7-18-10
 
 Demolition starts this week. Miguel will start to walk the drawings through the city permitting process on Wednesday.
 
That’s the headline, the big story, the news.
 
It’s been a long way here. I’ll catch you up.
 
Almost all the long lead time items have been ordered with the exception of our work horse chair. As those of you have been following this blog will remember, we’ll be using several styles of chairs. We’ve been looking at chairs for at least two months now and thought we’d gotten it all figured out.  We’ve picked six different chairs we like a lot, that fit into the budget and will further the design. But it’s one thing to see the chairs online or in catalogues, to talk to the factory representatives, and to check with others who have purchased them. Sitting in the chair-the Uncle Bobby test– is another matter.
 
We ordered in a lot of sample chairs to try out. They always take longer to arrive than expected. By the time the chair we’d be ordering in the largest quantity arrived Rebecca and I had already left on a scheduled vacation. Sonya sent us a picture. “I think this might be a little small.” She wrote and had her oldest daughter, Sienna and Drew, who works in the office model the chair for us. With Sienna in it: beautiful girl - small chair. With Drew in it: good looking guy – tiny chair.  I can’t imagine what Uncle Bobby would have looked like in that chair, but no doubt he couldn’t have gotten back up from it.
 
We’re back on the search. More samples will be in this week and they’ll have shorter lead times so we should be ok.
 
Updates on some other areas:
 
Kitchen: The kitchen design is done. The decisions we made to solve the issues with the hood have paid off in savings and in a cooking line which will work well. We’ve picked out all of our big equipment and will soon be putting out bid sheets. No surprise, we can’t afford everything we want to so we may be making some compromises on brands or buying used instead of new in some cases. The logic that drives expenses in kitchen equipment isn’t what you might expect. The big stuff; stoves, ovens, grills, refrigerators and dishwashers aren’t as much as you might think. That’s where you find the values. It’s the things you don’t pay attention to, dish washing tables and dish racks, the prep tables, overshelves for the food pass, storage shelves, pots and pans, heat lamps and  three compartment sinks that add up fast and blow through the budget. I want my stoves and ovens to be new. Prep tables, as long as they’re the right size and sturdy, we can get used. 
 
Flooring: We’ve found great carpets, although, wouldn’t you know it, our favorite one is no longer being made.  Fortunately there are good substitutes and we like the wood flooring we’ve seen too. The combination will create a seamless, textured look and help keep the noise down. The existing concrete flooring near the front door will probably remain but all the other flooring will be replaced.
 
Dining Room Tables: These are a shorter lead item. We’re looking for a high quality wooden table that will stand up to tremendous use without losing its finish. We will not be using table cloths, DOWNTOWN is not that type of place, so the tables have to be both functional and finished looking. Tables are a great example of how you have to be a discerning consumer. If you want to drive yourself nuts, get online and search for ‘wooden restaurant table tops’. There are 312,000 results. Each one has anywhere from a couple of dozen to hundreds of choices. It’s overwhelming. We’ve got lots of ways to narrow it down and there are companies we know and companies Miguel and Sonya have worked with but the trick is to find something a little different, stylish and affordable. The best choice is usually not the most obvious.
 
Overall Design: It’s done! We know how this restaurant will look and what the colors will be. Doubtless there will be some changes before it’s done, but the big decisions that will determine your first impression when you walk through our door are in the bag. It came together in a marathon meeting at Miguel and Sonya’s office where drawings were spread all over the work table. Flooring samples, carpets and fabrics were placed in layers, like a collage over the floor. We looked at images, held carpeting against planks of wood flooring then laid fabric across them both to see how they’d look together. Miguel, Doug and I agonized over details of the kitchen plan where an inch one way or the other makes a difference and if you forget an important piece of equipment you won’t have any place to put it. Sonya and Rebecca looked at colors, holding chips against everything, evaluating every shade and nuance.
 
What started a couple of months ago as a blank slate with only a narrative to describe a dream is now fleshed out with in a way that will make DOWNTOWN a fun and memorable place for you to visit. While there are many details left to work out over the next several weeks we’ve got a strong plan in place, the rest will follow suit.
 
Graphics: The major graphic elements have been selected. We’ve already sent two ads to the publishers which will be the first glimpse most of the public will have of DOWNTOWN. The images are strong, clean, a little edgy and fun. They’ll give you a good sense of who we are and we think they’ll encourage you to give us a try. Soon when you drive by DOWNTOWN you’ll see some posters in our windows announcing our arrival. The images there will give a hint of the restaurant beyond.
 
Now we’re working on the website and menus. Our website will be completely new. They’ll start with a home page where you can choose to go to any of our three restaurant sites. They will each share the same architecture but each will have a completely unique look.
 
We’ve got some fun surprises planned for the menus graphics and for the physical menus themselves. As with everything we’re doing, we’re looking at the menus through fresh eyes, we don’t want expected solutions. Rather we want you think a little bit about what we’re doing and how it fits into the whole of the restaurant.
 
Here’s what’s left:
 
The Food. Over the course of six blogs I’ve hardly written about the food we’ll be cooking. You know what the kitchen will be like, the restaurants we visited in New York and how many different chairs we’ll be using, but you don’t know what you’re going to eat DOWNTOWN.
 
Starting today we go into menu development and recipe testing mode. Bruce Yim, the Chef DOWNTOWN will now be focusing all his time on menu development, writing recipes, ordering specifications, kitchen guidelines and schedules. Working with me, his job for the next few weeks is to work up the dishes we’ll be cooking.
 
That doesn’t mean we don’t yet know what we’ll be serving. I wrote the first menus three months ago.  DOWNTOWN will serve the food of what America is today. We will serve you the flavors of the New American melting pot. My grandparents came from Russia, my parents are first generation Americans. They were not unusual, that wave of immigrants came from all over Europe. Earlier waves came from England, Spain and France. The history of immigration is the history America. We have always been the place people from around the world could come to find safety and a new chance.
 
Following a tradition as old as human migration, today’s immigrants bring with them the foods from their homes in Indo-China, the Middle-East, China, Latin America and Africa. We will be choosing the dishes from those and other sunny regions around the world where the climates are similar to our own so that we can grow many of the ingredients we’ll cook.  DOWNTOWN the food will be full of flavor, it will excite your taste buds and nourish your soul.
 
We’ll be serving lunch, dinner, a bar menu and late night. Our prices will beaffordable. We know what the economy’s doing to everyone’s discretionary income. We want you to be able to come often. Have a bite at the bar one time then come back before or after a performance and return again when you have time to enjoy a few courses. As the name implies, we’ll also serve you some the best and most exciting cocktails you’ll find in Tucson.
 
 Staffing: If any of you are looking for work, you’ve seen our postings on Craig’s list. Right now we’re looking for mixologists, sous chefs and assistant managers. As we get closer we’ll start hiring cooks, dishwashers, hosts, servers, assistant servers and bartenders. DOWNTOWN will employ a staff of about fifty. If anyone you know is looking for a workplace where they can showcase great skills in an environment that will encourage passion for food, beverage and service and will challenge a staff to be their best, send  them to us.
 
Demolition: This should start later this week. This is the quick part and will involve stripping away the remaining vestiges of Barrio Grill, tearing down walls, exposing bricks, making saw cuts for new plumbing lines and setting the stage for the new construction.
 
Construction: We’ll be putting out contracts soon and hope to start construction in the next week or two. Change will happen quickly.
 
Table Top: Now’s the time we start bringing in all the silverware and glass samples and begin designing our dishes. I want to manufacture all of our china here in Tucson. We’ll be working with Dirck Schou, who relocated the H.F. Coors China Company here from Los Angeles in 2003. Together we will create a line of  china pieces for the restaurant. We want our food to be served on dishware that is is as unique, colorful, and comforting as the food itself.
 
We’re about ten weeks from opening, too soon to pin down an opening date, but the race has clearly started. The pressure ramps up now, there’s a lot more to do. I doubt a day will go by without a new challenge or opportunity popping up. I’ll try to keep you up to date.

