A Few Answers..

Hoping for an opening of March 25....a few weeks later then planned.
Yes, we will honor all valid "bula" gift certificates sold prior to January.
Yes, I did the 07 NYC Marathon...4:56, but vow for a 3:30 next Nov.
50 Beers? Really?.....NO, 61 beers, really!
Yes, I will autograph your copy of the book Frank.
Yes, we have a website www.saltgastropub.com but it is currently under construction
so all you see is the home page. It should be functioning in the next few weeks.
Salt is at 109 rt 206 S. Across the street from the Shop-rite Plaza in Byram.
Yes, the salt lamps will be available at Salt, stay tuned.
No, a salt lamp is NOTHING like a salt-lick.
No, Bigfoot does not live under the man-hole cover in the dining room Mike.
I am a CIA (Culinary Institute of America) grad. Tony is a Johnson & Wales grad.
yankees - Mets.....Mets
Our phone # is 973.347.SALT (7258)
We are the FIRST gastropub in NJ.
Yes, we will have live music. Starting in May.
b.

My most expensive Starbucks ever..or..shitty waste of time!

This morning Tony, Jeremiah and myself left at 11:30 to head into the city to another auction. We drove the hour or so it takes to get into Manhattan, spent another half hour driving in circles in Mid-town lunch time traffic trying to find a place to park, and ended up having to park in a lot anyway, a lot which charged me 26.00 for up to 10 hours and an additional 10.00 for an oversized car. This was after spending the 8.00 it now costs for the honor of being able to drive into the city, and the 25.00 in gas that my "oversized car uses to get me into the city. So let's see this is now what, like hmm, 69.00 frickin dollars. Ok but it will all be worth it in the end, you know with finding everything we are looking for at the auction and what not. So after parking we walk the 8 or so blocks to the restaurant. When we get there, we walk in, take a quick look around and realize the place is full of just absolute SHIT! Broken, dirty, old, greasy, SHIT!! What a drag. So needless to say we spend literally 1 minute and 10 seconds in the place before turning around and leaving. Fortunately on the corner was a Starbucks, so I grab a large redeye for 4.00 and head back to the parking garage, which by now has been about 10 minutes since we left. We get back to the garage, which by the way has not even moved my car from where we had left it when we dropped it off, pay the 36.00 and head on back to Byram. So my point of this is that that was the most expensive cup of coffee I have ever had......which was 73.00 and the 3 1/2 hours of my time. Just another day in the life of SALT.
b.

Happenings..

Did another auction on Monday and Tuesday in Manhattan at the Famous "Evelyn Lounge" on 78th and Columbus. Picked up a few neat things as well as two convection ovens. Unfortunately for Tony and I the ovens weigh about 195,000 lbs. and they happened to be in a below ground kitchen (use your imagination). So not only that, but the truck I rented to go into the city and pick up the stuff, well, it had a hydrolic lift, one that unfortunately did not work. So after humping them up a flight of stairs we also had to lift them another 4ft to get them into the truck.(I forgot to mention that it was also pouring out as well) Fun. A big "Thank-You" to all of those who were there on the other end though to help us unload the truck and actually get the 2 - 195,000 ovens up a flight of stairs (deck stairs) and into the salt kitchen. Thats you Chris, Jim, Erion, Bernie, Dave, Nick, and Jeremiah.
Today was a day of organizing the restaurant, trying to make sense of everything and finding everything its place. The ceiling in the bar area is just about done. Women's room is 90% there with the men's room getting started tomm.
Today was also a meeting with the NJ Herald who wants to do a story on "NJ's first Gastropub", and trying to help us explain what exactly that is. I think it went well. They sat with Laurie and I as well as Tony, Jennifer, and Erion -"The Dream Team" and allowed to us expalin exactly what we are.
We also met with our "wine consultant" and liquor distributor Robert Hannemann who is helping us put together our wine and beer menu (by the way, we will be having 61 beers offered, from all styles as well as about 25 wines). Bob has really been a tremendous help and we are really excited about the menus we have put together.
Tomorrow its back into the city again for Tony and I, looking for those last few items we want for the kitchen. Then its back to Salt to finish up some moving of some equipment into the kitchen, and then.....
it never ends..
stay tuned..
b.

