Restaurants and Institutions

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earth2table: Plugging Away
August 9, 2006

Stu Stein

August 9, 2006
In the shameless promotion department this week, I was a guest on Wine & Dine Radio ( www.winefairy.com) hosted by Lynn Krielow Chamberlain, the self-described “Wine Fairy.” I got the chance to plug the restaurant and my book, The Sustainable Kitchen (New Society Publishers, 2004) but more importantly, I had the chance to discuss our concept of being a “localist.”

I have to admit, I love artisan producers, farmers markets and the entire idea of community. My sustainable culinary philosophy and my business philosophy in general both start with relationships. If I had to choose, I’d say to buy local over organic, with one stipulation: Buy local from people who take care of their resources sustainably. If you don’t believe me, pick up a copy of Michael Pollan’s new book, The Omnivore's Dilemma (Penguin Press, 2006). It will open your eyes to where the foods we eat come from and just how safe they are.

Kitchen Design

The people at the food blog portlandfoodanddrink.com have said, “A good chef can close his eyes and taste a dish before he ever makes it.” As a chef, I not only believe this wholeheartedly, but as part of the creative process, I taste, see and smell a dish before I physically create it. I have learned to apply this same skill to the design process.

This week, Kelly Edwards, the architect I’m working with, and I e-mailed and met in person to talk about the design. I’ve tried combining my experience, ego, cash requirements and wish list into a functional, comfortable and aesthetically pleasing design. Kelly is translating my ramblings into pretty pictures with cute symbols. A major part of the latest meetings were devoted to kitchen design. We have approximately 750 square feet (just under 40% of the total space) allocated for just the kitchen<\m>dish area, prep area, hot line, cold line, walk-in refrigeration, etc.

The first problem is that we have a rectangular space instead of a slightly more-conventional square space (see site plan below; our space is in the bottom right corner). There also are a few obstacles to the changes we were considering: There is an unmovable load-bearing wall near one end of the kitchen space, there’s a downward-sloping alleyway that leads into the covered garage/trash area behind us (making it so we can‘t move any exterior doors without building a ramp), and I told Kelly that I want an open kitchen with a giant pass-through in front of the hot line, which makes design a bit more tricky.

The restaurant menu and aesthetic design I have in mind calls for a wood/gas-burning oven, minimal prep and storage areas in relation to finish-cooking space, and a good number of open burners to finish dishes à la minute. We are planning for three hot stations (all visible to the public), one cold station and an additional prep area. Providing so much equipment in such a small area means utilizing as much wall and under-counter space as possible.

There also will be a separate office area and multi-use employee/storage/customer-coat-closet area, along with two ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)-approved bathrooms that we are sharing with the adjacent retail space.

Additionally, these are some of the sustainable-energy features we are looking to build into Terroir’s kitchen design:

• participating in the City of Portland's solid waste and recycling program and the Office of Sustainable Development’s waste- and food-soiled paper composting program;

• using all-natural, non-toxic cleaning products including chemical sanitizers that use the power of plant- and vegetable-based ingredients;

• using eco-friendly interior paint;

• using 100% post-consumer-recycled-content and/or tree-free paper and soy-based ink for print materials, including menus;

• installing water-efficient fixtures and flow-regulated, touch-free water faucets;

• installing a variable-speed hood control system for the kitchen that receives feedback from temperature and smoke sensors to allow the system to run with minimum exhaust flow and consume less energy during off-peak times;

• installing an energy-management system that recovers heat loss from the exhaust system, external compressors and HVAC system to pre-heat hot water.

Did you catch the underlying force driving our decisions? The design is being based on the menu I want to execute, the type of restaurant I envision, the flow of preparation and service and our sustainable commitment. Only time and my wife will tell how we did.

Cheers!

Stu

Posted by Stu Stein on August 9, 2006 | Comments (0)