 

6-20-10

 

The interior design phase is almost over. It’s time to move on to the next series of decisions. But before we do we’ll be tying it all together by making final decisions on some critical items.

 

During my session last week with Miguel we finished off the kitchen and back bar lay out.  We accomplished a great work around on the hood issues. I started to look at the situation differently, not as an engineering problem but as an equipment solution. Rather than a gas convection oven that must be placed under the hood, I’ll be looking for an electric, low temperature oven the does not have the same ventilation requirements. This seems like a little decision but its impact will be to save us money re-engineering the hood and a lot of headaches as we shepherd the project through review.

 

Similarly we made some strategic decisions behind the bar which will streamline our equipment needs there and conserve our resources for other areas which will  more directly enhance guest experience.

 

With the kitchen and bar lay-outs in the hands of the engineers who will create the construction documents we turned our attention back to the interiors.

 

The most critical decision will be choosing chairs. They have the longest lead time and comprise the largest single expense of the entire project. We learned that back in ’83 when the 90 Shelby Williams chairs we ordered for the original Janos comprised about 15% of our entire budget. Some of you will be happy to learn that we will finally be retiring most of those chairs in the next few weeks when new chairs arrive for Janos.

 

DOWNTOWN we’ll use 4 different types of chairs, two types of booths and 1 set of banquettes. We’ve narrowed our choices from the scores of pictures we’ve seen to about 8 models from 4 manufacturers which we’re bringing in as samples. You can’t choose chairs from a photograph. You have to sit in them, feel them, scotch around, slide them on the floor, lift and carry them. Not only do they have to look good but they have to be comfortable for all different body shapes and sizes and hold up to the rigors of perpetual use. Years ago all of our chairs underwent the Uncle Bobby test. If Rebecca’s Uncle Bobby, a big man and aficionado of restaurant processes would be comfortable sitting in a chair for a couple of hours, it passed the test. Sadly, we no longer have Uncle Bobby here to help us out, but I’ll think of him every time we take the measure of the candidates we’ll be evaluating this week.

 

At the restaurant show in Vegas last month Sonya and Miguel saw some gorgeous chairs from Spain and ordered some of the most appropriate styles for us to try out. This is a bit sticky as we have little control over manufacturing and, perhaps more importantly, delivery from so far away. But few competitively priced chairs are manufactured in the U.S. any longer.  The chairs we ordered for Janos, for example, are made in China and are presently on a slow boat on their way here. For DOWNTOWN we don’t have the same luxury of time.

 

If all the samples arrive, we’ll make final chair decisions this week and also zero in on fabrics, flooring, carpets and drapes. Those choices will continue to refine our color palette.

 

The biggest remaining interior decision to make is the back bar. Sonya is continuing to elaborate her colorful rectilinear concept. We want it to feel special and unique, a destination within a destination.

 

Next we’ll start looking at the remaining  details of the interiors beginning with the banquettes and booths, outside seating systems, the dining room tables themselves, then the table top which includes silverware, glassware, china, placemats or table clothes, napkins, lighting fixtures and researching wall coverings. These are all high impact items with shorter lead times.  Soon the chair, fabric and carpet samples will be joined by scores of options for wine, water and bar glasses, lots of silverware in which heft and feel is as important as style, and with dishes which will determine how your food is framed.

 

In the meantime we had a great meeting with Lilly Darling last week. She arrived with hands full of story boards with evocative imagery and some first passes at possible ad approaches. We had the same excited feeling looking at this work as when Lilly and Brian showed us their portfolio two weeks ago. Fat Trees approach is fresh and unique. They’ve taken Rebecca’s logo as a point of departure in creating the imagery which will be the public face of the restaurant. Thursday they’ll be back with further elaboration of ad design and a first pass at menus.

 

It’s been an intense couple of months. We’ve made good progress starting with removing all vestiges of the previous restaurant and redesigning it with Miguel and Sonya’s image of a modern urban space. While we’re a little behind schedule we’re still within striking distance of a September opening. So far it appears we’ve maintained the integrity of the budget though there are still lots of opportunities to blow through it and we’ll have to remain vigilant throughout the entire process. Graphics are in excellent shape and we’re ready to move forward.

 

While we’re finishing up remaining interior design details and the scope of graphics work we will also put together a comprehensive equipment list and send it out to bid. We’ve already been looking for used equipment on Craig’s list and will continue to expand our options in that way. Once the final drawings come in we’ll start bidding out the sub-contractors and schedule them to begin work as soon as we receive our permits. In the meantime we can start preparing the space by removing drywall and plaster to expose the brick walls, making saw cuts in the kitchen floors for plumbing and repairing the walk- in and remaining cooling equipment to bring them up to snuff for our use.

 

From a staffing perspective we’re beginning to interview for managers and maitre d’s and Bruce Yim has been putting out calls to round out his kitchen management team with  two sous chefs. We’ve hired a new pastry chef, John du Toit at Janos. His first job after starting July 1 will be to revamp our Janos and J BAR dessert menus before turning an eye DOWNTOWN. Our limited kitchen there requires that we commissary our desserts from the Janos kitchen and we’ve got some very fun things in mind. In mid-July Shayne Fleishman who first started with us as an apprentice at Janos on Main Ave in the mid-‘90’s rejoins us as at Janos sous chef. This will free Bruce to put most of his attention to kitchen details DOWNTOWN. Janos Chef de Cuisine, Devon Sanner just returned from two weeks in New York where he ate his way around the city while not working an estagier at Momufuku Ssam Bar. He came back reinvigorated and excited to apply what he’s learned to our Janos menus. Later this summer he’ll be off to Chicago to work at Alinea, the American leader in molecular gastronomy technique.

 

 

 

 

6-14-10

 

Lots of good stuff to report about last week. While we still have some nagging issues that we’ll continue to track, we made progress in several areas.

 

Most exciting is the addition of Lilly and Brian Darling to our design team. As principals of Fat Trees Design, they are a young, dynamic couple who bring to their work environmental consciousness, experience working on projects DOWNTOWN and experience with restaurants. We were impressed by their sleek, modern and truly beautiful aesthetic.  Their vision encompasses  the entire project and grasps how the various pieces fit together. Check out their website www.Fattrees.com.

 

Restaurant graphics involve an integrated package that begins with a vision for what the restaurant aspires to be in the broadest sense. The vision is graphically portrayed in the logo which, in broad strokes, is meant to be both a concrete, recognizable, representation of the product and to evoke and build an emotional response. In our case, Rebecca’s logo with its bold and strong font style and whimsical use of color is meant to connote a sense of permanence and confidence which creates the foundation from which a joyful celebration of place, food and conviviality takes place.

 

Lilly and Brian’s job will be to work with us to further articulate our graphic identity and to develop the collateral material which will tell the story of the restaurant. As the entire design needs to be one, integrated, seamless package they will take their cues from our location DOWNTOWN, Miguel and Sonya’s interior design, and our aspirations for the restaurant.

 

In order to be constantly reminded of the space and what is possible (and what is needed), all of our meetings with ForsArchitecture and Fat Trees have taken place at the restaurant. The space is entirely gutted and now consists of only a plastic work table and a few utilitarian chairs where we sit and work out our ideas. The south wall has been beaten up where we perforated the drywall then pounded off the plaster in search of the bricks underneath. The wide geometric columns which helped define Barrio’s interiors have been cut away to expose the 8” x 8” wood pillars that support the building. Those elements, stripped to their substrates will form the underpinnings for the new interiors we are creating. What appears now to be a rather bleak, decaying landscape is, for us, the world of possibility, the stage of new beginings.

 

We met there again last Thursday to finalize (I know, you thought that had been done) kitchen and bar lay out and to review Sonya’s new ideas for the bar design. We invited Lilly and Brian to join us, to meet Miguel and Sonya, and to get a better idea of both the evolving design and the collaborative process.

 

Generally these sessions have been long and flowing to allow creativity room to percolate and emerge. In contrast, yesterday was a whirlwind, reflecting the pressures of schedule and the nature of all of our lives which are comprised of competing priorities and contested time blocks.