"RESEARCH TRIP"-the Novel

OK, we're back from a long weekend of research and hard work. We will share with you our greuling adventure which you can also follow along with a picture by picture guide.(working your way from the bottom up you can follow our adventure) I must warn you, this was long and arduous, but we figured we had to do it in the name of research for our new restaurant. (We also figured it will be our last hoo-rah for quite some time once we get this thing running.) So here goes....
Saturday started out by heading uptown to pick up my racing number for a race I was running Sunday morning. From there we headed over to see a chef/owner friend of mine on the Upper East Side, no luck, he was off..on a Saturday, go figure. Now the journey begins. We get downtown about 3 ish, get our stuff into the apartment and right away head for coffee. "Think Coffee" on Mercer St. Knowing its going to be a busy evening I go for the large black coffee "double red eye"(2 shots of espresso). Now we are off and running. Over to The Spotted Pig on 11th st. and Greenwich (just around the corner from home) to see if we can get in for an early dinner. Well, that would be fine, as long as we did'nt mind waiting 1 1/2 hours and order from a limited menu (4 items, one of which was blood pudding) Yea right! away we go. We head over to Soho to see if we can score a table at Balthazar, a friend of mine from Le Cirque days is the chef there. No go! Fully booked unless we wanted to wait at the bar for a seat there and only order from the raw bar. (Did I mention my friend is the chef there? Oh yea, but Laurie thought it would be a terrible bother to speak with him on a Sat evening at 4:30, did I mention he was a friend of mine?) Back out onto the street....and time for another coffee....Starbucks, and another large "redeye", just a single this time (I do have to get up early for a race in the morning). We do a bunch of window shopping in the village, cruise around some old stomping grounds, check out how gentrified the old neighborhood has gotten and then hoof it back over to The Spotted Pig to try our luck again. Now its about 6:30 or so and the guy at the door, with a real asshole attitude told us it would be about 2 hours. Needless to say we went on our way again. In our wandering we stumbled across a place I had been reading alot about on the internet, a place called Bar Fry on Carmine Street, how lucky are we. Lucky for us we hit it just before the dinner crowds started. Food was excellent, there thing is Tempura Fried everything....which we tried. Eggplant, crab, and avacado with about 6 different dipping sauces. I also tried a warm tofu custard, which was different, but good and Laurie had a butternut soup, also good. Then Laurie had a Crab Po-Boy, and I had a Tuna Poke (and half of hers)...really, really good...dessert was home made ice cream and sorbet...blood orange, lychee, and a burnt sugar i/c, they were ok, nothing great, but good. From there we had to head back home to get dressed to head over to the Blue Note jazz club on West 3rd off of 6th. We were invited by a great friend through Bula, Emedin Rivera, who was playing in Ben E. King's band that evening. So off to the Blue Note for a 10:30 set. Got there and the place was packed, sold out shows all week. Thanks to Emedin we were in. What a great show, Laurie and I had no idea of the songs this guy had in his catalog, every song the guy did was a huge hit, not only that, he was also inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame not to long ago...go figure, we had no idea. Anyway, like I said, it was a great show and it was great to see Emedin. NOW....12:30 and we were starting to feel a bit hungry again and Laurie wanted a glass of wine, so once again...off to The Spotted Pig to try to get a late dinner. (Third time has got to be a charm, right?) It