There it is… the first pizza produced in our own oven! Also good news, The Doyon oven that we are using cooked this pizza to perfection in about three minutes. My goal has always been to deliver your meal in seven minutes or less. It does look like we will be able to do it. Once we get working like a well oiled machine, of course.

Yesterday my consultant chef, Stuart Bettridge of The Fifteen Group was here for the day. He and Chef Ryan Moore prepared each of the menu items. Sometimes two or three times. We are very, very close to being completed. There are a couple of tweaks to be made here and there but it is 90% complete. I prefer that the complaint be, “That had too much seasoning” as opposed to, “That was kind of ho-hum.” With that in mind, a couple of the dishes need more zip.

I am proud of our menu. I believe we will be offering panini and pizzas that are original and remarkable.

Although I am the cook in my family I am far from an expert. Often, when people learn I am opening a restaurant they ask, “Are you a cook?” No. I am not. But like many parts of this adventure, I am smart enough to hire people much smarter than I am to do what they do best. Chefs, designers, architects, etc.

An early version of the Fresh Greens Salad - oven dried tomatoes.

A couple of the standout items for me yesterday –

Zooma Zooma (beef panini) — Beef outside round, tomatoes, red onion jam, arugula, horseradish rosemary cream, and cheddar cheese.

It was freaking fantastic.

Swing swing swing (salmon panini) — Smoked salmon, spinach, pickled red onions, capers, and dill cream cheese.

A fairly standard salmon based offering but the execution was outstanding.