Colorful details

More color on the way! We're super excited about this seemingly "little thing" but we've finally placed an order for new dishes after weeks of scouring china catalogs, testing factory samples (maybe you've eaten on them!), and narrowing down our choices...so above is a sneak preview of what our new dishes will look like. Along with the new dishes (plates), will also come some new dishes (food), as Tony's working on some new additions to the menu.

Being this is our first restaurant venture, we had limited funds. Being creative and resourceful was about the only way we could get this thing off the ground. A major part of this was the decision to purchase a location that was previously a restaurant. A place that would already have furnishings, equipment and all that little stuff that adds up to buy new. Part of that business purchase included things like the chairs, tables, and the dishes. Sure, they're sturdy. They work, and probably worked for the past two restaurants operating in this location. And, hey, they did help us get our dream off the ground! But they didn't quite fit our vision. The old white plates were lacking the color, class, and whimsy we wanted.

With all the "business of running a business" we have to do on a day to day basis, this is the fun stuff. Unable to choose just one shape, we decided to go with some curved triangular plates, some circles, and some squares...each in various colors that'll pop on the black tables, tie into our decor, and best show-off the food presented on them.

So now that we've been in business for a little while, we're starting to be able to focus more on these little details that help make your meal special, different & memorable. Watch for more fun details popping up this winter as I get in to do more painting & decorating. Who knows, I might even finish the mural this winter. :-)

We will miss you, Chef Gil Gaitan

A beloved teacher and mentor; Tony's favorite professor at Le Cordon Bleu, Chef Gil Gaitan passed away on Monday at the age of 57.

With sadness yesterday, Tony called with the news and reminisced about how Chef Gaitan was in Caribe recently and he was still as passionate as ever about teaching. Always teaching, and loving what he did. He was always joking, and smiling, almost giddy with excitement like a child when he talked about cooking.

Measuring to make a huge batch of gingerbread

Back in 2003/2004 when Tony was attending school, he learned of Chef Gaitan's interest in food art. Tony brought in some pictures of some artsy pumpkins I had carved & airbrushed to share with Chef, who later invited Tony and I to join him on a weekend in December at the school to make some food art of our own: ginger bread houses from scratch.

Assembling the houses

From what I understand, Chef Gaitan came in every year on his days off to make several houses that he would donate at Christmas time. That particular weekend he taught Tony and I how to make and bake the dough for the walls, how to make pulled sugar flowers and candy canes, the icing for holding it all together, and the meringue snow. He sent me home with copies of recipes and templates and I had a blast finishing my ginger bread houses at home.

Chef showing us how to make candy canes

One of my finished houses at home

I remember upon meeting him, thinking it was generous of him (or maybe a little crazy?!) to take so much of his free time to do this each year, making a dozen plus houses to give to charities. But it didn't take me long to notice he was a Christian...in how he acted, and later in how he spoke of Bible studies and his church.

Later in the spring and on another occasion, I joined Chef Gaitan on a weekend day to learn how to make Easter eggs out of sugar–the big, hollowed out kind with a sugary scene inside.

Pressing sugar into the moulds

Chef & I discussing airbrush techniques

Airbrushing the sugar eggs

I brought in my airbrush & we exchanged tips and tricks. He showed us how to make roses and lilies out of frosting (he sure made it look easy!) and other techniques of sugar egg creation and assembly that I was as excited to learn, as he was to teach. Though a couple flowers have broken off since then, I still display my egg each year at Easter.

One of the eggs we made

I was blessed to know Chef Gaitan, even if only through a handful of encounters, but also to know him through Tony, who spoke of him all the time while attending school and often over the years since. There's no doubt he was an integral part of shaping Tony's career in cooking. He will be missed. And he will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Visitation is this evening. More info and obituary.

A Bad Review & A Pleasant Surprise

Tony called me today pretty moved by the gestures of a customer and an employee. A pleasant surprise, to say the least.

The gestures being letters they each wrote in response to a negative review recently published about Caribe. The paper, being The Southside Pride, a South Minneapolis neighborhood newspaper. The article being the words of the "Queen of Cuisine," Carla Waldemar. To Southside Pride's credit, they published both of the letters in response to her review, which is how Tony and I found out about it today. A customer brought in the paper to show Tony.

The customer is Carmen, who we did not know before opening Caribe, but she has since become one of our favorite regulars. She's Puerto Rico born and proud of it. The employee is one of our cooks, Katy, who unknowingly to us, also wrote the editor, not knowing we had just seen the review for the first time last week, also brought to our attention by Carmen, who was outraged.

Here is the review, followed by the letters in response:

Caribe BY CARLA WALDEMAR

The letter to the editor from Carmen

The letter to the editor from Katy

To say we are humbled is an understatement. Not by the article, but by those who stepped up on our behalf, without our knowledge. Your words far outweigh the insulting review and we are truly grateful for your kindness and support.

And as far as the review goes, we're not necessarily concerned with the negativity of it. We can take criticism and try to learn and grow from it. But the writer's decision to take it a step further and personally insult Tony, the waitress (or was it her grandma?), and make claims that weren't even accurate is what bothered us. It seemed her biggest complaint was that the food didn't properly meet her misconstrued expectations of Caribbean cuisine.

