Culinary Quest

Everything is on track for a closing next Friday. The only outstanding issue is insurance. I've contacted an insurance agent in Mt. Jackson because he handles commercial and residential insurance. He is still working on finding the right policy, so I'm getting a little apprehensive because I have to have the policy by the 7th! I’ve already contacted the utilities.

Unfortunately, the housing market here in NY is slowing down a lot. Our house has been on the market for the past 8 weeks. We had a lot of interest before August 15th, but not much since. Our agent said that the last part of August would be slow but that it should pick up after Labor Day. So far, I haven’t seen it pick back up.

What does this mean? Well, it means that I’ll have the building but can’t start renovations until this house is sold. Banks are very leery of loans to start up restaurants. Hopefully, things will turn around in the NY real estate market soon. If they don’t, I can still cover the cost of owning two buildings at once. I just prefer not to.

Also, I need to get a power of attorney for my better half. Today she just found out that she has a big meeting on Friday next week so she can’t be at the closing.

Not much else is new. I’m going to visit my sister in Massachusetts this weekend. She’s been in her new house for over a year and I still haven’t been there.

Things are progressing with the acquisition of the building. We're still waiting on the appraisal and can't close until it is complete.
Some of my loyal readers may wonder why I'm call myself "Chef Burning Chix" so here is the story. There was a TV show on NBC and Bravo called "The Restaurant" featuring Rocco Dispirito. During the 2nd season (3rd episode to be precise) he returned to the Culinary Institute of America to give the graduation speach and to choose an outstanding student to work with him at his restaurants. Since I was in the top of my class, I was asked to particiapte in a cooking contest with 4 other students. Rocco would select the winner and invite that individual to work for him. Of all five the contestants, I was the best academically but probably the weakest from a real world cooking background.
Before I say more, I must say that the contest was held the day before our graduation. Everyone was already exhausted from our long days working in the schools restaurants, long commutes, and so on.. Anyway, with the added stress of the contest, I think that I managed to get about 4 hours sleep over 2 nights. All contestants wanted to do well, but no one really wanted to win (for various reasons).
The mystery item for the contest was chicken. The birds were a little to large to roast during the alloted 1.5 hour period, so I decided to debone the chicken and grill it. I did an excellent job in deboning the chicken while leaving the carcass intact. I marinated it in a mixture of lemon juice, rosemary and olive oil. Everything was proceeding fine. Then Rocco said that since everything was moving along fine, he was going to move up the clock. The time came to put chicken on the grill and I forgot to wipe off the excess oil. What a mistake!!! Flames and smoke on the grill!!!! It looked impressive, but it was a terrible error. As soon as it touched the grill, I remember one of my chefs telling us to always remove the excess oil on items placed on a grill so that it doesn't flame up and get a "petrol" taste. Well, I removed the chicken from the grill and decided to finish in the oven since the skin was already dark enough.
To make a long story short, I didn't win the competition and I still cringe at my "burning chicken".
Fortunately for me, I learn from my mistakes and I will NEVER repeat that mistake again.
By the way, the camera crew ate all of my chicken after the filming was over. The taste was great in spite of the spots of missing skin (from sticking to the pan in the oven). My finished dish didn't look great (and presentation means a look because "we eat with our eyes first") but it tasted great.

View of apartment hallway from living room. Notice windows in bedrooms from earlier expansions of the space. 

Apartment living room 

View from the back.  

Apartment door is on the left. Retail entrance to the right.  

View of balcony. I need to replace a few spindles. 

I left my house in NY this morning at 5:00 and arrived in Woodstock, VA at 11:00. The trip usually takes 7 hours so I made good time. Usually NJ has the cheapest gas. Today it was $3.09 per gallon. When I got to Edinburg, VA the gas was only $2.79. That was incredibly cheap compared to $3.40 per gallon in NY.

The "home inspector" checked out the building and didn't find any structural issues. He pointed out electrical and plumbing problems that I had already found when Archie, Judy and I looked at the place a couple of weeks ago. The inspector wasn't able to check the heating system today because there was a gas leak in the propane line. The current owner called in the gas dealer to correct the problem, they it wasn't fixed before the inspection was over. We had to list that as an open issue. The only other issue was that one of the hot water heaters wasn't working. That was listed as the only other open issue.

I hope to leave early tomorrow morning so I can get home by noon. I hate spending time away from Judy. Can't wait to get back home.

Well, I've got a commitment letter from a local bank. I've overcome the first obstacle. Now just a few more and then we'll own the building. After that, the real work starts... getting designs, permits, hiring contractors, etc.
More after the building inspection this Friday....

This coming Friday I have to go back to the building for a "home inspection". I need to check with Black Cat's parents to see if I can spend Friday night at their place. I'll probably call them on Tuesday.
All of the loan documents went off to the bank today so we'll see what they have to say.
I spoke with my friend, Scott Lapins, of Justin Thyme restaurant again to what additional advice he has. The key to a successful opening is to over hire then, reduce staff as they become more proficient.
That is all for now.

Potential site 

Well, our offer has been conditionally accepted. I need to do a couple of things before the contract is ratified so I've got some work to do. Unfortunately, I've been working late this week and haven't had time to pull the things together that I need to take care of. The biggest challenge is that I need to get a pre-approval letter from a bank for a commercial loan. I should have the necessary documentation pulled together and submitted to a Mount Jackson, VA, lender by Monday.

Well, the spouse and I went back to the Shenandoah valley of Virginia today and placed an offer on a site that we can convert to a restaurant. It has an apartment upstairs that needs a little work but not too much. The first floor space is relatively narrow (20 feet wide) but is very long (126 feet). It needs some work but it definitely has possibilities. Our offer was a little low, but is reasonable. Let's see if the seller accepts.

Oh, my brother is on his way to Michigan (see my previous post). He should arrive sometime tomorrow. I'm so glad that he had enough sense and the ability to leave Bay St. Louis, MS the day before Hurricane Katrina struck. He went back to his house a couple of days ago and found six or seven pieces of clothing that were usable. Other than that, everything else that he left at the house when he evacuated is gone forever. I hope that he is able to find a job in Michigan. They have one of the highest unemployment rates in the US. At least they don't have hurricanes.

I'm going back to Woodstock to take a look at a building that I passed on earlier because it was too small. Yesterday, my lovely wife and I, thought of a way to better utilize narrow space of the building. Her older brother and I are going to take a look at it on Monday because I would like to get his professional opinion as a master plumber as as a former professional cook.

Keep your fingers crossed!

By the way, my brother Jim survived Hurricane Katrina with his family intact. We were very worried for a couple of days but heard that he and his family are safe. They've just about everything that they owned because their house in Bay St. Louis, MS was swamped by the storm surge. He evacuated to safety before the storm arrived, but his wife's uncle stayed with the house. (The uncle barely survived the storm but is safe now). He said that they had up to 5 feet of water racing through the first floor of their house. Anyway, he hasn't been back to evaluate the damage because the gas stations are closed, the roads are still blocked, and crazy and violent people have taken to the streets. He won't have a place of his own for several months.