Finishing up Construction

Construction went fairly uneventfully after the flood. General inspection delays (very small in retrospect) small hood crisis and our first visit by the EMT's.


With all the waving of sawzalls, one handed circular sawing on the top rung of a 12 foot ladder, this doozy of a cut happened while trying to change out the cover of a flourescent light fixture. An incorrectly installed light fixture (existing B.T.W.). worst cut I have ever seen. 15 stitches and missed everything that could have screwed his hand up.

If you don't know, just act like you do.


Then call Ted!


Thanks for all the help Dad.



T-Minus 2 days...


Todd and Cash, awesome board chalking team.


Welcome to The Greenside Cafe!

Construction Update and Flood

Finishing up a nice relaxing 12 hour day with a pint and a feeling that I have neglected my blog.

I have recipes to laminate, things to clean, but what the hey...where did I leave off.

I think I left off with the flood?

We finished the tile...



Most of the finish work was done...


We even had a nice meal prepared over a catering stove...lingine and clam sauce.


I have lots of pictures of the damage, but suffice it to say, restaurant was this full of water, EVERYWHERE!

It's the tan line there, about an inch and a half over 3600 sq ft, the landlord gave me the impression that the storage tank was about 12,000 gallons short.

The landlord, being an environmentally conscience fellow, had installed a very cool grey water system that would be used to supply the toilets for the shopping center. It hadn't been connected, but there was a 'quick' disconnect fitting installed, so that it could be hooked up when the time was right. The fittings were aluminum, the rest of the plumbing was brass, and when the two are combined a reaction happens that results in very rapid corrosion. I don't know any of this, I've just been told.

It burst after only being 2 years old. It blasted through my back wall in a stream that was 15 ft high hitting the opposite wall about 30 ft away...did I mention that all this happened about 2am?

Thankfully Jamie from Sandia Crust was going to Telluride for the weekend and was pulling a late night doing prep for his staff before he left. I didn't have my phone in the house (it's by my bed now) but when I did check my phone, I had 4 panicked messages from Jamie, "Jay, oh my god, I don't know what to say man, there's water pouring out of your front door, I'll call you again and hopefully you'll wake up." "Jay, it's going into China Best, all of your furniture is getting soaked and it's absolutely pouring out your restaurant." "....all I can hear is the sound of water moving at a high velocity and Jamie grunting in the background...." "Dude, I just turned off the big lever in the back, but I am really sorry, your place is absolutely full of water!"

I got about 10 seconds through the first message before I was tearing down the road listening to the rest of the messages, getting a little more panicked every second.

Two things I am happy about...

I am opening a restaurant and not a furniture store. Restaurants are kinda designed to handle water

It wasn't my fault!!!

More later.

OPEN

Ya, pretty quiet opening...NOT!

Been crazy, pictures to follow.

J

Okay, just a little blog

We have a gas meter.

I should have working equipment.

I'm ready to assemble furniture.

Finish trim is 90% done.

Electrical will be done next week

Refrigeration will be done next week.

All we need is Electical Final Inspection, Mechanical/plumbing final, environmental health pre and final and we are ready!

We had a little flood! About 12,000 gallons of water smashed through the back wall and filled the entire dining room with 3 inches of water.

Silver lining...it wasn't the new plumbing, and we discovered the f***up the previous plumbers did now, instead of later. They put a galvanized aluminum fitting over a brass fittting. I guess when you add water and pressure, the two metals react and carode. I will post pictures later.

J

Getting Closer

A few teaser photos of what is happening. It's hard to do since things change everyday.

I do have a pretty final menu ready. For all of you who felt my online menu was a little lacking, you were correct. I will post that up pretty soon.

Wine list is underway, lighting is coming, hiring is full throttle. I'm telling the public that I will be open the first of October, but I fully anticipate being ready the first weeks of September, depending on inspections and such.





What a weirdo!

A little bit of the Flagstaff singletrack I tasted while the family was in Michigan. Very nice!




A video walk through of some of the restaurant



Yes we are accepting applications...send me your tired and oppressed, my restaurant ain't gonna be worth a darn if I don't get anyone to work there. If you were thinking about applying NOW IS THE TIME!!! You know who you are!!!

J

I googled Greenside

A woman wanted to repaint her house, so she called a contractor ...

... and set an appointment to meet with him. When the contractor came to her house they did a walk-through and he asked her what colors she would like. They came to the living room and she told him that she would like a nice, warm cream color.

The contractor wrote something down on his pad, then walked to the window and yelled, ''Greenside up.''