was, we got there (asshole was no longer at the door) and were brought right to a table in the upstairs dining room...Packed!! This place is doing something right. We ordered a few appetizers and salads, couple of drinks and we were loving life. Place has a great vibe, real good food, loud as hell, but they pull it off. Our journey to mecca (as far as gastropubs in America go) was fulfilled, and it lived up to its rep. Very good. We are finally headed home around 2-2:30 am. Home in time to set the alarm for 6:30 and try and get a few decent hours of sleep before the alarm sounds for the race. Thats when the starbucks started doing its thing! Needless to say, it was'nt a good sleep. So it was up again at 6:30, shower, dress, and out the door, both of us (Laurie is a real trooper)and head straight for, what else? Dunkin' Donuts! We all know "America runs on Dunkin' Donuts". With my stomach still a bit queezy from all the coffee the night before, and a race ahead of me, and no real bathrooms to speak of, I took mine just "small, and black". Off to the Uptown #1 train to Washington Heights. We were off to meet another friend up at the race and had no luck running into each other, so it was a tiring, lonely race...and I did my personal best! Again, go figure. I ended up finishing 631 out of 3259, so I was real happy! Back downtown to shower, change and do some more research! After getting ourselves back together at the apartment it was out to the street again. This time right across the street to The Magnolia Bakery for some cupcakes to bring home a presents. So we loaded up on cupcakes and headed out to try and find some lunch/brunch. We headed right for McDougal St. to one of the first places Laurie and I went on a date, The Olive Tree Cafe. A real kind of hole in the wall kind of place, but solid food and awesome slate tables you can right on, black and white movies playing on the wall, and great memories. So we ordered up some eggs and roasted red potato, a couple of black coffees (starting to see a trend, or pattern here?) and we were set! Now with a good breakfast down we headed on over to the Lower East Side to see if there was anything interesting in any of the sidewalk junk places, perhaps some cool stuff to hang in Salt! Nothing really there so we hit the Bowery to see if any restaurant supply places were open...sure enough, but the only one open was so over priced I thought Laurie was having seizures when she looked at the prices. Quickly out of there! Down the block to Katz's Deli on Houston, it's now about 1:00, and figure we'll grab a few sandwiches for lunch and head back to the apartment. Not a chance in hell, the line to get a 15 dollar turkey sandwich was insane, another day! We were'nt much hungry at this point anyway so we bounced around the village and back up to Bleecker to grab some Fresh Coffee Beans. Porto Rico (that's how its spelt)Importing Co. at 201 Bleecker. Best coffee beans in Manhattan! We checked out all of the beans and decided on a French Mocha Dark Roast, can't wait to try it! From there it was down to a small book store in the West Village to check out some books on wine and a book I am trying to find on Andy Warhol. Score, on both of them. Laurie got a great book on wines from around the world, and I found just what I was looking for on Warhol, so it was a nice find. Our day is winding down at this point and its time to start thinking about getting home soon. So it was down the street from the apartment again to The White Horse Tavern on Hudson St. Famous for being the last place Dylan Thomas (the writer) had a drink before going home to the Chelsea Hotel to die of alcoholism at the age of 39 (just a little trivia). Anyway, a couple of hearty burgers and we were off. Back to the Magnolia Bakery for some cupcakes for Laurie, then back to the apartment to pack up.

