Wow what a weekend. And what a week! Our first festival was nothing short of a profound, inspiring, yet humbling experience.
On the production side, I made ten times the amount we have for the farmer's market, almost 1,000 tatties.
I didn't even know until Monday that we'd be at the festival so creating a signature dish at a moment's notice was no easy thing. But I don't like it easy. Nothing great ever became so easily.
I wanted the chef special tattie to pair expertly with wine and that's why I used four different types of cheeses. And the topping I made for it was fruity, a pear, mango and habanero salsa.
And they sold like hotcakes I'm happy to report.
But we had a few hiccups on the service side of the fest. Once the word got out and we had a crowd of eager and anticipating palates, I got schooled on fryers, frozen tatties, and temperature. Of the only three complaints we had over the hundreds of orders, one was that the center of the tattie was a wee bit cold.
We adjusted and learned from the experience and on Sunday, I was on the fryer for five hours straight. Several customers came back not once, but twice for 'To Go' orders and many, many wanted to know if we could ship them.
This weekend was a validation of a vision and my desire to do something different, something special. The lonely, unknown path of creation is only trepid to those afraid of exploration, who can't supplant acceptance with innovation.
Shout out to those who are taking it with me - Fish for finding the fest for us, Dawn for helping us out this weekend, for tatties of course, Ashley for getting out of her comfort zone and selling, and finally, Chef Lucky. I always joke that her nom de guerre is derived from how fortunate she is to work next to me. But she held her own this week and I just might keep her.
Chef Big Dog owns the house!
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