Using a leash on your peppers
I have a friend, hard to believe that. That is totally Vegan. When he informed me that he only ate Vegan, I asked who she was. He said that he had thought about Vegan for a while. Again I asked who she was. Yep.
A couple years have passed and he is no longer pushing his friends to convert. Well not harshly admonishing the Omnivore crowd as much.
Recently he cited an article about chicken farms. I posted back that said farm is regulated by the FDA and USDA standards. Several of his hipster friends posted that all chickens needed to be free to fly.
I couldn’t help myself when I pointed out chickens really don’t fly much. I then tried to explain and even sent the proper links to the USDA definition of free range, organic, fresh, etc.
For some reason, there were crickets from the “let them all be free to roam” friends of his.
Wait till he posts about pigs. I am so ready!
BBQ is pretty big in Texas and the competition is fierce. So much so that it has torn apart families.
There is a town known as the BBQ Capital. There are two well respected joints. Once upon a time, legend has it, everyone got along fine. Then one brother decided to split off and open his own bbq joint. The town is actually split as far as which one is better. One has the no sauce ever idea and the other….
Then there is another family in a different nearby town. The Pitmaster brother was fired. He opened up his own bbq trailer with his sister. She fired him and swiped a Pitmaster from her family’s restaurant. Brother went on to open a trailer on his own. All the business are doing well.
But! The drama is amazing, it is almost like the Hatfields v. the McCoys v. Montagues v. Capulets v. the Lord of the Smokering.
All that aside, I have had food from all involved. They are all pretty good. I am partial to one particular places squash casserole. They all come with the traditional slices of white bread, onions, pickles, plastic fork and knife and served either on butcher paper on in some sort of paper container. They all keep it real and the infighting? Well, that just makes it interesting.
For some reason, folks that have no experience in the restaurant biz keep opening places and can’t seem to figure out why the customers don’t beat a path to the door.
There is a place that has a great location in a small town just outside the Austin, Texas area. It has had 6 owners in 5 years and many many menus.
The current one for the place that calls itself “homespun” and offering a full bar. They added a playground for the kids. I already smell bad idea.
The menu they have posted (they are not open yet) features Cajun, Creole, German, typical BBQ, Steaks, Chops, Italian (lasagna and ravioli), and French options as well as a separate menu with gluten free options.
The options are all over the map. This isn’t fusion, it is a mutt!
One has to question how good any of the choices? This is a place that can only seat 40 guests at any given time. The choice to have a massive (3 page) dinner menu is a hot mess. It screams throw every thing against the wall and see what sticks. Meanwhile, the food costs are going to kill them.
Hope I am wrong but I am thinking owner number 7 is on the horizon before 2014 is over.
Sigh
Mom and Pop, casual, or high end. It really doesn’t matter.
Telling the waitstaff you know the owner/manager to impress them is silly. The waitstaff know the owner/manager too!
If it isn’t on the menu, it isn’t on the menu. Menu’s are designed for maximum efficiency. If you want to substitute the sauce from one item with a sauce of another item, stay at home and cook it yourself.
Splitting checks, yes there is a charge because figuring who had what or how many takes more work for your server to figure out for you.
Don’t eat your entire meal then complain about it expecting some sort of comp. If you are having trouble with the meal, let your waitperson know asap. The exception is if you are a Whale in Vegas and still just shut up, your getting comped anyway.
The waitstaff are servers, NOT SERVANTS. Remember the Golden Rule.
Snapping your fingers to get the attention of a waitperson is just rude. Show a little class.
Are some kitchens that disgusting? Yep
Do people do things as seen in the documentary Waiting? Uh huh
Is there a health department? Sure. Depends on your area for standards.
I have worked in the cleanest of lines and the walk ins are pretty perfect (sometimes you get a lug of fruit that has a bad piece-it happens). It is up to the Chef and Owners to determine if product will be used.
Working in a small cafe, the owner determined that although 1 box of fresh eggs had been slightly frozen, they were to be used anyway. Many of the shells had cracked and IMHO thrown out. Salmonella any one?
Items left in the temperature danger zone is sadly all too common.
There are only a few places where I would eat at a buffet and a certain chain with the chocolate fountains is not one of them. Some folks do not grasp the whole double dipping (especially children) and so NO!
There was the chain restaurant where I worked that didn’t have a restroom for staff. I saw a waitress use a stall and then walk out without bothering to wash her hands. WHAT?????
The dark side of eating out, even at large corporate chains is scary.
Watched an episode of this program. Interesting. All the “Preppers” seemed to be focused on a single catastrophic event. One guy in Florida was fixated on a lightning strike that would wipe out the entire grid for the state. Another fellow in Missouri (I think) built a bus that would crash trough road blocks caused by tornado damage. He even had food and water supplies on board. He didn’t touch on where the family intended to shelter DURING the tornado.
Then there was the fellow that felt he only needed to have a 6 month supply for food for his family as he would just take from others after his imaginary end of days. Guy built himself armor from ceramic tiles, roofing tar and fiberglass fabric to protect himself in the event his thieving met resistance from conventional weapons, i.e. a butter knife or spork IMHO.
The fellow also looked up on line how to do a C-Section on his wife. They did a dry run and momma didn’t look too convinced in his ObGyn skills.
Leader, Texas Public Library
November 9, 2013
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
I’ll be there with my book Crunchy Bits (available on Amazon and LuLu) and sporting my new Chef’s Jacket! 
I won’t bother with the actual recipe posted with this but the title was “easy Crock Pot Pot Roast”. Do I need my eye glasses changed or is the “crock pot” missing?
Join me as I explore the quirky culinary world. I’ve always had a passion for food. Some of my friends in elementary school would rush home in time to see the afternoon cartoons. I ran home to watch Julia Child on PBS. Yes, I was one of those kids you see standing on a chair to reach the stove.I was one of the pioneer latch key kids.
Life happened, marriages, divorces, children. One day on my way to work at the cube farm, I was crying at the stop light. I hated my job and life. It was time to do the selfish thing. Go to Culinary School. I was afraid, I was petrified. I graduated with honors.
Since then I’ve worked in several restaurants in Central Texas and the Hill Country, as a personal chef, and a culinary consultant.
Be sure to check out partner site Magic Pig Media
Chef En Fuego 