The lady is a little confused, but doesn't say anything, and they continue to the dining room where she tells him, ''I would like a nice warm white in here, nothing stark.''

The contractor writes something down on his pad, then walks to the window and again yells, ''Greenside up!''

The lady is really confused now but still does not say anything. They continue to her bedroom and she says, ''I would like a nice, cool, relaxing blue in here.''

The contractor writes something on his pad and again walks to the window and yells, ''Greenside up.''

The woman is now totally perplexed and says to the contractor, ''Three times I have told you the color that I want, and you write something on your pad, then you walk to the window and yell greenside up. What is going on?''

The contractor replies, ''I have four blondes laying sod across the street.''

I think I'm gonna open a restaurant

We're permitted...so now we can legally do construction.



My inground inspection is done, I don't want to jinx it, but we are finishing with dirt and concrete this week.



One day soon, this will be full of beer.



I have walls!!!



For the first time, I actually feel like we can set an opening date...nope, haven't done it yet, but soon, I promise!

Website's Up

Yup, here's the new and improved website.


www.gofoods.net


J

A gratuitous 'Greenside' photo - looks much better - bigger.



There's not too many times you want a Terra Mite in your dining room. Especially when I am operating it...



Artsy photo of trenching necessaties.



I don't know, just me in the ditch



So beer and wine license looks good. Nobody raised any objections to me having a beer and wine license, and everything is in order. Good chance I will have beer and wine when I open the doors. There was a good chance I wouldn't.

Waiting on building permit...but once I that's done, maybe two months to get open? Fingers crossed.

I've actually been helping my mechanical contractor, a little labor trade thing. You know your small potatoes when you go into someone elses kitchen and do repairs for them. Remember, I don't have any partners in this endeavor...nobody is handing me a restaurant to run, this is all my hard work!

We turned this...



Into this...




Maybe next week, I will cook while I wait for the building permit

Feeling better

Beer and Wine License Posting...good thing


Concrete cut and removed...good thing



Huge savings on used equipment...good thing



Maybe just a little elbow grease



I'm sorry, but my elbows do not have that kind of grease coming out of them...I'm glad I don't eat at Olive Garden.



It's not that I'm ashamed, I just don't want anyone to see my free range through the window. Yes, you heard me right, everything I cook on the stove will be technically 'free range.'



From yesterday...why I am calling it 'The Greenside Cafe.'



Later - J

More cement or concrete or whatever it's called

Okay, it even kicked the pros asses. The landlord/architect said...'well, that slab might be 4 - 4.5" thick.' Try on 6" (or more) for size. Our whole day cutting to 4.5" thick was for naught, because the BIG jackhammer couldn't break up the last 1.5" worth a damn.













It took the pros 3 hours to get this much out before calling it a day to come back later with the big saw to recut it.


Another pic for artistic sake.











I called it a day, and went for a ride!

Update 4/28/07

Okay -

Lease is signed!!! That was about a week ago. Since I have such awesome abilities as a real estate mogul (not!) My lease term does not start until construction is complete and my doors our open. Not that I would want to, but I could take a year to finish the remodel.

Engineers!
I signed an agreeement with my architect to put together my planset to go to the county for our building permit before spring break. He would manage the engineers and get the drawings done. Due to our high growth in NM, I am still trying to get my planset completed and my building permit!

CONCRETE!!!
The architect (also my landlord) gave me some good advice. Let a professional contractor cut, break and haul off the concrete we need to remove for my plumbing. I got the quote, did some figuring and decided we could do it cheaper renting the equipment and using some punk a$$ kids to do the dirty work. I never thought it was going to be easy, but it turned out to be almost impossible. The advice from my landlord/architect was missing one vital peice of information...the concrete was 5000 psi (3000 psi is considered hard to work with) and had a nylon mesh inside of it to help it keep from cracking in the case of an EARTHQUAKE or other natural disaster.

Normal concrete blades were vitually ineffective and the jackhammer wouldn't break it up. Other times that I have busted up 'crete, once you get it started, you can break it up and haul it off in fairly big peices...we basically had to turn this into small rocks since it had the mesh to hold it together.
Long story short, after a FULL day of work, we have 90% of the concrete cut and about two wheelbarrels broken out. I returned the rental equipment, and I will have the pros come in to finish our handiwork. On the positive side, I don't think I will be paying more than the original quote, we were able to cut it quite a bit cheaper than they would have...


Kaelin thought it was pretty loud!












More later! J

Getting closer

I feel good about breakfast and lunch, but am still working on dinner. This will be what I open with, and will grow with time.