And that was our weekend of research! hope you're still awake!
And hope the pics helped! Stay tuned!
b.

Props to the pros....

I have to get in a big thanks to John Knehr of crossroads construction. Doing an outstanding job all around. John is also responible for hooking us up with Danny who did all of our wood floors, Tim, who did all of our electric work, and Rich our plumber. John's web-site is www.crossroads-construction.com (973) 670.5601, and you can contact us here at Salt for reference.

This afternoon its off to The City for our "research", a trip to "The Spotted Pig"..the mecca of gastropubs in America (lol), the Blue Note for some cool music and who knows from there. If anything exciting happens or strikes us I will surely put it on here to share with our legions of followers ( or just the few of you out there who tune it to see what the idiot has to say today).

comments..

Thank you everyone who has taken a minute to respond....it makes us feel as though at least someone is reading this stuff!! Thanks! The only thing is, we can't respond to peoples questions through the blog. If you have any questions, which we love to get, you can e-mail us at salttoo@yahoo.com ....thanks everyone!
b. (above is a salt-lamp we purchased, over 250 million years old and harvested from the foothills of the Himalayas, soon to be available at salt!)

NJ's First Gastropub

After doing endless web searches and research we are going to claim to be the FIRST gastropub in the state of NJ. If anyone can come up with anything to dispute this we will surely change our stance on that, but for now we are sticking with it! "Salt is the first gastropub in the state of New Jersey"...so what, big stinking deal you may be saying out loud to your computer, or to the person next to you...well to us it is, not sure why, but it is (a big deal)! Next....
The Town of Byram, we can't say enough about working with the town of Byram! It has truely been such a great experience, I wish I could say the same about working with the state (they suck, as you might expect!) Nothing gets done in real time, everything is in some sort of time warp and everyone has the attitude that they want to be the boss, that they control something, that they are just going to make your life as miserable as theirs must be. Byram really has been super friendly and so easy to work with, they actually seem like they are really glad to have us in town...we only wish we could say that of other towns we have tried doing business in. (we have only done business in one other town, but we don't want to name names, lol) So if anyone from the town offices of Byram reads this..."Thank You"! (This is not kissing ass, merely a simple thanks!)
Work getting done..... bathrooms are almost put back together, floors have been laid, ceilings replaced, and all is looking good. Floors have their first of three coats of poly on them in the dining room and are looking just amazing. Kitchen floor(the pic up there) is now in and ready for our equipment to be put into place. Septic plans have been approved and permits have been received. Yes, a septic still has to be put in. "Holy Shit Brad, a septic still has to be put in?" Yes, but we have been assured it will be done within 3 weeks! Again, we will meditate on that one and visualize it being put in...can't hurt right!
Menu items...here are a few things we are working with right now on our menu. Tony and I have been working hard on the menus this week and brought Jeremiah in today to help add to it. A spin on surf and turf, a marinated Hanger Steak with Potato Wrapped Prawns looks like it will make it onto the menu, as well as a dish of Goat Cheese Croquettes with a Raspberry Balsamic Glaze and Poached Pear. We will have a "Flight"(3 mini) of Sliders served with sides of Roasted Tomato Aioli, Chipotle Aioli, Onion Jam, and Aged Cheddar. Steamed Butterfish atop Braised Fennel, Julienne Root Veg, and Chicory with a Fish Consomme'. We are also working on some beer recipes to go along with the 65 beers we will be offering. Yes, 65 beers. 12 draft, and 50 some odd bottles. So, there are just a few menu items that are on the board right now. We have about 40 or 50 so items that we are working with right now (between lunch, dinner and bar menus). So once they are tweaked, slept on, tasted, and worked over a few times we will be wittleing it down to our final menus.
Laurie and I are into NYC again for more "research" this weekend... we were actually invited into the "Blue Note" jazz club as guests of a friend of ours whom is playing there with Ben E. King this week. So we will be spending sat night down in the West Village checking that out, as well as a few restaurants, only to wake up early Sunday morning to do a race up in Washington Heights, then back downtown to meet some friends for brunch. Lots of research this weekend. Then its back to work Sunday evening at Salt. This weeks goals are the fountain in the front foyer, the septic started, the bars last coat of poly, some finishing painting, bathrooms finished, ceiling in bar area finished, kitchen equipment in place, fire suppression system in place and inspected, menus getting into final stages, beer taps being flushed and any other things that might be thrown at us. Stay tuned!
b.

Floors!!

