Thinking outside of the box

Don't you get fed up with the glib management mantras trotted out by the great forward thinking visionaries which are swiftly seized upon by people who don't quite grasp the concept but what the hell, it sounds catchy and is bound to impress people ? The one that I'm getting really sick of hearing is "What's required here is some thinking outside of the box". When it comes to the catering business I'm not so sure because there's quite enough chefs thinking outside of the box, I reckon it's time we gave a lot more thought to what's in the box !
Playing around with food is great fun, I'm all for experimentation but do it with your own money, in your own time. When I come to your restaurant to part with some of my hard earned cash I don't want to be a guinea pig just as when I go to watch a theatre show don't call me up out of the audience to participate, I've bought a ticket, I've come to see you entertain me not be the butt of your jokes. It seems to me that we should spend more time perfecting what's in the box, cos' that's what I've come for, that's what has attracted me to your restaurant in the first place. I don't need whimsy menu descriptions, tutorials from service staff on how to eat a particular offering "The chef recommends that you chew the coffee bean, suck the sugar cube and then squeeze the tube of condensed milk onto the front of your tongue" Not interested. It's time to get back to basics - how's that for a catchy mantra. Give me food that I can eat without an instruction manual, service which is quietly efficient and prices for food and wine which are realistic and you deserve to have the term, restaurant (from the Latin, come to me and I will restore you), above your front door. If you can't get those basics right then perhaps you should hitch up your wagon, ride off in the distance and peddle your travelling smoke and mirrors show somewhere else.

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That's a lotta pizza

The people of America eat around 350 slices of pizza each second, or 100 acres per day so I reckon they like the product. But yesterday in New York was kinda special with about one person in every seventeen enjoying a slice of pizza which is quite a statistic. Health, Fitness and Pizza Guru Matt McClellan, local officials and New York City pizza shop owners put the City of New York on a pizza diet with over 500,000 free slices being handed out in the centre of Times Square. Half a million slices….that’s a lot of pizza pie!
A reception and press conference took place at Sbarro on 701 7th Ave. in Manhattan as Matt rolled in from his 1,300 mile bike tour of 22 cities from Tampa to New York City, where the first pizzeria was invented in the United States. Matt was joined by Pizza Spice Girls handing out Pizza Packets, which is a new product that consists of fresh parmesan, garlic, oregano, red pepper and a tasty combination. The spices complimented the half a million free slices being given to tourists and local residents in Times Square. The cycle ride was to promote the enjoyment of eating pizza and exercising at the same time to maintain health. Matt wants to change New Yorkers' public viewpoint that pizza is junk food and promote pizza as a healthy food instead. Dunno if it’s healthy but it certainly isn’t in short supply.

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Top dog

The 4 th July is a day for the Yanks to celebrate and party a little and of course they wouldn’t be Yanks if they didn’t find a few odd ways to do so. One of the things they like to do is eat hotdogs and for some inexplicable reason they even have an annual hotdog eating competition in Coney Island New York. This year was no exception but things didn’t turn out as planned when
Takeru “The Tsunami” Kobayashi, a former hot dog eating champion jumped on stage at the annual international competition and wrestled with police as his rival, Joey "Jaws" Chestnut, was being presented with the winner's "mustard belt" for the fourth year running. Mr Chestnut, from California, had won by eating 54 hot dogs in 10 minutes but had never had to compete against Mr Kobayashi, the sixth time champion, because the latter was involved in a contract dispute with the event's organisers. Mr Kobayashi, the world number three in the pursuit, had said that he wanted to take part in the July 4th event and his sudden appearance on stage was met by chants of "Let him eat! Let him eat!" from the crowd. However, after grabbing a police barricade and refusing to let go, he was handcuffed and taken into custody. Mr Chestnutter was accused of ponging a bit like something from the movie “Gone with the wind” but he shot back “ Frankly my dear I couldn’t give a furter!”

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Sunday afternoon at the bioscope

Here's a great recipe for some cool music. FeedBlitz subscribers should visit the site to view.