 

In the latest iteration of the back bar design Sonya has described a series of multi-colored horizontal slats which will protrude on several planes from the upper back wall of the bar offering numerous opportunities for bottle placement. Interspersed between the wooden slats will be colored mirrors to reflect glimpses of the dining rooms behind the bar. The design will run the length of the wall behind the bar to the front window walls and will also form the ceiling directly over the bar and bar stools. This treatment is meant to tie the back bar to the remaining décor while defining its own space within the restaurant as a whole.

 

This was our first pass at this concept, we’ll let it simmer for a few days before our next meeting.

 

We also began focusing more on our color scheme by taking a look at chair colors and fabrics for both the booths and banquettes, along with samples for drapery and the carpet styles we’d already identified. We’ll be using a variety of colors and patterns in our fabric and material choices. Not only do the choices have to be pleasing aesthetically, they have to wear well, be cleanable, hide stains, and be in budget. We want the space to look lively and fun without having it become busy and cluttered. It’s a fine balancing act which will play itself out against the back drop of the exposed brick displaying art on the south wall, the semi-open kitchen on the east and bar along the north.

 

Lilly and Brian had a lot to take in at this meeting. As we continue to refine the interiors they will articulate the graphic components. The restaurant will require a comprehensive package of collateral material. Beyond the expected letterhead-note card-business card-envelope ensemble and the suite of menus that will include from lunch, dinner, late-night, cocktails and wine list, there will be check presenters, overall signage, bathroom signage, recipe cards, print ads, web-design, e-blasts, invitations, coasters and more that will come up as we move forward. They’ve got to come up to speed quickly as advertising deadlines are just two weeks away for some of the fall publications.

 

Likewise we’ve got to get the bar equipment lay-out and kitchen design finished in order to get the final drawings completed and turned in to the city for permitting. Miguel quickly ran through the decision points. We’ve worked up an equipment list keyed to the lay-out and have attached some costing to it. This meeting didn’t allow time for us to finalize everything so we scheduled an early morning meeting to finish it off. I’ll be looking for good kitchen flow, proper spacing, adequate storage, efficient lay-out of the cooking battery tied to the specifics of the developing menus and sufficient allocation of preparation spaces.

 

These are critical decisions. Misplaced equipment, an undersized cooking line, inadequate dry storage along with any number of other mistakes can create havoc during a busy lunch or dinner service. The right decisions will result in an efficient operation with a minimum of wasted steps or space. Ultimately the decisions we make now will impact whether or not you get your food on time.

 

We will select the actual brands we will purchase a little farther into the process. For now we need to tie down where everything goes so the plumbing, electrical and carpentry requirements can be accurately drawn. That means we need to know how many stoves will we need, where they go and how many btu’s they will generate. That will tell us where to lay the gas lines and how big they need to be.  All electrical equipment and their power requirements need to be plotted as do all the plumbing lines, hot and cold water supplies, floor drains and the grease trap.

 

Miguel’s been through the drawings several times, bouncing questions off his engineers and checking in with me. I’ve been through them all several times already and will check and recheck them again. The big picture came together rather quickly, it’s the details that require scrutiny.

 

In the next week we will certainly finish up the kitchen and bar lay-out and get those off for final drawings. This afternoon we have a follow-up design meeting with Miguel and Sonya and tomorrow we see Lilly and Brian’s  first go round of the graphics package. I’ve also scheduled meetings with sign companies, first to see what ordinances will apply to our 6^th Avenue location and then to start the design process. In the meantime the liquor license application will be submitted, we’ll continue to track the parking questions at the new Unisource Building and follow the permitting process to bump out the sidewalk in front of the building and to create doors through the front window wall to the bar.

 

Of course, we’ve also got menu changes at J BAR and awesome music Wednesday and Thursday evenings on the patio. Our Ten Terrific Tastes menu started last week at Janos. The four course menu takes you on a trip through the Mediterranean with dishes from Greece, Spain, Italy and France.

 

Bon Appetit!

 

 

6-03-10 
 The first hints of grey clouds appeared today. No doubt there will be many more, thicker and darker before this project is complete. It’s inevitable as we move on from the design phase in which everything is possible, creative energy flows and every challenge is met with a superior solution. Then comes the phase when the things you thought were possible aren’t, the solutions you thought would keep you in budget don’t and items that should arrive in plenty of time end up on a slow boat. We aren’t nearly there and with luck won’t ever be. Doug and Miguel are currently attempting to navigate a course that will keep us on target, on budget and on time. One current issue involves our kitchen exhaust hoods which I mentioned off-handedly in my last blog. Since last week it’s become more than off-hand. We’ve got some issues here that didn’t pop up on our preliminary examination of the exhaust system. We need a little more hood space to accommodate our complete cooking battery and hope to squeeze everything in without major modifications to the mechanical systems or the hood mounts. We’re getting a quite a bit of good advise on this and Doug and Miguel are forging a solution. Similarly, we didn’t anticipate any problems arising from having an unsprinklered building that had been that way since its construction in 1914. However, it now appears that earlier permit applications from years ago didn’t tell the complete story of the building. Miguel discovered this and decided to take the potential problem directly to the City and ask for their help in a work around. It now appears that there are several viable and correct approaches to a solution that will satisfy the requirements. Retroactive sprinklering is likely to cost well over $20k which we just don’t have to spend. Looks like we’ll sweat this one a little longer too. 

That was the worst of it today, at least DOWNTOWN. Not so up at Janos and J BAR where we’re about to begin renovating our restrooms. I asked the Westin’s drywall and tile expert, Lars, to look at a problem in our dishwashing area. Last Sunday, I had Max Provost, our soon to graduate extern and all around handy man, to patch some walls in preparation for repainting the kitchen. What appeared to be a minor patching issue turned into a nightmare of mud and roots behind the section of wall where he was working. Evidently the problem was much bigger than expected and out side of Max’s scope. Outside of Lars’ too who figured it would take several different trades, from plumbers to electricians to welders, to painters and dry wallers quite some time to rebuild the entire dish station. I’m hoping there might be an intermediate solution that we can live with. 

After starting my day with a known disaster then moving on to a brewing storm, I was ready for the optimism that the design process brings. Sonya provided it with new elevations showing re-worked plans for the kitchen feature wall, a new approach to the bar as well as a rework of the banquette and booth seating in the upper and lower dining areas. She also had put together seating budgets which, while higher than we want, we all feel can be massaged into line without much recognizable compromise.  

Likewise, her rework of the seating in the dining areas left us all smiling. The essential issue here involves making the upper dining area equally or more desirable than the lower level by the bar. In its past incarnation, people who were sat in the upper area often felt like they’d been outcast to Siberia-undesireable guests in a forbidding landscape. We expect the seating near the bar to be popular, that’s where much of the action will take place. But it will also be loud. Especially early in the evening when Happy Hour overlaps with pre-performance dinners we want our guests to prefer sitting in the upper dining room. Sonya’s solution was to put the booths we had originally intended for the lower area against the eastern wall in the upper dining room. We know the comfortable and luxe booths will be desirable seating and help make that a very special room. In addition we got approval from Janell, the structural engineer we brought into determine if we could safely remove the stucco and expose the brick wall there. Between the brick wall, gorgeous art from Etherton Gallery, those booths and a few other enhancements we’ve got up our sleeves, I think we’ve turned Siberia into premiere seating. 

We also spent time rethinking our approach to the bar. Sonya’s vision of encompassing the bar in a plaster and mirror snugly, became known as the ‘umbrella of fun’. From snugly to umbrella, we began to see the bar area as not only the bar itself but also the extended seating we’re creating including the new doorway we hope to build and the outside patio as well. By expanding our view of the bar area I think we’ve opened ourselves to new possibilities to create something unique and memorable. At least that’s the feeling I got from Sonya, who said, “I’ve got it now! I’m really inspired by this. I’m seeing it in a new way.” At our next meeting we’ll look forward to seeing it her way too. 

