Sample Fall Menu

Here is a sample chalkboard menu for the fall at Linea. 

The menu will change frequently, so we will not be printing menus/wasting paper.  Instead, the menu will be hand-written on big chalkboards on the walls, accompanied with ever-changing chalk art by local artists, based on the ingredients, the season, and the menu.  For those who cannot read from afar, we will paint some cheap cutting boards with blackboard paint, and we will have a couple of small chalk menus available tableside. 

No prices as of yet.  I am hoping to keep all the antipasti items under $10, the half-sized pastas under $12, entree-sized pastas under $20, and entrees under $22. 

-Chef Wax

Inspiration: Primo

Halfway up the coast of Maine, tucked into the little sailer's town of Rockland, is a wonderful restaurant called Primo.  At the beginning of our year-long, cross-country road trip, Lily and I had the pleasure of spending two weeks at Primo.  I staged in the kitchen, she helped in the gardens.  Our time at Primo was a game-changing restaurant experience for us. 

Primo has a small two acre farm where they grow their own herbs, flowers, and vegetables.  Each season they raise their own pigs in a pig pen, and they have 100 chickens laying eggs for them every morning.  Before the start of the season, Chef Melissa Kelly coordinates with the Head Farmer in planning when and which crops are planted from spring to fall.  As the seasons change, dishes come and go as certain crops are harvested, the menu is dictated by the garden.  

Anything left on a plate that is not eaten by customers is composted, and any food byproducts produced by the kitchen is fed to the pigs.  The term "food waste" is not applicable at Primo because there, food simply is not wasted.  Whereas most restaurants throw a lot of food away (some compost), Primo considers uneaten food byproduct a valuable resource.  The pigs get fattened on vegetable scraps, used stock bones/meat, they even love lobster shells!  At the end of the season in the fall,  the pigs are sent away to be slaughtered, and are returned to Primo.  Then they have a big pig dinner, and they cure a lot of pork over the winter months.  The next season they are able to serve some delicious house cured meats to their customers from the previous season's pigs.

Due to the importance of urban location for Linea's concept, we will not be able to have a garden, let alone raise our own pigs.  However, there are many farmers markets in urban areas.  We will not be able to have our own chicken coup, but there are plenty of local farms that produce delicious farm eggs.  Linea will not have written menus, only chalkboard menus that we can change easily.  I will shop at local farmers markets every morning, and Linea's menu will change frequently based on what is good and cheap.  We will compost as well - I hope to set up an arrangement with a local farm where we can send our compost.  Use everything, waste nothing. 

http://primorestaurant.com/

http://www.massfarmersmarkets.org/

Also, read more about Primo on my old road trip blog, linked under "Further Reading" --------------------------->>>

Inspiration: Kenny Shopsin

Kenny Shopsin doesn't like press, or attention.  I apologize, but I am going to write about you anyways.  It's not like that many people read my blog.  I have not met Mr. Shopsin in person, nor have I eaten at his restaurant, Shopsin's in Greenwich Village.

I started hearing and reading about about Kenny Shopsin a few years ago.  I remember rumors of a 900 item menu, and a long list of rules for his patrons.  There were stories of him kicking people of out of Shopsin's a la Soup Nazi.  I didn't hear or read anything about Shopsin's over the past year or so, until one day, gleaming like a beacon on top of a bookcase in a used bookstore, I found Kenny's cookbook, Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin.  

They say you should never judge a book by it's cover, but Eat Me has the best cover of any cookbook, ever.  You know when a lady greets you with a big smile and you know you are going to like her?  That's the impression I got with the cover, and the impression was right.  Only $12 used, "cha-ching" went the register and I was out the door with a big smile.

As I read Kenny's eloquent words about the love for his kids, for his patrons, for cooking, for control, and for his abhorrence of bullshit, I felt like a kindred spirit was talking to me.  The way he interweaves the subjects of cooking, family, and sex is impressive.  I hope I get to story-tell like he does someday. 

What made the most impression on me from Eat Me is how Kenny controls his customer base.  Shopsin's is a small diner in a big market, and Kenny is particular about who he wants to cook for.  For Kenny, Shopsin's is not just a place to work, to make a buck, it's practically a home for him and his family, and he doesn't like assholes in his home.  He wants conversations with his customers, he wants connections.  Kenny wants to have a give-and-take relationship with each person who walks in the door at Shopsins.  He wants to cook delicious food for everyone there, and he does not think payment is enough of a return on his investment.  He wants feedback, appreciation, conversation, and loyalty.  Anyone who is not up for conversation, who has a bad attitude, who shows the slightest risk of being bad customers, are shown out the door before ordering.  He has an excellent base of regulars who support Shopsin's, and thus support him and his family.  Shopsin's doesn't turn a huge profit, but Kenny and his wife Eve have raised five kids on the grocery store-turned-diner despite a few re-locations.

How does this apply to Linea?  I will specifically look for a small restaurant space, centrally located in a big neighborhood.  We will have excellent food at affordable prices, with amicable service and lively ambiance.  If we are a small restaurant in a big market with a line out the door, I will not be hesitant to kick anyone out who comes in with an attitude, with an overblown sense of entitlement, or who behaves inappropriately.  Linea will have the opportunity to cook for the people whom cooks enjoy cooking for - genuinely good, fun people who appreciate our craft.  And I will leave the asshole customers out of the equation, for the other restaurants to deal with.

http://www.shopsins.com/

Inspiration: Intro

OK, folks.  It's time to crack my head open and share with you readers where my ideas come from.  In the next couple of weeks I will be writing a series of blog posts explaining some of my biggest professional inspirations, whether it be from reading, working, eating, or travel.  I will explain how these inspirations will manifest themselves in the design, structure, and daily operation of Linea.

Here is a preview of posts to come, the list may grow:

Authors/Writers:

Danny Meyer:  NYC restaurateur, author of Setting the Table: The Power of Hospitality in Restaurants, Business, and Life
David Chang: Chef/Owner of Momofuku restaurants and author of The Momofuku Cookbook
Kenny Shopsin: Cook/Owner of Shopsins and author of Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin

Restaurants I've worked/staged at:

Le Pigeon in Portland, Oregon
Primo in Rockland, Maine
La Morra in Brookline, MA
Ten Tables in Jamaica Plain, MA
The Haven in Jamaica Plain, MA

 Meals I've Eaten:

Craft, NYC
Per Se, NYC
Rod Dee, Brookline
Niche, St. Louis

Travel (with Lily):

Our one year road trip
Our trip to Spain
Our eventual trip to Italy


Damn.  After writing this list, why the hell am I in Boston and not New York?  OK, I will admit NY is too big and intimidating for me, but why aren't there risk takers, trend-setters, and interesting characters like Meyer, Chang, and Shopsin in Boston?