Wednesday, May 25- In the words of our bartender Chad, “Wonderful evening. The rain was hazardous and helpful at the same time. It was a ski lodge mentality in the dining room. Some folks stuck around for an extra round when they might otherwise not have. But when the rain stopped, we got hit all at once.” The dining room may not have had the same buzz during those intense bouts of rain, but it allowed our team to pay a lot of attention to detail and go above and beyond to deliver amazing Lena Brava experiences to our guests.
Notable Guests: Janice Verriechia, Castello di Ama, allowed Christian and Lanie to plan their dinner and Leslie provided the wine pairings, beautiful teamwork. Matt Sherry, friend of Thom Matthias, an incredibly warm and nice man. Wife loves mezcal so Lanie gifted a pairing of Vago Ensamble en Barro with the pineapple aguachile. GM of Swift and Sons. Cat DeOreo, host of Check, Please! who lives in the West Loop and let Lanie know she is looking forward to becoming a Lena regular.
Moment of Zen: Pere Hernandez, of Barcelona, was our last guest of the evening. He brought Mibrasa oven’s magazine, called Chef’s Talk, for the cooks, which featured beautiful photographs of the Mibrasa stoves in Michelin star restaurants, along with corresponding dishes and even the recipes. Pere was excited that we have Mibrasa oven at Lena Brava. He was so excited, he wants photographs for the next Mibrasa magazine of the oven. I kept looking at the magazine, looking at him, and then the kitchen, but I could not see any Mibrasa oven… But I told him, yes, I would love to take the photos. Pere said its best to take the photo in the early days, when the oven is still clean. I was growing increasingly concerned that I could not see the Mibrasa oven. I asked Pere what angle he would photograph the oven at, and he took me all the way to the front revolving door, and said that is the shot. What about for a close-up, I asked him, hoping I would see the Mibrasa oven when he went to frame the shot. We staged several mock photographs of what I thought was the Mibrasa oven (the Grillmaster? the wheel things?) and only later I found out that the Mibrasa oven isn’t even in our restaurant yet. 😀
MVP: Jose, in his first runner shift post-training, not just for doing a solidly great job today, but also for his attitude. We talked after the shift and he acknowledged being excited to learn and serve at this new level. Jose will be hosting a shift this weekend: he is our runner, polisher, server assistant, host, everything guy. We are lucky to have him!
Tom Skilling Says… expect a Hot and Stormy Thursday!
3rdarm.biz 