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What a Difference a Day Makes!
June 11, 2007

I’ll try not to dislocate my shoulder patting myself on the back.

Terroir’s pre-opening open house/thank you/charity event has been held. I arrived at the restaurant the morning of the event around 6 a.m. There were a number of things I needed to accomplish. A few of my kitchen staff were scheduled to arrive at 7:45 a.m. so we could complete the food preparation at one of my wife’s restaurants in downtown Portland. (Note: Mary Hinds, my talented and extremely patient wife, is a corporate regional chef for the Pacific Northwest for McCormick and Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants). Got to love catering your own party!

Just before the staff arrived, my architect popped in on his way to the office. The look on his face, along with the comment, “The party is tonight, right?” said it all. I just said, “Trust me.” When I arrived back at the restaurant several hours later, my front-of-the-house manager mentioned that she had received a call an hour or so ago from one of the invitees saying that she drove by and wanted to make sure that the event was still going to happen that evening.

No faith! But they did have reason to worry.

As of 8 a.m., this is were we stood:

• The steel framing for the bar was in place but the bar top had not arrived.
• The bases for the bench seating were in place, but the backs and the padded fabric were not.
• The dropped lights over the bar and most of components for the three dinning-room chandeliers were not in place.
• We only had half of the tables put together.
• None of the back-of-the-house equipment was connected, except for the vertical reach-in refrigerator and the vertical reach-in freezer.
• None of the plumbing for the bar equipment was connected.
• The outdoor furniture was there, but needed their extremely well-wrapped wrappings removed.
• Neither the dish machine in the kitchen nor the glass-washing machine under the bar had their plumbing ready or had chemicals.
• The bathroom fixtures were in place but not completely connected.

As of 6 p.m.—party time—we had:

• Two operating and impressive-looking washrooms. I had a number of positive comments on our rather powerful and energy-efficient hand dryers, along with my special surprise: Julia Child’s voice reading her recipes over the speaker system.
• The bar top, made out of reclaimed fur timbers along with some of the appropriate bar smallwares, were in place.
• The dishwasher in the back of the house was connected, stocked with chemicals and working correctly.
• The bench seating backs were in place, though without fabric cushions.
• The entire outside of the restaurant was cleaned, and the outdoor seating set up.
• Most of the front-of-the-house light fixtures were in place and operating.
• Waiters and bartenders were in uniform—and very attentive, I must say.
• Every piece of stainless steel was gleaming.

The room was a bit hot and a bit loud, but overall, a good time was had by most. We raised a good amount of money for Mercy Corps Northwest’s Refugee New Agriculture Project. My staff got a chance to work together in a somewhat relaxed environment; we tested parts of the restaurant setup and design to see what we need to tweak (various hand-operated elements on some of the plumbing need to be moved higher); I got my contractor to push all his people to move the build-out along faster; and I got to give a big thank-you to all the people working on, with or for Terroir.

Oh, yeah—I also got to show off what 18 months of work and way too much money can do!

The master electrician on the job (who worked various body parts off getting us ready—thank you, Dan!) mentioned to me at the end of the party, “It looked like you were actually have fun today. I would’ve had a meltdown if I were you.” I was in my element. It is show business, you know: one part The Wizard of Oz (don’t look behind the curtain!) and one part The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Pat, pat.

Our certificate of occupancy, including my health inspection, is scheduled for June 12, with mock service to follow and the latest public opening date set for Saturday, June 16. About a month off of the scheduled I set before we got handed the building, but overall only a few weeks off the real plan.

And the journey continues.

Cheers!

Stu

Comments or questions? E-mail Chef Stu at StuStein@rimag.com.

Posted by Stu Stein on June 11, 2007 | Comments (0)