Inspiring to be Average

My wife and I went to have lunch at a local "Japanese" restaurant for lunch--the ubiquitous 'Mikado'. The first thing you note about Mikado when you enter is how beautifully the marble hostess area is, as well as the tatami rooms lining the east wall. Once you are past that however, the idea, sans menu items, that you are in a Japanese restaurant begins to dissipate. The music and decor do not lend any noteable ambiance to the restaurant, but the primarily Japanese/Asian sushi chefs and majority of the same for hostesses adds a nice touch.

We ordered the gyoza and the agedashi tofu for appetizers, along with an iced tea and a beer. The waitress opened and delivered the beer opened, but did not pour. No water was offered--this is ok were it an actual Japanese restaurant, but the roomful of sweaty businessmen, made it defineable as pseudo-Japanese.

The appetizers arrived and, as a set, were the best part of the meal. The gyozo skin was slightly browned, and perfect in texture. The taste blended well with the sauce which had a nice hint of citrus in it~ala a ponzu variation.
The agedashi dofu were cubed into about 1 1/4 inch pieces and the broth was flavorful--allowing the tofu to melt delightfully in the mouth.

We ordered the ramen and the ginger pork, along with one order of tamago nigiri-zushi. As we were finishing our appetizers, our tamago was delivered--except that it was not tamago, it was eggplant. While the eggplant nigiri-zushi was actually a very tasty surprise, this presented two problems. First, this was lunchtime and there should be no reason to be out of tamago. I highly doubt that a slew of customers rushed in during the first two hours of lunch service and all asked for tamago. I think they did not have any prepared. This should have been communicated to the waitress so she would not have to approach our table with something that we did not order. The second problem is that the sushi chef made a substitution without asking if this is what we wanted. If we were sitting at the sushi bar, this is a different dynamic, and there is more of a flow of both dialogue and dining presence while being served directly by the sushi chef. But to not inform us before the replacement item is made and to charge us the same price is bordering quite precariously with being unacceptable. At this time, we were able to get the attention of the waitress for some water. I will leave this as inadequate communication on my part, and inadequate training on her part.

The thinly sliced ginger pork was served on a bed of Japanese slaw, with a bowl of steamed rice. The presentation was good, and the ginger sauce contained just enough ginger to blend nicely with the pork, but not so much that it became pork flavored ginger. The slaw was flavorful and was a nice addition. Overall, pretty good.

The ramen was an unfortunate demise. Perhaps the positive reviews of Mikado's tasty ramen from a few friends led to unrealistic expectations, but from the level of service and food that should be delivered from this restaurant, it was average to uninspiring. Now I knew that Mikado does not make their own ramen noodles. This can be ok, but what is not ok is for a section of the noodles to still be clumped together in a triangular shape as if still retaining a section of its original frozen form. The noodles themselves were decent. Not bad. Not great. Decent. The pork broth was tasty, but it lacked any depth to its flavor, and it was too thin for a pork based ramen. A pork-miso, rather than a chicken broth and pork paste would have been much better. But please, separating the noodles would have gone a long way in preserving some dignity with the ramen.

Grades:
Drink Service: C

Appetizers:
gyoza: B
agedashi tofu: B+

Main:
ginger pork: B
ramen : C-

Final Grade: C+

Excellence

Excellence is something that's lacking in most food and drink establishments these days. Be it a top tier restaurant, a chain restaurant, or the local independant coffee house--excellence is hard to come by.

Excellence has to be across the board. Ambiance, decor, product quality, employee look, and service all have to be great, consistent, and each area must complement the others.
Perfect service by fat and slovenly employees does not work, neither does a industrial looking goth bar with a kickin' bartender that plays only Vivaldi and Brahms.

I am often reluctant to go to some of the recommended Italian restaurants here knowing that at best they serve piss poor coffee and espresso. Sorry, I don't give a rats ass how good your food is-- if you report yourself to be 'high-end' Italian, then you had better bring it with a top-notch cappuccino. Conversely if you are high-end Japanese--serve a perfect green or buckwheat tea. How can you have a chef spend years working on their craft only to have their dish ruined by piss poor coffee? Every facet of the restaurant, including liquor and/or coffee service must all achieve excellence for the restaurant itself to be excellent--otherwise you have only pseudo-excellence.