BREAKFAST
7a-3p every day
Drivetime Burrito $ Red skinned potatoes, scrambled eggs, cheese, red or green chile.
Add rice, beans, veggies $
Add carne, bacon, sausage $
Breakfast Burrito Plate $ Filled witih scrambled eggs, cheese and your choice of carne, bacon or sausage. Served with beans and red skinned potatoes
Breakfast Sandwich $ Our soon to be famous Sandia Toast filled with two eggs, cheese
Add green chile $
Add bacon or sausage $
Huevos Chilaguilles $ Chile soaked tortilla chips topped with two eggs your way, red or green chile and cheese. Served with red skinned potatoes and either bacon filled pinto beans or vegetarian black beans.
Sandia Toast $ Part souffle, part French toast.
Add 100% maple $
Barb's Pancakes $ From scratch.
Add 100% maple
Breakfast $ Black Angus patty, topped with a fried egg, bacon, green chile and cheese. Served on a bisuit with red skinned potatoes
Biscuits and Chile $ Baked in house and served with two fried eggs, chile and cheese
Add Carne, Bacon, Sausage $
Hen Grenade $ Sandia Toast, topped with ham and two poached eggs and smothered with hollandaise. Served with red skinned potatoes
Sangre de Cristo $ Black forest ham, swiss cheese, house roasted turkey, cheddar cheese and green chile layered up with sour dough bread, dipped in egg batter and grilled. Served with red skin potatoes.


LUNCH
11-close everyday
Burrito $ Filled with cheese and your choice of chicken, carne, grilled steak or veggies. Red or Green, with beans and rice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-all burgers are 100% Angus chuck and are served with lettuce, tomato and pickle with your choice of mixed greens ($1 extra for fancy salad), fries or homemade potato chips -
GS Burger $ ¼ lb pattie
Double GS $ two ¼ lb patties
GS Veggie $ black beans, blended with fresh vegetables and grilled.
add bacon, cheddar, blue, swiss, avocado, chile $
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
all sandwiches served with your choice of mixed greens ($1 extra for fancy salad), fries or homemade potato chips -
Sangre de Cristo $ Black forest ham, swiss cheese, house roasted turkey, cheddar cheese and green chile layered up with sour dough bread, dipped in egg batter and grilled. Served with red skin potatoes.
Grilled Chicken BLT $ Free range chicken breast, applewood smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato
and homemade mayo
Chipotle Steak $ Marinated and grilled flat-iron steak, open faced with sautee'd onions and bell peppers with melted cheese
Sloppy Jay – Black angus chuck slow cooked in homemade bbq sauce and served on a hamburger bun
Hot Turkey Dip – Fresh roasted turkey breast, with green chile, cheddar and homemade green chile ranch dip

all box lunches come with choice of mixed salad, homemade potato chips, or soup (we'll give it to you cold in a microwave container) and choice of beverage
Monday – tofu salad wrap – or - cobb salad sandwich
Tuesday – cucumber raita wrap – or ~roast pork sandwich
Wednesday – marinated mozzerella and tomato sub – or - cobb salad
Thursday – roasted bell peppers sauce, marinated artichoke bottoms – or - thai chicken wrap
Friday – Homemade hummus with cucumber raita – or -
meatloaf sandwich

SALADS
lunch and dinner

Salad Dressings – Basil Caesar, Green Chile Ranch, Mango Vin, Dijon Vin, 1000 Island
Caesaprese $ Housemade basil/caesar dressing tossed with romaine lettuce, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and croutons
1000 Island $ Mixed greens tossed with 1000 dressing and served with fresh fruit and cottage cheese
Spinach $ Mango vinaigrette, baby spinach leaves and fresh vegetables
Steak Ranchero $ Marinated and grilled flat iron steak, tossed with mixed green and our chipotle ranch dressing
Chopped Salad $ Roast chicken, crumbled blue cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado and Dijon vinaigrette
APPETIZERS
lunch and dinner
Chips $ Homemade potato chips with chipotle ranch
Romescu $ Roasted red bell pepper, fresh garlic, lemon and almands puree'd served with flour tortilla chips
Lamb Quesadilla Slow roasted lamb round


DINNER
4-cl everyday
Sunday -
Monday – Roast Porkloin with gratin potatoes
Tuesday – Bbq Lamb top round, roasted potatoes
Wednesday – Pot Roast, just a touch of curry
Thursday – Meatloaf with garlic mash potatoes
Bella Vista Friday – Fish and Chips all day
Beef Tenderloin–Grilled with shrimp scampi
Saturday – Grilled King Salmon with white corn chipotle ragout

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