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Ever Dreamed of Opening Your Own Cafe` or Restaurant?
Posted by Theresa111 • 12/13/09
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Ever dreamed of opening up your own place?
What would yours be like? Please decsribe it. Do not be bashful either. 
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Yes, I used to think of that many years ago...I used to think it would be very simple, very quaint, rustic in a old world type of way. A place that did not serve many people, just a few. There would not be very much to choose from to eat, only what I prepared that day, so that everything would be very fresh and very good.-
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What would it look like from the outside?
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I have pictured to look like a rather small house with shingles and a wrap around porch and a fireplace. ( I am a romatic at heart and always will be) but that is what I see in my mind.
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I am working on a catering/cafe business. I am trying to find a building as the first step. Mine would be a southern cafe. What people call heart clogging food, or comfort foods. With plate lunches and sandwiches. Big breakfast for weekends. Still very much a work in progress.-
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Wow. Great and ambitious too. How big of a space are you wanting for your kitchen area and how big for the dining area?
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Ha! That is indeed my dream and hope one day to make it happen. I little bistro type, with daily foods (not so much of a general menu) tapas a little from all over the world. A way to let people experiment various foods!-
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Which country do you want to open your bistro in and why?
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Good questions Theresa, which country? Well I have been residing here in the States for quite a few years now, therefore here it would be! Why... Above all because as hard work as a restaurant / bistro is, much as any jobs it can also be very rewarding. While still at school I worked in various restaurants and one of my very first jobs after college was with one of the top catering companies back home. I LOVE to cook, to experiment but most importantly I do enjoy teaching others to get out of their comfort zone in terms of what they are used to and try different things.
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Okay. So the USA it is. which state, city and would you have a sidewalk type bistro?
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City/State? Somewhere around Charlotte NC or even better Charleston, SC
Sidewalk type bistro? TOTALLY! I absolutely LOVE that! -
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I feel this would be a great place for an early summer's evening to sit outside and eat, chat and drink wine.
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oh yes wine and sangria!
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I had a place for a very short period of time - upscale soup/sandwich/salad in an antiques market. I'd do the same again, but with a bookshop attached and leaning a bit more toward Mediterranean/Provencal cuisine.-
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Bookshop attached sounds fine. Describe how it will be set up on the inside. When we walk in where's the counter and where's the bookstore?
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Your idea is a very interesting one and the place you had I totally know and can imagine what it looked like. There is an amazing restaurant in Monroe, NC (just outside of Charlotte) with Mediterranean influenced food that is fantastic, only a few know, yet it is always full as it is inside an antique mall. Unfortunately it is only opened for lunches.
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No idea, Theresa! The one I had was a walk up counter - old wooden thing that was smack dab in the center of the mall - the whole place was old wooden floors. It had previously been a textile mill and the inside was very rustic.
The U shaped counter was surrounded by black iron bistro tables and chairs topped with small vases filled with purple flowers and instead of a standard menu plaque I had a wood framed blackboard that I wrote the specials on each weekend. It was a Friday/Saturday/Sunday market and the menu changed weekly. Two soups, several sandwiches and several salads. I also sold muffins and coffee for late breakfast as the market wasn't open until later in the morning.
There was no provision for grilling or frying and the city wouldn't allow it so it was all refrigerated foods or what could be made in a crockpot or electric griddle - like grilled sandwiches. -
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Oh now you're making me hungry. I haven't eaten yet.
If you had the means to do it, What would your new place look like?
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Boy, shy won't be my problem. I love to talk about this stuff! I have always had a dream of opening a restaurant here in Houston that showcased our wonderful diversity here in Sout Eastern Texas. We live close to the Cajun Country of South Western Louisiana. Our Asian influences are as wide ranging and the Far East itself. Germans, Czecks and Polish immigrants settled the Central Texas Area and our Tex-Mex heritage is legend. Through some of the finest bar b que in the country on top of that and you have a palate fro which to draw that makes just choosing the correct menu athe biggest challenge.
I think that the place to start is with the stories. As one weaves the tales of Texas and its migration from wildernes through the Republic of Texas Years to statehood, the menu will form itself.
As an example, did you know that the Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy is really an adaptation of the German dish Rhamschnitzel (Veal scallopes with cream sauce)? You. It was the German settlers adapting their traditional recipes to the matreials at hand that produced our current version. We have some pretty good beer along that line. Since, in the early days of Houston, we were a major rail head for beef moving to the north and overseas, this dish would probably make the list.
There are all kinds of romantic stories and tales that are associated with the foods of this area and the methods and utilsils used to cook them. One day, maybe I'll get the chance to give this a shot. In the meantime, we'll just keep selling the cookware and talking about food!-
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Yes, I DID know about chicken fried steak! Wonderful heritage there - and I think you're right on - stories behind it all make everything taste better
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Okay, What cookware are you selling? Does this mean you would serve beer at your establishment? Walking inside, what does your Texas eatery look like. What is the atmosphere? Would you have an acual storyteller or would the stories be included in the menu or place mats?
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Like to open one as a 50's style diner and even have the curb service. And try to lure hot rodders into the place. Be kinda like a custom car show and good eats together. ;-)-
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The drive-up kind where you sit in your car and order and the server brings it to your car? I miss those spots!
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