting for the holidays and we thought it would be fun to hang out at the restaurant. Well, it was. We made a little food (Cuban pulled pork tacos among other things which will actually be available in the restaurant eventually) and everyone seemd to have a good time.








Ok, you can sit on the bar, just no dancing...




We finally got rid of the Patron Cafe...




Not sure what this was all about...




If we can sell this many shots we'll be rich...




However, as we all stood around, having our drinks by the newly poured unsealed concrete bar top I politely hovered over like a mother hen to make sure it didn't get stained, I realized something. It was pretty loud. And I don't want that during dinner. For one, (and it looks like we will be serving liquor and this is why I bring up this issue) if we have a full bar, we do not have the capacity to have people jammed around it while they wait for dinner and everyone there for dinner. For two, the intimate, casual, relaxing environment we want to create will be impossible if it was that busy and loud during dinner. So, I have to figure out how to control that. We do plan on having the bar open for full service after dinner certain nights, and for special events, and then it can get as loud as it wants. But I may have to somehow make sure the bar is closed during dinner hours, at least as a full service bar. How do you do that?

The Telly

You can't discount something as old fashioned as the power of television. Though I hate to jump the gun on anything before I know its a sure thing, it looks as though there is the posibility we may be featured on the Food Network. Bobby Flay's production company, Rock Shrimp sent out an email looking for restaurants for a new show they are doing. The show focuses on individuals that have left their regular careers, have no restaurant experience and are looking to start a restaurant. Well that's us in a nutshell! So, I emailed the contact in the email I received, and next thing I know, they are calling me. We talked a couple of times and exchanged some emails. It seems they are very interested in our story, and sent us a video camera to do some casting interviews, etc. The camera should arrive tomorrow FedEx. We'll be doing interviews, answering personal questions, and filming a bit of the Athens area and the restaurant so they can get a feel for the locale.

It is all very exciting, we would love to be on the Food Network, many of their shows have had a pivotal role in inspiring us to take the path we are going down. We are interested in being successful not only locally, but to become a regional destination as well. A spot on the Food Network could definitely make that happen.

Somehow, WOUB news here in Athens found out about the possibility of us being on the Food Network (news travels fast in a small town!) and gave us a call about the possibility of doing a story. I called back and left a voicemail this morning, and the next thing I know a camera man shows up at my door. Boom, and just like that we're on the 5:30 WOUB news. You can't pass up free publicity, right?

If the Food Network thing works out, and I am keeping a very positive attitude that it will, they are looking to film sometime around the middle of January. That poses one problem - we were planning on opening in December, but hey, it will be worth it. We'll just have to stick it out until then. The spot will involve our grand opening, and a bit of cooking with Bobby Flay in our kitchen.

Well, wish us luck!

More on the bar

Here are some pics of how the bar turned out. It is going to dry roughly sand colored we think, right now it has a nice, mottled look to the surface. It turned out very smooth, I think a bit of wet sanding and it will be very nice. The bottom edges did not settle as much as I would have liked, but we decided to leave it, it as sort of a nice natural look, which is what we wanted overall anyhow. We may acid etch the top to bring out the variations in tone, but we'll see. The wood strips I added worked perfectly, the metal trim will fit right in place when I attach it.





The only bad thing about having done this top is that Tuti likes it so much she wants me to do one at home.

The stage and stairs

We've made some good progress on three main areas of the dining room: the stage, the bar, and the entryway landing and stairs. We laid a solid bamboo flooring on the stage, it is trimmed in a black carpet and we just have to add the aluminum trim. The stair risers, and the face of the bar have the same solid bamboo applied, the stair landing and treads now have black carpeting as well. The concrete top for the bar is being poured this weekend and the metal inserts should be cut and applied to the sections between the bamboo as soon as that is done.

The Pepsi machine is in, but Pepsi has to come back with different racks, the shelf I made won't work. But it's good for glasses!

Again, much thanks to Dale for helping out with nailing all of the bamboo into place with his nail gun.

Here are some pics:

The Bar

In the interest if time and budget, we were originally going to leave the bar pretty much intact, but decided it just wasn't going to fit in with the decor. We also decided to get a soda machine, and so in the end, the bar had to be shortened, we removed all of the tile (with much thanks to Dale Francis who volunteered to help demo it) and we are adding solid bamboo and brushed metal facing as well as a poured concrete top which I am actually waiting to set up so I can trowel it some more. That has given me an opportunity to blog a little about what has been going on at Sol Restaurant.

Here are some pics:

What I worked on today- First, I had to cut all of these 1/8 inch strips and attach them to the edge of the plywood. The idea is that the form will then attach over these and when the form and these strips are removed, there will be a place to attach a decorative metal strip.







We'll see if that works: Then I added the form, which was made out of baseboards we removed, and added the wire reinforcement. (Just because it's reinforced, there will still be no dancing on the bar!) Then it was time to get serious and mix the concrete and coloring:




And finally, we filled the form.