Was everything really that bad? And truly, if everything except the dessert and beer was so unacceptable, why didn't she say something at the time and allow Tony or our staff to correct the problem? Really...if we make a mistake, we want you to let us know. If something wasn't cooked properly, that is a problem. But if something wasn't as spicy as you thought it should be, then the problem is not with the food.

Ms. Waldemar, we invite you to return. We really do want you, and everyone who visits, to enjoy their meal. We value your feedback...just refrain from insults.

What's with the Cuban Sandwich lately?

Tony's never been one to follow trends in food. In fact, he tends to avoid them. And we can never really predict how dishes will sell until we throw them out there and see what sticks. Whether it's because Caribe is new or small, or situated where it is, we seem to go through cycles of certain things being popular one week, the next week another thing is selling well and so on. And it's been totally unpredictable, too, with the exception of the Doubles, which are selling like crazy since a recent Citypages article raved about them.

So what's the hot seller lately besides the Doubles? Our Grilled Cuban Sandwich.

A quick search of the history of the Cubano, or Cuban Sandwich, will tell you it's been around for a while. It's popular in southern Florida & Miami where many Cubans have settled. A traditional Cubano is usually made with Cuban bread, pork, ham, cheese & pickle, smashed together in a sandwich press (usually a flat grill, not panini style with ridges) and grilled until heated through.

It wasn't long after we took over Jay's Cafe, just before we changed over to Caribe, when Tony began serving his Grilled Cuban Sandwich, a traditionally prepared Cuban sandwich (his is with roasted pulled pork, smoked ham, Swiss cheese, mustard and pickles on Cuban bread, served with plantain chips and pineapple mango coleslaw).

Shortly after Caribe had officially opened this spring, I heard Latin sounding music over the radio and a commercial for Panera Bread company's Cuban Chicken Panini.

And just the other day, while listening to the radio while driving, what did I hear on the radio? Yet another interlude of latin music leading into a commercial. What's this? A commercial for Subway's new Cuban pulled pork sub.

And suddenly we can't seem to sell enough Cuban sandwiches. They're the "hot" thing now at Caribe. Hmmm...Tony may try to avoid trends, but maybe that's because he'd rather start them?

OK, we're a dinky new restaurant and we can't claim to have started the trend, but it's nice to see his menu items doing well with Minnesotans. And I guess we'll take the free advertising from Subway & Panera, putting it in people's heads, if only subconsciously, to eat a Cuban sandwich. And they are eating them at Caribe. A lot of them.

So let it be known, Caribe served a Cuban sandwich before the big chain places did! And, for that matter, If I'm not mistaken, we are one of only two restaurants in Minnesota who serve Doubles. Keep your eyes peeled....we predict doubles just might start popping up on more MN menus soon.

Authentic Caribbean food. What is it? Should it matter?

If a pimento tree falls in the woods and a chef doesn't use it, would his jerk not be authentic?

Time and time again, Tony and I have had the same discussion about food: does "authentic" matter? Who decides whether or not a dish is authentic? And how does one even define it? Especially Caribbean food, which was born out of so many cultures and varies not only from island to island, but cook to cook. Mind you this is coming from a Caribbean native who cooks and sells Caribbean food.

And who really cares?

Obviously some of you care, as we had a couple folks recently, on separate occasions enlighten us with their wisdom. Yes, they informed us that our food was not, in fact, authentic. We were not "Puerto Rican" enough for one woman, and not "Trinidadian" enough for one guy.

Maybe to alleviate any confusion we should change our name to: "Caribe Caribbean-Inspired Recipes by a Cook Who Doesn't Care if His Creations are Entirely Authentic as Long as they Taste Good Bistro."

Our restaurant does not claim to be authentic Caribbean on our website. And although we do sell some traditional dishes you might find on the dinner table in a typical Puerto Rican home or a traditional sandwich you might find at a Cuban food stand, every recipe has Tony's unique twist to it. He does what he thinks our customers will enjoy, whether or not it's "authentic." Taste is his first priority.

Even though we don't have pimento trees chopped down and imported so the green wood can be used to grill our Jerk Chicken over in an earth pit out back, Tony's version of Jamaican Jerk has gotten some Jamaicans excited. And even though he serves tostones topped with mashed avocado, he continues to get compliments from Puerto Ricans telling him his food tastes like home. Does that make it authentic? Depends on who's mom's cooking we're comparing it to.

Is "authentic" the way a dish was made 200 years ago when it was invented? Or the way it's served today in the country of origin? Ah, but what country did it really originate from? Caribbean cuisine grew out of the influence of several cultures including French, West African, British, American (we brought beans, corn, chili peppers), East Indian (curry), Chinese (rice), Spanish (plantains, fruit trees), Danish, and Portuguese (cod).

I suppose not long ago the islander food snobs of yesteryear complained that the very dishes we speak of today were not authentic at the time. After all, those early "authentic" Caribbean dishes were merely creative concoctions using techniques and ingredients borrowed from other countries, new to them at the time.

