Krewe of Bywater

Mario and I know a good idea when we steal it.

I'd been thinking about a typical loyalty program where you buy a certain number of (insert items here), and you get one free or suchlike.  Generates goodwill, doesn't cost much.  Unfortunately, besides good will there isn't much of a payback.

So as an alternative, let's look at the "Stein Club" rewards program at Prost.  One punch per drink, fifty punches per card.  First card reward is a Prost Stein Club t-shirt.  It's a nice t-shirt!  And wouldn't you know it, I was stopped by a man at Costco who asked me what you have to do to get a t-shirt.  So even though it costs considerably more than a sandwich, it is inexpensive marketing as well as generating goodwill.

Another great thing about Prost's Club is that when you get your card, they put your name on it. Meaning, every time someone gets a punch, you can thank them by name.

Here's their rewards ladder:

Card 1: Stein Club Shirt
Card 2: Stein Club patch
Card 3: Stein Club Hat
Card 4: Your very own personalized stein
Card 5: A custom plaque on the Bier Wall of Fame
Card 10: Stein Club Hoodie
Card 20: A personalized bar stool or bench plaque
Card 30: Stein Club Jacket
Card 50: Stein Club Watch

Card x:  Lederhosen

Prost Portland has been open just under five years.  Almost all of the stools have plaques. That's something like 40 people who have drunk a thousand beers at Prost*.  That's at least $5000 each, m'kay?   And I'd guess that something like 1/3 of the customers at any given time are drinking from a personalized stein.   I'm not going to suggest that BWG can generate a similar level of loyalty (though it would be awesome), but if I can get a few dozen folks wearing BWG t-shirts around town, I'd call that a win.   

*you only get  punches for beers you drink yourself.

For those of y'all who don't know much about Krewes in NOLA, here's the article on Wikipedia. So the current plan is to call my program the Krewe of Bywater.   Since a sandwich costs more than a beer, we're thinking 25 punches per card.  I'm going to reward anyone who "joins" with a bumper sticker.  Cheap, and if a few people put it on their bulletin board at work, job done.  

Still working on the details, the reward I'm most excited about is following the NOLA tradition of creating beautiful posters in honor of events, years, etc.   I have a very talented extended family of artists, and hope I can persuade some or all of them to contribute BW posters.

Here's our first draft of the rewards.

First punch:  Bumper sticker
First completed card :  T-shirt
Second:  Baseball hat
Third:  TBD
Fourth:  Krewe of Bywater limited edition poster
Fifth: Custom Plaque
Tenth: Hoodie
Fifteenth:  Matted and framed poster
Twentieth:  Bike Jersey
Thirtieth:  Jacket
Fiftieth:  Personalized shrimping boots
















Well, I'm off to see a man about a cart....!

Roast beef 'n' Gravy Test notes take 1

Summary

[Because these notes are most for my use, unless you're feeling like a food wonk]

I thoroughly browned and slowly braised the beef with a large amount of liquid (combo chix / beef stock) for about 4 hours.  Degreased and reduced the liquid, thickened with a roux.  Sliced beef and put "debris" in gravy.

Warmed the sliced, slightly disintegrating beef in the gravy, spooned liberal amounts of beef and gravy onto my test Poor Boy bread dressed with mayo, pickle slices, shredded iceberg, and ripe local tomato slices.

Consensus of diners (many of whom were unacquainted with this genre and / filling of sandwich) was very encouraging.  Interesting that many commented on the contribution of the pickles as a contrast to the richness of the meat + gravy.  Mario deemed it "very, very close" but felt that the bread was enough of a distraction that he is going to sample today sans bread.  I'm really happy with it, I'm not even sure whether tweaking is necessary.

Details

Used this recipe as a starting point.

Rolled chuck, divided into two pieces to fit into dutch ovens, tied with string into more cylindrical shape.

Starting weight:  19.75 lbs
Yield:  10.75 lbs meat, approx 1 gal. "debris" gravy

Larded with about 1 head of garlic.  Salted and peppered liberally, lightly dusted with cayenne.