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Dilly Diner of the Week

There's quite a few rules and regulations in place at this weeks Dilly Diner, the Spirite Lounge in Montreal, Canada. Some of them are quite straightforward and understandable such as the ban on the use of cell phones in the restaurant where the owner and chef, Rozman, maintains that what he does is culinary theatre and in order for everyone to enjoy the show, the offending cell phones must be switched off. That's fine with me but what about some of his other wacky rules such as the one that dictates that you must eat everything on your plate otherwise he levies a surcharge. And in addition to the $2 penalty, you’re denied dessert. Its mission is raising awareness of world hunger and food waste. Did I mention that this was a vegetarian restaurant ?
Then you've got to be careful with the desserts also, because if you don't finish them there's a further penalty whereby you may be banished from the restaurant for life - pretty harsh eh ? Of course you can understand that it is not to everyone's taste, mild comments of disapproval cite the staff as being cold and rude whereas one reviewer was a little bit more forthright " Have you ever dreamed of being forcefed at knife point by vegan nazis with a moral superiority complex? Well, dream no more... Now you can experience the real thing." Rozman also dispenses with the security blanket that everyone reaches for in a restaurant - the menu. There's no menu because he only cooks one dish at a time however that's not to say there's no choice, you can order different portion sizes which is a bit of a relief considering his rule on clearing your plate.

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That Was The Week That Was

Bad news week for His Gordoness as Gordon Ramsay Holdings has closed one of its pubs, The Devonshire in Chiswick, blaming the state of the pub industry for its demise. Having opened in 2007 to a barrage of bad reviews, the pub, one of three in the GRH stable, has now closed after failing to meet the expectations of Gordon Ramsay and business partner Chris Hutcheson. A statement on behalf of Gordon Ramsay Holdings said: “The Devonshire pub has not been meeting our expectations for a while and we have taken the decision to close it while we consider future plans. There are a number of options and a final decision will be made in due course.”



Meanwhile arch rival Jamie seems to be recession proof as he continues to roll out new units and this week Jamie’s Italian, the rapidly expanding restaurant chain from Jamie Oliver, was named Brand of the Year by the British Hospitality Association (BHA) at its annual awards. Oliver’s chain, which recently secured a Nottingham site, was commended for its successful national roll-out, which has created jobs and ‘excellent dining experiences’.



But as everyone knows “you can’t win them all” and the cheeky chappie took it on the chin earlier in the week from the new Health Secretary Andrew Lansley who took Jamie Oliver and his well-intentioned – if sadly ineffective – efforts to reform school dinners to task. Take-up of meals is down, argued Andrew Lansley, suggesting that Jamie's formula for school dinner reform is not working. Attacking Jamie’s attempts to bring improvement in school food, Lansley told the British Medical Association that Oliver's well-intentioned efforts to have healthier school meals has meant fewer children eating them and that people did not want to be lectured. ‘Children are actually spending more money outside school, buying snacks in local shops, instead of on school lunches.’ But a furious Jamie Oliver last night condemned the coalition Government for suggesting his crusade over school meals and children’s health had failed. "I’m not encouraged by the news the new health minister has summed up eight years of hard work in a few lines for the sake of a headline.”
"To say School Dinners hasn’t worked is not just inaccurate but is also an insult to the hard work of hundreds of thousands of dinner ladies, teachers, headteachers and parent helpers who strive to feed schoolkids a nutritious, hot meal for 190 days of the year."
"I’ll post him a copy of the series as he’s clearly never seen it."

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IMenuPad

When the new IPad was launched I saw David Letterman on his show demonstrating how it could be put to use as a slicing tool to chop up onions for a salad but I always knew that Steve Jobs had much higher culinary hopes for his latest gadget. Well now it seems that his wishes have come true as a restaurant in Australia has found a use for the expensive toy.
Global Mundo Tapas, a restaurant in Sydney, Australia, has replaced its menus with the MenuPad app for iPads. The app allows the restaurant to easily change its menu, shows pictures of each dish, and also communicates orders directly to the kitchen, cutting down on server error. And, just to show off, it can even recommend dishes based on the weather or your mood. Very trendy but impractical as so many people are fond of thieving restaurant menus and how do you get those sauce stains off?

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