I have always been a huge fan of new beginnings. Sunrises, breakfast, new friendships, a clean kitchen before service, discovering a new wine, a new organizer, Mondays, the fall (reminds me of a new school year), and January are all causes for excitement for me. What can we do this year different from before to delight our guests? How can we get our servers excited about learning? When can I meet with the bus-staff to go over some role-playing? And how can I write the perfect calendar to foresee all events and perfect my strategy of managing this great place? As I walked into work today, a staff member stopped to ask what biodynamic means. I slowly answered in succinct way, since he was tending a full bar at the time. A few cocktail servers walked up to listen. I only spent a few minutes, and promised them that I will post some info in the next newsletter. As I make my way to my desk, I think, “wow…every day is a new beginning!” We can never stop teaching and training and re-training. I often stop a teaching moment, because I assume that “everyone knows that”, and it turns out I am wrong. Not every person pronounces meritage correctly, has an educated opinion about cork or screw cap, or is familiar with Niman ranch. Some very important people, the employees I trust my guests with, are still “new” to a few things, and eager to learn too.
Most of the choices we make about food, wine and service are complex. Trey, George and I (along with many of our team members) are information hounds, who read as much as possible about each small part of every decision we make. But most of the time, when a friend or guest or employee asks a question, you just want a simple answer, right?
So here, I am promising to post what may be some perfectly mundane and boring stuff. Especially to the oh-so-experienced of us who have been running great restaurants for quite some time. But I encourage you, if you don’t need to read this, than teach it. What we do and how we do it, makes us who we are.
Biodynamic Wine…in a nutshell. If a table asks what biodynamic wine is, how much do they want to know? How much time do we have to devote to the answer? And how much does this guest care? All part of the decision making process when a guest stops us to ask us a question. The basics follow.
Biodynamic wine is that which comes from a winery which practices biodynamic methods. It is similar to organic in that there are no chemicals or pesticides used in biodynamic farming, yet it encompasses so much more. It is a holistic approach to farming which incorporates the astronomical and lunar calendars, self-sustainability, crop rotation, composting, and homeopathic fertilization. Rudolph Steiner gave a series of lectures in the 1924 on this method where it gained popularity. Some interesting minutiae is that everything on the farm must be made of organic matter, no plastic storage containers, etc. We decided last year to notate wines on our “big list” which are organic and biodynamic, as more of you ask us about it. A favorite “value wine” of mine is the Cremant de Bourgogne by Domaine des Chambris. I love a good story and selling bubbly from a part of France that isn’t Reims makes me a little giddy. One you might be more familiar with is the big, bold Bryant Family Cabernet Sauvignon. So this is the two-second, at your table answer. If you are interested, there is a ton of research in this area. One very good article can be found here
http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/nutri/matter/2006-02.asp.
Please tug at my sleeve if there is a topic you’d like to hear a little more about. My assumption is that you know everything, and who am I to give you information that you’ve already researched yourself? I vow to give you some monthly mundane…a few minutes dedicated to answering a question you may have, or an answer you should teach.
Cheers, April