Browned thoroughly on all sides in canola oil over medium high heat, removed.  A couple of garlic slivers snuck out, and got very dark, so removed.  Added 4 large yellow onions, unpeeled, 10 large carrots, all coarsely diced (divided between pots), covered, turned heat down to low and let them sweat for about ten minutes, then removed lid and used released liquid to dissolve fond.

When onions were slightly browned, added a total of 5 large bay leaves and approximately 1 Tbs. dried thyme.  Returned roasts to pans.  Used about a 50/50 combination of beef and chicken Better than Bouillon with boiling water to bring liquid 3/4 of the way up the roasts.  Probably roughly 1 gallon total.  Brought to simmer, covered and turned to low.  After about 30 minutes, noticed it was simmering a little too hard and moved to 325 degree oven.  (It already smells pretty good ).

Because we wanted to get in line at Edgefield to secure our favorite location for the Jack White concert, I needed to have the oven automatically turn off, so I set it to go off when the roasts had cooked four hours total, they then sat in the oven until we returned home at 10:30PM.

Removed meat to trays and wrapped in foil, combined liquids in one pot and placed both in fridge (meat taste and texture seemed perfect).  Next day, thoroughly degreased congealed fat from the liquid, removed bay leaves, and reduced by about a quarter.  Not as thick as I wanted it to be, but starting to get a little salty (due to bouillon base).  Strained and pressed through onion and carrot solids.   Color is great--very rich looking.  The onion skins helped with that.

Decided to thicken by cooking a medium brown roux, 6Tbs butter / 1-1/2 c flour.

At serving time, thinly sliced the beef (thank god for recently sharpened knives), put all of the "debris", that is, the meat bits that crumbed away during slicing, into the gravy.

Warmed the sliced, slightly disintegrating beef in the gravy, spooned liberal amounts of beef and gravy onto Poor Boy bread dressed with mayo, pickle slices, shredded iceberg, and ripe local tomato slices.

Consensus of diners (many of whom were unacquainted with this genre and / filling of sandwich) was very encouraging.  Interesting that many commented on the contribution of the pickles as a contrast to the richness of the meat + gravy.  Mario deemed it "very, very close" but felt that the bread was enough of a distraction that he is going to sample today sans bread.  I'm really happy with it, I'm not even sure whether tweaking is necessary.  I'll write up the bread making experience separately, but it was noticeable to all that it's hard to eat.  That is characteristic of the RBPB, though...include LOTSA napkins.

Two things I do want to try:

• Cooking in pressure cooker to save time and possibly reduce shrinkage
• Cooking the beef slightly less--to see if the slices hold together a little better without being either stringy or tough.  

BREAD! Part Deux: Gettin' and Spendin'

BREAD!  Part 1 Update

So, in part 1, I talked about my obsession with finding a loaf that comes as close as possible to the poor boy loaves of New Orleans.  I've spoken to the head baker of Allessio, who is charming and enthusiastic about working with local restaurants and carts.  Working with them to supply custom loaves seems very doable, since they only require orders of about $15-20 each (about 3 doz. rolls).

He indicated that it is more difficult to produce a poor boy loaf here since we lack NOLA's heat and humidity, so we'll need to compensate (I've seen several references to this theory on-line, but according to bakers in New Orleans, it just requires a commercial oven that can inject steam).   In just over a week I'm going to do a test bake of two credible recipes I've found, as well as a technique for generating the right moisture in a home oven.  If I get results that seem hopeful, I'll ask Allessio to do a test bake at my desired dimensions (24" long, about 4" wide and 2-1/2" high).  According to the baker, it usually takes about three iterations to get to the final product.

Bread!  Part 2 

This post is about some of the questions I need to answer on the business side.   

What type of business entity do I want?

I did a fair amount of research on this topic.  And after reviewing multiple sources, I was reasonably sure I should establish the business as an LLC (Limited Liability Company).   It seemed to be the in the middle ground between Sole Proprietor or Partnership and full incorporation.  Protection from personal liability but with a less onerous and expensive process both to establish and manage.