BTW, we had awesome music at J BAR last with three generations of the Ronstadt family playing beautifully under the stars on the patio. Last night Beth Daunis and Domingo Garcia entranced the audience were their violin and guitar duets. Wednesday night was also a major benefit for the Primavera Foundation at Janos hosted by Cox Communication. In a very fun night our staff was joined by 6 Cox executives working as apprentice sommeliers. We had six other exec’s working as apprentices in our kitchen serving chilled corn soup, wild mushrooms and spring garden vegetables in puff pastry, cochinta pibil and pineapple tres leches cake to 180 of their colleagues and clients.  

Stay posted to our Facebook page for next weeks music, new menu items and Summer Specials. 

 

5-27-10

 

A great and very busy day started off at Etherton Gallery for a meeting about parking at the UniSource/TEP building which is going up across the street from us. We’re working with them to see if we can find a way that the parking lot can remain open to the public during the evenings and weekends when it would not otherwise be needed for TEP staff and visitors. This is a more complicated issue than it might appear at first blush and UniSource has been very sensitive to the concerns of their neighbors. We are excited to be their neighbor and I’m optimistic that we can work a way allow the lot to serve our SOCO neighborhood that also includes The Children’s Museum and The Temple of Music and Art.

 

Back to design issues:  Miguel and I had met earlier in the week to try to come a little closer to finalizing the kitchen design. This is a priority for us as we need to get the spatial drawings to the engineers so they can draw blueprints for the electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems to submit to the city so we can pull a construction permit.

 

I imagine the minutiae of where to locate the dirty dish drop off or where the ice machine needs to go might seem less than enthralling and probably is pretty boring if you’re not crazy enough to want to build a restaurant. But for guys like Miguel and me, this is fun stuff. Suffice it to say, Miguel solved the puzzle, it looks like everything will fit and we will, indeed have a functioning kitchen. That is if the HVAC engineers allow us extend our exhaust hood for all the oven space I need. We should find that out tomorrow.

 

However, the big subject today is dining room design and layout and show and tell from Miguel and Sonya’s Vegas trip.

 

Drawings, photos, floor plans and fabrics were laid out on our little plastic work table displaying a rich palette of colors, textures, wall treatments and lighting. We dropped carpet samples on the floor as Miguel said, “Don’t worry if you don’t like these, we’ve got tons more coming.” We must have looked at 3 or 4 dozen chairs, booths and banquettes and will be ordering in samples of our favorites to see if they’re comfortable and look like they’ll stand up to the rigors of heavy use.

 

Then Sonya walked us through her drawings. I gotta tell you, parsing the construction of the kitchen is fun for me, but this is the juicy part. We’ve been searching for the right look for the bar. We want it to be at once a show piece and comfortable, inviting and a little glamorous. It needs to be sufficiently different in design from the rest of the dining room so that it defines its own space and clientele. Sonya showed us some ideas for a treatment that would encapsulate the bar in its own little world of tiny mirrors laid into a plastered wall curving out over the bar from the back. Its tough to describe and I’m not sure that we loved it. At this point the collaborative process is as important as the actual plans and its thrilling to work with talented, imaginative people. I loved that Sonya broke out of the confines of normal two dimensional construct. I’m sure this idea will percolate and ultimately morph into something else new and wonderful.

 

Seating is another opportunity to do something fun and out of the ordinary. We want a look that is contemporary and we’ll probably use several different styles of chairs, stools, booths and banquettes to express an urban vibe that is modern and playful. Color, of course will play a significant role in all of this and we’re just beginning to think about what the palette will be. Rebecca’s given us a good starting point in the colors she’s chosen for the logos and we’ll continue to see how they weave themselves through the restaurant.

 

Last week Miguel broached the idea of scraping the plaster off the walls to see if that would expose the original brick wall in good shape. Doug pulled off some of the plaster and it appears that this is a possibility. We need to do so some more poking around and have called in a structural engineer to make sure that this is a sound idea. If it all checks out we’re considering unveiling the brick on the southern most wall. In another expansive collaboration, Terry Etherton has agreed to hang art from his gallery in the restaurant art. He represents some of the best artists in the region. I can’t wait to see them up on our brick wall.

 

However, the big view we’re working for is the feature wall and opening to the kitchen. This is where the meat of the narrative will take place and this was the most exciting elevation we saw today. As odd as it may seem, solving the little dishwasher drop off dilemma allowed us the space we need to create some great views into the kitchen and to tell the story of our ingredients, preparation and of the primacy of the kitchen. For all the care we put into decisions about the dining room, bar, seating and the myriad of other design details, the heart of the restaurant is the kitchen and that will be our primary focal point. If it all works out, parts of the kitchen will extend slightly into the dining area to give the diner the impression that they are part of the part of the service experience.

 

Sonya and Miguel have come up with some solutions to the noise issues that concern us and to the aesthetic considerations of displaying the more romantic aspects of the kitchen while hiding the more pedestrian but necessary functions. They have also created a very desirable table and some wine storage with a really unique wall system that I’ll keep under wraps for the time being.

 

For me, one of the fun things about these discussions is keeping an eye on Doug. He’s taken on the role of keeping us all within the realm of reality, particularly as concerns the budget. In my world, I’m usually the guy who says, “Can’t do that.” or “Nice idea, but it’s not in the budget.” or more often “You’re out of your mind!”  Doug has his eye on the numbers too. When something comes up that’s going to require a bunch of hidden costs, like moving an electrical panel or additional saw cuts for plumbing, Doug’s antenna goes up and we’re alerted to get back in line.

 

It may very well be that much of what we’re looking at will need to be modified and there will certainly be many compromises down the road. While I’m always mindful not to fall in love with any particular idea, this is the expansive time of dreaming. Reality will come soon enough. I won’t be surprised if in the next couple of weeks I’ll start writing about how excited I am for plan ‘B’ and ‘C’, but for now I like where we are.

 

5-18-10

The Image Meeting

 

Miguel came armed with revised kitchen and front of the house floor plans, Sonya with a book of images, Doug with a new budget, Rebecca and me with our thoughts, the logos and some images that were evocative to us.

 

We want to open the front glass wall by the bar so that we can have an inside-outside feel to the bar. Miguel’s been running the idea up the flagpole at the city and with various planners who have jurisdiction and so far has been getting positive feedback. These things can be tricky. Not only are their structural elements to consider but also, as an old building there’s  a visual historical component as well. We will need to try to construct the doorways to be consistent with the current look of the façade. All of us agree that this is possible.

 

Opening that space to the outside is driving decisions at the bar which will see us extending and probably widening the bar top towards the front of the building. This will create a little seating peninsula for eating and drinking. If the city allows us to widen the sidewalk out front, Miguel is considering building banquettes for the outside dining space which seems like a fun treatment.

 

The biggest issues we’re having with the dining room now are determining the best way to separate the bar area from the dining room. We want the two spaces to be contiguous and the energy from the bar to spill over to the dining room. However we don’t want noise from the bar to be overwhelming. This will be a tough trick to pull off-essentially we want visual energy but not the sound. We’re discussing all sorts of different treatments from wall coverings to acoustical tiles, to carpeting, drapes and placemats to mitigate noise.

 

Noise from the kitchen is another area of concern. Even a partially open kitchen can be the source of a lot of noise that you don’t want in the dining room. We’re looking at a lot of sofiting options and discussing how  we program various kitchen activities through this lens. One of the things we’ve heard over and over as people react to our opening in the Barrio space is that it was too noisy. We don’t want to create the same problem.

 

Sonya brought images of lighting systems, banquettes, booths, tables and chairs, bars. These weren’t so much pictures of things she was suggesting, more a variety of ideas and styles for us to react to. It was a valuable exchange that left us more focused on a direction.

 

In a stroke of good timing, Sonya and Miguel were off the Las Vegas for a major convention on hotel and restaurant design. From our meeting they were able to create a shopping list of items to be looking for. Can’t wait to see what they come up with.

  

5-16-10

Starting to Work on Design

 

Back home, it’s design time and we’re starting with the kitchen because that’s where most of the work is needed. Barrio Grill’s kitchen was small and tough to work in. Little of the equipment is salvageable, the walk-in is outside and the space is going to require a fairly major make-over. The kitchen hoods are in place and function pretty well. They are very expensive to move and will stay where they are. Dish washing was located right in the middle of the kitchen so we’re relocating that function. I’ve walked the kitchen several times now and have a pretty good idea of what I want to do. We had our first kitchen design meeting last week and, independently, Miguel and I came up with similar designs. We walked through them again with Bruce Yim, who will be running the DOWNTOWN kitchen and we all seem to be on the same page.