First, I just want to say "Thanks Frank"!!! (not Frank M. from my last post, Frank my "new blog-post best friend")
Dining room floors were started today. Danny, our floor man, was at it bright and early this morning at 8am and ripped right into things. After putting 3 cuts into the floors (which is shop talk for meaning sanding the floor at 3 different angles as not to leave any divots...I know this now because I have become a professional at everything...or at least I can sound like one!) we can see that these floors are going to be beautiful. After 50 some odd years of wear and tear onto these things they are showing their beauty! Check out the pic! We'll have a great mix of hard Canadian red oak on one side of the dining room, and a softer pine flooring on the other. This is because of the one room being added to the building later on. The oak it seems is the original floor to the building which was put up some time in the 1930's. The history lesson to the building will be a whole nuther (?) post unto itself...I am digging up as much info as I can, and would gladly take any from anyone that might have some to share, as well as any stories that anyone may have of the building! You know, like marriage proposals, first dates, celebrations, drunken brawls, lurid affairs, shootings, buried loot on the property (include maps if you can), whatever anyone wants to share. Tommorrow is the trip into the Bowery in NYC to start and pick up the new kitchen equipment, and from the looks of it we're going to have a beautiful day!
b.

Staffing....

Today we pretty much wrapped up the staffing. As far as the kitchen, we welome aboard Jeremiah M., David O., and Frank M.. Frank M. some of you ask, could that mean Frank Martinez? THEE Frank Martinez? The same Frank Martinez who a few years back when you thought you were kind of play fighting with him, and he thought you were doing a "Bula Fight Club" and kicked you in the knee tearing your ACL and sending you into orthoscopic knee surgery? That Frank Martinez? And my answer is "yes" THAT Frank Martinez. We welcome Frank back with open arms (and guarded knees). What can I say, I'm a sucker for hulking, violent, hard working, barking guys from Guam. Welcome back Frank. Jeremiah is joining our crew as our sous chef and brings alot of great ideas, energy,and experience. We're glad to have him as a part of our opening team. David is our new "Young Gun" and is coming in with not alot of kitchen experience but a great attitude and a desire to learn. He'll be joining our crew that came with us from bula, Corry B. (yes, Boyle..mini me) and Nick. All of that will now be under the watchful eye of Salt's chef de cuisine, Anthony Mandeville. Tony was my sous chef for 5 years at bula and is now taking that leap into running the kitchen, allowing me time to run the restaurant and concentrate on YOU, our customers, menus, business, and making sure everyone and everything is running smooth. We have put together what I think is a great team and can't wait to get rollin'.
As far as front of the house (waitstaff, bus-people, bartenders, manager), there we have a fantastic team as well being led by Salt's new manager Jen Hornung. Its already been great working with Jen and are really excited at having her on board. The front of the house starts with our senior employee from bula, Sir Erion Adams, whom not only comes and joins us as our senior employee, but is a good friend as well, so we are totally into having Erion with us. Erion is joined by Ms. April, Ms. Kelly, Corey S., and Rachel M. All bula alum. Add to that mix of a bunch of fresh names and faces that we have hand-picked, put them all under the watchful eye of our resident Hawk...Laurie, and I think we have an awesome team!
Tommorrow's work is...Dining room floors, kitchen floor, fountain, and next coat of poly on the bar!

And now I know by the counter that's posted on this sight that all of you are reading this, I just find it hard to believe that no-one has anything to say...not even a "Hey Brad, your blog sucks, stop wasting your time writing all of this crap that no-one cares about. Why don't you get a life, or spend the time you are wasting by putting up posts on getting your restaurant open." Or "Hey Brad, that blog thing you are doing is so f-ing incredible, why are you wasting time opening a restaurant when you should be writing for a magazine or for tv shows, you are awesome dude, keep it coming, I sit and stare at the computer for hours just hoping that you will put up another post soon." SAY SOMETHING...ANYTHING....LOL
b.

Damn snow.

