January is January

• It's being a fairly typical January - threats of weather, slow Tuesdays, icy sidewalks, slow Wednesdays, extra pounds, slow Fridays...all very normal.  Kevin has had his hands full with a veritable changing of the guard in the kitchen, beginning at the end of December with line cook Brian leaving so abruptly, followed by a dishwasher failing to return from vacation, to the dismissal of another lunch cook last week.  Not to mention that TJ is giving up his weekend shifts for a second job.  So now we have Brittany on the line doing Brian's job - more about her at a later date - and Sean starting this week on the salads.  Sam has come on board to take over a few of the dish spots and Kentrall has picked up a few as well.  It does get a little hard to keep track of.  That's what the schedule posted on the store room door is for.

• Couple of dishes being appreciated among our dining guests include a pasta we've been serving for lunch this week - linguine with pork belly, garlic, spinach, olive oil and white wine.  My favorite comment about it was "I just want to rub it all over my body, it's so good!"  Wow, that is what I call a compliment.  The scallops with the hand-cut egg pasta, country ham and sage has also been pretty popular, on the dinner side.

• There has not really been anything terribly interesting to write about  BT lately - although I have heard a few interesting tales regarding other restaurants.  I did read - via the Baltimore Sun's Dining Blog - this "Open Letter to Atlanta Restaurants", written by the restaurant reviewer for that city's newspaper.  Very on point - you can link to it here.  The response from one of the city's Chefs, linked here, is also on the mark.  And, as usual, many of the comments are as readable as the posts themselves.

• I'm still procrastinating getting my "end of the year" work done, which involves emptying the file cabinet of 2010 and starting filing 2011.  Easy easy to keep putting that off!

• New beer making it's way to our list: Breckenridge Vanilla Porter.  Really tasty.  Yeah, the vanilla is there, on the finish, in a very pleasant, sort of light way.  It would not please an Anchor Porter drinker, but it would be a terrific "entry level" porter.  It's good.
  

• On Monday January 24th, Kevin will be among his peers "Cooking for a Cause" at the FishWhistle here in Chestertown.  The fundraiser for Shared Opportunity Services will feature a number of local Chefs as they prepare and serve some of their classic dishes.  Kevin will be offering slices of BT's new favorite dessert - the vanilla roulade with chocolate glaze.  He won't be doing any actual cooking - he and Angie (of course) will have done all that prior to the event.  But he will be there, for the first hour anyway, schmoozing talking with the attendees who may ask him just how he makes that lemon butter sauce we put on our Oyster Fritter....

•  Actually, January is not so bad.  It's a great time to re-group, to organize the store room, train new cooks, try out new recipes, straighten out the spice shelf.  We still have a few pounds of pecans to crack.  And there is never any end to the cleaning.  All of that is what the slow periods of restaurant life are for - catching up and catching a breath.