Owning and running a restaurant is more than a full-time job. Ask Mr. Rauschkolb. He has more than one. When you delegate most of the the responsibilities out to under-trained, unprofessional, continually changing staff there are going to be problems. You HAVE TO INSIST on excellence or most of the time you will not get it. I worked for Dave and Scott many years ago when Irv Miller ( now at Jackson's in Pensacola) was in the kitchen and believe me those guys were on top of everything. Almost to the point of annoyance and sometimes it was very unpleasant, but I understood it was their way or the highway. You did what you were told, when you were told, and how you were told. Period. And look what has happened through the years, SUCCESS. There are some restaurateurs who need to lose the grand, romantic idea of owning a restaurant and actually go run it themselves or at least hire competent people to do it for them. I get real tired of the "I didn't know" excuse from that crowd. Knowing is part of the trick of having a good restaurant.
PS I enjoyed my time at Bud&Alley's. Dave, Scott, and Irv were great. Bad Byron (Mr. Buttrub), John Jacob (Vin'tij), Scott Q were in the kitchen. Sometimes my first 15 minutes of work would be in the herb garden snipping, plucking, pulling ingredients for the evening. It was usually the only peace you got for the next 8 hours.
Can't wait!