Snow just seems to put a damper on everything right now. Today we are getting just a little bit closer to the end, or the beginning, depending on how I am viewing it at the moment. I spent the day building out the box for our fountain that will be in the foyer.....and I have to say it is going to be awesome. I may be a little biased but I think everyone will like it. The bar got another sanding and another coat of poly on it, which I think is now coat 9....Here is a pic of how the bar is shaping up. Yesterday Tony and I held interviews for the sous chef (2nd in charge of the kitchen)..or actually I should say "interview" because we actually only met with one person yesterday. The staff is shaping up all around, and we think we are putting together quite a team. We have really got some great people coming on board. Our beer and wine menues are really shaping up as well, and boy, wait til' you see them! They're really interesting, and full of surprises...Thanks for the help Bob!
Kitchen floor goes in on Sunday, thats exciting! Dining room floors get their start on Sunday, and by Tuesday should be like new...that is really something I can't wait to see!! There is also a great find going into the new DR floor, after 7 years of searching for an autentic/old manhole cover, when I was'nt looking, there it was. While dropping off scrap metal at Raimo's in Byram, there it was...my 1907 Morristown manhole cover that will be prominently displayed in the middle of our DR floor. That pic I will post tomm. Thats it for today, time to rest my body while my mind races with menu items, deadlines, appointments, phone calls that need to be returned, endless Home Depot lists, kids social schedules, bank deposits and bank withdrawals, oil deliveries, interviews, interview questions, employee handbook info, the lyrics to "Sweet Caroline"....lyrics to Sweet Caroline???? you ask, that's for another post, and countless other things....Kava-Kava is my answer, if you have'nt tried it, its great stuff, and meditation.....these keep the head straight...

a glimpse into trying to have a meeting..trying

Trying to get Salt opened involves meeting with A LOT of people. Yesterday, we had to squeeze in a meeting with our liquor distributor for 4:30. A sketchy time since it would involve our kids possibly joining us. But not to worry, we have Direct TV at Salt now, so they could just watch tv during the meeting, no problem. Plus, Bridget had dance class and our friend would be driving her. Ok ready to go. Trying to get Bridget off to dance, she suddenly develops a "Stomach Ache" because she didn't want to go because the costume that she has to wear for her dance recital in JUNE is too girly and well, she just doesn't even want to dance anymore. Ok, we finally get her to leave. Get to Salt in the knick of time--Mom, Corry, Mike (corry's friend) and Kai. Dad is waiting with the vendor. Ok, Kai watch TV and quiet please. We start the meeting. Somebody comes to the door--applying for a job. Ok. Phone rings. Phone rings again and again and again. Kai doesn't WANT to watch tv. Ok, out to the back with Corry and Mike to explore the stream. Sit back down. Someone else is at the door. Ok, back to the meeting. Phone rings, it's our friend who took Bridget to dance-- Bridget is "sick." Ok, call the school. She's fine, but weird, she has your house phone with her in case she wanted to call you. What?! Back to the meeting. Corry has come up the stairs (our office is above the restaurant). He is motioning me to come out--looking worried. Kai FELL IN THE STREAM! Needless to say I finally left Brad to conduct the meeting without me. Wrapped Kai in an apron and headed home. Seriously, we could really use a nanny. Another day in the life....

Salt Art!

THANK YOU LORI! Lori D'agostino painted our signature piece to greet everyone as they enter Salt's foyer. PERFECT! 5'x4' arcrylic on canvas

La Dolce Vita....nyc

Today Tony and I hit NYC for yet another auction. A soho landmark La Dolce Vita on the corner of Sullivan & Spring (my old stomping grounds) closed its doors this weekend and we were there to help them. Well kind of, we were there more to help it live on through Salt, in a small way, by picking up some small wares and some great solid wood tables......bringing a little bit of NYC's Village to Byram's. From Spring Street we headed over to the Bowery to look at new equipment for the kitchen. I think we have finally nailed down what exactly we want for the kitchen. So Thursday or Friday it is back to the city to pick out, and pick up our new kitchen equipment. I also just want to say thanks to all of you who have stopped in to say "HI" and to see how things are coming along......that would be you Frank, and Vinnie & Roe, and Jen & Pete, Jim, Jay, Corey and the Boys, Jim & Jan, Spencer & Max, Jill, and anyone else I may have forgotten. Now it is time to go meditate on all that is going on........ More Tomorrow

