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BK Family Restaurant

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BK Family Restaurant is situated in a hidden sliver of businesses or former businesses tucked away behind office buildings and a small cemetery in Coon Rapids.

Locals here know the location well.  We arrived on a Saturday morning to a crowded parking lot and even more crowded dining room.   The owner didn’t really give us a choice of where we wanted to be seated as he placed two menus on the table behind the cash register/hostess stand and said “you sit here ok” not a question, but not a statement either.

The dining room lacks any kind of intimacy or sections.  Like a large room with tables and chairs, you feel like you are at a church social or family reunion rather than a restaurant.  If you like a quiet time with your coffee and eggs, this is definitely not the place to be; because once the place is full the din and cacophony vibrate through the dining room like the buzzing of bees.

The service is quick and impersonal.  But the day we were there we did get to see what happens when the wait staff forgets to shout a time tested server caveat: “coming out” as they leave the server area into the dining room.  Trays, glasses and ice cubes did a merry dance in the air before landing on the carpeted floor in a symphony of crash, tinkle and bang IL concerto for the red-faced waiter.

The menu is a cook’s nightmare.  The breakfast items alone tally up to fifty one choices. That doesn’t include the specials board, the table tent with specials and the children’s and senior menus.  The rest of the menu reads like a deli/lunch counter/diner/ from the 1980’s with Its diet plate of cottage cheese, tomato slices with a hamburger patty and the dreaded half sandwich and soup choice that plagued chefs sanity everywhere during the Reagan years.  There are items on the lunch special area of the menu, and the same items are listed above them under specialty burgers at a lower cost. It all seems a bit too confusing and busy.  I can only imagine the work that goes into ordering the food, the prep work to get it ready and tempers flaring during service when uncertainty of which burger, sandwich or omelet off the countless choices the customer actually ordered.

The food is satisfactory but you get the idea that the owner is cutting corners on quality to save money.  My wife’s skillet had some sort of processed, shredded ham product that any food establishment should be ashamed to use, and there was a thimble full of cheese buried in the uncooked recesses of green pepper, onions and hash browns.  My chicken fried steak and eggs was fine, but equivalent to anything you would find at any Perkin’s or Denny’s, but at least the potions were larger.

Of course there are salads, burgers, dinner items like pasta, steaks and chicken, wraps, hors d’oevres and the above listed senior and children menus.

BK also boast catering for in house and outside parties, and all weddings, banquets etc.

All in all the food was enjoyable, and certainly enough to satisfy the biggest appetite, just make sure you have enough time to look over the menu.

BK Family Restaurant is located at 11496 Martin St in Coon Rapids MN.

Aperitif Restaurant and Bar

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“Aperitif is a noun whose roots are from the Latin word aperire which is to open, stimulate or begin.  It is also a drink consumed before starting a meal, and is meant to be appetizing. “

Because the name is from a Latin word, Aperitif is an appropriate and aptly named restaurant and bar.  You can see the French, Italian and Spanish influence in the design, architecture and menu.

From the high ceilings braced with dark wooden joists, lanterns running the length of the patio, the wrought iron gates or the fountain surrounded by flowers, you can’t decide if you are in Monaco, Valencia, Naples, Monte Carlo, Athens or Tunis.

The menu is exceedingly adroit in reflecting this idea.  Ingredients such as Cous Cous, lamb, Tzatziki, pancetta, capers, Aioli, and Saffron are interwoven into this menu like a wonderful Mediterranean tapestry.

Executive Chef Chad Grant, formerly of Porterhouse, brings his fresh, locally purchased, made-from-scratch concept along with him to the outer suburbs.  You can guarantee that the meats, seafood, produce and dairy are fresh and none of the food is processed, packaged or bought in.

 The bottled water that is served to the customers is from Aqua Health and is local.  The chefs even use it to cook the pasta.  His pizza dough, brioche, bread and focaccia are made daily in their wood burning oven.  As he told me in our discussion “the bread you are eating right now was pulled out of the oven at around noon today”. 

Outside is an herb garden that boasts basil, yellow basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, parsley and other herbs that the kitchen uses to spice up the flavor profiles of their food to keep it simple, fresh, and rustic.

