Monday, May 23, 2011

Enter the Pizza Oven


 Howdy-  I figured out a few things about building a restaurant.  Maybe about building anything really.  There is a time that it seems like nothing is going on and nothing changes.  No offence to the electricians and the plumbers and the framers, I know that they are maybe among the most important folks in the process.  But it is not until the finishing work starts that you can really start to see how things come together.  How the outline the framers put out there turns into a copper covered bar with a blond wood top that is really sharp.

So as you can see see things on the Mile are chugging along.  Chuck, our foreman, says he thinks we are more or less on schedule.  This has been a tough process for him and he seems unflappable.  The pizza oven arrived at 5:00AM on SUNDAY.  I told myself that I was going to be there to document the process for you the reader.  Well...it did not work out that way.

See we thought things were going to be slow Saturday at CBC.  It was set to be a fantastic night in Columbus.  Cool, clear, the sun was out late.  As it turns out instead of people staying home, or going to friends for a cook out, they came to the Brewery and ordered off of  Noe's saute station.

"Noe, Call. 3 Burgers, 2 Fish San, Burrito, 5 Chick sando Special Set."  Noe said he hears me calling tickets out in his dreams.  Sometimes it is like that, it seems like everyone is ordering off your station.  Chef Brian sent Jose home because he had a pretty bad burn on his arm. So he was on salads and the left me on expo.  Jennifer cut a host and that put her on the door.  Thus instead of heading out early after  125people.  It was more like limping out after 245. Restaurants are like that.  Right when you think you have it figured out he jumps around and bites you in the ass.






The oven is about 3000 pounds.  If you could see the area around the restaurant you would have to wonder how they ever got it inside.  To say that things are muddy out there is the definition understatement.  So while I was sleeping they managed to get the oven place.




 It is a touch naked right now but it will be covered in copper shingles.  See the above photo from the bar.  I just had a vision of cleaning the out side of this thing.  Brings the term Delegate to mind.


There are some cool touches to the new oven.  it is also pretty big.  I am guessing 10 - 12 pizzas at a time.  My big question is going to be about HEAT.  I want that deck at 600 degrees.




 So this little peice of pipe with a bit of really cool flare on the top side was sorta hanging out in the middle of the oven while some folks scratched their heads trying to figure out how the hell to get it to fit into the oven.  The three of us were all on the large side and a touch old as well.  So enter the fit youth.
"Hey can you climb in there and see if you can get that pipe to fit?"




 This is, I am guessing will be the last time anyone will be climbing into the oven.


Ahh Success.

To all you cooks out there.  Make sure to clean the hoods tonight.






Monday, May 9, 2011

Floors and Beams and the Kitchen is Black

Well I have not posted in awhile.  Things were going on but the visuals of pulling wire and putting in plumbing are not so sexy.  But right now there are some significant changes going on so I thought I would drop in and get some photos and share with you. 


Additionally we have been plugging away at the menu, reworking the smallwares order and banging out shifts at the Brewery.  So how do we write a menu?  What makes it what doesn't?  Well the Chefs (myself Brian Cook and Matt White) all make a few dishes.  Should be ready at 2:30.  Then we sit down with Doug Griggs (owner of CBC and Milestone) and Jennifer White (GM at CBC) and who ever else is around, and we eat.  We talk about the dishes, think about how hard or easy they are to pick up (that is kitchen for "you ordered it now I gotta make it"), we think about cost, and how it fits into the overall model of the concept.  We have tried lots of pizzas, sandwiches, salads and entrees. 




The floors are starting to go into the dinning room and the kitchen.

And as you can see the kitchen is black.  Why is the kitchen black?  Well I do not know.  But all of the walls are black.  It is a small space and I feel like the black walls are not helping make it feel bigger.  I am thinking maybe Brent Lacount was Goth in an earlier life and so he is just into black.


We have also recently gotten these cool beams that stretch out from the pizza oven.  They seem well secured so don't worry about walking under them.  Nice to add a few straight lines into all those curves.  Less than two months until opening, still got work to do.