interviews/working/playing

The past few days have been jam packed with all kinds of fun. The kitchen hood is fully installed, which makes way for the kitchen walls to be finished and the new floor to be put down. The kitchen lights have also all been installed on the ceilings. The bathrooms are in the midst of being ripped apart and put back together. Toilets and vanities were ripped out, new walls and floors will be going in, then new vanities and toilets, some fresh paint, new ceiling, and new lights. Tony and I have gotten the 5th and 6th coats of poly onto the bar, and the 1st and 2nd coats of poly onto all of the dining room tables, all of that this morning and afternoon. The roof was tarred (?) to fill in a few pin holes that were in the roof, so with tommorrows rain should prove how well I did that! The interview process began yesterday. Laurie and Jen (Salt's manager) interviewed 15 - 20 potential waitstaff and bartenders and came away with a lot of future Salt employees. They all seemed to deal well with the quirky Salt interview process which means they will fit right in. Tommorrow brings our way another auction day in Manhattan. This time Tony and I will being making the trip ourselves, so there should not be any stories of odd buys....such as waiter uniforms and what not! We really need to pray for some warm (50* or more) and dry days in the near future so we can get at least a first coat of paint onto the outside of the building...help us and pray to the paint God's!
Tommorrow I will let you know how the auction went!

Full Steam Ahead...

New bar top has been set and stained! Tony and I laid the entire bar on Monday. We used 3/4 inch red oak and it really is amazing. This morning I stained it with a red mahogany oil and it came out beautiful, can't wait to see it with its 5 layers of poly, that I start tomm evening. Pic will be coming soon. The hood is in the process of being installed right now and should be finished by tommorrow night. Next step in the kitchen is to have to new equipment installed. What might move the installation process along a bit quicker would be if I would actually purchase the equipment. I can't seem to pull the trigger on what exact equipment I want in the kitchen...with 2 weeks to opening I guess I should make that decision very soon. This weather has really sucked and put a huge damper on getting anything outside done. We had started pulling and chopping at the landscaping a few weeks ago, then got caught up inside with things, and then the weather crapped out on us. One good thing about the weather...well good and bad. With all of the water I was able to find exactly where the roof was leaking...the bad part is that prior to this weather I did'nt know the roof was leaking! At least now I know and once the water dries a bit I can get on the roof and spread some tar and do some minor repairs. Fortunately they are just small pinholes and can easily be repaired. Tommorrow we move into the bathrooms for complete renovations while the guys finish installing the hood in the kitchen....stay tuned!

NYC research trip (LOL)....

A great break was had to just get away and to see things and get ideas, all in the name of research. Had a great dinner at Perilla restaurant on Jones Street due to the fact that even an 10:30 pm Spotted Pig had over an hour and a half wait. Dinner was fantastic; had some Sauteed Fluke with Root Vegetables and Baby Spinach. Laurie had some Eggplant Canneloni which she enjoyed, and we split an order of Edamame Falafal with a Fresh Cucumber Yogurt Sauce. For dessert we split an order of Meyer Lemon Doughnuts with lemon and chocolate puddings. All was great! We skipped the brunch and just hit coffee at "Porto Rico Importing Co." on Bleeker Street for some fresh brewed "French Mexican Roast" to take home and The NYTimes. From there we hit some small cafe in the West Village and got some Homemade Granola, some Smoked Salmon, and a Bakers Basket of fresh breads and jams...A great Sunday morning. The afternoon we spent at a small specialty Olive Oil importing place and picked up some incredible Tuscan Olive Oil after tasting about 15 different kinds from all over the world. We also picked up a 7 yr old Balsamic/Fig Vinegar, thinking of putting on a new dessert with home-made vanilla ice cream and fresh berries! From there it was off to the world famous "Murray's Cheese Shop". Picked up a nice block of some imported Parmesan Styled cheese from Italy and a couple of incredible sandwiches. Last but not least, and some record shops, shoe stores, and a bookstore later it was off to "Magnolia Bakery" for some cupcakes only to find the line around the corner and down the block....needless to say we skipped cupcakes. Then it was back to the apartment and off to NJ. Great research was had and new ideas are in the head to bring back to Salt. Its back to wearing many hats tommorrow and putting the head down and getting this place up and running...can't wait!