Everything I've read says you should engage a local lawyer to determine what type of entity to choose, however several credible sources also identify reputable online services (one was recently acquired by Intuit) that will prepare and submit the paperwork required in one's state at what I expect is a fraction of the cost of engaging a local lawyer once the preferred structure is identified.  

My wonderful husband suggested that we see if Jimmy P., a friend and CPA, might have a lawyer to suggest.  I was skeptical, but Mario pointed out that, being Catholic, he must know lots of lawyers (rim shot, please!).  Jim's retort to our inquiry was that I don't need a lawyer.  He patiently explained the advantages and disadvantages of an LLC vs. an S-Corp, made a compelling case for the latter, and convinced me that I (with his help) can easily get the process done without paying a lawyer or a service.   He also provided additional debunking of some of my research findings based on his experience.

Plan is to pull the trigger and file as an S-Corp this Friday.  Yep, this is for real, folks!

Jim was also very helpful on the topic of planning for hiring employees re:  payroll requirements, i.e. FICA withholding, workman's comp,  doing payroll myself vs. using a service... I know!  Invaluable.  I think we might need to put a Jimmy poor boy special into the rotation.  Lotsa meat and sauce, and extra cheese.

Raising Capital: To Crowdsource or not to Crowdsource?

I've also been doing research on the possibility of using Kickstarter or the like to raise a portion of the start up money for the cart.   Most food businesses I've looked at either get all or nothing.  That is, they get between 0-5% of the total request, or they get the full funding.

I like to think that I have a network of well-wishers who might be willing to take out a second or third mortgage and throw the proceeds at the business, or perhaps more likely, pledge a some small amount in return for goodwill and tangible rewards (bumper stickers, t-shirts, gift certificates, a poor boy a week for a year, catering, season tickets to the Saints*, etc).   It would greatly help with the launch costs if I could raise somewhere around $10K (which is a fairly standard amount for successful cart Kickstarter campaigns, I've found).

I've heard some negative rumblings from friends about crowd-funding fatigue, and if it comes to that, I'd rather not do a drive than fail, that would be a major momentum kill...So if anyone has thoughts pro or con, please speak up.   Also, if you're pro-Kickstarter and can point me to compelling campaigns, well, choose the cosmic Brownie points of your preference.

I have many more business questions to investigate, that's for another post.

* These are only examples and no promises either explicit or implicit are to be inferred, esp. re: Saint's tickets.

Vegan Andouille Test 1 Notes

First attempt at vegan andouille today, using this recipe.

Initial modifications to recipe:

• Made a double batch
• Added a couple of dashes of cayenne and extra black pepper
• 6 fat cloves of garlic pressed
• Only 1 TBS of tomato paste (I ran out)
• Minced Embasa brand chipotles in adobe, which made the appearance less homogeneous than picture
• Forgot to add the liquid smoke initially so had to rework the dough

Double batch makes 8-6 oz "sausages".

Tasting notes:

• Texture is still a bit rubbery--this might be because I overworked the dough which is largely vital wheat gluten.  So minimize handling / kneading, use a fork rather than a spoon to mix.  If still too rubbery, increase chickpea flour quantity?  Still, nice that it holds together.
• Level of spice is tasty- but significantly hotter than andouille.  Might be necessary for flavor, maybe should be called vegan chaurice or hot sausage?
• Definitely needs more salt, and possibly more liquid smoke, garlic and sweetener.  Very dominated by chipotle.  Will try tasting dough before cooking.
• Would adding more oil or vegan shortening improve?  It seems like more fat would be a good idea, or at least sautéing in oil.
• It's definitely worth riffing on the recipe.  I think it would add a meaty quality to dishes.

"V" Food at Bywater Grocery

In my last post, I asked for feedback on my preliminary inclination not to feature "v" (i.e. vegetarian / vegan) items on the menu for Bywater Grocery.

Those who responded (thank you so much!) made a strong case and have gotten me brainstorming / researching what I might serve that stays with authentic flavors but doesn't include meat, or in most cases, any animal products.

