too busy to bolg.

opening tomorrow for coffee. i'll need some.

HACCP

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

edit: at least I don't have to go to Ikea.

paperwork/ menu/ staff/oh yeah!

well, we've been in the place over two weeks now. we have new tables and chairs in the bar area, new refrigeration for the bar, the beginnings of our cold prep layout in place, countertops installed, and nearly everything painted.

Most of the team is hired, too. there are a few spots to fill, most of that will be wrapped up this week.

We are still developing our menu, evening food concepts and wine program. Permits, licensing and red tape are our major hangups at this point. the draught beer may take longer to get installed than we'd like. we did get a 10-tap tower however. I'm behind on the photographings of the porgress [sic].

oh, and some jerk keeps putting superglue in our locks. seriously, knock it off.

Still Tranglin...

Had an exciting morning in Downtown Baltimore with zoning and health dept. bureaucrats. yeayyy.

the painting is about done- just touchups left in the cafe/bar area. The bafrooms can wait. The countertops are almost all in, the chairs have been touched up. we're still trying to figure out what to do about the dang purple tables. the time/money interaction here is in control which is kind of a drag.

Mike found some great deals on refrigeration for the bar area. I'm working on finding artists to adorn the wide expanses that are our walls.

We've been interviewing a ton of folks. Still trying to wrap my mind around what size staff we'll need. People sure do want work though.

Liquor Board Hearing: Success!

We were stressing. We thought the local business association might contest the liquor license transfer.

When a representative of said business association showed up unexpectedly at the hearing we were slightly confounded. We were subsequently delighted when he offered the support of the association for the transfer as long as we didn't build Baltimore's Hottest Nightclub in the basement. OK.

Anyway, all that's left is homework. And the inspections. Yaay.

Color on the walls! Destruction! Construction!

I'm working on the photos, we're not on top of the wireless just yet and frankly I only have 5 minutes at a time to mess with them.

Our contractors have the cafe line and bar framed out. our guys are getting paint on the walls at an alarming rate. some are better at telling the different colors apart than others. My interviewees of last week are calling/txting and emailing me at an alarming rate.

The menu is in version 1.0 and we have a big meeting this afternoon. Should go well.

We're getting our vendors pieced into place. its slow going but we have daily progress. working on a solution for the ugly purple tabletops, which will be an easier fix than the ugly purple upholstered chairs.

ok, I gotta get more painting done.

covered in primer

lots of detail work to do. this is a big freaking place to paint.

making progress...

getting my long hours chops back, we had a long day yesterday getting started with the paint. we cut in wherever we could reach with primer. Happy birthday Mike!

I'm minding my business in Annapolis today and heading up to the falls in a while. we have a ton to do. a ton. it's fun though, I'll be thrilled when we have the previous colors covered in primer. we may even start to get colors on the walls today.

I've been taking photos but don't have time to futz with them just now. I need an eye-fi card.

day two: happy halloween!

we got colors picked out and had the enormous deli cases demolished and readied for their egress today.


thanks to our friend Meg who was an enormous help with the colors. she's a color whiz.


talked about the lighting too, I grabbed some bulbs on my way home- we'll try them out tomorrow.

we called it quits a little early today, Mike had something this afternoon and I have a Halloween gig tonight. I dropped dead into bed for a nap soon as I got home. pooped.

oh, when I got to the shop I made a cheesesteak and egg sub for breakfast. holy mother hubbard that was a breakfast and a half.

day one: over

still working on the colors.

the lighting needs attention. once the sun is down the place is difficult to inhabit. this is our most immediate and most transformative opportunity at present.

we tasted a dozen wines today with a rep from a niche-y wine distributor. funtimes. hi-q stuff from off the beaten paths.

took photos, I'll get some up later.

heading in for day one...

ok, grabbing paint rollers, pans, deck brush (the floor in there is a SIGHT.)

I guess today we'll be cleaning out the huge deli cases and getting to know the employees we're keeping from the previous owners' staff. And painting. there's a lot of painting to do.

I need to learn the micros POS system and how to run the ATM... If I chip away at the operational stuff as we do the physical labor I might know how to make the place go by the time we open.

We own it.

Mike and I had a roomfull of lawyers and a broker and whatever this afternoon. thanks to Tom and his smooth professional handling of the deal.

we have the keys and the paint samples in hand. work starts in earnest tomorrow. we have several days worth of corned beef and a handful of pickles to run through. once the tongue is exhausted we'll open the shop I s'pose.

plan is to get the place rejiggered and open for business ASAP. we have experience building the plane as it's taxiing toward takeoff, but this is our biggest challenge ever. meatballs.

Hey All.

Mike and I are s'posedly closing on the place tomorrow. we've been putting in a lot of time this week. Mike's been meeting with vendors and I'm putting together our team. never hired barstaff or a chef before, this is pretty interesting. the available labor pool is a good indicator of how rough it is out there. I'm excited to be offering work for folks. the resumes are impressive, and we're in a spot where we can get rolling with an amazing group of folks.

It's been daunting sitting in a place with so few customers. We have our work cut out for us I s'pose.

Here we go...

Here's a start on a work in progress...

the falls is a prospective bar/restaurant in the works for the mt. washington village neighborhood in Baltimore, MD.

I'll be working on this and publishing later once things are moving toward. after closing p'raps.