Bad day-Good day

There was not too much to put on here the past couple of days, things were moving along at a snails pace. Though we did stain the ceilings, gut the kitchen and pull up rotted floor boards, finished grouting and misc. other odds and ends it didnt seem like we were getting anywhere. That being said, today was a productive day. Today with the help of many hands we were able to get the first coats of paint onto the dining room walls (they were actually the second first coats since the very first coat looked like hell next to the newly stained ceilings and we had to pick new colors), so I owe thanks to Bernie,Tad, Tony, Jim, Mike, an Chris...as well as my little nephew Christopher who acted as a very good foreman and approved of our paint choices. We also picked out our spots for the track lighting in the bar area as well as the dining room, which by the way I must say look awesome. All of that being said, I think tonight I will be able to sleep a good nights sleep. Actually tonight Laurie and I are spending the night in Manhattan and will be checking out The Spotted Pig down in the West Village for a late dinner and either Perilla, Balthazar, or Prune for brunch tomm. morning, and maybe end the trip with cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery.This is strictly a working overnight, no fun at all, strictly work (yea right). Tomorrow we will be re-surfacing the bar, and hopefully a few other things....Anyway, still working on those pics, hopefully tomorrow. 3 more weeks!

Redemption..

The tile is up. After reading the directions of how to apply paper backed glass tile, I gave it a second go, and as of 12 pm tonight it is still up and looking good. Tommorrow is grouting. Ceiling is moving along at a good clip right now, and looking fantastic. Second coats of paint are on the foyer walls...so we are moving right along now. Direct tv was installed this afternoon, dishwasher was finally disconnected so the last peice of the kitchen can be removed tomm. Permits on the new hood are still pending, but I am told they will be ready very soon.
The big thing today was moving our final things from bula to salt. The office was cleaned out today as well as a few final things. Tommorrow is the closing on bula, so its an exciting chapter as well as sad. It is almost 7 years to the day that bula was opened, and boy what a 7 years it was, Big "Thanks" to all of you who made bula what it was and supporting us, and can't wait to see you all at salt. Menu items are starting to brew in the head....we'll get some teasers on here starting next week. And hope to get those pics up soon...stay tuned

Progressing...

Last evening with the help of Tony, Erion, and my electrician Tim, we were able to take down the old 76er's sign. And what a fiasco, with Erion hanging out on a ladder 20ft in the air with bolt cutters, rope, wire, and a hammer. Somehow the sign did make it to the ground with the help of my truck, without there being any injuries. What a sight it must have been for those passing on rt 206, oh yea, and we were doing this while it was dark out. Pics coming!
Today we were able to get the first of the inside painting started with the help of Tony, April, and Bernie (my Dad). My Dad who just 7 weeks ago had broke his hip while running with me in Central Park and now thinks for some insane reason it is just fine for him to climb a ladder and paint walls. Nothing exciting to report there, thank God.
We were also able to start taking out the old hood in the kitchen to make room for the new one which should be starting next Mon....if the "Permit God" is smiling down on me.
Tomm is also the big day for the second round of trying to hang tile in the bar area, now that I have actually read the instructions for hanging such tile I feel really good about this....if anyone is reading this, please keep me in your thoughts tomm. LOL
Last but not least.......damn, how about that super bowl prediction?

superbowl prediction.....

Giants by 3!!