Power to the People

Its hard to believe so much time has passed since the last post.  Once again there is so much that has happened.  Honestly, it seems like yesterday, when I was punching these keys to post about the occurrences that have shaped my life as of late.  The last time I wrote it was late Tuesday evening and I was heading into a day off, with family in town, looking forward to a world cup semi-final game and some time with my two brothers.  I headed into work with an idea to accomplish tasks quickly and efficiently to ensure time would be on my side.  I arrived at work, on my day off, after 2pm, planning on not staying very long.  10 hours later I left the Restaurant, thinking about how easily this theme seems to re-occur.  Its merely par-for-the-course now, being a chef/owner, duty calls and there are always things to be done.

Since there was no dishwasher, and we got extremely busy, I decided to jump in the dish pit and hammer out some dishes.  Still one of my favorite places to be in the kitchen, the dish pit, without a doubt, brings back a sense of youth and reminds me of my first days in the business of working with food and dining.  The whole time I could not stop thinking about Wasabi (a really good sushi Restaurant in Whitefish) and how I would be enjoying some delightful seafood very soon.  Somehow, though, the dish pit required a good session to keep the Restaurant on track and time slipped away, until a quick look at the clock and 7:30 turned into 10:30pm.  For a nice consolation prize I treated myself to an entree of our Rack of Lamb with Sauce Dalise (our signature plate) and a nice Caesar Salad.  I guess that is about as good as it gets for a 30 day plus stretch, give or take a day, of consistently working 8 hours or more, generally the day averages 10 hours, all spent at the Restaurant.

And there exists the life and times of Andouille.  This impact on me is all too obvious even as I begin to relax and share the tales of recent happenings, as there is a sense of urgency keeping me from fully immersing, now I am enthralled in moments of movement and accomplishment of tasks.  My whole goal and focus has become to find more time away from this challenging cycle by actually doing things related to life outside of work.  So much easier said than done.  Those yoga and running aspirations from the last post dissolved into liquid like a pack of emergenc-y, fizzing into a cup of water, dazzling at first, then merely coloring the liquid and losing the pizazz.  I'd love to be drinking those cups where the fizzing creates a tingling sensation on the upper lip and the flavor is literally dancing; yet often by the time one gets to finishing the cup, the excitement has faded away.  In no way am I suggesting that I am any less enamored by yoga, as the fizzing sensation is as apparent as ever with regards to practice.  What I am saying is that I prefer to drink emergen-c- packets when they are vibrant and fizzing, as opposed to leaving a mixture for any length of time and having the consumption become flat.

I am confident I will be running and practicing yoga soon.  At this point, however, I will not attempt to establish any kind of time-line on when that might be.  Seems better to write about it after the fact as opposed to talking about how much I look forward to it.  Alright back to the stories at hand as there is much to tell especially regarding the Restaurant world.  A five course wine dinner on Thursday, July 8th, featuring a World Cup celebration was quite fun.  A low key, comfort food style dinner with South African, Spanish, and Dutch dishes.  Here is the menu:

*Scallops, Squid Ink, Saffron, Tomatoes, Red Pepper Oil
*Bunny Chow (Lamb Curry, Sweet Peas, Carrots, Chilies, Onion Salad)
*Kobe Beef, Tomato Chutney, Pap
*Frikkadel (Meatballs w/Onions, Bread, Eggs, Vinegar), Potatoes, Carrots
*Cheese Course w/Edam, Layden, Toasted Rye Bread, Chocolate

Overall a fun and super simple menu.  Course 1 was Spain while the dessert course was Holland.  So it was Spain vs. Holland, with South African dishes sandwiched in between the two. 

The weekend continued with a busy period, nothing to crazy to report other than the Sunday night Chef's table with Bill Foley and his family.  We have been trying to get Bill to come and eat with us for sometime now, so it was great to finally have him in our establishment.  For those of you who do not know Mr. Foley, he is the CEO of Fidelity Title and Insurance company.  He also owns Whitefish Mountain Resort, several Restaurants in town, about 50 different wineries, and the list goes on and on.  He was ecstatic about the food and wine and very complimentary at the same time.  Here is Foley's menu:

*Amuse- Pork Belly, Watermelon, Radish, mache
*Blue Prawns, Roast Pecan Meuniere, Parsnips, Arugula
*Black Bass, Heirloom Tomatoes, Sweet Pea, Basil, Microgreens
*Truffle Risotto, Morels, Porcinis, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Balsamic, Watercress
*Quail, Andouille, Duxelle, Fennel Pollen, Poultry Jus, Quail Egg
*Caribou, Huckleberries, Ice Wine Vinegar, Sweet Potato, Tuscan Kale
*Chocolate Souffle, Blueberry-Brandy Sauce, Candied Orange Dust