I found a recipe for vegan andouille that I'm going to test--on my niece and nephew and partners--as part of a vegan jambalaya which will include some eggplant and summer squash.  Interested in seeing the texture of the andouille, I like that the recipe uses some chipotle in adobo and smoked paprika as seasonings to contribute to the necessary smokiness.  Reports to come.

My work thus far has identified several additional ideas to investigate:  Black-eyed peas and greens;  smothered okra, "stuffed" eggplants or mirlitons, maque choux, a poor boy with Brabant potatoes (deep fried than basted with garlic / parsley butter), and of course, vegan versions of red beans, butter beans, etc .

As I said on Facebook I'm a bit skeptical about serving sandwiches such as those on the at Killer Poboys:

• Roasted Sweet Potato & Local Greens Poboy with LA Citrus Pepper Jelly, Black Eyed Pea Pecan Puree
• Coriander Lime Gulf Shrimp Poboy, Marinated Radish, Carrot, Cucumber, Herbs, Special Sauce 
• “Dark & Stormy” Pork Belly Poboy, NOLA Rum Ginger Glaze with Lime Slaw, Garlic Aioli
• Five Spice Beef Meatloaf Poboy, Spicy Mustard, Chili Garlic Choy, Scallions

They sound delicious ("off the hook!" <wink>), creative, and true to the NOLA scene.  And I feel an uncontrollable urge to check them out next time I'm in town!   At the same time, for my cart,  I feel the need to focus on the traditional "neighborhood" flavors, at least in the beginning. I want folks to understand the melody before we start on the improvisations.

Still, Mario rightly pointed out that a sweet potato and greens poor boy might just work, and given my experience last week with a pork and rabe sandwich at The Italian Market, I think it's worth a try.

Bottom line, I know it's going to be challenging to manage every additional item within the constraints of the cart...so lots to figure out.

But, again, y'all have been great and I appreciate your input.  Keep it coming, pretty please?  

Dinner with Friends at Tapalaya

Last night we had dinner at Tapalaya, a restaurant that touts "small plates" of Cajun/Creole food.  We were joined by our wonderful friends Kim and Marnie, and by Rachel and her lovely girlfriend, Matilda.  Before we went Mario and I agreed that we should soft-pedal our critique over dinner so as not to dominate the evening with our nitpicking.

As it turns out, Marnie and Kim were eager to help by ordering specific items we wanted to try, to hear our opinions, and offer theirs.  The restaurant space is comfortable with plenty of room between tables, lots of New Orleans-appropriate kitch and decor.  Unfortunately I was seated facing a whole wall dedicated to George Rodrigue's Blue Dog art (ick).  Our waiter could have been from NOLA, very gregarious and eager to help (maybe trying a little too hard to be jolly...but I'm a grump).

Be warned, I'm really not going to pull any punches here.

What we ordered:

• Crawfish fritters
• Boudin balls
• Gumbo
• "Risotto Jambalaya"
• Poor boys:  Shrimp and Oyster
• Mac & cheese
• Creamed cauliflower
• Grillades and grits
• Strawberry short cake

I'm going to focus primarily on the dishes I'll be serving. 

Gumbo:  Mario and I detected a touch of sweetness in the gumbo that was off-putting to our taste.  A good amount of chicken, and a couple of shrimp.  Unsurprisingly, the shrimp were overcooked, which provided me with a cautionary tale when it comes to making Louise's seafood gumbo for the cart.  I'll need to cook the gumbo base without the oysters and shrimp and then add the seafood a couple of times per service (or even to order).  The base will have plenty of flavor from the blue crabs.  As with Acadia, the proportion of rice was too high for my taste and okra not well integrated.

Risotto Jambalaya:  AKA really gummy mushy jambalaya, and an insult to a real risotto.  The sausage was delicious.  But honestly, the texture was so awful, it was hard to judge in any other dimension.

Poor boys:  About 5", which is appropriate to the small plate theme.   Bread, Rachel immediately pointed out, is wrong--it was a hoagie roll.  And the amount of seafood is extremely scant.  She counted three oysters. Five or so shrimp.  Really?  Six bucks for that.  Two bucks per oyster.  No.  Just no.

