Please allow me to introduce myself…

I figure if the restaurant’s name can reference a Stones song, so can my first blog post. Those of you familiar with Kevin’s work at Bigelow Grille may recognize me from my time as Executive Sous Chef there as we opened the restaurant and developed what became the Alchemy tasting menu. I am only too happy to be working with Kevin once again, this time as General Manager of Salt of the Earth. When I mention that I am going to be leaving the kitchen for a front of the house position, the first question I always get is why? The simple answer is because Kevin asked me. This is not a transition I was looking to make, but over my years of working with Kevin we have developed a mutual trust and a vision of what the ideal restaurant should embody.

The core of that belief is that although the kitchen is the beating heart of a restaurant, and all good restaurants are driven by the food they are able to produce, when a line is drawn between the kitchen and the front of the house that same line will be drawn before the customer. If a wait staff is unable to understand the thought behind the food, the punctiliousness required of every cook on the line, and the love and enthusiasm that is necessary to produce it, they will never be able to convey this to the customer. The food and beverage in this restaurant will be served with the same ambition with which it was envisioned and produced. There will be no lines between front and back. We all choose to work in a restaurant like this because we believe in its raison d’être, that good food and drink created and served by talented people in an unpretentious environment can be a thing of wonder.

-Robert Sayre