It is one thing to imagine a restaurant. It is quite another to see it come together and, now, be on the verge of opening. Raelene, The Sweet Banzini, has been on board for some months as my business partner and confidant. Chef Ryan…

In considering a name, I considered The Flying Bonzini but Bonzini makes Foosball tables. And I considered The Flying Branzini but that’s a Mediterranean Sea Bass. So I settled on Banzini because we are the first (I think). More interesting is the slogan, “Lofty…

Although this blog has the look of The Flying Banzini website, the webite will include much more information. If we are according to plan, the website will launch on Aug 23 and the restaurant will open on Aug 24. The photo was taken on…

The walk-in fridge/freezer goes in tomorrow. The front facing of the counters is almost in. It’s a black thinstone tile. And, the nice man from Enbridge came back to fix the meter installation. The gas service is being split so that Byward Market News/Toy…

Big Banzini asked me last week if I’d like to take a try at writing something for the blog, so here I am. Phew, it’s been quite a couple of weeks! Starting any new job is always a challenge and not actually having a…

I realize I talk more about the experience of The Flying Banzini than I do about the food. This is because of where we are in the process. Getting close to opening but… there is no food. There is only construction. Lots and lots…

After yesterday’s post about the Corten Steel, I thought to repost the mock-up that we are working towards. It will not be quite like the photo above as, for instance, we are not permitted to sign the awning but this is the look we…

The façade is on the restaurant, sans the door and a small strip of flashing along the top. We are using Corten Steel, which is intended to rust. Wikipedia describes it thusly: Weathering steel, best-known under the trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without…

Well, I’m kidding. I need architects and designers. But… not for my amazing Brass Voice Pipe design. The diagram above is the design I submitted to Ottawa Brass for the construction of my voice pipe. The guys at Ottawa Brass tinkered with it and…