I've never done a concrete countertop before, but neither have I tried to open a restaurant. It's 2:20 in the morning and I just finished troweling the top. After it has cured tomorrow I will take off the form and put a picture on the blog. Cross your fingers!

THE FLOOR IS PAINTED!

Paint always makes a big difference, but I couldn't believe how much of a difference it made. We were finally able to clear everything out of the dining area and clean and paint the floor yesterday. Wow. What an improvement. This may not seem like a big deal in the scheme of things, but it is. FINALLY we can bring in the table and chairs and arange everything and it will start to look like a real restaurant.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


MORE PICS:

Experimentation and a great steak

So we went to a food show in Cincinnati yesterday and got some really good ideas for the restaurant. We were the last ones to leave the food show, here's a pick of Cincinnati at night on our way back:



Of course we know more or less what we want to have on the menu, but it is not finalized and we have testing still to do to make sure the facility will accomodate everything we would like to do, also familiarize ourselves with the new kitchen and equipment.

One thing we'd really like to put on the menu is a good steak. A REALLY good steak. Personally, I've had several steaks in Athens and I'm just being honest here and so I hope I don't offend anyone - it's hit and miss. Forget the chain restaurants. They just don't have anything. Period. No one ever tells me, "Go THERE for the best steak. They have an awesome steak." Why is that? Well, it is more than a cut, it has to do with consistency. If you want to tell someone that such and such a place has the best steak, you have to have had it more than once there, you have to have had it there EVERY time. Consistency comes from two places: the quality of the cut, and who and how it is cooked. This sounds simple, but it is not. Product responsibility belongs to the supplier, so you must choose carefully, and the cooking, well, that's up to us. We found not one, but two products we really like. REALLY like, some of the best steak we've had in a long time, and we are very excited to work with it and bring it to our menu in several dishes. Again, we have to make sure we can accomodate it and provide what is nothing less than an exceptional dish. We'd like to be a place you can go for steak. So we're working on that.

We're working on plating our dishes too. Presentation is important. We know the food is delicious. We want you to SEE that the food is delicious. And smell that it is delicious. And really enjoy the environment you are eating it in. It's an entire experience. Taste, sight, smell, and yes, to a lesser extent, sound, and touch. There is a lot to be finalized yet. Here are some pics of our experimentation with presentation. This is one dish that WILL be on the menu. It is Carne Asada (Cuban roast beef.) Cooked in wine, garlic, onion and a variety of spices, it is stuffed with spanish chorizo, carrots, and olives. We'll actually serve it with black beans, but those weren't available at the time we took these pictures.




Check back soon. I am going to be doing an entry about our flatware and I need your opinion!

Director of Marketing and Advertising

So I have given myself the title of Director of Marketing and Advertising for Sol. That really doesn't mean anything, because I do whatever needs to be done. Of course, I am writing and maintaining the blog and will do whatever I can to get the word out. An interesting feature of the blog is its statistical analysis. I do check this to see how many people are viewing the blog, commenting, etc.



Not entirely sure how accurate it is, but I have to trust it.

Checking it this morning it appears Sol Restaurant's audience has expanded to include Russia. I thought that was kind of funny, all of a sudden Russia filled in with green and all interested in Sol Restaurant.

Independent Restaurateur Sep-Oct 2011

This was a pretty nice article that came out in Independent Restaurateur. It wasn't just about us, but maybe the next one will be!

Seating Arrangements

It may seem like an easy enough thing to do, but we are not sure how to arrange the seating. We have ideas, but ideas don't always turn out to be realistic. For example, there is an existing set of booths in the restaurant we want to use. Some people like to sit in booths, and we want to be able to offer that. We also have several tables we want to use. AND we have these really cool tables and chairs we want to use to create a Tapas (Appetizer) bar. Where if you are not necessarily wanting to sit down for a formal meal, or if you are working on your laptopn, or maybe just want to get a drink and watch the show (yes, hopefully there will be shows!) - it will be a perfect place to sit.

Problem number 1 - the furniture for the Tapas bar, while very cool, also takes up a lot of floor space and doesn't seat very many people.

Problem number 2 - there is a stage that we would like to retain for possible future entertainment and it takes up a lot of floor space as well, and is not very mobile, so it pretty much is stuck where it is or we have to get rid of it.

Problem number 3 - the tables we have are perfect for four people, but what if we want to seat two people? Then they are wasting space.

So, we have been experimenting with different arrangements. One thing we did was to cut down the stage to half-height. This makes it safer, allowing us to put seating there as well. We are also going to put the booths (despite our original ideas of having them against the main brick wall) up on the stage. Tables and chairs didn't seem to fit very well, weren't space efficient, and weren't as safe.

Regarding the tables we have. We can approach this two ways: we can either buy smaller table tops or we can cut down some of the ones we have. Given the tight budget and the do-it-yourself mentality I am cursed with, it is looking like the latter.

Here are some pictures of what we have tried out. We have to bring more tables and chairs into the restaurant to figure out the Tapas bar, but are holding off until we get the floor painted, because if we bring a bunch of stuff in, there's nowhere to put it. So we really need to move on the floor it seems, so we can do the rest.