As Chef Chad writes a great menu, runs a kitchen and brigade with perfection and precision, so too does the front of the house function under the direction of manager Corey T. Nyman.  The dining room and bar performed like an orchestra with all the instruments operating in synch.  Food coming and going, tables being bused, people being seated, beverages poured and orders being taken reminded me of how a well-run dining room is supposed to function.

With a smile as wide as the Grand Canyon, Corey was accommodating and answered all of my questions.  Never in my 36 years of food service have I seen anyone as positive and upbeat.  This goes a long way into explaining the professionalism of his staff.

We started with the assorted olives, salmon cakes and house-cut chips and Alfredo.  The salmon cakes were two perfectly seasoned cakes molded with fresh salmon and lacking the extreme amount of filler you find elsewhere.  They were served with lemon aioli and an Arugula salad that was so sinfully delicious I should seek absolution from the nearest priest. 

The house cut fries are a bit different.  The Alfredo sauce was a bit overpowered by the fried taste of the potatoes. They were also a bit difficult and messy to eat.  Otherwise they were well presented; stacked lengthwise in a pasta bowl, smothered in the creamy garlic sauce.

The Veal Bolognese is a smooth velvety mirepoix of carrots, celery and onions cooked down with a rich tomato broth, red wine, and ground veal, then tossed with toothy fettuccine.  The rosemary focaccia bread with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and grated parmesan served alongside was the perfect accompaniment.

The Swordfish steak is cooked and coated with a citrus glaze and set atop a nest of carrots and spaghetti squash, nestled alongside an arugula salad with English peas that brought me back to my father’s garden when I ate them straight from the pod.  Aside from the swordfish, the squash was the best thing on the plate.

Dessert was an ice cream cake surrounded by ground coffee mixed with crushed Oreo cookies with a Heath bar crumble through the center, served on a plate with caramel delicately drizzled from top to bottom. It was so rich and decadent that a trip to the gym is now in the day planner.

The ambiance of the dining room is open, inviting but can be a bit loud when it gets full.  The dining room seats 236 people and there is a patio with a full bar that seats another 100. 

Not many reviewers mention the bathrooms in their story, not unless they are issuing a caveat, but the bathrooms here are like a luxurious spa.  Real towels are rolled and stacked on a shelf above a trough that acts as the sink. Meanwhile you put your hands under the spout and are finessed by the water cascading onto your soapy digits.  The only thing missing was a mud pack facial and a fluffy robe.

Aperitif opened on January 30 of this year and is owned by The Nyman group which has restaurant holdings in Las Vegas, Scottsdale AZ and New York.

Aperitif is located at772 Beilenberg Drive in Woodbury.  The phone # is 651-578-3000 or you can check them out online at www.AperitifRestaurant.com

Do not miss the chance to dine at this exceptionally run establishment.  They care about what they do, and it is evident from the food, the staff and the management.

 

 

 

Pearldivers Need Love Too

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I have written about cooks, chefs, and wait staff, but have given no love to those who wash and scrub the dishes and mop the floors. 

So here is an ode to those with dish pan hands.

They come in all different shapes and sizes, all kinds of diverse backgrounds, many don’t stay in one place for a long time, and many use the dish room as a stepping stone onto the cook’s line, but there are individuals who strive to be professional dishwashers.

I know there are some of you out who are unfamiliar with the inner workings of a restaurant (thankfully  you have me to enlighten you), but if you can imagine 8 hours of washing plates, bowls, cups and silverware,  scrubbing pots and pans, washing everything the cook can find in the kitchen,  cleaning the restrooms, bussing tables, spraying down the rubber mats,  vacuuming the floor in the dining room, sweeping and mopping the kitchen, climbing up on the stoves to get the grease filters from the vents, and carrying bus tubs full of dishware all day;  all for minimum wage;  then you just imagined a day that the genius ponders and the insane laments.

They are called by many names-dish dogs, pearl divers, burros, dish rats and sanitation engineers, but whatever moniker we attach to their service, the restaurant, would not run efficiently without them.  They are the back bone of the industry, sometimes working harder and making less than everybody else.  Ask any self respecting chef about their dishwashers, and they will tell you they feed them well and they treat them with love and esteem, because if they walk out- guess who has to do the dishes?

