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I’ve worked in the restaurant business for 30 years. During the last 23 of those years I’ve owned restaurants. There have been a lot of exciting and challenging times in those two decades and there have been several key events that have changed or altered the course of our company, mostly for the better. However,Continue reading “Bonhomie Gardens”

“Many’s the long night I’ve dreamed of cheese— toasted mostly.”— Robert Louis Stevenson I live in a house full of cheeseaholics. My wife, 12-year old daughter, and eight-year old son’s palettes are much more refined when it comes to cheese. The man of the house might be the one getting them to try pork cheeks,Continue reading “American Cheese”

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the origins of food and certain dishes. I can usually trace most of the dishes I’m interested in, to meals I had in my youth. My culinary style— and most of the foods I’m interested in— comes from meals I remember eating at home, at relative’s homes, andContinue reading “Easter 2010”

A few short years ago a beautiful, young, and energetic, Latino mother of four drove by a building every day and dreamed of the restaurant she hoped to open there. The building wasn’t much to look at— a former convenience store that had housed several failed restaurants— but to this driven and determined lady itContinue reading “Mama Alma”

I am not a coffee drinker. I would like to be a coffee drinker. I like the smell of coffee. I like the idea of drinking coffee. I just don’t like the taste of coffee. I drink orange juice in the morning. I’ve been drinking orange juice for as long as I can remember. AsContinue reading “OJ”

“Your blood pressure is elevated,” said my doctor. “This is the second visit in a row. I’m going to give you six weeks and if you can’t get it down, you’re going to have to go on medication.” “Elevated?” I said. “It’s elevated because I’m at the doctor’s office getting prodded and probed in everyContinue reading “Say Nay to Na (Or How I Got the High Blood and Lived to Tell the Tale- so far)”

BOULDER, CO— I am in Colorado for a quick, fly-in, fly-out business meeting. Whenever I’m in a new town, I always ask the front desk clerk at the hotel to steer me towards the best “local” independent breakfast joint. I am sitting in The Original Pancake House eating Swedish pancakes while trying not to getContinue reading “Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice, Breakfast Joints, and Life Without Lingonberries”

Food was the great peacemaker in my neighborhood. When kids got into a fight or tussle, the resentment was usually short lived. Once we made it to someone’s house for a snack, all was forgotten.

There are two types of people in this world: Chocolate lovers and fruit lovers. Chocolate lovers pace themselves through a meal, making sure not to order too much in any one course so that they may receive their reward in the end— some type of rich, decadent, chocolate creation. Fruit lovers, on the other hand,Continue reading “Chocolate Lovers vs. Fruit Lovers”