Grillades and Grits:  Not something I'll be serving, but the best Creole offering we tasted.  The gravy was flat out delicious--deep and rich in flavor.  

Finally, I understand the desire to have vegetarian/vegan options, but really, blackened or fried tofu? Marnie (or maybe it was Kim?  Can't remember, sorry guys!)  asked me if I'm going to have "v" options on the cart.  My initial response is no, because in a cart pod there are other options--in contrast to a restaurant where the diners are a captive audience and I would be obligated to offer at least a couple of excellent "v" options.   Unfortunately much of Cajun/Creole cuisine does not easily lend itself to vegetarian, or especially vegan versions.  Still, it isn't difficult to make a delicious batch of vegan red beans or smothered greens;  I've eaten a tasty lentil étouffée;  one could develop a very credible recipe for stuffed eggplant or mirleton, yada yada.  Tapalaya has several "V" options on their menu, so there is really no excuse for something as lazy as deep fried tofu.  Maybe I don't have the right to say that since I didn't try it, but since I'm being a bitter and opinionated cur, there it is.

In closing, as with Acadia, I'm confident that my food will hold its own vs. Tapalaya.

Please weigh in on my current position re: offering "v" from my cart, or any of my unvarnished opinions expressed above.  

As Louise would say, "See you in the gumbo with the rest of the crabs!"


  

Lunch at Acadia

It's kind of funny that after all the years we have lived just up the street, we've only eaten at Acadia once, and that was for brunch with my mom, sister and her family several years ago.  As I recall, we really enjoyed it.  Maybe it's because we cook NOLA food so often ourselves, so when we dine out, we're looking for other flavors and foods.  The exception to that is EaT: An Oyster Bar, but we're primarily drawn there by their large and impeccable offering of raw oysters.   Sad to say, we've been disappointed by both the quality and service the last couple of times we've been there, so that's fallen out of favor.

Naturally, since there are several of the same items on their menu as I'm planning on mine,  we needed to sample them ourselves.  So today, we had lunch there (they only serve lunch on Wednesdays).   I went in with trepidation.  Acadia currently has 4.5 stars on Yelp, Urban Spoon, and Trip Advisor, and I've only heard positive things about them.  Since we went in specifically to be critical and to compare it to the food I will be cooking, we nitpicked everything.  If we'd gone in for a meal without that context, we would have approached it very differently.  We'd have been overjoyed to find a Louisiana soft shell crab on the menu, especially at such a reasonable price, for example.  So, keep that in mind if this analysis seems unduly harsh.

I won't go into things like the atmosphere, service, etc.  Suffice to say, very nice, nothing like a cart.

Mario and I were excited that they have soft shell crab on the menu, shipped directly from Louisiana according to our waitress.  Rachel had the shrimp.  All came with a cup of red beans and rice and some really perky house made pickles on the side.  We also ordered their sampler of their gumbo, jambalaya and red beans and rice--lots of red beans on the table, but really wanted to taste the other two.  We skipped the oyster poor boy since Acadia uses northwest oysters and I'm planning to use gulf oysters.  We've made oyster poor boys with local oysters many times.  They're good, but there is a mineral flavor that you don't get with gulf blue points used in NOLA.  This is not a dig on local oysters!  In our opinion, they are far superior in every other way--especially eaten on the half shell--briny, complex, varied by type and location.  Ready to get to our assessment?  Here we go:

First the sandwiches.   Generous size, estimate 9 inches.  Bread is very close to what we're hoping to find, not quite crisp enough, and still a bit denser than we think it should be.  The crab on each of our sandwiches was large and nicely cooked.  Things I would do different:  Even though the crab was a good size, it wasn't big enough for the size of the bread.  I would rather have the bread cut to size so you don't have bread without crab.   More importantly, Mario and I both felt that the jalapeno tartar sauce overwhelmed the subtle flavor of the crab.  I think this is particularly a sandwich where you should stick to mayo.  I ended up eating the crab without the sandwich.  I think fried seafood poor boys of all kinds should be accompanied by a wedge of lemon. That is a key part of the flavor profile for me, as is a few drops of Tabasco.  (BTW, I'm going to feature a range of Louisiana hot sauces in addition to Tabasco for customers to choose from or skip).