History aside, Tony sums it up well, "The only thing that should matter when you go out to eat is if the food tastes good to you. It shouldn't matter if it's authentic. What matters is if you like it."

But what do we know. We're not authentic.

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When has "authentic" mattered to you? Do you have examples of your own?

Don't overthink it - Creativity in the Kitchen.

As the one who's home while Tony's at the restaurant every day, I love hearing about how he runs the kitchen, especially his creative process. Being an artist myself, I can relate in that more often than not, my best ideas are the ones I don't over-think. The ones from my "gut." The creative cooking process is much like that with art. Sometimes the best ideas are the ones done on the fly.

Not all dishes, sauces and sides on our menu were carefully formulated months before we opened Caribe. In fact, some of our most popular items Tony came up with, on a whim, right before we opened. I admit being a little nervous when we'd discuss the (future) Caribe menu and he'd say things like, "I'll come up with something, I'm not worried about it."

Many of you took part in our menu survey we ran months before even finding a location, so you saw some of Tony's ideas early on. But many of the recipes themselves were not at all figured out or even tested! Tony's jerk chicken sandwich that got a great review by CityPages this month, was a sandwich he had never made before we started the restaurant.

When he needed something to serve with our lunch sandwiches, Tony came up with his pineapple mango coleslaw with a hint of cilantro & just the right amount of "kick." It is as popular as the sandwiches.

Pineapple Mango coleslaw served with the BLT and other lunch sandwiches

When the Chicharrones needed a dipping sauce, Tony came up with the jerk barbecue sauce. A unique blend of ingredients that might surprise you. Time and time again we hear from customers how they either want that sauce "on everything" or that we should bottle and sell it.

Chicharrones (chicken drumsticks and wings) with jerk barbecue sauce

And the Caribe Eggs Benedict was an entire dish, not planned until Tony got in the kitchen and thought it up one day. Now our signature breakfast dish and a good seller.

Caribe Eggs Benedict. Poached eggs on roti, sauteed curried spinach, sweet potato,
tomatoes, onions, & chick peas. Topped with Creole hollandaise.

And the creativity will continue as Tony has the staff come up with our omelets of the day and other specials on occasion. It only seems fair to pass along some creative freedom to our staff, as it was the previous cooking jobs where Tony was allowed some creative freedom that helped him grow as a chef.

How about you? Have you come up with some great recipes under pressure or on the fly?

The Chef wants to meet you

It's been about two and a half weeks since opened our doors and I can't tell you what a thrill it is (and relief, considering the mountain of debt we amassed in this crazy venture of ours!) to not only see people coming in day after day, but the same people already coming back with their friends.

Considering these long days, working out the kinks, fine tuning the menu, hiring new cooks, teaching the servers the new menu, serving larger than anticipated crowds with not enough staff, I think Tony and the staff (All of you! You know who you are!) are doing a fantastic job. Is everything perfect? Of course not. We are learning as we go. But when issues arise, we respond, fix it, do better next time. All in all, I keep hearing how people are liking the food and plan to come back and tell their friends. But I don't think it's just the food they're liking.

Tony came home tonight and as if to make a revolutionary discovery, tells me (something I've been saying since day one, thank you very much!), "Ya know, people really like it when I come out and say hi."

I think it's finally sinking in, how much that adds to the dining experience. It's nothing to Tony, he loves to socialize and meet new people. Any of you who know him already know this and are probably smiling and nodding. You know how he is. He is in his element when he can come out and chat with our guests. Even when it's busy, he tries to make rounds in the dining room.

But I was thinking about that more tonight. Trying to think back to all the restaurants Tony and I have eaten at over the years. All of our dating years plus the past 7 years we've been married, and I can honestly say I cannot recall a time when the cook, let alone a chef or owner of a restaurant came to our table to greet us and ask us how our meal was.

Sure, we'd get the occasional manager of a place doing rounds, which is always nice. But there's just something special about the person who prepared and cooked your food (and, in this case, the guy who drove to the bakery to buy that bread and picked up the fresh fish that day) genuinely wanting to say hello, thank you for coming in, and wondering what you thought of your meal. It's nice Tony's finally seeing how much that means to people. Although the social person he is, he'd do it anyway. He's just that kind of guy.

And what you've been giving him back is what's making it a pleasure to be in business. And I don't mean just dollars. The first thing Tony told me when he came home tonight was, "the customers are just so gracious." He's so humbled by all of you. And I get to hear the stories. Since we opened we've had people in from Puerto Rico (and a lady from Ponce, Tony's home town), a couple who drove from Wisconsin just to have dinner at Caribe, a woman who came in and later brought her Jamaican husband in for their anniversary (who loved Tony's Jerk Chicken, by the way. There's no greater compliment than when Caribbean natives approve of the food.). We've had regulars from when it was Jay's Cafe returning. We have people from the neighborhood come in regularly, some several times a week. And even had a local radio personality come in one day, a personal favorite of Tony and me, who's name I won't mention, as he's not one to want to be in the spotlight off-air.

So thank you for all you've given back. It makes our job a pleasure.

Next on my to-do list is an online T-shirt store, since we've had so many requests for the "Caribe" shirts that Tony wears. Watch for that coming soon!