Back in LA

Well we have been home for a few months and finally settled into the routine of Los Angeles again. I am back at LA City College and Brett is busy doing the arduous work that achieving a Masters Degree entails. It is my opinion that the best way to proceed is to find a place that resembles what I am trying to do in Philly and get a part time job so I have hands on experience to add to our business plan. Unfortunately there is not much to choose from. The food at Skooby's and Pink's in Hollywood are not what I would serve to people. And the latest news from LA Weekly is that Fab Hot dogs in Reseda is voted best Dog in LA. I guess compared to the rest they might be? Instead I think I will focus on Weeneez Downtown and The Stand in Culver City. I think they might resemble what I have in mind a bit more. Who says a hot dog has to be a greasy, heavy, or cheap experience that keeps on giving hours after you have eaten it. Not me.

The land of 1000 Cheese Steaks

Well we seem to have reached the end of the road. We thought it fitting to sample what Philly has to offer by way of The Cheesesteak. The two places that came up were Geno's and Pat's in The Italian Market area. (The former the "Best cheesesteak in the city", the latter the birthplace of it.) As someone who has sampled many a Cheesesteak in my day I have to say that it's good the place was crawling with tourists. It was fun and campy and for $9 bucks you should be happy to get what you do. Be mindful of the ordering process however as they will tell you very quickly if you order a sandwich or french fries in the wrong manner or at the wrong window. Honestly, neither of us was that impressed, and if that's the "best" Philly has to offer, they'll be clamoring over our menu.

The Italian market itself had some amazing shops that filled the senses as you walk in with cheeses and meats that could rival any found in Italy. Who knew that a Sopresata could sell for $30 a lb? I wanted to try some of the cheeses but as we are on our last day and last dime Brett wouldn't let me. I know I'll be back when we move down here.

We also had a chance to really explore the Wissahickon (over 60 miles of trails!!) on foot (since we sold our bikes) and it was majestic. The streams were full, the trees were green, and the air sweet from the torrential summer rain that came the day before.



We will will miss Philadelphia and for some reason it feels like instead of us going home we are leaving it.
-Ruben

Halal

Just had the best hot dog we have ever tasted in our lives. An all beef frank from a Halal butcher in Center City. (As he explained it to us, Halal is essentially Kosher for Muslims - though that is a simplification).

Regardless, it made for the best frank we've ever had; juicy, crunchy casing, full hearty meat flavor, no aftertaste - and of course, absolutely NO added ingredients like the Dietz & Watson or Vienna Beef dogs we've been finding all over the city.

I'm putting in a call to the butcher in the morning for wholesale pricing info and we're going to talk to him about a discount for using him exclusively as our frank supplier and for putting his shop's name in our menu (yes, it was that good lol). After all the hot dogs we've tried in the past month, finding one that good is worth pursuing.

-Brett

On Pumpkin Pond

We spent the better part of the weekend in upstate New York with my dear friends Tod and Jay at the incredibly secluded, incredibly beautiful country house. It was wonderful to see them again and have real time to relax and talk with them. The beauty of the place, however, must simply be seen to be believed. A major picture post follows.

PS- only one more week here OMG!

Eat at Moe's

Just got back from Moe's. Brett enjoyed it more than I did. Maybe because after 2 hours he still tastes them with each burp. I'm not sure that that's the sign of a good dog. The place was very nice inside. It was spacious, light filled and on a corner that offered plenty of parking for the truckers and construction people that stopped by on their lunch breaks for a quick inexpensive bite.

We tried 3 of their hotdogs. The Chicago, the The South Street and the Fried dog. The Chicago was fresh tasting with tomatoes, pickle, onion, jalapenos, and mustard. The South Street had chili and slaw. And the Fried was a special of theirs lightly fried with a mozzarella stick and slice of bacon on the bun.

