Summer food fun and drink - Sorry we are on Island time · Friday August 22, 2008 by colin newell
I talk to a lot of employers around Victoria and the Island – food, drink and service employers that is… owners of some of the best cafes, delis and restaurants.
And I ask them: What is the number one challenge when it comes down to staying in business?
Coming through for the customer? Getting out quality product? Getting enough customers?
Nope. None of the above.
Coffee shops closed due to no staff? Brew it at home! Ascaso grinder (shown at left) reviewed over here .
The challenge is the employee. I hear story after story after horror story about the difficulty in acquiring, recruiting and retaining employees… any employees.
Hell, even the bad ones are better than no employees at all.
Examples like: “A friend of mine manages a store in Vancouver in Kitsalano and has shared a number of stories. Most recently there was the girl he had just hired, she went through all the interviews, training etc. then the day before she was to start work calls and tells him that she wants about three weeks off in two weeks, hasn’t even worked a day yet. He said that he couldn’t accomodate this request at this time so she quit before starting work. Then there was the guy he hired who worked two hours, left for a coffee and never returned. Then there are those potential employees who apply, he lines up interviews and they never show, no email no phone call just don’t show up. He called one once and asked if they were coming in for an interview and they said , “no, I am down enjoying the sun at the beach”.
Where is the sense of responsibility?
In the environment that I work in, if you do not allow for “Facebook” or “Internet” time for employees – or allow employees to pack their cell phones and text each other, you are almost setting yourself up for a revolution.
I hate to use the phrase… “Hey, when I was a kid… or a young adult…” But…
Times were not tougher 20 years ago when I started getting into the job market – I think there was an ingrained sense of obligations and responsibilities – not about what’s in it for me!
And now geezers like me in my forties (and the equivalent in women…) are the parents of these slackers. I blame us. I blame us for coddling and spoon feeding, hand-holding and indulging these little over-indulged princesses and princes.
By golly are these kids in for a wake up call one day.
That said…
Who is going to do the dialing!
For the CoffeeCrew Blog, I am Colin Newell… sitting on my duff after a hard days vacation… thinking about stuff…
Summer Food Fun and Drink - Cafe Brio reviewed in Victoria · Sunday August 17, 2008 by colin newell
There are 3 reasons to go to a restaurant like Cafe Brio.
1.) You are entertaining good friends from out of town and need them to feel comfortable short of strapping on your own apron and making them a home cooked meal…
2.) You are entertaining bad friends from out of town and need to placate them as fast as possible before they summon the Mothra and destroy everything you know and love…
3.) You are out with that special someone and you want to be able to turn that special event (It`s the 2nd Tuesday of the month, or Hey, look, it`s raining! or Wow, look how well I loaded the dishwasher!) into a really special event where you both feel relaxed, comfortable and, in all ways, loved.
Cafe Brio is that place – and in a city of 350,000, there are few places that can handle all these critical situations with aplomb and grace.
So Today. Sunday. Was selection number 3. Andrea and I decided that no reason was reason plenty to treat ourselves to one of Victoria`s best restaurants. You know, sometimes the most joy extracted from an event is when the event was planned, like milliseconds earlier… and today was no exception to that rule.
And the moment you walk through the doors at Cafe Brio, and are greeted and seated by owner/partner Greg Hays, you know everything is going to be perfect.
So we ordered a 16 ounce Rib-Eye from the legendary Quist Family Island Farm (Cowichan Valley) and a suitably fat Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon with the frite and garlic aoli. Yes, that is a 16 ounce to share. Medium-rare. And spot on.
And within the first few bites and sips, the stresses melt away. I comment to Andrea that Cafe Brio is like Rick`s Cafe from the movie Casablanca – “What do you mean, there is a War going on out there?” Cafe Brio is the food equivalent of a back rub. As familiar as an old friend and as dependable as gravity. If Cafe Brio does not satiate every food group requirement and emotional need, then there is nothing we can do for you.
