Big Bad Wolf!

I got it!!!! Six burner, 24″ griddle, one and a half ovens. And it’s cherry! Never used. I bought it in Paris. Really.
I was trolling craigslist for stoves every evening, much the way I use to troll craigslist for motorcycles, and I saw this posting for a Wolf range. I emailed minutes after they had posted, and I got a call. Some Vietnamese yuppies had bought a restaurant called: “Paris” in the San Gabriel Valley and were going for a more Asian night spot theme and chose a wok range over this French style one. So it was kind of like the Vietnamese kicking the French out of Paris!
I told them they could have gotten a lot more for this but all agreed that I was the first to respond to the posting so fair was fair and we all felt good about the deal. I felt a lot better when I started to take the range apart to find that it had never been used!!! Not sure what went on in Paris but this thing had zero food residue any where on it.
Score!!!

I had really resigned myself to being chained to some rusty piece of junk for three to five years but the universe smiled on my. It is a good sign.

The hood system is almost finished and we are waiting for the fire suppression system to be installed. Riaz, and the crew have been doing all of the finish work on the walls. Julia is almost done with the dining room. And I am not far away from cooking!
Good times.

Shall we cook?

I know this is supposed to be a blog about construction, but I have decided to indulge my inner chef and build a kitchen!!

That’s right, after a  year of giving the health department, and the fire department, and everybody else what THEY want, I am getting some stuff I want!!!

Weirdly, one is not required to have a stove when opening a restaurant. In fact the fire dept. would prefer you didn’t. Of course one is not required to have good food either. To require that would mean licensing cooks, and ain’t nobody going to do that.
I had to hire a licensed electrician, a licensed plumber, sheet metal guy, a licensed engineer, draughtsperson, etc. but a licensed cook? No you don’t need that. Cooks just make the food we eat. It’s not like they are fixing air conditioners or something.

Anyway, it is me time. And me wants a stove. Help me pick:
$1,400 on ebay:

e.u. 3,900 from importer:

$1,000 from my neighbors in the SGV:
On Craigslist “Been in a church basement for 30 years and used only occasionally:

From the estate sale of a has-been rock star in the H’wod hills:

And my current fave: this bad ass french top wolf, mis-labeled as a griddle and abandoned in a warehouse in the valley:

Help me pick, please!

Spark up in the kitchen!

After what has seemed like an eternity, work on Ba got a big jump start this week! Julia is almost finished with the dining room. The chandeliers and lamps are up, the wainscoting is almost done the curtains are up, and the walls are painted.

Now we just have to slap these butt-ugly emergency lamps on top of her beautiful walls to make the fire dept cool with us.

Celebrity guest crew this weekend included Aaron Shepard, who did a ceramic tile installation in the kitchen and Bathrooms, Matt Dressler who did a Donald Judd-esqu steel column in the front. Colin O’Mara-Green, and katy H.  who painted the loft. Robert Espinoza came and installed the beautiful windows he crafted for us.

With the tile in,  work began on the exhaust hood in the kitchen. As soon as it is finished I get to buy a stove!!!!

F.A.Q.’s part 3

Q: When are you going to open?
A: Where is my sheet metal installer? He is a week late. Ask him when we open.

Q: When is the big opening?
A: Have you seen the furnace guy? He should have finished two weeks ago but has not
even started yet. Ask him when we will open.

Q: What is your target date?
A: As soon as the city inspector signs my permit. Not a nano-second later.

Q: No really, when are you going to open?
A: The minute I can. I’m not procrastinating believe me.  I am waiting for lots of people
right now. But in a few weeks I will wait for inspectors.

Like I said before, I am building a restaurant from scratch, by hand, with only a few friends and family to help. Considering that….I am making good time.

If you are interested in volunteering to help put on the finishing touches come on down!!

 

 

Moving towards life.

So two years ago today I got run over by a truck. Literally. Died on the operating table, resuscitation, coma, the whole bit. Months of rehab, wheelchair, pain. But as it turns out I am very durable and did not do much permanent damage.

Since then I have been trying to get away from the accident, distancing my self from death as it were. I guess I am trying to prove something to myself too. That is why I am doing so much of this work myself. Anyway, I will not celebrate this anniversary but it does now  feel like I am moving away from death the older I get. That is a good feeling.

Floored!

Floors, doors, halls, walls, white wall tires, and old golf balls.

 

 

 

 

Big week at Ba. New storefront, the hood was delivered. Big kitchen sink installed. Shopping for equipment. Put the first posting on  Craigslist looking for staffers. This is getting real.