Dear Feastlings,
As much as I run around the dining room at Feast, checking on guests and being sociable, and handling this or that major or minor issue in the kitchen, be it produce that arrives substandard (if it arrives at all,) a staffing problem, or a figurative or literal fire to put out, and as much as it appears that I’m happy, or at least comfortable, doing it, if you’ve read any handful of these missives, you know that I’m at best an introvert who rolls up his sleeves and sets to make himself an extrovert for a day at a time.
I didn’t write yesterday, and I’m writing fairly late in the day today because the past two days were kicked off with a cough so deep in my chest that I thought I should make an appointment with a chiropodist. Out came the test, and sure enough, Covid has sidelined me, mercifully as one of our staff returned from his own bout with Covid yesterday and another one returns tomorrow, but meanwhile, if I don’t pause to thank Aly, our chef de cuisine, for hitting the ground running all day yesterday and today, then I’m an ingrate. And I hope I’m not.
She is, as the saying goes, kicking ass and taking names, and deserves a leotard and a cape. And a day off.
As for me, I’m doing the absentee chef/owner thing- I ran through the new menu items with the crew by Zoom yesterday, so they should be able to answer what questions you have, and I secured huitlacoche, which arrives tomorrow, I hope, and posted the wine tasting for this Saturday
and the Bastille Day menu that we’ll be offering on the 14th
and put some remote work in on the Last Sunday tasting, a prelude to Ferragosto, the same way this Saturday’s tasting is a prelude to Bastille Day.
Ultimately, though, I’ve been swaddled in covers keeping me alternately too hot and not warm enough, and drinking tea to excess- my recommendation: Golden Peacock from Seven Cups on 6th St. And I’ve been living my dream: peaceful solitude. Thanks, Covid.
Mercifully, we got all the new menu stuff resolved two days before my sudden takedown, and equally mercifully, my symptoms are mild. That said, please know that an hours and a half of Zoom meeting, texting and emails yesterday nearly did me in, so please don’t feel an obligation to reply or send sympathies that I’ll only feel compelled to reply to. I, like the huge majority of people who’ve experienced this most recent version of Omicron, am mostly just feeling like I’ve gotten the worst cold I’ve gotten in years, but feel confident that I’ll survive and be back to work, with any luck, on Saturday. In the meantime, with so many other restaurants shut down for a week or two, I recommend a visit to Feast, where you can avail yourselves of some stuffed squash blossoms, or a slice of lemon chocolate upside-down cake, or a peach and tomato salad.
https://www.eatatfeast.com/dining/menus/lunch-dinner/
Come visit us; with me in absentia, morale is at an all-time high, and the food and service will be a delight.
Love,
Doug