Cafe Brio Restaurant is located at 944 Fort St.,Victoria, B.C. – a few short blocks up from Douglas Street and the inner harbor. They advise reservations which you can make at 250-383-0009 or Toll-Free at 1-866-270-5461 – but if it was a day like today; raining gum drops… you can probably walk in at 6 PM and find a wide variety of great tables to pick from.
Epilog – We were sated after Steak and Wine… but to top things off, we had coffee, Crème brûlée and an ounce or so of Calvados
Life is good.
Summer fun food and drink - CBC TV Steven and Chris Show · Saturday August 16, 2008 by colin newell
The best thing about Food and Drink culture in Canada, I think, is sharing it with the ones you love… and sharing it with complete strangers.
And whether it is a TV thing, a radio spot or a newspaper article – I like the exposure that the food and cafe scene gets…
No. Not the exposure that I get… the exposure that the scene gets.
Because trust me, brothers and sisters, the message is much prettier than I am! If anyone recalls my appearance on WTN (The Womens Network) episode of “The Shopping Bags” – Well, they will recall that I was actually more wooden than Jean Claude Van Damme – my TV delivery a cross between a bad action hero, diction more like Horatio from CSI Miami crossed with the peppy patter of William Shatner tossed in to seal the deal.
This is why I am on the web.
Which is not to say that I will turn down a good offer. Because I rarely do.
But I had to pass on a wonderful opportunity to one of my most talented assistants in the last few days. After getting an offer from the producer of the CBC TV’s fabulously successful Steven & Chris Home show – to appear in Toronto next Tuesday – for a taping of one of their shows… about coffee no less, I had to acquiesce… fairly willingly I might add.
Because I have great people in Toronto – one in particular, Sara Lee Spector, the ever effervescent host and roast-mistress at St. Lawrence Markets Every Day Gourmet caffeine hot spot.
Toronto is a city of 5 million. And half of those people line up for her great lattes and cappuccinos at her lower level shop in the historic market on Front Street – Toronto.
And Sara has been in the business for going on 2 decades. So who could possibly know more about Toronto’s cafe culture than her?
Exactly. So I will stay put and plug the heck out of the event. Times and dates to follow!
Summer food fun and drink - enjoying friendships · Friday August 15, 2008 by colin newell
Victoria once had a pretty good cafe called Torrefazione Italia – ostensibly owned by Starbucks in their latter days – starting independently in the eighties or nineties and then getting swallowed up by the green machine in the late nineties.
Starbucks gave them a freehand for quite a while. Alas, some of the Torrefazione outlets became a little too popular for the sensibilities of the Mother-Ship in Seattle. The Portland location (several of them maybe) were very popular with Italian Americans, the signature coffee resonating with this hard-working group of coffee loving folks. And when the ‘Bucks shut the doors on T.I. about 4 years ago, there were some pretty heady protests – some large. Some small.
I was part of the small protest. I bought my cups (shown above). I wished the staff best of luck… and then I cursed Starbucks when they opened one more cookie-cutter location a thin block away from yet-another-Starbucks on the corner of Yates and Government Streets in Victoria… in the place where the beloved Torrefazione used to be.
Torrefazione was a friend, albeit an inanimate one of sorts – but a friend I could count on none the less. For great coffee. Comfortable digs. And feeding the friendships that I had at the time.
Which brings me to my point… about celebrating with the people around you. Your friends. Your close friends. Your new ones… and the old ones.
Never take a friendship or association for granted. It needs to be nurtured. And fed.
It might be just me, but in these times of thriving specialty coffee – and vibrant cafes… friendships, new and old, appear to germinate and blossom in places like these. It could be the caffeine, that catalyzes voluble discussion in combination with the power of sugar and grains – that calm the soul… and feed the mind.
It helps us grow. And be the best people we can be. There for the people that need us… when they need us.
Celebrate a friendship today.
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