Parents Date Night - Restaurant Tips

As parents we want a nice quiet date night at the restaurant, child free! And yes, that does mean free from others kids as well. So the number one tip would be to sit away from families! BUT if by chance I can not arrange seating that is away from a rambunctious family of loud, crazy kids...then YES I will show grace and maybe even entertain them with a few funny faces or high fives if the situation calls for it. As a parent I understand kids are not programmable robots and pick the worst times to have the worst behavior and sometimes spiral to a meltdown because of exhaustion!

That being said, here are a few good tips I thought I would share that my wife and I practice:

• Leave the house early if possible. Between 4 and 5pm. If you have small kids then you are used to eating early anyways. 
• This allows you to be going the opposite way of work traffic, easy flow.
• There is usually not a waiting list at the restaurant already.
• You have the pick of seats before it gets busy.
• Make things easy on yourself and plan to use valet parking if available. A lot of malls or restaurant/shopping areas now have free valet. Just remember to put a good tip in the valets hand(when picking up the vehicle). Yes, budget it into your "going out'" or entertainment money. Do I do this a lot? No, but if its available and it makes life easier for one glorious night out...yes, do it!
• No matter what kind of seating you like remember tables next to serving/wait stations, the bathrooms, kitchen service doors, front/lobby door, and at the end of the bar are terrible choices. Most of these tables will have heavy traffic, drafts, smells, noise...et cetera.
• If you do eat later, or if the restaurant is already busy, REMEMBER most tables and booths that are around the bar area, but are separated from the rest of the restaurants tables/booths are almost ALWAYS first come first serve. Those are NOT the "seating" people are on the waiting list for...My wife and I usually walk right in and find a nice booth I like that is empty and slide right into it. Server usually shows up in minutes.
• As a last or first resort, (depends on your feelings of being seen sitting at a bar by your local church denomination) you can sit at the bar and eat dinner. Its only the two of you and you can sit and talk even closer than you could at a table or booth. Not to mention you can usually get your food faster and you always have someone within ten feet to service your every request.

These are just a few helpful suggestions that come to mind...What tips do you have that you can add to this list?

July 4th, A Napa Valley Birthday!

[This is a "Throwback" or "Back in tha day..." post. One of many originals that were lost. Back in 2009 my wife planned one of my most memorable fourth of July birthdays of all time! We were currently living in The Bay Area, California and we spent much of our time exploring the 'culinary scene', beaches & ocean, and enjoyed the riches of Farmers Markets in a state that can darn near grow everything!]

5 Years Ago:
My wife knowing she would be out of town, and I would be working on my birthday (July 4th!) planned a trip to Napa for later in the month.  So last Tuesday we headed out for a few days in Napa Valley.

What's in Napa?  Wine, wineries, vineyards, restaurants...all kinds of culinary delights!

Tuesday morning after a mere 2 hours of driving we arrived in Yountville, home of many Restaurants more notably Thomas Keller's French Laundry.  Then we could also talk about Ad Hoc, Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery...But we also wanted to visit Michael Chiarello's Bottega!  Not to mention the yummy deli sandwiches at the Oakville Grocery Co...Ok, so as not to drag this out here is how it went in a nutshell:

Breakfast at Lou's Cafe a favorite local place (Tuesday morning) then on to Napa Valley.  Stop at Yountville and get macaroons, brioche, eclairs, and coffee at the Bouchon Bakery.  Next we headed to our appointed wine tour at the Robert Mondavi Winery (Excellent! I read the book The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty) which helped form pictures, places, and the 'feel' of the book I read about the Mondavi's...it was like a sense of coming full circle - completing a study, if you will -  for me after reading the book and drinking the wines then being able to get an inside look at the winery and history.

On the way back to Napa City we stopped by the Oakville Grocery for a little lunch outside at their tables with sandwiches from the deli.

Later Steph and I checked into the The Inn on First (Bringing a touch of San Francisco to Napa Valley its a luxury Bed & Breakfast) you will just have to trust me on this one, or check the link, it was worth it!  Excellent!  Jacuzzi/Hot Tubs in the rooms...complimentary champagne and chocolate truffles, all the services you could think of and the Chef, Jim, a graduate of the California Culinary Academy (Le Cordon Bleu) who cooks you a signature breakfast every morning (included in your stay).  Mercedes, Morgon, Jim (Jamie was on holiday) all graceous hosts!  This was in Napa the city, not Yountville. All of it is considered in Napa Valley.

Then we went for a little walk around town and ate and excellent meal at Allegria.  We didn't even order a real meal, just ate multiple choices from the appetizer menu! We once again headed out for a little walk and stopped at Cole's Chop House for a dessert.  A Banana's Foster which some may consider a classic...it came to the table FLAMING.  It was an impressive display even though that's what I was expecting.  That was for Steph, I enjoyed a warm chocolate brownie paired with a caramel gelato and chocolate sauce.