If you try to manufacture excellence you will fail. If you breathe excellence you will succeed. Breathe in excellence, breathe out excellence, and everyone will share in your passion.

Attention to Detail

A small rant...
There is a new employee at the bank. Let's call him "Skippy". Of the four times I've been 'fortunate' to have him be the available teller, he is SLOW, has to recount money too many times, and three out of the four times has made mistakes I've had to correct. This leads to repetitively bad service because of the lack of attention to detail. The two biggest reasons for bad service are employer, rather than employee based. The first reason is hiring the wrong people/bad screening process; the second reason is improper training.


Two rules to live by as an employer.

Step 1: Hire someone who is self-motivated, passionate about what you do--or in the least has something they are passionate about--, and make certain they can and will follow direction (are trainable).


Step 2: Train them well, and immediately dismiss them if YOU failed the first step.


It's easy to get frustrated with whomever, be it your barista, your waiter, your banker, or the guy at your local convenience store. But remember, they didn't hire themselves. An idiot can't help that they're an idiot, but what does that make the person who hired them?

Consulting

I've been getting a number of requests over the past several months to do some consulting work. Among all of the daily questions from customers, newbie 'barista', and start-ups this is something I may consider pursuing. I think, "But I have so much to learn." It comes as a surprise to me that many people are not willing to seek out information on their own. Sure many of us in the industry exchange ideas and a few techniques, but one needs to show a certain level of commitment, a pursuit of perfection that can innoculate all the swill-drinkers against their malaise.

How can you be in the business for five, ten, even twenty years and serve garbage? Do you even want to learn how to not cripple the public's taste buds with your carbon ridden, tongue biting brew? I say, "Catch up, join the 'Third Wave' or get left behind." Morning comes once a day, but that chance to inspire comes every moment. Isn't it better to inspire than to poison? :)

I guess it is appropriate to look at greed as a disease, because in my opinion that is the difference between putting the coffee/espresso first and putting the profits first. It would be fair to say all of us want success. But who will you f$#! in order to get it? Low quality, overroasted beans that sit for weeks--sometimes even months, hoardes of untrained 'barista' all because of owners who don't care, or worse, who don't know. There is no excuse for stupidity, but if it was a crime, we'd all see the wrong side of a cell.

So at the end of my rambling; it once again comes to educating the public. Especially those who choose to enter the fray. Consult? I'm still perfecting my craft, but to that Tom, Dick, or Harriet who has the passion, but doesn't have the time to pursue caffeinated enlightenment on their own--if you're interested, I'm sure we can work something out--over a nice cup of coffee.

brew temperature does matter

I wondered when brewing press pot coffee-- since it's not at best drinkable level until its below 150 degrees, how much is the flavor affected if you brew at 180 vs 200 ?

Answer-- a lot. I lose all of the higher fruity or floral nuances and only retain the 'deeper' flavors. The varietal characteristic that make that particular coffee an excellent cup, rather than just a good cup, are not there.

This, of course, is nothing other than what would be expected. But I had to taste it in actual practice, just so I can know.

Espresso or Cupping?

I've been toying with the idea of having a 'Espresso for the home user' class or offer some weekend cupping classes. There will come a time when I can offer both, but each has its own set of logistical problems, time involved, etc.

It's great when customers enjoy our coffee or ask questions here and there about espresso. I think we've even convinved a few into buying a good home setup--good burr grinder and all.

Stay tuned...

Public Education

Coffee education is important but it often presents a dilemma on how to convey the information to the customer so as not to make them feel 'stupid'. For the most part I try to educate by taste. The proof is in the cup. You will ask questions when you begin to wonder, "Why isn't all coffee this good?"

Education of the customer begins with my own daily education. Origin flavors, varietal flavors, how a particular roast works well for one bean and not for another, how the cup changes and gains 'character' as you drink it, understanding 'how' to taste coffee... These are things I do my best to learn about in some form or another daily.

I know if I start with a better bean, and produce a fresher and more flavorful cup, all I need to do is improve daily and I will always remain ahead of the pack. I don't always think it's what one knows that is important, it's realizing how much more there is to learn that matters.

So whether a customer asks, "How come this Brazilian tastes nothing like that Brazilian you had the other day," I just might be able to answer them.

Questions lead to answers which lead to more questions. All require study. Educate yourself, then educate the world. Banish coffee ignorance. :)