We liked the shrimp poor boy much better.  Nice crisp light coating as it should be, dressed with a very tasty remoulade sauce, we all liked it.  Things I would change: make the remoulade optional (with mayo as the baseline), and include more shrimp. The cost of wild gulf shrimp is going to be challenging, but using them is an absolute requirement for my menu, until customers convince me that the price / value ratio is out of whack.  Then I might have to pull it off.  Won't use farmed shrimp.

The red beans and rice disappointed--to our taste it was one note and that note was thyme.  Even though if I was going to be stranded on a desert island with one herb, I would choose thyme,  it was too much.  I make a (Mario's edit: MUCH) better pot of beans.

Difficult to fairly assess the seafood gumbo since we had a cup sized portion.   According to the menu it contains blue crab, andouille, crawfish tails, shrimp and okra.  Our portion had two small shrimp, an oyster and one slice of andouille.   Things I would do differently if and when I include seafood gumbo on the menu:  In Louise's seafood gumbo, she uses okra as a base that provides both body and flavor.  There are distinct pieces of okra in the final product, but they're melt in your mouth tender.  The okra in Acadia's gumbo was almost crisp and there was no evidence of it in the soup base itself which was much too watery.  I would eliminate the crawfish tails, and the andouille.  I am not sure whether I would do this, but Louise always included pieces of the blue crab when she served it.  There was not a lot of meat in the shells--but really good juices to suck out. Overall I would want to amp up the seafood flavor.

A final comment on both the red beans and gumbo:  The ratio of rice was much too high, at least in the cup sized serving.  The large scoop of rice overwhelmed the dishes, and frankly, made the dish seem stingy.  When I serve, the rice is no more than 1/3 of the total portion.

The jambalaya was almost tasteless.  Really!  We were surprised, because the rice had a beautiful brown color on it!  Again, small portion but only one small chunk of chicken to be found.  And we were put off by the diced tomato on top--never seen that anywhere before.  I don't really have anything else to say about it.  What I would do differently:  Everything.

In spite of the fact that we were all stuffed, Rachel wanted to try the bread pudding, and since I'm considering including it on the menu, I was glad to get a chance to try it.  It was delicious.  Nicely perfumed with vanilla, imbued with a delicious custard, accompanied by local berries and lightly whipped cream.  Definitely the highlight of the meal.  If I offer it, I will go for a more traditional version.  It was difficult to be sure, but we think Acadia used brioche or some other eggy, tender, slightly sweet bread as its base.  I will use stale poor boy french bread, which will make for a less dense pudding, and both Mario and I enjoy the slight chewiness and flavor of the crust.   I'll include raisins, and some cinnamon, and possibly a pinch of nutmeg.  I'll serve it with a light custard sauce.  This is in no way a dig at Acadia's version--it was excellent.  I think mine is delicious in a different way.

A side note:  Mario and I were pleased to discover that they're serving coffee with chicory, as well as Abita beers. Mario had a Proustian moment when he tasted the Abita Amber we had with our sandwiches (waves of memories of good times at Cooter Brown's in Riverbend).

Taken overall, our impression (other than the shrimp po'boy and the bread pudding) is that Acadia's food lacks the depth of flavor that you find in most of the food you eat in New Orleans, whether from a five-star restaurant or your favorite neighborhood mom and pop sandwich shop.  It wasn't bland, it was uninteresting and lacked the "funkiness" that is essential to New Orleans cuisine, high and low.

Bottom line:  I was buoyed up to confirm that, at least to our taste, my cooking can hold its own in relation to this very popular restaurant, and helped reinforce my belief that I will offer something palpably different and arguably more authentic.

Next up in the NOLA foods comparative testing:  Tapalaya.