Category Archives: Uncategorized

Over the course of my 30 years in the restaurant business, I have seen many trends come and go. In the early 1980s, I remember reading a trade magazine article about how computers were going to play a major role in the restaurant business. At the time, I was working as a server in aContinue reading “Trends in the Restaurant Biz”

I planted an organic two-acre garden a few months ago to raise fresh fruits and vegetables for our restaurants. Several weeks after the plants began sprouting, I started looking for beehives. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure why I needed a beehive beside the fact that bees pollinate plants, and I had heard a few old-timers atContinue reading “The Beauty of Bees”

My daughter turned 13 on Memorial Day. On their birthdays, my wife and I let each of the kids choose their three meals for the day. My daughter, the most devout carnivore in our house, wanted steak and biscuits for breakfast. Steak and biscuits has long been one of the favorite special-occasion breakfasts in ourContinue reading “Steak and Biscuits”

A friend of mine dreamt that she could plug an Ethernet cable into a chocolate chip cookie and hear what was going on inside of the cookie’s mind. What a great dream. I’d love to dive inside the mind of a chocolate chip cookie. I wonder if there is a caste system among cookies? AreContinue reading “Cookie Dreams and the Snack-Caste System”

Several weeks ago I wrote the first in a series of columns that will chronicle the progress of our two-acre organic restaurant garden. Today’s update is brought to you by the Roma Tomato Growers Cooperative. There is a strong possibility I might have gotten carried away while planting our Roma tomatoes. A year ago weContinue reading “Garden Update”

The two longest-running loves of my life have been food and music. Fads, trends, and people have come and gone, but my love for food and music are constants that have never changed. I spent countless hours of my youth in record stores looking at albums and listening to music. We didn’t have much moneyContinue reading “Food and Music”

In the upcoming days you are going to read a lot about offshore drilling, oil slicks, and preventative measures that can be taken to prevent future spills. Do we need to drill offshore? If not, what do we do with the 3,500 oilrigs off of our nation’s coasts? If we take away that production (aboutContinue reading “The Great Unknown”

I gave up carbonated beverages eight weeks ago. I don’t think I gave them up for good, but for the immediate future I am laying off of all soft drinks. Friends who know me well, don’t believe it. I have been a huge consumer of soft drinks all of my life. I was probably drinkingContinue reading “Arnold, Bubba, & Bug Juice”

Spring is the beginning of food season. Everything is coming alive. Winter is past, the first crops are coming out of the ground, and everything begins to taste earthy and vibrant. Spring brings fresh morel mushrooms and fiddlehead ferns. In spring, our environment begins to turn green, and our foods begin to turn green. FreshContinue reading “Spring Has Sprung”