 

Conceptually, as the name of the restaurant implies, we want to emphasize the whole idea of food, cooking and the kitchen, and of course, cocktails. This will not be possible in the existing kitchen.  It’s just too small. First we’ll tackle functional issues. The biggest concern is expanding the prep areas while still providing enough space for dry storage, circulation, etc. To do so we’ll remove all of the interior walls in the kitchen, open up the space and add some square footage by relocating the western kitchen walls a bit into the dining room area. This won’t require us to lose any seating but will gain us valuable kitchen and service space. The kitchen will be tight but I think workable for the high volume we hope to see.

 

From a design perspective, we’re looking at creating a visual opening into the dining room so that the kitchen itself becomes a focal point from the front door. We’re playing with the size of the opening and exactly where to locate the sofits. Because the hoods are already located all the way in the back of the kitchen, the view of the kitchen will be through several layers of activity, not unlike the view of the kitchen at the Modern.  We want the area that opens onto the dining room to be both functional and narrative-to tell the story of local foods, freshness and careful preparation.  This will be a balancing act as we also have to be conscious of lighting, noise (a big concern for Rebecca and me) and of only displaying the parts of the kitchen that show well. No one wants to see dishwashing, or hauling trash.

 

While these decisions are going on, I’ve asked Doug Peery, our contractor to revise the budget. The first version came in too high and is unaffordable. We’ll look over his new numbers and see if our ideas are realistic. The budget will inform all of our decisions. I’m a stickler for keeping on top of the numbers. Undoubtedly we’ll have to make some tough trade-offs in the months ahead and I want to make sure we’re able to make informed decisions. While I want a beautiful restaurant, and I’m sure we’ll get one, it all has to make sense. I’m not interested in building a monument. Everything needs to work right, starting with the business decisions.

 

In the days ahead, we’ll be refining the kitchen and starting to define the look of the interiors. Coming up we’ll have an ‘images’ meeting with Miguel and Sonya. We’ve already talked a lot about what we want the space to look and feel like.

Soon they’ll show us pictures and images of ways to accomplish this and the elements they think will create what we’re looking for.  It will be an important meeting and will be the first time we really start getting an idea of what the restaurant may look like.

 

4-30-10

 

The Research Trip:

 

Back in the day we used to go to New York at least twice a year. In the spring we’d go to the Beard Awards and there was always some other reason, either a press trip, benefit or book tour to take us again. But I hadn’t been there in about 3 years and Rebecca almost that long.

 

When you’re starting a new restaurant and looking for design inspiration I don’t think there’s a better place to go. Armed with a list of 89 restaurants, bars and hotels to visit provided by Miguel Fuentevilla and Sonya Sotinsky, our architect and design team, we headed off to the Big Apple. Good friends from Tucson and Washington were going to be there at the same time so we had a tremendous few days of eating, going to shows and hanging out with good pals in store.

 

We were on a pretty frenetic pace of eating and drinking so our friends tagged in and out. We didn’t hit all 89 spots but had some wonderful meals and saw some very cool interiors.

 

The problem is, when you’re looking in New York, every place you see has a multi-million dollar budget. That’s not what we’ve got. So as not to get a terrible case of the budget blues we were only looking for the details that make up the whole scene because there’s no way we can afford anything else.

 

We didn’t go to the best of the best because they don’t relate to what we’re trying to create DOWNTOWN. We wanted to see bistros, gastropubs and trattorias.

 

Here’s what we saw: cool napkins, ideas for menu holders, great lighting and light fixtures, lots of candles, mirrors and how they’re hung, place mats, terrific cocktails and great wall treatments.

 

If you’re going to New York here are some places we’d suggest:

·        Public and Double Crown, we only had drinks (which were terrific) but the design is absolutely inspired. The spaces make you feel great and makes you think about the use of space differently.

·        The Bar at the Modern. Probably our most exquisite meal, and it was for lunch. Everything that comes out of this kitchen is gorgeous and delicious and the peek-a-boo looks at the magnificent kitchen warmed my heart.

·        DBGB: We went with good friends and food and wine writer’s Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg. I think we ordered about a third of the menu. Daniel Buloud’s team sent out everything else. They crushed us. We must have had 5 types of house made sausage, pig’s feet, poached asparagus and fried poached duck egg , roasted beet salad, unbelievable pasta, two burgers that redefine the genre, great wine selected by the sommelier who barely looked old enough to drink but selected a little known white  from the Jura that was perfection for our meal. Then there was dessert which included Baked Alaska. Doubtful you’ll have the same experience unless you’re with Karen and Andrew but doubtless it will be superb any way.

·        Buddakan in the Meat Packing district for over the top, world class design in an old factory. We drank-order the Tranquility- and took in the sights.

·        Momufuku Noodle Bar in the Village. This was the first of what is now a mini-empire for David Chang. There were 8 of us so we literally did have just about everything. This casual counter service restaurant brings to together David’s Korean heritage with his five star restaurant pedigree. Get the pork belly bun, a noodle dish, the brisket if you they have it, sea bass salad, and anything else that strikes your fancy. We all had different favorites and there were no misses. David’s flavor profiles are broad and unique and the space is hip, young and loud. Devon Sanner, my chef de cuisine at Janos is there now for a 1 week estagier at Momumfuku Ssam Bar. I’m having a blast but I’m jealous.

  

4-26-10

 

Naming the restaurant:

 Now that we had it, what should we call it? We wanted to celebrate where we were going, to rejoice in the renaissance that is in progress. Our buddy, Randy Spalding, said, “Then just call it DOWNTOWN” It made sense, it resonated and every time anyone said they were going downtown, they’d say our name. Not bad.  We vetted the name to many of our friends and associates which gave rise to the inevitable conflicting opinions. We realized that our choice might not resonate with everyone.  But it made us think about what was important to us. We wanted to make a powerful statement about our belief in downtown, not only by moving back, but by putting our excitement and confidence right up front in the name. DOWNTOWN Kitchen + Cocktails was born. It summed it all up: our commitment to place, to food and to great drinks. So if DOWNTOWN has bad connotations for some people and all they can see are the dollars sunk into Rio Nuevo or the years of neglect, we’re going to change their mind about how they think about it. DOWNTOWN is happening and we are thrilled that we’re going to be a part of it.    

04-20-10

 

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged here and its time to bring you up to speed about our upcoming opening DOWNTOWN. We will opening in September in the space previously occupied by Barrio Grill. The Odd Hall is owned by our friends Barbara Grygutis and Tim Fuller who Rebecca and I met shortly after moving to Tucson in 1981. Terry Etherton has run the Etherton Gallery, located upstairs form us is one of the premiere galleries in the region for the last 22 years.

 

I intend to update this blog every few days and keep you posted on how the restaurant is developing.

 

 

 

 

 

Julia didn’t only teach you how to cook food. She taught you how to have a relationship with it.  She taught you that the way to relate to food was the way to approach life: unafraid, with gusto, with exuberance, with curiosity and with the confidence that you could make mistakes and still succeed.

 

When I was a kid we’d flip through the few channels we had back then and, if we landed on Julia, we’d stop, mesmerized, entertained and a little befuddled. Who was this big, big woman who was burnishing cleavers and flinging chickens across our TV screen? And what about that voice: excited, pitched in an unknown octave and teetering on being out of breath?  She talked about food like other people talked about sports: with passion, joy, partisanship, opinion and fact. Like the newly converted, she was bursting with energy and was on a mission to teach the world of French food to the uninitiated. It was infectious. We’d stop and watch, unable to change the channel. We’d entered Julia’s world. It was the world of sport and the world of religion: something to play and something to believe in. What more could a kid want?