The best thing I could say was that the bread was toasted, hearty, and could stand up to the fixins on the dogs. Since they were between $2-$3 dollars it is understandable that the ingredients fared the way they did. All and all it was a fun experience but Philly is still in need of something different as far as I'm concerned.
-Ruben

PS- The place on Olive and 24th formerly called The Dog House has a for rent sign, but apparently only the apartment upstairs. We're looking into it with the realtor.

exploring

Well, we didn't make it down to the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market yesterday because we unintentionally walked half a marathon. We walked up Kelly drive along the Schuykill River (our regular morning exercise) and ended up walking all the way to the Wissahickon River. There was a huge rainstorm here Tuesday night that had it running full and the vegetation was lush. Truly a beautiful walk, but we were so exhausted after that we decided to put off the PRPM.

Along the walk we happened upon the Restaurant Depot. It's kind of like a stand-alone Costco and open to business owners only. Decent prices and plenty of the kinds of restaurant supplies we'll need next year.

We walked back through Fairmount Park and explored some of the beautiful houses hidden away up there.


We explored Germantown as well. There is some amazing architecture up there (evidenced below) but on the whole the area is extremely poor and dilapidated. No way we could live there, let alone open our shop.


Right next door across the bridge Ruben found East Falls again, the area where the governor and Senator Arlen Specter live. Once he makes a governor's salary (or at least once the shop takes off) we may be able to afford it, lol.

We tried to head to Moe's Hot Dog House, the only real competition in town but they close right after lunch. We'll try again today. Pretty interesting menu, but it's way down below Graduate Hospital in a very industrial part of town. I think we'll do fine if we stay up in the Fairmount as we're thinking. (Also, they use only Dietz & Watson dogs, which are way too salty for us. We'll use the more quality ingredients we've been finding at good butchers here and in Lancaster.)

catching up

While since our last post I know. Busy week.

Fishtown was a bust. It may be up and coming, but it's still too small and unpopulated for our tastes. (We also found our from a bartender tonight [they seem to know everything lol] that the folks who used to be moving to Fishtown are now moving to So. Philly.) Oh, well. At least that knocks one more area out. We still have three good areas to focus on, and will check out the nearby 'burbs this week to be sure of them.

We did go to the Amish country and that was very worthwhile. We found a local butcher with some amazing sausage and homemade whipped butter. We also found the most incredible hot dog relish and zucchini relish which Ruben wants to try and recreate himself. THAT will definitely be going on the menu. On top of that we discovered bacon-baked butter beans. These are like no other baked beans anyone in Cali has ever seen. We got the supplier info from a butcher in Cow Town (flea market) and will be seeing about a bulk purchase cost later this week.

This last LONG weekend we stayed in NJ with family. We helped Ruben's mom design, lay, and stain a concrete plinth on which she'll put up a pergola. Lots of work, but it came out really well and she's happy.

Today we went to the Reading Terminal Market in Philly. We found someone who can make any kind of sausage we want. Reuben Dog here we come!



Tomorrow we hit the day early and go down to the docks to find the REAL produce vendors - the ones everyone else gets their stuff from before they resell it. We'll need to get used to getting up at 4AM I suppose, lol.

Have a great week!
-Brett

How to open a restaurant in Philadelphia

We went to a meeting tonight sponsored by the Girard Improvement Corporation on how to open a restaurant in Philadelphia. Obviously, it focused on the Girard corridor - that no man's land where gentrification stopped - but it included a panel of four girard St. restaurant owners. They discussed what they went through opening their first businesses and all the pitfalls they went through.

I'll post more later, but generally the presentation gave us a little new information, and cemented a lot of what we're already thinking; make connections, do a detailed business plan, plan for 18-24 months of negative cash flow, etc. I have a slew of notes I'll put up in detail later on.

On the whole it was informative and very worthwhile. The GIC will also work with us on getting our business in and helping us navigate funding, zoning, etc, and will also refer us to the Fairmount Business District group if we do (as we're thinking) decide to go there.

Busy trip, and so far quite successful.
-Brett

PS- we went to the Ahmish country yesterday; tons of pics and info, and I'll post more tomorrow.

pizza and cheesteaks

That's all there is here. Now this is completely anecdotal, but every single person here that we've told about opening a gourmet hot dog shop has had the same reaction - that's GREAT! They are absolutely in love with the idea and all consistently say that it would work really well here. Ruben pointed out that the only eating establishments here are hoagie shops or fine dining restaurants. Having something simple yet high quality - something that's different, that's an "L.A. attitude" as he puts it, would be welcome here. I think he's right, and even if it isn't strictly business plan material, it certainly confirms that we made the right choice to open up here.
-Brett

Farmers Market

We went down to the 2nd and South St. Farmers Market today and were hugely disappointed. Only about 6 food vendors, and frankly we didn't see anything all that special. We'll try out the Italian Market Farmers Market on Tuesday (weekends are too busy and we want to talk to the vendors if they have good products).

