[Culverin]

I'm just throwing this out there.
I've had kicking this idea kicking around in my head for a while.

Was thinking of opening up my basement to some home cooked meals.
The meals would be pretty simple, I make food, you will probably eat alongside myself, maybe some of my friends and some random strangers.

It would be a relaxed casual atmosphere, I'm not really serving people so much as buying the ingredients and cooking. You would probably end up scooping up your own portion of potatoes or veg or whatever, grabbing your own water too.


Hypothetically speaking, would $15/plate or head or whatever sound reasonable?
Obviously no tax or tips or anything like that.

I would probably stock beer and might want a small profit on it, but that would be extra.



If I was doing prime rib or duck confit or something more uppity, I would probably bump it up to a $20 bill.



Let me know, just kind of curious. Are people creeped out eating food from some guy's basement who isn't food safe certified? Does the prospect of paying to scoop your own veggies and starch turn you off?

[subordinate]

your creations are awesome and look great, but to make the effort to go to some dude's basement and serve myself is not something I would go make my way for.

at 20/plate for something uppity, the price point is stretching it IMO: atmosphere, self-service, et cetera.

[Jermyzy]

Sounds like Chef Todd's Apartment 12B. But $15-20/head sounds more than reasonable after seeing the stuff you've made

[Vansterdam]

:fuckyea:

i want your ribwich and fried chicken

throw in prime rib or beef wellington

EPIC MEAL TIMES @ CULVERINS

[Manic!]

underground restaurants like what you are planning are becoming real popular. I think it's great idea.

[firebird79_00]

Sounds a little weird to me anyway, but others sound like its a great idea. You would need proper licensing if you were going to do it like that and espesially if you wanted to serve alcholol you would need your serving it right.

[TOS'd]

Sounds a little weird to me anyway, but others sound like its a great idea. You would need proper licensing if you were going to do it like that and espesially if you wanted to serve alcholol you would need your serving it right.

You can think of it as him inviting some "friends" over for dinner and in return for food they are just pitching in money to cover some costs. I think that is how other underground restaurants operate.

[Yuffa]

I've been to one of these "Home-served" place who can serve 2 full Chinese style banquet inside his house. Excellent food better than most full-size Chinese restaurants in Vancouver. He actually ended up moving to a bigger house so he can host more people.

I think the most important thing is to screen your guests. Start with just people you know and their friends. Start small and if everything works out it would do great by just word of mouth.

Good luck! =D

[dlo]

:fuckyea:

i want your ribwich and fried chicken

throw in prime rib or beef wellington

EPIC MEAL TIMES @ CULVERINS

epic meal time with some epic blaze?? :D:alonehappy:

[jaemc]

^ im down.

Seen pics of dishes that you've made and they look delish.
Make it happen!

[Manic!]

Double post.

[Manic!]

Sounds a little weird to me anyway, but others sound like its a great idea. You would need proper licensing if you were going to do it like that and espesially if you wanted to serve alcholol you would need your serving it right.


Underground restaurants are illegal and that's part of the appeal.

I would not serve alcohol but let people BYO. The government is very strict on serving alcohol.


This one is run out of a condo:

VANCOUVER: Chef Alex Mok underground supper club « are you gonna eat that? (http://ugonnaeatthat.com/2011/06/04/vancouver-chef-alex-mok-underground-supper-club/)

List of a ones in Vancouver
http://www.saltshaker.net/underground-dining-scene

[6793026]

I know Alex from back in the day, he's often on the radio etc. Enough said, I'm sure you can google. FYI, number 1, it's underground and it's illegal. there was a place in richmond where the house was burnt down and what happens? sorry, out of luck, not part of insurance since you ran a business from it ( how will they know? Well, police and the fire station will come and interview the withness and they aint' going to lie).

Doing it as a JOB versus doing it for fun is totally different thing.
1) you need food safe, you need a decent oven / range / etc that's fit for a restaurant
2) your food needs to be done well and it has to be "worth" it.
3) you have to constantly change up your menu. No one is going to come back every 3 months for the same thing
4) you are planning at 5 course meal, for 8 people, you're going to be using over 100 plates and utensils, that's a huge investment and you'll need someone to help you clean. That's a lot of work if you're doing it yourself. (what about an assistant?, sure but that's $$$)
5) You won't break even if you're doing 15 dollars per head. People are expecting something that's not just a steak and some smooth mash potatoes, it has to be something that's they have not tried before and you have to carry it out all the way from 1st to last course. You might be amazing for main course, but you need to have just a solid of a background for dessert etc.

I've done it before and it's a lot of work. Good luck!

[bcrdukes]

My suggestion:

Invite friends only. Close friends. Not the chump you met last week through a friend. Not the hot blond you met two months ago at a conference. Not the professor you keep in touch with from 2nd year.

My friends and I do this on a regular basis but we only stick to our close group of friends. The last thing you want is unwanted attention. Somebody from the Strata thought we were running an underground kitchen and things got ugly. Any way, every time we did something like this, we all split the bill amongst ourselves and a few extra bucks to the host. We're mature adults so money is never really an issue.