 

Julia didn’t shame, she didn’t berate. She had only one Golden Rule: Love the food and Love the process.  The Church of Julia was the church of what’s possible. You could learn to make masterpieces of delicious food if you watched Julia. Nothing seemed to separate you from the Saints of the Kitchen: the chefs in their white toques who commanded their brigades with a firm grip and a kick in the ass. If you listened to Julia you could cook like them. And why not? She could do it and she dropped things, and fumbled and cut herself right in front of you. Yet her food was divine.

 

The physicality of it, the sport of it was a big part of the appeal. Here she was a quarterback in a linebacker’s body. She was Terry Bradshaw, chopping through a rack of lamb like he’d shrug off a tackle. She’d bang pans like he’d bang heads, just for the fun of it. But like a quarterback, she had a game plan. She knew where she was going. Her recipes were her plays, each designed to get you where you wanted to go. Watching Julia on TV was like being in the huddle with her. When she’d tell you what to do you knew you could do it. Failure wasn’t an option or a thought. You could cook, if only because Julia told you so.

 

Years later, when I was working my way up the kitchen pecking order, learning while I produced, I became entranced by the motion of the kitchen. Working the line combined the raw power and strength of contact sports with the choreography of dance. We’d be pulling heavy roasting pans hot from the ovens, maneuvering sauté pans for burner space while flipping their contents with the flick of wrist. All the while instructions and call backs would punctuate the cacophony of a kitchen in motion. Like a square dance caller, the chef would yell out the orders and the cooks would go into action, firing and plating tickets at the same time, searing one order of fish while completing the intricate plating and saucing of another. With minds fully engaged and bodies in constant, fluid movement the cooks on the line would enter into an intricate do se do which allowed us to move quickly in very cramped quarters with hot and very sharp objects.  

 

On my off hours, I’d study the movements of my station and trace the patterns like Venn diagrams with the intersecting circles describing the points where I’d interact with the other cooks. When I ducked down to check a quail in the oven another cook would reach across to whisk butter into a sauce. When I turned to grab mushrooms for a sauté one of the other cooks would fill the momentary void to pull the just turning translucent sea bass. We’d dance like that for hours every night. Afterwards I’d go home and think of it like a time and motion study and try to figure out how to be faster, better, more efficient.

  

Back in the formative years at home, I’d watch Julia and then I’d watch my mother cook and I’d cook with her. In some ways my memories of the two of them are meshed together. I don’t know how much my mom watched Julia but she cooked with the same irrepressible exuberance. My mom didn’t follow recipes; she used them for inspiration then interpreted them in her own style with her own unerring vision for how a dish should be made and how it should taste. Like Julia, my mom was unafraid in the kitchen. She’d try anything. If she didn’t have an ingredient she’d figure out what to substitute and keep going. And like Julia, she didn’t have the best knife skills. I can’t remember how many times I’d be helping her and then hear my mom scream, “Damn, I really did it this time!”  Off she’d run to the medicine chest, her thumb wrapped in a kitchen towel, “Watch the rice!” she’d say. In a few minutes she’d be back, angry at herself, her finger in a wad of bandages, but back to work, tasting, stirring and chopping as she assembled the family’s dinner.

 

Sport and the Church of the kitchen. It’s how I’ve spent my life. I wonder how many others have started the way I did, initiated by Julia who taught us not to be afraid and to love what we do.

 

By Janos Wilder

Late spring 2008

 

Dear Friends,

  

I know that, like me, all of you have been watching the headlines announcing rising petroleum, food and commodities prices, our weak dollar abroad, and the collapse of the housing market. Every week we read another report of impending recession, increased unemployment and uncertainty. Everyone I talk to in business, from doctors to retailers to restaurateurs, are being affected and trying to figure out how to cut back and adjust.

 

After 25 years of business here in Tucson I’ve learned a lot of lessons, the most important being to stay confident in the face of adversity, and to turn weakness into strength. That is exactly my plan for confronting the seemingly difficult times ahead.

 

Since we opened our doors downtown at the Stevens House in 1983 and through our move here to the Westin La Paloma 10 years ago you have relied upon us to celebrate your special occasions, for the romantic night out, the casual date at J BAR, or as a gentle respite with our Summer Music Series. Perhaps now, when things aren’t as good as we’d all like them to be, you need us more than ever. We need you too.

 

I’ve been asking myself what’s the best thing I can do for you this summer.

You’ve been getting part of the answer in our weekly e-blasts telling you about our Music Series, Summer Samplers, Ten Terrific Tastes, Drink Specials at J BAR and Wine Specials at Janos. Providing fun and delicious ways for you to get a night out at lower prices is an important part of the answer, so in addition to our Summer Menus we’ve significantly lowered menu prices.

 

The price discounting we’re doing takes place in a larger context and is a response not only to the economy but also addresses the positive potential of sourcing ingredients locally. Beginning before we served our first meal in our old home downtown, we started to source our ingredients locally and to inform our menus with a sense of place. Back then it was about creating a culinary identity and furthering a philosophy which places value on our cultural, agricultural and culinary heritage. Those goals remain the same and we are continuing the process of articulating a cuisine that is uniquely the flavor of Southern Arizona and Mexico. There are now new imperatives and new opportunities. As the price of petroleum continues to soar so do the costs of commercial fertilizers and pesticides as well as shipping costs for the products we get from regions beyond the southwest. Against this backdrop, the value of the local farmer comes into sharper focus. For years it’s been difficult for the local growers to compete with the large corporate farms with their genetically modified seeds, subsidies and super efficient transportation systems. Now the equation is beginning to change. The cost of fertilizers, pesticides and transportation are driving food prices ever higher and are combining with a myriad of economic forces with the net effect of shrinking disposable income. It is more important than ever for us to look nearby to source our menus. For us that means continuing to do what we do and to it better and more aggressively. It means turning that equation on its head and turning weakness into strength. Fortunately for you and for us, our strength and the source of our culinary identity has always been to tell the story of where we live through the foods we cook.

 

In year’s past we relied heavily on Francine Pearce to grow our local vegetables at Harlekin Garden just down the road from the small town of Arrivaca. Every year it was a struggle for Francine to make ends meet. While we’d buy everything we could from her, it was tough for her to get support from other restaurants or from individual customers. Back then local Farmer’s Market’s didn’t offer a viable market for Francine to sell her wonderful heirloom tomatoes and Japanese eggplant. Francine closed down her farm about three years ago and I can’t help thinking about her now as we start working with a new generation of gardeners and small producers. Now on our menus you’ll see names like Forever Yong Farms where John and Yong Reub have established their lifestyle growing delicious vegetables which they supply to Farmer’s Markets, organic markets and a couple of restaurants including our own. When you come in this summer you’ll taste their delicious artichokes, tender green beans, gorgeous opal basil and fresh Mrs. Burn’s Lemon Basil, one of the native basils collected and marketed by Native Seeds SEARCH. Stewart Loew and his family at Agua Linda Farms are building their expansive business just south of Tubac farming bio-dynamically on the family’s historic lands. Right now we’re cooking with their beets, turnips and peas. As the summer progresses we’ll work our way through their crops. When you see the name ‘The Chicken Ladies’ on our menus it refers to Jane Evans and Laurie Clark who are raising heirloom chickens and will soon be bringing us heirloom tomatoes they’re raising mid-town near Stone and Blacklidge.

 

This isn’t to say that the life of the local farmer is easy now. Far from it, but I think the time is fast approaching when we will value foods that are locally raised over those that are shipped in from far away. In southern Arizona we work with a number of organizations including Native Seeds SEARCH, the Santa Cruz Heritage Alliance, Slow Foods, The RAFT program and Sabores Sin Fronteras whose efforts are focused on promoting foods and flavors unique to our region.

 

So what does that mean when you come in for dinner or drinks this summer? First and foremost it means great food, lower prices and more local flavor. We’ll be changing our menus more frequently this summer, keeping pace with the harvest and constantly offering great new dishes for you to enjoy. 

 

No, we’re not going to do away with all the wonderful products we’re proud to bring in for you. We’ll still be offering exceptional seafood from sustainable sources, great lamb, beef and the luxury items that make dining out at Janos the most special experience in Arizona. But as the restaurant that has been defining “Arizona” cuisine from before we served our first meals in 1983, we are reasserting our commitment to local ingredients and local flavors and to all the good things that brings.