We also walked around Olde City, Society Hill, and South Street. Olde City cool, and full of tourists on a Saturday morning. Society Hill was beautiful, but way too residential for our needs (though Ruben wants a house there lol). South Street reminded us a lot of Melrose - the touristy shopping part of it. I think we can safely knock out all three neighborhoods for our business venture.

It's Saturday, so we're going to rest up this afternoon and go have some fun tonight. We have a full week planned getting details on those neighborhoods (Fairmount, Center City, Gayborhood, Rittenhouse) that we are more seriously considering.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone.
-Brett

University City

Yesterday we rode to University City. What most have told us is that it is not a great neighborhood and that at night the streets surrounding it can get a bit dodgy. We will have to drive down at night but in the day time it was great. There are many old homes that have been converted to housing for Penn and Drexel - both of which I went to and got admission information for. (I liked Drexel better as it seemed to have a more diverse campus than Penn.)


On our way back we stopped at a vacant storefront.It was a tiny Mexican joint that had been empty for 8 months. The lady at the cleaners in front said she would pass along my info to the landlord. Also stopped into New Age Realty across the street to ask about the area and while conversing found that they had just rented the small salon across from the coffee shop in Fairmont we first fell in love with. :( The good news is it was rented for only $850. That's a good rental price for the area, and just the kind of information we'd been looking for. (It's still too early to actually find an available space.) Yet, there are no shortage of available places for the right venture. Most of the people we speak to say they are in need of a shop like the one we are proposing.

And as for looking at the signs: Check out the name on the fence of the Mexican joint. Off to The Foodie Farmers Market in Society Hill.
-Ruben

post 4th wrap up

Hope everyone had a great 4^th of July. We spent several days working at relatives’ homes (yard work) and made a few of our hotdog ideas as a dry run. The toppings came out great as expected. They were very well received and we learned a few things about cooking, type of meat, and the bread. As we were unable to get everything we wanted we are sure that with the right ingredients they will be superb. Brett shot off some fireworks, my mom and Aunt danced in the back yard and our nephew David got into a pool for the first time ever.

It was great.

Also happened upon a place called The New England Hot Dog Company.

It’s a franchise that has some of our ideas but none of the style or quality we plan to bring to the table. I guess for the mini mall in New Jersey it was located at it was sufficient. Got back into town this week and have spent a few days sightseeing, riding the new bikes we bought in New Jersey around town, and getting some much needed R’n’R. Off to Fishtown today.

-Ruben

recipes and the 4th of July

Just a quick note to say that if anyone has any recipe ideas, feel free to put them in the comments. Several folks over at Evernight have done so there and questioned whether we'd be annoyed. We're not! We love new recipes, and plan on having an ever growing menu. (And yes,
Tork, we will work on a Ruben Dog just for you, and a Philly Cheese Steak Dog for you, Sturm.)

Along those lines, Saturday we premiere our first ever Dog House dogs for Ruben's family. We're going to introduce two new recipes for our addition to the 4th of July feast here. Should be a fun way for us to see how people take to our recipes.

Happy 4th, everyone. Eat well and have fun.

I have some fireworks to get ready, lol!
-Brett

Signs everywhere signs

It seems that there have been many signs in the last few months leading us to our present location. Or maybe it's just that since we have a new outlook or direction in our lives that we are more aware and open to signs around us.