The next day we had a breakfast quesadilla that was sent out by the chef, and of course there was all the cold breakfast things like cereals, oats, granola, fresh fruits...Then we headed of to the other side St Helena where stopped in to tromp around the Culinary Institute of America in Greystone after asking, wandering, and looking at everything they would let us see (I believe classes were in session) we headed out to the side of the establishment to visit the school store/shop.  Some of the stuff was unique to the CIA but a lot of it was like being in a Williams-Sonoma, not really anything I wanted to buy that I didn't already have or see a need for.  But it was all interesting just the same.

On the way back thru we stopped at Dean & Deluca's for 'lunch stuff'.  Then we went to the Yountville Park to have a picnic where we got run off by bees and the French Laundry Company Picnic (they had the whole place reserved)...but my interest was in who was catering THEIR company party?

Going to the French Laundry unfortunately was out of our budget range and we didn't have a reservation.  Looks like they were doing some heavy maintenance or construction to the back of it when we came thru, not sure.  We also tried to eat at Ad Hoc but strangely enough they were closed both of the 2 full days we were in the neighborhood...but thats OK on to that nights reservations at Bottega!

We first took a little refresher back at The Inn on First and then, Bottega.

This is Michael Chiarello's restaurant.  Current Top Chef: Masters competitor and food network personality also owning NapaStyle trademark stores and Chiarello Family Vineyards.

It was wonderful!  Or as my friends in England would say, Brilliant!  I didn't even make it to the 'Secondi!' course (Which was a shame for me...but I didn't want to leave being in to much pain to enjoy it!) because we had multiple antipasti's and pastas.  Although we did skip to dessert, who could miss that?

What a night, we made our way back to the Inn slowly and took another walk.  Unfortunately Stephanie's pregnancy 'sickness' decided to re-appear for awhile so it was early to bed for her...but besides her feeling bad, we couldn't have ended the night any better...I spent some time just relaxing and thinking about what was going to come out of the kitchen for breakfast the next day...

More could be said and was done, But alas I have probably bored you with my excitement.  Our time there was great, and my wifey did an excellent job with plans and putting up with me tasting and commenting on everything (more just to myself than actually being a critic of anything).  Being only 2 hours away I am sure we will continue to visit and explore all the culinary avenues available to us.

[I suppose I should have took pictures of the food, like in Bottega...But as you are 'in the moment' sometimes you can't be bothered.]

Fix Exhaust Hood: $6

Recently I came in to work and realized my exhaust fan/hood was not properly working. There was no suction in order to ventilate the kitchen. Flipping the hood switch on and off I discovered there was a "power" sound and that the air induction part was still operating but not the exhaust fan.

I have run into this problem before in the past and sometimes its just as simple as replacing a belt. Now I understand larger kitchens, franchises, and corporate america usually call in maintenance or a company that comes in and fixes these kind of problems, BUT I run a small commercial kitchen. And yes, if I were to ask they would bring someone in right away to fix the problem...But come on, we know there is probably going to be at least a $200 service charge right? And that's before they even start to assess the situation or do any labor.  (Please do comment and let me know how much these things cost you! I would love to know how expensive its going to be in the future if its not an easy fix!).

Not being scared of heights I borrowed a ladder from maintenance and got up on the roof and removed 4 easy clips from the dome on top of my exhaust. Before climbing up I turned the master switch off in the kitchen. After turning off a secondary switch close to the actual motor I then turned the master switch back on. That way you can sit on top of the roof and use that switch to check and see what wrong or how things work when you get the exhaust fan back together.

As you can see from the pictures its a pretty small unit. It was indeed a worn out, broke belt that kept the exhaust fan from working. Here I already replaced the belt. The motor itself was attached to another metal plate that attached to the base unit. There were four bolts in the plate (you can see part of plate in picture) you can loosen and then slide the motor and plate back and forth in order to quickly and easily change the belt. The belt for this unit costs $6 at Grainger. 

While I was up there I decided to check the air intake system as well. Both the motor and belt on that unit looked great! It also had a separate switch close to the motor that makes it much easier to work on and check without running up and down the ladder. But while I was up there I removed the 2 filter plates and gave them a good cleaning before putting the top back on the unit. Which by the way, was 2 screws.

Problems like these can sometimes be diagnosed and fixed yourself for very little money. And EVERYONE is trying to save money (or at least keep what they have) these days! Oh yeah, while your at it BUY a few backup belts for the next time. (or just in case you tighten the belt up to much, or leave it to loose and it shreds off again!) And remember if its cold or hot outside so you can adjust the tension on the belt accordingly, it will affect the performance of the belt when the temperature changes.

If you have any Do It Yourself equipment tips, techniques, and/or fixes in the HOME or COMMERCIAL/PROFESSIONAL kitchen, I would love to hear them!