[Culverin]

Well, good point about the legalities of it all.
I should probably just limit it to friends + guests.
I mostly wanted to check if the price point for the kind of atmosphere was even acceptable.


As for help, my bro is on board. He's just as passionate about food as I am, almost all the pictures I've posted are joint projects, not mine alone. We wanted to do something together as fun and practice.

Good point about BC and the liquor licenses. Probably a BYOB would work much better without getting me into all sorts of trouble.


6793026,
I wasn't going to turn this into work, not even a weekly thing. It's just purely for my amusement. It's like if I'm roasting a chicken, why not throw 2 or 3 in my oven (it is a commercial oven after all) and see who wants dinner. Ditto with things like ramen. Making a small batch and a large batch is really just about the same amount of labor.



Yuffa,
Any info on that home cooked chinese meal? That sounds epic.

[hamsup]

I found the food at ambiance of chef Todd to be overrated. Yes it was a great idea and step away from the norm but I would not go back..

[freakshow]

I found the food at ambiance of chef Todd to be overrated. Yes it was a great idea and step away from the norm but I would not go back..
I feel exactly the same. Went to 12B with a friend who said it was highly recommended to her. It was ok, but I wouldn't go back.

[OTG-ZR2]

My friend had a pig roast this summer. Charged $20-$25 a head, set menu, came with a alcoholic beverage. Hes been doing these quite regularly too, found a good niche in the market as all his events sell out.

Latest one: Alice in wonderland meets fine dining (underground culinary event)

$129 gets you: 5 course Prix Fixe menu + Entertainment + A Cocktail + BYO Wine/Beer.

[K-Dub]

My friend had a pig roast this summer. Charged $20-$25 a head, set menu, came with a alcoholic beverage. Hes been doing these quite regularly too, found a good niche in the market as all his events sell out.

Latest one: Alice in wonderland meets fine dining (underground culinary event)

$129 gets you: 5 course Prix Fixe menu + Entertainment + A Cocktail + BYO Wine/Beer.
:) Swallowtail huh.

[unit]

$129 per head? dear lord

[bcrdukes]

$129 per head? dear lord

Why aren't we doing this @ our T-Cafe meets? :rofl:

[Culverin]

What am I missing out on?
:alone:



Anyways, in the midst of making tonkotusu ramen stock... After I'm happy with the stock, I'll invite over some friends and some church buddies and see what they think.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Q7mswqUjm5s/TstmxsGgPbI/AAAAAAAAEVM/9oFGyf6GA3o/s1152/2011-11-21%25252021.29.50.jpg


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-9Tt7qfXN_pQ/Tstm3QNgu4I/AAAAAAAAEVk/tDu1pTrHQ2M/s1152/2011-11-21%25252021.40.43.jpg


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ZJxuHfYtisg/Tstm5IPR2AI/AAAAAAAAEVs/DzkZ_8DDRgo/s1152/2011-11-21%25252022.18.42.jpg

[sonick]

^ Nice Mise en place porn. Are you gonna make your own alkaline noodles as well?

[OTG-ZR2]

:) Swallowtail huh.

Of course you would know.

[ShadowBun]

dam.
looks real good too :T

[Culverin]

^ Nice Mise en place porn. Are you gonna make your own alkaline noodles as well?

Not yet, still learning to make the soup. Santouka has me trounced by a long shot. Without miso, I find mine a bit too one dimensional.

[Vale46Rossi]

That sounds spectacular! Good Luck!

Would love to hear updates on this :D

[xilley]

still think its fucking weird..

[Culverin]

I still think it's weird too.
But whatever, test run with some friends of friends...
Facilities and amenities not up to snuff, so payment is only a 6-pack.

If I'm not too swamped, maybe I'll have some time to take some photos.

[K-Dub]

ramen. when.

[Obsideon]

Sounds like a neat idea! I would be in if I'm invited :alone:

I've also been to Apt12B ... totally thought it was over-rated and way too pricey for what it was worth.

[Senna4ever]

I do it all the time with my friends, but I just make the food, and we split the costs. I never make a profit. As an ex-sushi chef, all I make is sushi though. :p

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/Senna4ever/Photos%20II/IMG_7893-Edit.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/Senna4ever/Photos%20II/IMG_7894-Edit.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/Senna4ever/Forum%20crap/IMG_7890.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/Senna4ever/Photos%20II/IMG_7917.jpg

[ShadowBun]

^
can we be friend? :badpokerface:

[LSF22]

^ +1

wish I knew you guys :alone:

[Santofu]

Can you teach a felllow cook to learn everything about sushi? :alone:

Just curious, why did you gave up your sushi job?