 

We are also reasserting our commitment to you. Janos and J BAR will continue to be the restaurants where you can rely on for great service, food and drink, and now, more than ever, where great value is as important as great flavor.

 

We will continue to send our eblast every week to let you know who’s playing and what we’re cooking and drinking. Log on to our website www.Janos.com for a more complete listing of our menus and activities.

 

As we celebrate our 25^th year serving you here’s a short list of reasons why you’ll want to punch your passport at Janos or J BAR this season:

 

• J BAR Summer Samplers Entrees  $12.95
• J BAR Weekly Drink Specials
• Summer Music Series Wednesday and Thursday nights at sunset (Friday and Saturday in September
• Janos Summer Sampler Entrees $19.95
• Janos Ten Terrific Tastes Menus (12 items over 4 courses) $50.00
• Janos Weekly Wine Specials
• Collect Stamps on your Summer Passport for free meals.
• Celebrate a special occasion with and we’ll give you a box of homemade chocolates and gift certificate for your return visit.

 

All the best,

 

Janos

 

Not everyone gets the same gifts. I don’t mean the Lexus wrapped in a bow, tickets to the Final Four, or a gift certificate to Target. This isn’t even about getting three meals a day. I’m talking about the basic gifts we take for granted. You know, like arms and legs that work right, a brain that’s wired correctly, organs that do their job. The basic of basics. The lowest common denominator. Health. This is about kids who don’t go to regular classes, they go to Special Ed. Special as in don’t take algebra, literature or chemistry. This is about kids for whom an accomplishment is learning to ride the bus, how to use the library, or how to do their wash at a laundromat. These aren’t the kids who grow up to be doctors, lawyers, policeman or beauticians. If they’re lucky they get a job greeting at Wal-Mart.

 

My buddy, Randy Spalding works with these kids. He’s their teacher. Along with Wendy Enriquez, John Davis and Belle Tallez-Peru he’s created a sanctuary in their classroom at Pueblo High School. It’s a place where the kids can be themselves. In many ways they’re not so different from you and me or the kids down the hall in the computer lab. They care about how they look, what they wear, what’s hip and what’s not. They know the words to rap songs; they’ve got crushes, girlfriends and boyfriends. To each other they’re the same and their classroom is a safe place for them. Here they don’t get picked on by bigger and stronger kids, taken advantage of, ridiculed or have to listen to the disappointment, sadness and anger of parents who are themselves struggling just to make it through life and never bargained on having a child who’s future might seem more hopeless than their own.

 

Randy and his co-teachers help make their lives actually Special. Special as in teaching them about beauty and appreciation. Special as in caring enough about them to hold them accountable.  Special as in letting them know that they mean something to someone.

 

These are kids whose feelings and emotions are immediate. Their affection is shown in a hug that doesn’t want to quit, their joy is a smile that comes quickly and a cheer that’s loud and often.  Their anger also comes quickly, and can be noisy and violent. The inner controls just aren’t there. That can be good and bad. Disruption is the norm in their classroom. It comes in the form of tears of joy and tears of rage. It comes in violent outbursts and police visits.

 

I get to visit the classroom on the best day of the year, at least for me. I get to preside over Janos Southside. This is the day when their classroom becomes my restaurant.  All the teachers and administrators come to lunch. Coaches bring their teams. The Student Council joins us and so do the cheerleaders. The Principal comes. We get the Superintendent and the President of Board of Education. Congressman Grijalva comes when he’s in town. The media class sets up cameras. This is the real deal.

 

You should see this staff. My Maitre d’s is wearing a tuxedo. My cooks are dressed in chef’s coats. Everyone in the class has a job. There are waiters in white shirts and bow-ties. We’ve got bussers, cashiers and drink vendors. Everyone works at their level of ability. And they better be ready because we’ll serve 220 people starting right at 10:20 with the first seating. And they are ready. The tables have color coordinated placemats, flowers and decorations the kids have made. This year’s theme is the rainforest so there are green leaves cut from construction paper covering the ceiling. Vines climb poles. It’s a green classroom. Around the outside of the room are bulletin boards filled with pictures from lunches past. There are pictures of the staff, the students and our guests. Pictures of people happy and proud.

 

The kids have been practicing for this day for weeks. The waiters have colored bands on their wrists coordinated with the placemats on the tables so they know where to go. They also know to serve from the left and clear from the right. The cooks are at the ready behind chafing dishes filled with creamy orzo, ratatouille, rosemary and garlic roasted chicken breasts and pesto Genovese.  Plastic silverware is ready to go, wrapped in paper napkin rings with the Janos Southside logo. The menus are on the tables and there are signs out front greeting our guests. Petey’s there too with a big grin and a hug, checking names off the reservation list  as the guests come in.

 

Randy and his team have created a team for me. And boy does this team hum. Guests sit and within moments they have their lunch, their drink and soon enough their bill. The tables are turning. Sometimes four times in two hours. They’re turning metaphorically too. Kids who no one expects much from are serving the rest of the school. The meek have inherited the classroom and turned it into a restaurant.

 

We charge $5.00 a person for the lunch. All the money stays in the classroom and the kids split the tips.  Some of our guests say they come because it’s the best deal in town and it really is. But that’s not the reason they’re here. They’re here because this is truly a joyous place to be. The enthusiasm of these almost forgotten kids is contagious. Here the kids who didn’t get the gifts everyone else got, give the best gifts of all. They give the gifts of love and joy.  Everyone’s smiling. Everyone’s happy.

   

 

 

 

 

Unencumbered by the limitations of a lack of wood, fire restrictions, or marshmallow coals, building a pit fire provides an excuse to build a really big fire. In the darkness of pre-dawn we did just that. Split logs of pine were kindling for the bigger, hotter, and slower burning hunks of mesquite that had been seasoning in our yard for the past year.  As the fire burned hotter and higher we tossed bigger and knottier limbs onto the conflagration and then we stopped. In two hours the wood had burned to coals forming a base of embers 2-3 inches deep over the expanse of fire bricks.  The two roasters, both lined with banana leaves one holding the cochinita pibil, the other the Oaxacan style marinated turkey went  bubbling and  gurgling into the pit as cold metal hit hot coals where they were entombed under 80 pounds of steel plate and a couple hundred pounds of dirt.

 

Then we let go. Seven hours in the pit, roasting, tenderizing, collagen breaking down, fat melting into moist meat, marinades mellowing as the flavors developed. I could taste it all in my mind as we went about the chores of a day that, against forecast, had turned bright and warm. We laughed and joked through our mis en place, Rebecca and her two pit boys as we moved and set tables, prepared our side dishes, adjusted the linen, put out candles and glittering sugared fruit for decoration, placed the wine glasses and silverware and tidied up the house.   

 

By 2:00 we were set for our guests to arrive. By 3:15, having allowed ample time for drinks and to build the tension, we proceeded to exhume. Fortified by shots of the warm Hornitos that we had buried along with the pig and turkey  the dirt was cleared, steel plate swept clean and removed. Through all of this I was watching for tell-tale signs of success or failure. That the Hornitos was warm was the first indication that our fire had endured, but the steel plate was not nearly as hot as I expected. I was nervous when we pulled the roasters and tore aside the top seal of foil we had put in place as one more shield against potential sifting dirt. The banana leaves were hot and fragrant, steam escaped as we pulled the fronds aside. We were golden, no more secret worries about spoiled meat and sickened friends.

 

But as always, the proof is in the pudding. Almost imperceptibly, David’s face soured as he pulled the first fibers of turkey from the breast and put them to his mouth. I tasted, Ben tasted, Ed tasted, as did Jake then Dora, Rebecca and Barry. The verdict: Not so good. The turkey was dry, the marinade too vinegary for the mild flavor of the meat. We shredded it any way, this was all part of the adventure. The pork on the other hand was wondrous. The big cubes I had cut were tender, but not falling apart. They were moist, aromatic and delicious. Through the haze of its intoxicating fragrance we heaped the pork onto serving platters, warmed tortillas, and set out the side dishes for our Thanksgiving feast.