Doing Your Best In Spite of Corporate Interference

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In the environment in which I work, we do our best to serve great food and provide excellent service to our guests, but sometimes problems come up in the service, cuisine or the way the dining room was left from the shift before.

I work in a senior living facility where we take care of senior citizens in an independent, assisted living and memory care environment, and our staff does an excellent job in providing the needs of this unique group of people.  The meals are tasty and well presented; the staff is trained to recognize the specific dietary requests of clientele (i.e. food allergies, sodium, diabetic and mechanically altered diets), serve the food professionally and to clean up and get ready for the next shift or go home.

Pretty simple stuff-prepare the food, cook the food, serve the food and clean up, because it is only food.

However, problems do arise.  The meal was not perfect, the waitress didn’t get my ice cream fast enough, you ran out of pie, or the soup was too salty.  This happens and a little understanding and diplomacy goes a long way in alleviating the problem, and you can usually make things ok if you listen and show sincere empathy.  But sometimes you just hire people who are not suitable for the position they are in.

But then somehow the powers that be get involved and things get blown out of proportion and paperwork needs to be filed and policy and procedures need to be re-written and the wheel needs to be re-invented.

Meetings are scheduled and new”action plans” are implemented instead of addressing the mistakes and keeping the employees in the department aware that these mistakes cannot be made and there will be consequence if you continually repeat them. 

We are so afraid of litigation and are so driven by being politically correct, that our hands are tied when trying to produce a good group of employees to do the job.  You need four reams of paperwork in a personnel file before you can terminate bad employees.

My favorite example of idiocy was when the corporate geniuses changed the whole dining concept to be more competitive. Our company already has a high profile for excellence in the community so my first thought was “why do we need to change? Maybe the competition is trying to be like us.” My concept of this industry is to do something great, and do it right consistently.  Everything else will fall into place.  But let’s spend thousands of dollars and invaluable time with consultants instead of tapping the never ending well of expertise and knowledge coming out of our own dining staff.

But I digress.

 We see logic being pushed aside in favor of drinking the corporate Kool-aid.  The people who should be making the decisions for their departments are being advised by out of touch HR people who have never stepped into a kitchen or dining room and performed the duties of a chef or wait staff (and I don’t mean for one day or a shift). We see impractical use of critical thinking to solve an issue when five minutes of common sense could have worked.

I love what I do and the people I serve and work with, but I get irritated when over-reaction occurs to the wrong thing and complacency happens when real issues need to be addressed.

Because in my world it is relatively easy-you prepare the food, cook the food, serve the food and clean up after wards.

It is that simple.

 

Good Cook or Great Chef?

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I knew when I decided to write about this topic I would probably offend a whole lot of people and have death threats made against me.  But in my endless drive to educate the unenlightened proletariat on the truth and madness of the restaurant/ foodservice industry, I had to express myself on this subject.  Please bear in mind I literally have 34 years of blood, sweat, and tears invested in this business, with a myriad of observations, and in no way am I trying to demean anyone, I am just pointing out the truth after interviewing many people like myself in the trade, and drawing from my own humble experience.

It seems the term “chef” is given out like candy to anyone who can lift a knife and cut a vegetable.  Someone who graduates from culinary school with no previous experience is called a chef and enters the work force expecting a huge salary and an executive title without paying the dues.  I decided a long time ago I would rather be a good cook than a great chef. I have worked and run the 4-star hotels and resorts and I know how to make the fancy French cuisine that impresses the ostentatious crowd of gastronomic snobs. But by choice, most of my career has been getting down and dirty making burgers, sandwiches and chicken wings for the everyday people who just want a good meal at a good price.  Fancy food is exciting, but no one eats like that all the time.