I stayed at the Restaurant until 3:30am that night, had so much work to accomplish, prepping for an  enormous dinner the next night- a five course dinner for 84 people.  This dinner was for the WASDA (Western Association of States Department of Agriculture) group, containing lots of important people such as the Lt. Governor John Bollinger and several heads of Agriculture for Western States.  The crazy part about this dinner, besides having to plan for 420 plates (84 times 5 cs.), was the power going out shortly after the first course went out.  Power going out tends to happen on occasion in this industry, and more often than not- the show must go on!  We were actually doing this dinner at Loula's, a Restaurant located in downtown Whitefish, a place with lots of windows in the dining room.  So despite the fact the time was around 7:15pm when the power went out, the sun kept everything illuminated until around 9:30pm due to the large windows.  Everything except for the incredibly dark kitchen, dimly lit with candles and the steady stream of flashlights coming in from various helpers.  We still had four plus courses to serve.  And we would serve those courses in the dark, with the help of flashlights and candles.  The guests were mesmerized by our ability to produce such wonderful food with no electricity.  If anything the power shutting off made me look really good, still executing the dinner without a beat.  In fact, I was able to incorporate several jokes as I was actually presenting each course of food and it went out.  There were only three of us plating each course for 84 people, a lot of work but still a lot of fun.  It was most certainly challenging, but not quite as challenging as losing a dishwasher on a busy night.  At any rate the power stayed off until about 12:30am.  So when I arrived back at my Restaurant, they were also without power for the entire evening, yet still managed to pull it together and make it happen for the evening.  This whole experience called for celebration.  Here is the menu for the WASDA event, basically a re-creation of the Endless Feast dinner:

*Ratatouille Montana:  Stuffed Squash Blossoms, Eggplant Custard, Poached Tomatoes, Zucchini-Squash Mousse
*Organic Greens, Highmont Beef Carpaccio, Fennel, Raspberry Vinaigrette, Snap Peas
*Pork Belly, Braised Cabbage, Cherries, Savory
*Buffalo Tenderloin, Morel Mushrooms, Montana Chevre, Sage, Potato-Broccoli Flan, Swiss Chard
*Huckleberry Pie, White Chocolate Ice Cream

The rest of the week encompassed a brutal and grueling stretch of business as I pulled a double on Wednesday cooking both Breakfast and Dinner, smack dab in the middle of a 100 hour work week, still on a long stretch of working daily.  Friday was an interesting night, once again full of really important and wealthy people, serving a two-term former Governor of Kansas named Bill Graves.  The best part about that dinner, another five course extravaganza, was the Governor wanting to take pictures with me, as well as, several other executives in the room.  It was quite a compliment for everyone in the room to want to shake my hand and thank me for the wonderful dinner (this happened at the WASDA dinner also), telling me about how amazing the dining experience, particularly the food, was for the evening. 

I finally was able to attend a yoga class on Saturday morning!  I even went to the Green Tea House afterwards for lunch with a friend, it almost felt like a day off.  And then Saturday night came along and the kitchen got pummeled like that pop-up game at Chuck-E-Cheeses.  We had a 15 top come in and order ten, five course tastings, amidst lots of other regular diners, enough to put us well into the depths of far too much to do in a reasonable amount of time.  We did what we had to do, as we always do, to maintain the best quality we are capable of producing while making it all happen.  It was an incredible challenge and a test of our meddle to that point.

Sunday brought more surprises, this time in the form of one of my cooks deciding to put in his two weeks notice, a mere four weeks into the summer season, to pursue some other interests unrelated to Cafe Kandahar.  Funny thing is part of what he wants to pursue is a pad thai business.  Not sure why this could not happen after the season, or during a period in the offseason when we are closed for 5 months out of the year, but people are people and generally do what is best for themselves.  This is a situation where I think this particular individual is doing what he think might be best; however, it seems like an awfully foolish move.  Not to mention unprofessional, immature, and selfish.  Sometimes people have to pave their own way, on the school of hard knocks, learning for themselves how it all is.  Its a shame and tremendous disappointment that this individual did not fulfill his commitment, although it about sums up his character and attitude surrounding working with us. 

And so the beat goes on, as is life everything is dynamic, always changing.  Monday was my first official day off from work all summer long (I even had work to do on the 4th).  How wonderful it was to be away from work for a day!  I remembered how joyous life is, connecting with my darling niece and nephew, hiking in the gorgeous woods of Montana and enjoying conversation with my brother and his wife.  Its amazing what a day off can do for the spirit.  We had a wine dinner tonight, but I think I will save those details for next time.

For now, I say Power to the People!  We always look forward to what is to come, not what used to be, or what we once were, in regards to being powerful people in our lifetimes.