Why don’t you have….

The question is inevitably asked in a bit of an accusatory voice – why don’t you have pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, real fruit smoothies, this or that? Depending on how they ask why I don’t have an item we inherited from the former owner or the former former owner I have a few responses. Many are polite. But the truth is, the former owners had no idea how to price items. So that fresh fruit shake they sold for $3.25 wound up costing about $6 to them. Each pumpkin muffin at some point was about $5 and sold for much less. Some items, I just don’t like and aren’t reflective of who we are or who we want to be. And some just don’t fit into the rest of the menu.

What amazes me is the vehemence that gets heaped upon me because those dang muffins – that were often raw in the center – or the cinnamon buns – that were the size and density of hockey pucks – were taken off the menu. And the quiche  – I just don’t want my staff to have to make it anymore. I’d rather they focus on creative dishes like Eggs Florentine with a twist – served on homemade potato latkes, our gravalax that is done in house and our hollandaise that is made fresh each morning

Here’s a thought. Go to a restaurant because you like what they are serving, not because you miss what was served three years ago. The chef, his advisors, the owners and even the employees have all given a lot of thought to what’s being presented to you. Tastes, flavors, uses for the food, costs, time, season – these are all taken into consideration.We would rather take items off the menu than serve ones that are not fresh. No, sweet mashed potatoes aren’t fresh in August, so “NO” I won’t buy them and serve them. (and come to think of it pumpkin muffins should never be served in the summer either) .  Same with tomatoes. Anyone remember this winter. The tomato market was hit badly so was our Margherita pizza. Understand that locally sourced means better tasting, but occasionally we may be out of some items.

Try new things. I know we are creatures of habit, but try something new on the menu and perhaps you’ll be surprised enough to make that your new regular – until the next change.

Come by the Daily Dish and see what new food we are serving up. The new lunch/dinner menu is launching!

The beloved (& dreaded) feedback

This past Mother’s Day went better than we could have imagined.  We are new to Open Table and all I can say is that it worked wonderfully! We even had a VIP from the Obama Administration in with her family – a reservation made by Open Table (more on that in the next blog) But, as is the case, the Saturday before Mother’s Day we had an issue.

Just today I received an email from one of our guests complaining about her treatment. It was the last guest of the evening and our server forgot one of our cardinal rules – treat the first and last guests of the day (and everyone in between) as if they are the VIP. Turns out, the server seemed to have forgotten all her training, and as much as I would like to get out there that we are perfect all the time, we are not. So, what to do?

The first thing we did was send a copy of the complaint to everyone. All of our front and back of house. Each recipient had to read the email and send me back a confirmation – or they were taken off the schedule. Then we responded to the email with a point by point on what we had done to address the changes.  It was a frustrating hour – the time it took to read, discuss, write, forward and respond to the issue. All because a waiter – who had made excellent tips that nite – was lazy and wanted to get home for the evening.

But, as a small, neighborhood restaurant, we must respond to each and every critique, email, well-meaning suggestion and on occasion, rude email (not that this particular one fit into that category). My question is – how do other restaurants deal with this? Feedback is always appreciated. Should we continue to take each and every complaint seriously or with a grain of salt or what?

As for my wait staff – the response has been positive. Luckily, I have a team of people who take their jobs seriously. Will let you know if the waiter who is at fault took responsibility.

Wednesday – Wine Day

If it’s Wednesday, it’s wine day.

Ordering wine from MoCo county is always a challenge, and today only one of my 8 cases came in. In Montgomery County you need to order a week ahead of time, so on a Wednesday for the following Wednesday delivery, from a rep or the Department of Liquor Control. It makes it tough for Just in Time delivery, storage, costs, etc., but we’ve learned to deal. We use Bacchus and Country Vintner – and I really like my reps, which makes it a whole lot easier to do business.

It’s not all MoCo’s fault my cases aren’t here. One case is on a shipment from Paris; the other from Australia. That’s because we try to keep the list varied. We’ve added some interesting new wines to our menu, including a really good Cabernet from South Africa that at $7.5 a glass is a real steal. We added a Shiraz from the Peace family in Australia. We also sell Hope from Australia. Both wines are great, the former a spicy shiraz and the latter a buttery chard. But really, I just like to sell Hope and Peace.

We also started serving Cresta Azul from Spain. It’s a white wine with a bit of sparkle. Not a sparkling white. It’s perfect for sitting on our restaurant’s patio. I think it will be a big hit for Mother’s Day. Next up is Cru from Kluge Vineyard in Charlottesville, VA. It’s a fortified wine and we’re going to do some fun summer drinks, including a Sangria.

On the business side, we’re ready. Ten of our waiters go their Tips training, which is basically a class that trains staff on alcohol use and serving.  We paid half of the fee and our friend and trainer John Tedesco gave the last course. My staff enjoyed it and they’ve now been ID-ing just about everyone. Patrons actually get a kick out of it – especially the older they are.

Well, I’m off to Wine Down – ouch that hurts. Think I’ll enjoy a Cinco de Mayo margarita instead of wine tonite.

For more information on our wines,  go to the menu page on: www.thedailydishrestaurant.com. We’ll have the new menu updated this week!

The Daily Dish, A Restaurant & Catering Compan, 8301 Grubb Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

Where we dish up your daily serving of good food & neighborhood news.

The Daily Dish

It’s time to get this blog up and running. The Dish on The Daily Dish, A Restaurant & Catering Company, will cover a variety of topics. We’ll blog about business and pleasure – new recipes and how they are received; the challenges of running a restaurant in this economy; dealing with the restaurant culture; funny stories; tales of catering and more. We’ll also use the blog site to post pictures from some of our events, post video of our chefs cooking and our baristas whipping up their incredible coffee drinks & let you know about discounts and other specials at the restaurant.

For more information on who we are, go to www.thedailydishrestaurant.com, follow us on Twitter: TheDailyDishDC and stay tuned!