Brett was having trouble finding work and my summer session got cut so we decided to take a month to explore. I watched an episode of Barefoot Contessa on the food network a month ago and one of her dishes gave me the inspiration for our spicy Italian dog(more to follow). We found someone to keep our apt in LA the day we put up the ad. And found a decent sublet in the Brewerytown area of Philly within a week. Our first day in Philly we drove past a place that had the tag "Good Dog" on it and that is the catch phrase Brett had dreamed up weeks before. (We couldn't find it again after we finally found a parking space but I think if we are meant to it will come up again.) And realtor told us that the neighborhood we were looking in had a pet store called The Dog House a year ago. This morning I felt the need to go for a run (while Brett lay snoring) and explored Fairmount park to Boat House row by the Schukyll river. It was amazing. On my way back I saw a little bird had somehow manged to get a ballon string wrapped around its neck and he was hanging from a branch. I ripped the string from the branch and as soon as the little bird hit the ground he flew off. And there is a BMW parked in front of our sublet that has a license plate that reads "Que Dog".

Maybe we are supposed to do all the things that the signs are leading us to and open our shop. Maybe it will be a huge dissapointment if it doesn't work out for us. Or maybe we had to come to Philly so we could spend some time growing and I could save that litlle bird. Either way I think the signs are saying we are lucky.

Happy Fourth of July to all. Brett and I will be treating the family to a dry run of some of our dogs and blowing up the fireworks he got today in Northern Liberties with a child's twinkle in his eye.
-Ruben

Well, we're in Philadelphia now, and we're already exploring neighborhoods and getting ideas for good places to open the "House". (First we spent a few days back home in Vineland, NJ with the family and our baby nephews, David and Davion - more on that in other posts).

We must have put in 25 miles in the past two days walking around. Yesterday we explored that Gayborhood in Philly and had and absolutely amazing dinner and couple of beers at Moriarty's. We're seriously considering that neighborhood, as the people are friendly, the food is good already, and there's a built-in clientele given all the other businesses around. Price could be a problem, but hey - we're still just exploring.

Today we walked all through Breweytown and the Fairmount area. (Oy, my feet!) Right across from a funky coffee shop was a small vacant and available mixed-use building (storefront below, apartment above). Turns out a couple of older ladies bought it to run a salon downstairs, but got bored with it. It's on the corner of 26 and Brown.


We stopped by a Prudential and spoke with Andrew Kratz (thanks, Andrew!) to get a rough idea of what we might expect. We have a few printouts and some price points to look at. He ended up walking us around the corner to another mixed use on 24 and Olive.

It's very small, and would take some work to rehab and put a kitchen in, but it looks promising. And get this - there used to be a pet food store in the store front named The Dog House. Feels like the universe is telling us something here.

Finally we walked down Fairmount and the main area while Ruben collected menus from all the local restaurants. He's getting an idea of what local ingredients are most popular and reflect some of the preferred local tastes. Good thinking.

Later this week we'll check out the Food Trust's Headhouse Farmer's Market. "More than 30 foodie-favorite farmers and producers selling local fruits, vegetables, meats, and cheeses." We'll also explore the Italian Market area. We found out from a bartender last night that it's known for its high quality butchers, bakers, and general artisans.
-Brett

A Boy and His Dog

A few years ago I got the idea about opening up a hot dog joint. As a waiter in some of LA's finest restaurants I fell in love with different foods. The kitchens were always a place that I could lose myself in, although I spent most of my time talking up the great menus to the front of the house.

I'm a Puerto Rican from New Jersey that grew up eating Carribean, East Coast fair and learned about the finer foods in LA. Working in Real estate for five years every once in a while I'd run across a commercial place that just screamed at me with possibilities. My TIVO is overflowing with Food Network shows and I could give most of them a run for their money. Never went to cooking school but food is mostly in the heart. When you can express love and feeling through your cooking that's the best raw talent there is.

Last year when a little place on Rowena Ave in Silverlake that had been vacant for so long got rented my stomach turned. And two weeks ago when I saw them setting up little tables I got mad. Anger ususaly translates into action for me and that's why I'm in Philadelphia. My summer session at LACC got canceled because of budget cuts, and Brett has had trouble getting a new job as a Medical Librarian (I love you Boo) so we're here to try something new.

We'll spend the next 4 weeks looking around for the right area and place for me to pour my blood sweat and tears into. Philly is 40 minutes from Jersey where my LARGE extended Puerto Rican family lives and that will come in handy. It's cheaper to live in Philly. They are diverse and welcoming. And even in a recession everyone has a couple of bucks to buy what will be one of the best dogs around.
-Ruben