Service time

Another milestone - first meal served. Granted, these people were paid to eat as we sampled the menu with the crew. Several hits, a few misses, some tweaking to be done.

OK, the Wheat Thins in the third picture weren't on the menu. That photo was from a staff meeting. Working backwards, the food shot is a roast beef sandwich on semolina bread, a killer sandwich possible only needing a cheese change. That bread is so good I can't even tell you. The roast beef is perfectly rare, tender, juicy, and sliced thin. We've gone back and forth about using goat cheese or blue, as excellent goat cheese is available locally yet we've tracked down a fantastic buttermilk blue cheese that would be perfect. This version had the goat. The top photo is the front part of the dining room, effectively looking down Larimer from inside the front door. I love the way the view from the entrance includes the different heights of seating along the front windows.

Bread formulation is almost 100% ready with the major exception of bagels. One piece of large equipment after another has had issues, until finally we replaced the faulty electronics on the big mixer Friday night and mixed a batch. That thing makes such gorgeous dough I was beside myself. And with the proper mixing time and fermentation time the bagel machine made smooth, uniform bagels which are now retarding for a test bake this weekend. After seeing how the machiner was screwing up our timing we changed our training plans for next week, and even made a contingency plan to open without bagels on the menu. But now we can get back on track and work things out. We'll mix a couple more batches on Saturday and try out the blueberry and maybe cinnamon raisin. One foot in front of the other.