[Senna4ever]

Just curious, why did you gave up your sushi job?
I got burned out - I worked in the Japanese restaurant industry for close to 18 years (started when I was 16 as a dishwasher) and a professional sushi chef for over 14 years. Working 12-14 hours a day gets to you after a while. As I was the head chef of an extremely busy small restaurant in Yaletown for the last few years, I had an immense amount of responsibility on my shoulders. I have major OCD when it comes to small details, so I took on the majority of the prep work for the sushi bar as my responsibility - sometimes I wouldn't take my lunch break. I would work from 10am to 11pm non-stop in the busy summer season. Of course, I was compensated well, but I just needed to do something different.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the work - I enjoyed talking to the customers at the bar, and I would like to think they enjoyed talking to me, too. How many Japanese restaurants have sushi chefs who are fluent in both Japanese and English? The one perk about working in Yaletown was that I got to meet and talk to a lot of celebrities. I've had conversations with (some of whom became regulars) Kelly Osbourne, Cheech Marin, Robin Williams, Kelly Hu (absolutely gorgeous inside & out!), Mike Reno (vocalist for Loverboy), Raffi (who I became friends with), Jon McGinley (Dr. Cox on Scrubs), Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (photo below), and others that I can't remember now.

I also served Umberto Menghi (Il Giardino), Michel Jacob (Le Crocodile), Emad Yacoub (Glowbal Group) & Rob Feenie (kinda freaked me out when he sat right in front of me). Umberto was amazing....I have lots of stories about him!

Many of the Canucks players were also regular customers. Linden, Bertuzzi, Ohlund, Ruutu, the Sedin twins, Brashear all came on a regular basis to eat in or take out. Donald Brashear would come in by himself for dinner and we'd chat for about 2 hours shooting the shit...as I am not a hockey fan, I never once talked about hockey, and I have a feeling he appreciated that...he was the nicest person - he had a very soft, quiet voice. Henrik Sedin was probably the Canuck I saw the most, besides Linden - an amazingly down to earth guy - I still have his cell phone# somewhere. No! It's written on a piece of paper, not in my phone, or in any digital form, so don't try hacking my devices! Lol...

The players would always come in for lunch after a home game and the bunch of them would order sushi, which always made me nervous, because if I somehow managed to fuck up and give them food poisoning, I would get murdered by some over zealous fans! I would make sure to always give them the best cuts and freshest pieces. Remember the Sedin twins had food poisoning during the playoffs a few years ago? I was shitting bricks because there was a possibility that it could have been me, as I last saw them a few days before the news broke. Thank god it wasn't me! Henrik assured me that it was not us!

So...yeah, there you have it in a nutshell. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/Senna4ever/Photos%20II/119-1947_IMG.jpg

[ecchiecchi]

I would say go for it. You'll find that there's a lot that won't go right the first time, but if you keep at it you'll eventually figure things out.

And why not? The best way to improve your cooking is to get some outside opinion.

Weird ideas are sometimes great ideas.

[Laundry]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/Senna4ever/Photos%20II/119-1947_IMG.jpg

Sounds like a blast.


One question, why is his shirt off?

[ShadowBun]

lol

[LSF22]

Facial expression reminds me of:

Rampage Jackson Dry Humps Reporter - YouTube

[freakshow]

I do it all the time with my friends, but I just make the food, and we split the costs. I never make a profit. As an ex-sushi chef, all I make is sushi though. :pLooks awesome! My wife is an ex fine-dining chef (diva, cannery, ciopinnos, thomas haas, tapenade).. maybe we can make you dinner if you make us dinner!

[skyxx]

The one perk about working in Yaletown was that I got to meet and talk to a lot of celebrities. I've had conversations with (some of whom became regulars) Kelly Osbourne, Cheech Marin, Robin Williams, Kelly Hu (absolutely gorgeous inside & out!), Mike Reno (vocalist for Loverboy), Raffi (who I became friends with), Jon McGinley (Dr. Cox on Scrubs), Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (photo below), and others that I can't remember now.

INSIDE and out eh?!?! :pokerface:

[sonick]

One question, why is his shirt off?

LOL I was curious about this too.

[Phozy]

Facial expression reminds me of:

Rampage Jackson Dry Humps Reporter - YouTube (http://youtu.be/kYmYA4ZPsIM)

that is fucking weird...

[saucywoman]

^
can we be friend? :badpokerface:

Yeah, will you make me sushi :D lol
Posted via RS Mobile (http://www.revscene.net/forums/announcement.php?a=228)

[Senna4ever]

One question, why is his shirt off?
Beats me. He took his shirt off when we asked him to take a picture with us. Haha...

As for the dry humping, I guess he like to dry hump women! He was vigorously dry humping her, and she was enjoying every minute of it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/Senna4ever/Forum%20crap/119-1949_IMG.jpg

[Obsideon]

Rampage is one weird fella haha ... actually I've met quite a few MMA fighters, a lot of them are sort of ... different, no offense but they must get hit in the head ... a lot :pokerface:
I know what you mean grinding it out at the restaurant for 12-14 hour days ... it's still fun to see and talk to customers though :)

Back on topic, those pics of the food you make at home looks great! What are you doing now? Just relaxing?... I'm pretty sure it's well deserved :awwyeah:

[Culverin]

Senna, that looks freaking awesome!
Between you and freakshow's wife, it's time for the pros to come out and play.

I'd really like to see more of what you guys play with at home.


So i fed some people random people ramen, worked out ok i guess?
Also did a pair of 3 course dinner on some friends as practice.
Maybe I'll have some more people over after the new year.

Thinking duck confit for one meal and prime rib for another.
Went through a lot of ramen stock, next time, it will be another batch from scratch.
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