**THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO PURCHASED TICKETS FOR OUR TASTING MENU**

We have been tossing around different ideas for promotions and fun things to do with this one time only opportunity. We wanted to do something that would have a certain level of exclusivity but would also be available to anyone interested. I read about Grant Achatz’ new restaurant and his system of selling all inclusive tickets so the guest could simply make a reservation and show up without having to bring any additional funds, and i have to say that i was pretty smitten with the idea. So we are going to give something inspired by it a try.

• There will be 300 tickets available for $85 each (omnivore or vegetarian).
• Tickets are only redeemable with a reservation made at least 24 hours in advance (let us know of any dietary restrictions at this time).
• Please have confirmation number from PayPal handy upon making reservation (reservations accepted after September 1st).
• The price will include a 5–7 course tasting menu with wine/beer/drink pairings, tax, and gratuity.
• The tickets can be redeemed any time after September 20th, 2010. Reservations will not be accepted until September 1st, 2010.
• Guests will be able to choose seating preference: kitchen counter, mezzanine level, or private dining room.
• Every tasting menu will be exclusive to that evening and due to product availability, will not be able to be replicated.

Apologies for all of the stipulations but with the other surprises headed our way during opening months, we need to be specific. A link to purchase tickets is coming to the Salt website homepage very soon.

Wow, summer is here. So i guess that means that we should be opening any day now. Actually, we are seeing a lot of progress in the space and most of the details have been worked out and are either in place or getting ready to be installed, implemented, finished or tweaked to fit. As could be expected, the food and drink menus will have to be adjusted because of the changes in availability of product (for the last time). The staff is in place and waiting patiently. We have a solid core of a wine list with a few slots open for fun options that pop up, same goes for the beer selections. The first staff training with the Aloha p.o.s. system will be Thursday which will also serve as a troubleshooting session for general set up and functionality of the most often used features. An opening date still eludes us…..the pressure is on.

I will be posting some of the latest construction photos this week.

Thanks to everyone who has expressed support through this ridiculously stressful time. We look forward to cooking for you.

The finishing work has begun. Don’t get too excited though, there is a lot of finishing work. The tile is being set in the kitchen and bar, the door frames are being hung in the restrooms, the veneer plaster is going up on the beams and as far as i can tell Doug and Liza are working damn near around the clock. On the operations end, we are filling the last couple of positions on our team and putting together as much of a game plan as we can without getting too far ahead of ourselves. After all, realistically we still have a few weeks before we are even ready to get in there and begin the training process. There is plenty to keep busy, almost too much actually, so much that it is easy to get sidetracked over and over again without completely finishing the task at hand.

We have not decided on exactly what our approach to reservations versus walk ins will be. As mentioned before, we will have several different seating options. The question is which areas do we reserve and which do we just seat? The communal tables will be walk in only as well as the cocktail seating and lounge area. The kitchen bar is the area that we aren’t quite sure how to handle. To book it as a chef’s table would be fun, but not until we are established in some kind of routine and flow (maybe in a few months). We will likely just keep the entire first floor as walk in and the upstairs as reservation only at least for now, of course i do change my mind on this topic every third minute.

As far as our opening night is concerned, we are still not certain. June 1st is simply not going to happen (yeah i know, big surprise), however i don’t think that we are too far off of that mark. Stay tuned, and as a realistic date becomes more apparent to us we will be thrilled to announce it and begin taking reservations. Until then, i will do my best to keep everyone up to speed with our progress.

This restaurant is not only kitchen driven but the kitchen is the primary focal point and will be completely exposed to the public. We wanted to create an atmosphere that lent itself to conversation and coaxed patrons to relax. The dinner party scenario comes to mind, you know when the guests gravitate toward the kitchen instead of dispersing into other areas of the house. Generally, people like to see where there food is coming from and i think that the trust level is greater when everything is visible (though on occasion it might be nice to hide just a little).