Now don’t get me wrong, if you graduated culinary school and cook for your family and friends that is great, I am happy for you and wish you the best.  But if you are looking for a job as the executive chef or kitchen manager position on a line filled with people who have worked their way up from the bottom of the kitchen food chain (bus boy or dish washer), you had better be prepared to work 60 or more hours a week, sweep and mop the floors, wash the pots and pans if needed, and scrub down the kitchen like the rest of them.  You can’t sit on your laurels and write the menu and spend all day at the organic produce market and then expect everyone else to sweat to make your recipe and menu ideas come to life.  You will never get the reverence you think you deserve.  I am sure you have great recipes and menu ideas, but I hope you are prepared to make them 40 times a day for 7 days in a row, 365 a year.  This isn’t a dinner party you are doing once, with 12 people showing up, and sitting at the table with their place cards and a glass of the flavor of the month.  And the dish needs to taste the same every time you make it, or when someone else is making it if you aren’t there.

For all of us who work and toil in the industry, we applaud the fact that you went to school, and we pray for your success.  My research has shown that a few things are not mentioned to the students.  There are long hours for low pay and you will have to work holidays. You have to cover when someone calls in sick or hung-over (believe me it happens all the time, especially after payday). You will be the only cook on a busy night and you will have to do dishes or wait on customers. You will have to put the deliveries away and you may get your chef coat dirty.  You might actually have to stock the kitchen yourself, do the prep work and cook all at once. Food you think is perfect is going to get sent back to be prepared correctly (gasp!).  It isn’t an easy life, and that is why we take exception to those who walk into the kitchen with big ideas and no understanding.  I am not bitter or resentful because I never went to school.  I learned a long time ago to keep my mouth shut and listen to those who have been around the block.  School is great, but this is an industry where you never learn everything. It is also an industry that will chew you up and spit you out if you let it.  You could spend a lifetime just learning the food of one culture.  So if you ever get the opportunity to run a brigade, make sure you tell them “great job” after every service, and buy them a round of drinks after you help them clean up.

 

 

 

 

The Bad and Good of the Chain Restaurant

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There are a lot of good things to say about dining out in a chain restaurant, and there are a lot of dreadful things as well.  Let’s start with the good.  Let me think…oh yeah-average, lackluster food and automaton service.  Now don’t get me wrong, the service is great in some of the chains, but it is usually because the server is brand new with a personality that hasn’t been tarnished by the banality of the job, is passing through to better things, or a company drone with a 401(k) that is just biding their time until they are fully vested in the company and can one day reprieve themselves from serving the same dull food day after day after day, like a beat cop waiting for the day his pension kicks in.

And then there is the food.  You can’t blame the cooks and chefs for the dreary fare that is taken from box to plate and prepared with all the imagination of a factory worker on valium.  They bake, broil and grill whatever the corporate goons sitting behind desks 300 miles away decide.  And it is usually a trend or three behind the culinary curve.  If anyone remembers the great pesto obsession of the early 90’s then you know what I am talking about because it is probably on some chain restaurant’s menu right now..  They don’t create food trends they just copy them, and the chef should not be blamed for that.  Most chain restaurants are a great training ground for those just starting out in the culinary field, a boot camp for those out of culinary school who believe they will be an executive chef in Switzerland with a six figure income at a 5 star hotel when they graduate.  I know quite a few that ended up at Applebee’s or Denny’s to learn how the real world works because it wasn’t explained to them in school that there are long hours and you might just get your chef coat dirty while waiting for a phone call from the Food Network.

 

I recently moved to an area in Minnesota that has one of the largest malls in the metro area, and there are chain restaurants far and wide.  My wife and I have eaten in our share of them, because it is difficult to find a unique restaurant or bistro, and convenience is always a huge factor.  But we are bored and almost in tears to find a place that will excite us and make a distinct impression.  After eating breakfast at a place that must have had a job fair at the local trailer park, we both said “enough” and are on a quest to find decent digs at which to eat.  Hence I am writing this story to exorcise the demons.

 

Give me a chef driven restaurant that uses local produce and out-of-the-box ideas in the kitchen, with servers that labor for their tips out of love for the industry and the food.  Give me a ponytailed chef with tattoos and a lip ring that has figured out a new way to prepare calamari or a tapenade, and can make caramelized onions and a béchamel sauce without looking in the standardized corporate cookbook.  Give me a chef that has worked 12 days in a row, but still comes in to work because this is where they belong.  Give me a server that loves their customers and can do their job well without the benefit of the company manuals to show them how.  All of us would benefit greatly.  Especially the culinary field.