 

Thanksgiving Menu

 

Spicy Pecans (Rebecca)

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Buttermilk Biscuits with Smoked Salmon, Roquerfort Cream and Chives (Rebecca)

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Yellow-Eyed Bean and Nopalito Salad with Jalapeno Orange Vinaigrette (Ben)

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Avocado, Orange and Pomegranate Salad (Dorea and Ed)

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Guacamole (Janos)

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Tomatillo Salsa (Sue Ann)

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Cast-Iron Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Whole Roasted Garlic (Sue Ann)

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Arroz con Poblano y Crema (Dora)

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Jalapeno Cranberries (Dora)

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Corn and Chorizo Spoonbread (Rebecca)

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Black Beans (Janos)

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Cochinita Pibil (Group effort)

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Oaxacan Style Turkey (Unclaimed)

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Flour and Corn Tortillas (Anita Street Market)

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Pumpkin Pie (David)

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Ginger Pudding with Ginger Cookies (Dora)

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Love, Friendship and Gratitude (From all of us to all of you)

  

Cochinita Pibil Recipe:

 

Yield: About 30 portions

Ingredients:

20#             Pork shoulder, cut into 2” cubes

½ Cup         Achiote Paste1 TBSP         Cumin Seeds2 TBSP         Black peppercorns2 tsp            Whole cloves16                Allspice berries½ Cup         Kosher Salt4                 Habaneros, seeded and roughy chopped¼ Cup         Garlic, chopped

1 quart         Orange juice

1 Cup           Lemon juice

½ Cup         White vinegar

 

1 Quart        Water

 

6                 Banana leaves

 

Procedure:

1.     In a spice grinder, grind the cumin seeds, pepper corns, cloves and allspice berries.

2.     Whisk together all ingredients.

3.     Marinate the pork in marinade for 24 hours before roasting

4.     Line heavy duty roasting pan with banana leaves.

5.     Place the pork and marinade in the roasting pan and fold the overhanging leaves over the top of the pork

6.     Place the roasting pan on hot coals. Place a heavy lid that overlaps the each side of the pan by 2” on top over roast.

7.     Cover with dirt sealing well so that no air can seep in.

8.     Cook about 7 hours.

   

The pork dilemma is still an issue. I could find no local pork for Thanksgiving so I’m cheating a little by going to my commercial broker, Jet-Fresh who will bring in some organic, free-range pork from California. We’ve now broken the 200 mile barrier. What’ll be next? Does it count that the wines will come from Spain?

I went out to measure the pit this morning. It’s 30% too small. I feel like James Gardner must have felt in The Great Escape when the tunnel came up short of tree line. At least in my case I’ve got a little time to spare. So out came the pick and shovel.

Bad news about the pig today.  Seem’s Georges neighbor, Dennis Morney sent two goats, several head of cattle and a pig to the University Extension for butchering. Somehow they misplaced the pig. He gave me the name of a friend, June Hewitt who lives in Bisbee and had sold some stock to him.  “They’ve got good genes.” He said. “Sorry I’ve sold all my weaners.” June let me know in her captivating British accent. “It’s kind of odd,” she said “People want to buy the pigs before they’re even conceived. If you like, I’ll raise one for you.” “How long?” I wanted to know. “About 6 months.”  I guess we started a little late. I’ll make some more calls tomorrow.

 

Ben, after reading Gary Nabhan’s book Coming Home to Eat: The Politics and Pleasures of Local Foods in which Gary describes a year eating only foods produced within a 200 mile radius of his Tucson home, decided we needed a change in our Thanksgiving tradition. “This year, let’s do something different, something revolutionary.” Ben popped the idea to Rebecca and me. “Forget the normal family Thanksgiving with all the same stuff and wasting the beautiful day watching a stupid football game. Let’s get a local turkey, we’ll dig a pit, have a bunch of friends over, and use the foods from around here.”

Sounded pretty reasonable to us (all but the football part anyway). We figured the hardest part would be breaking the news to Rebecca’s sister who loves holding the traditional celebration at her home here in Tucson. Barbie took the news well, probably figuring “What a bunch of nuts. They’ll get it out of their system.” and decided that just because the Wilder’s wanted to become one with the land was no reason to disrupt the rest of the family.

That being settled, it was time to start planning. Figuring that there’s no success like excess we decided to do both turkey and pork. We’ll prepare the turkey Oaxacan style and make Cochinita Pibil with the pig. I’ve researched both of these dishes and developed the recipes for them we use at the restaurant. I’ve participated in making (my job was eating) lamb barbacoa in Oaxaca but have never pit roasted myself. In preparation, Ben put on Rick Bayless’ DVD from his TV show, Mexico, One Plate at Time and we watched as Rick and his daughter, Lanie, dug a pit, lined it with bricks, built a fire, which reduced to coals, marinated and roasted a pig, and held a party for about 20 of their friends in half an hour. How hard could it be?

First thing you have to understand is, I’m not a project guy. No one has ever called me “handy”. If something needs work around the house either Rebecca does it, we hire someone, or more likely, it doesn’t get done.

So let’s start with the pit. It’s got to be 46 inches long, 36” wide and about 12” deep to hold the brick lining, the coals and the two large roasters we’d need. “I really want to be part of this.” Ben insisted. Then came the GRE test, then the trip to the Pinacates with one of his professors, then complications with my schedule, and there I was in the yard with a pick and shovel expanding our very small fire pit to the required dimensions. I’m not whining, but our soil is nothing like the rich, well-worked soil that yielded so easily to Rick’s shovel in his Chicago backyard. Ours is full of rocks and caliche. When I put my shovel to the earth sparks fly.

Let’s talk about bricks. You can’t use regular bricks and adobe won’t work, so soon I was off to the brickyard and, with the shocks and springs sagging in my station wagon, brought home a load of fire bricks. I figured about 10 trips in Ben’s old wagon and I’d have the bricks transferred to the fire pit. That worked for one load until Rebecca let me know “You can’t pull the wagon over the winter lawn we just planted.” OK, what’s wrong with this picture? Here we are in the desert, trying to cook locally and we have a lawn? Not only that, but I got caught in the sprinklers.

Plan B: portage around the lawn and up the steps to pit. Ten trips became 60. More good exercise.

Let’s talk about turkeys. We all know that turkeys are now a mass-produced commodity from a single gene pool raised to grow quickly with huge breasts. They can barely move around, cannot procreate and are generally pumped full of hormones and antibiotics. They also cost about .69 a pound at the local supermarket. My baby’s an organically raised Double Breasted (can you get a single breasted?) Bronze. A 23.6 pounder at four bucks a pound. George Wykoff raised it in Willcox, about 60 miles south of us. My first call to George: “Can’t hear you, I’m in the car and can’t write anything down. You know I’m sixty. Call my mother- in- law she’ll take down your name.” He gave me the number. I called his mother in law who took down my name and number. The next day I called George back: “I can’t hear you, I’m on the tractor in the garlic field. My wife we’ll bring you the turkey. I’ll get you my neighbors number, he just butchered some pigs.” I was on the right track. Local turkey, local pigs. This is going to be out of control!

Back to the pit. “Ben, you know we’ll need a lot of dirt to seal the pit airtight once we put the pans in. I think I’ll go buy some dirt.” Sounded reasonable to me, particularly since I was the guy doing the digging. “You gotta be kidding dad. We’re digging a pit, getting local turkey and pig and you’re going to buy the dirt? That’s not happening.” I put Ben in charge of the dirt.

Now there’s the piece about the lid for the roasters, which of course do not come with their own. Rick and Lanie had a gorgeous steel plate with handles on it. In Oaxaca they’d used corrugated tin. I went to my buddy Jose, a blacksmith and welder who’s been fixing and making me things for the last 25 years and asked his advice. “Don’t start drinking too early,” he said “we pit roasted for my wedding and were drunk by the time the meat was done” he now has 5 kids, 2 out on their own. Are you going to wrap it in banana leaves?” He’s making us a lid out of 3/8” reclaimed metal. It’ll weigh about 60 pounds. I think I see more good exercise coming.