Friday night, at home & watching a movie

This seems quite like a normal bit of life - no worries about the BR, no urgent work to be done tonight.  We had a great Friday over 100 people served and so many new faces!  A very complimentary article in the Trenton Times this morning and at least 6 groups said they were visiting us for the first time due to the article. 

A visit to Cornercopia has us set up with another local fruit & vege source AND the NJ blueberries are in!  All good stuff!

We have berry pancakes ready for tomorrow and berry crepes in the plan for Sunday.  Somehow I am beginning to feel like the rhythm of the cafe & bakery is gaining consistency and the wonder of working with such great staff has the rhythm gaining strength as well.

All for now, the movie's back!

June may be rainy, mainly sunny inside the BR

So much new and so much learned. Dinner last Friday - 40 + people, many with wine in hand, joined us for dinner. The braised duck leg was very popular as were the different fresh pasta options.
We found a few important items that need to be addressed and so we will ramp up to the 3 nights a week, not rush into it. sorry for any inconvenience this may cause customers and potential customers. It would not be my choice and yet it seems necessary if we are to keep to our standards.

Lunch from Mon on has people coming out and "giving us a try" - so many new visitors this week, I am continually amazed.

A 25 year friend of mine from Manhattan came out on Sunday and I was hard pressed to find 5 minutes for her among all the comings and goings of our great Sunday crowd.

However - Father's Day did not go as smoothly as Mother's Day - the reservations were fairly meager, but these who wanted to eat with us -- a large number. So, lesson learned.

Two very tough customer satisfaction issues this week. One around training of staff and assuring they are up to par BEFORE setting them loose in the dining room. Apologies again to my Princeton Junction ladies!

The other was around cupcakes -- not fresh enough & taken as a gift! Augh!! We are rethinking where the responsibility lies for taking product out of the front if it doesn't sell in its 1-2day life (time is dependent upon product and ingredients.) I think the cupcake issue was exacerbated by the display case being housed on top of the small frig. The frig put out a lot of heat and thus takes moisture out of the cupcakes at a faster rate.
It is an ongoing learning to be sure we offer the best and freshest. We dropped our sticky buns for the time being because they were not lasting even the hours we are open one day. A revised recipe is under development, so they may be back before too long!

All for now. Thanks for your ongoing support and particularly thank you to those who will provide the vital critical feedback on areas where we are not up to standard!

Outdoor seating & dinner

The license for outdoor seating will be available for us to buy on Friday! We will start full waitress service on the porch on Friday, make it lunch to be sure we have license in hand.

Dinner is also approved and we will serve this Friday (a trial opening) from 5pm - 9pm.

This is a sample of what the full menu will be:

Supper @ The Blue Rooster

We encourage you to select just exactly what you want from any part of this menu. Perhaps a few small plates to share along with your bottle of wine, maybe a more substantial dinner – it is our intent to offer you a range of choices in both the fresh foods we offer and in how you like to eat in the evening – a light repast or more - both are available to you here


Small Plates & Tapas
As a meal, as an addition to a dinner, to be shared at the table – you choose

Flatbread sampler: $12.
Olives
Hummus
Cucumber, Dill & Yogurt

French Nibbles sampler: $18.
Pates
Cheeses
Baguette

Smoked Salmon Brushetta $12.

Roasted Mushrooms & String bean salad $9.

Citrus Roasted Asparagus $10.

Vegetable Tian $12.

Fresh cheese salad $12.

Spinach Pizzette $8.
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Dinners
All served with Blue Rooster Greens & our dinner rolls


Braised Duck leg $25.
in wildberry demiglaze with
goat’s cheese galette, & vegetable

Seared, stuffed Chicken breast $23.
served on potato galette with
mushroom ragout & vegetable

House Risotto $18.

Fresh Pasta $18.

Fritatta $14.

Red beans & Rice $11.

Dinner Salad $15.

Bring along your finest wines,
we now have wine glasses & there is no corkage fee @ BR

1st Guest Chef

Monday, tomorrow - June 8th - we will have our first guest chef in-house. Makoto Yoshino, originally from Kobe Japan & now living in Portland Oregon, will be in the kitchen making Japanese curry.
This is a dish in the comfort food category for millions of Japanese. It is not to be confused with Indian curry. Savory, like stew, filled with potatoes, carrots & a medley of mild sauces, locals enjoy it warm over Japanese rice.
Curry was introduced to Japan during the late 1800's and the dish was modified to a milder form than its Indian cousin and made widely available in the 1960s. It is now so widely consumed that it is often called a national dish in Japan.
Monday's selected entree will be the most popular variety - a beef curry served over haiga rice.
Come and enjoy --either a known favorite or a new taste sensation.

Jamesburg Farmers' Market

The entire crew headed over to Jamesburg last evening to meet with Elliot, the head man for the market. We timed the travel, scoped out the likely spot for our tent and did some brainstorming about product mix, ways to handle this venue, etc.
It is a major leap for us and its both exciting and scary. Exciting to have the opportunity to introduce new folks to the BR fare and invite them to visit us here at the shop. Scary because we need to keep our consistent high level of product and service running and it is a different space, away from the "mother ship", and on and on.
Great team of workers will be there and so most all the scary bits will not be a real worry.

If you have thoughts on what we should definitely take to the market or what we definitely should leave at home, please comment here or stop by and let us know.

Weekend dishwasher - here we go again

This weekend we will have a new dishwasher starting. SHE seems well able for the job & we have hope.
So, if you were waiting until Sat or Sun to offer to wash for your breakfast, sorry -- not on offer right now!

And we gained approval for...

Tonight the planning board resolved that the BR may be open for longer hours (this means we will be finalizing the dinner menu asap & we will offer a true evening dinner service.

Details to follow

and they resolved that we may have WAITSTAFF SERVICE ON THE FRONT PORCH!!! 5 TABLES, 10 SEATS ---YEAH & THANK YOU

and they agreed to remove a few "nice to have" items we had thought we'd do before the economy hit, so we breath a sigh of relief about additional spending we do not have to do right now!

Thanks to all who participated!

And what about the dishwasher??

Tues, Wed, Thurs - we are set & couldn't be happier.

Mon & Fri -- we have coverage

Sat & Sun -- our busiest days -- not set, not sure, no answer yet.  

And what will this weekend hold?  TBD  

I now look  back at last Sat's DW and think -- thank you, you got us through that one day and you really did a good job.  I'm sorry it wasn't for you an ongoing "thing" -- so we will go again!

June - month 10!!

We are just coming into the prime days of spring & without the dishwasher dilemma, we would be so on top of our game.  The staffing is coming into its own, great waitstaff, great bussers, great hostess, barista, & the kitchen -- cooks, bakers & all manner of helpers.  It is working, for the most part.

Some days we don't have quite enough in the bakery cases, still.  Some days we run out of baguette lots earlier than we want, and most days we are working with a strong commitment to serving each of you to the very best of our ability.

Your feedback & your multiple visits is so rewarding.  Thank you.

Now we are coming close to opening in the evenings and the menu is just this far from being together -- what it looks like is -- we will have both small plates / tapas & dinners.  Both vegetarian offerings (red beans & rice anyone?) and some great pastas, a daily Thai special & we will do duck regularly.

Just a preview -- more soon. (we hope - this is the week the real work is happening -- each cook is working up a portion of the menu, we will taste, plate, cost & price -- and move along as swiftly as possible to serving it up to you.)