The First Commandment of Sandwich

The First Commandment of Sandwich: Bread is King

- Michael Showalter



Check out his Youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ywv65lWZkM



I ran into a couple the other day as I was leaving the shop from a good day of unloading equipment. One of them asked "Is this going to be a restaurant?" A bakery and sandwich shop, I answered. She said. "What kind of bread?" Really good sandwich breads, baguette, focaccia, kaiser rolls, bagels, ciabatta. "Cool! We can't wait!" When I tell people about Hi*Rise, the conversation rarely strays far from bread, and everyone has a favorite. "Will you have croissant?" (yes). Folks with an East Coast upbringing often ask if we're going to boil our bagels (yes). Donuts? (no) But a donut sandwich does have a certain appeal.


(Tangent: Mitch Hedberg does a bit about going into a deli to order a pastrami sandwich. The waiter asks him his favorite bread and cheese he likes. Hedberg answers but the waiter cuts him off. "I am not making you a banana bread-pastrami-cottage cheese sandwich. That would severely ruin my reputation.")


When the bread is right, the sandwich is easy. Nothing has to be dressed up. The flavors speak for themselves. If you wouldn't eat the bread by itself, you shouldn't make a sandwich with it. That's the approach we have at Hi*Rise. The bread comes first. Bread is the expression of the baker's control over ingredients, time, and temperature. Vary the combination to get crusty and chewy vs. tender and yielding. See the personality? Good bread has character and purpose. That is the basis for any sandwich's combo of ingredients, and will be the focus of everything Hi*Rise does.

She's a big girl

01.17.2009 Saturday - This is a day I've been looking forward to for a very long time. The big oven is here! After a trailer full of assorted parts and panels, these photos show the face being brought in. She is the biggest thing in the kitchen - almost an 8' cube - so she had to come in first. I don't believe one should get all wistful about machinery, because they can't be wistful back. But this is an OVEN! 250,000 BTUs . Six revolving shelves (think Ferris wheel) each three sheet pans wide - 58". The shelves are stone lined, the best surface for most of the breads we will be doing. It will take a couple of days to put her together. Not super complicated, just BIG. Then hours firing up at the absolute lowest temperature, slowly rising to 500 degrees to temper the stones. After that, we'll get down to baking!

In the interest of clarity, I should point out that while almost 63 square feet of oven stone and a quarter million BTUs is a lot, mine is the smallest model revolving oven this company makes. As my friend Simone would say, "Yeah, but still...".

Construction is ongoing, and getting down to the details. We are currently in the process of staining the concrete floor. Then the final push to occupancy as all the equpiment, cabinets, and furniture can come in. If you want to read a well written and comprehensive restaurant construction blog, try http://www.startingarestaurantblog.com/.

Thanks to all of you who have stopped by to look, introduce yourselves, and see what's going on. Send an email to info@hirisedenver.com and we'll include you in announcements and pre-opening events.