The guerrilla dinners that we did last year were loads of fun but they were purposeful beyond just good times and promotion. A few of the key design elements of the space were direct results of those dinners. The openness and placement of the kitchen, communal table arrangement and sound design are the most apparent decisions that were influenced by that experiment. We all really liked the idea of walking in the front door of the restaurant and the first visual had being that of the kitchen in action which is how it shook down out of necessity at the very first “underground dinner.” We decided to take it one step further. Instead of just a visual impression, now upon entering you are met with a large glass window flanked by a stainless steel wall extending through the window to the front door and open bar style seating on the other side which makes it feel like you are actually walking right into the kitchen.

The theatrical nature of service every night will force a level of concentration of  movement that might take a few shifts to get used to. And then there is the whole “everyone can hear us” thing, which i must say is also somewhat of a concern since cooks are known for unloading an occasional ridiculous comment or two in the thick service. You know what though, we are going to do what we do, of course we will make adjustments to suite the environment but in the end we want people to feel like they are a part of the restaurant. By not completely sterilizing every single thing about the dining experience, it will hopefully feel more like a meal with friends and family that could be any night of the week and less like a stuffy, pretentious, special occasion only night out on the town.

In a construction zone and nine months pregnant, Mary Maust schooling us

Our list, like the other facets of the restaurant will be representative of the big idea. By that i mean that we will offer good wines without a ridiculous mark up that pair well with the food and are approachable but interesting and exciting. The list will be short (twenty or so) all available by the glass.

Today we met with Mary Maust who always, always brings the goods. I basically gave Mary a rough template of what we were looking for and she came back with some pretty amazing wines of which many will make the cut. We will definitely take advantage of some of the other impressive wine portfolios in the city but Mary’s will likely have the strongest showing at Salt. I like her approach to training and list development and her passion for what she does is apparent, she never comes across as a salesperson but more of a wine educator.

We are at the stage now where there are no do overs. If a decision is made then it is made, there is not any time to piss around any more. So when Doug asks me for a specific dimension of a piece of equipment or where exactly do i want something and i spit out a number or an “i think that is cool”…that’s it, no changing it later because that is where it has to go now.

As a chef these kinds of decisions are not all that easy to swallow. Usually, almost preferrably i work with some level of the unknown when food is involved. That way i can bend and form whatever it is that i am working with into what it is that i am looking for even if i didn’t have a concrete idea of what that was when i started. With food it is always an evolution of ideas, the dish is NEVER exactly the same as it was the first time it was served because we see ways of improving upon an idea and act on them.

With building design and construction all of that organic growth happens on the front end which takes an amazing amount of effort and countless tweaks and reworks of the original idea until it is just time to commit and then that is it, no do overs.

Every morning i write several lists. I write a “must do” list, a “like to get done” list and a “will likely get added to tomorrow’s list” list. With the overwhelming number of things that need to get accomplished these lists help to show progress and stay motivated. I have also developed the habit of writing down random thoughts in my notebook on whatever page it opens to. So i might just flip through trying to find something in particular and come across the words “credit card processing” or “t-shirt sizes” or “pull down heat lamps”, all of which are important details but have somehow slipped through the cracks of my list making routine and must be added to that day’s agenda.

As mind blowing as my list making process is, i won’t bore you any longer. I think that i had a point when i started typing and somehow lost it as i continued to go over things that i have to get done tomorrow. Which, after all is kind of the point…no matter how many things i get done there will always be ten more immediately following. So i will just focus on the task at hand and eventually my lists will morph into kitchen prep lists which i will be more than happy to tackle.

removal of the old monster

They (Anthony Dongilli and crew) started placing the finishing touches on the heating and cooling system today. I was especially intrigued by the crane operator who was especially intrigued with the KFC “double down” while working. My presence for the placement of the new condensation units was not necessary but i did want to document it and make wise cracks.

Being up on the roof just reminded me of how awesome it will be when we can offer outdoor seating and a satellite kitchen up there (maybe next year). The Cruze Architects took great care in the placement of the hvac units with the thought of a rooftop deck in the future as a real possibility. To the untrained eye, there are a few details that may go unnoticed like the location of all of the mechanical equipment but that is kind of the point, for them to be invisible.