Austin Cantina

A year ago today

Wow, what changes in a year...
We got the front door keys to 5809 24th av NW on 7/15/07, we've been here for a year.

A year ago I was paying all of my bills on time, now I try to pay most of the restaurant bills on time, and most of my personal bills before before service gets cut off.

A year ago I had time for my family, time to get out of town for a day or two, time to go out and see live music, now most of my time is devoted to feeding Ballard.

A year ago I knew only a handful of people in my new adopted home of Seattle, today I have a rich network of friends, vendors, employees, ex-employees and regular guests.

A year ago I believed in my recipes, my ability to train and lead a team of cooks and service professionals, and my ability to create a warm, welcoming environment where people would be happy to spend time and money, today I have a legitimate list of accolades, from "Best of the City" in Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, to one of the "Best Counters" to watch cooks in action from Nancy Leson in the Seattle Times, and positive reviews from the Weekly and many repeat customers.

A year ago I had a dream, last Saturday evening I had this;

Best of Ballard?

Vote for us!!!

Ballard News Tribune

Best new Business
Best Customer Service
Best Restaurant

Yeah, I think we're all that!

The counter on a Friday night

Want to eat at a counter? Need some culinary entertainment? If you're in Seattle, you're in business. We've got many restaurants with counter seats that front an open kitchen — the best seats in the house.

From this vantage point, you get the raw and the cooked! Sharp knives and hot pots! The speed of the feed! Wondering what's in the soup? Where'd they get that grass-fed beef? How to make that delicious pan sauce or brandish a squeeze-bottle like a pro? Look and learn.

A young cook mans the stove at this slender Ballard cantina, grilling pork chops, stuffing and saucing enchiladas and pan-frying some of the best chicken-fried steak you'll find in these-here parts (offered at lunch as a sandwich). His boss, "Jefe" Birkner — an adopted son of Austin, Texas — grabs a hunk of chuck roast, hoists it onto the counter and cuts it in two.

Fourth of July Banana Puddings

All Red White & Blue...

Open on July 4th

Many businesses will be closed tomorrow. We'll be here at least 'till 8:00, and later if there are people wanting to eat and hang out...
If you come by later in the evening and find us closed, it is because we left early due to having no one to feed.

Beat the crowds, eat local, save money...

We're celebrating the opening of the Washington State Peach season by grilling peaches. Actually, we're including a Grilled Peach Sorbet as part of an Early Bird Special. The Cantina has been quite busy last few days, since Seattle Metro named us "Best New Neighborhood Joint", in their July '08 Best of the City issue. As it turns out, we're seeing a LOT of folks coming in for dinner after 7:00, so we have empty seats earlier in the evening. In keeping with our mission, to be able to provide affordable, tasty food to the neighborhood we're doing a 3 full course meal, Green Salad with Cilantro Vinaigrette, choice of Meat Loaf or Chicken Fried Steak, and a soft drink and Grilled Peach Sorbet for dessert. _{Scroll down to see a photo of the sorbet.} All of this for only $15.00. That is 3 full courses, including soft drink at a 25% discount from what our "average" guest spends on a meal. This special is available Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday from 5:00 to 6:30, every evening that we're open, except Saturday/Sunday.
Starting this weekend we're also offering a "Peach 3-Way" with Riesling Poached Peaches, Grilled Peach Sorbet, and Peach-Rhubarb Crumble, made with Ballard grown Rhubarb and Granola-Pecan topping.

Photo of Peach Sorbet;

Sunshine, flowers and al-fresco brunch

Wow, the weather has really gotten wonderful! At first so many Seattle folk were just enjoying the sun, possibly BBQ’ing at home, or going out of town and it didn’t impact business much. Last few days we have seen a significant jump in people dining outside among our flowers. I think it makes a big difference that the outside tree has been trimmed to allow sunlight though, but it does seem nicer to sit outside, and you can see our sign from across the street.

 

 

Another possible impact may have come from this mention in Nancy Leson’s Blog

“sample a grass-fed Cowboy skirt steak (or the "Texas Pot Roast" seen in its raw incarnation, in the photo above) at Austin Cantina” which appeared on Thursday morning without photo, until Nancy and her dining guests cam in that night to check out our counter service and noticed me butchering the Beef Chuck in the picture.

Bucking the trend...

We've all been watching gas prices soar, I've written here about the rice shortage, now Yahoo Headlines informs us Record corn prices mean more expensive meat, dairy after the Midwest floods.

In an effort to stem the raging increase in prices across the board we have begun an early bird special, $15.00 before 6:30 for 3 course, a salad, choice of Chicken Fried Steak, or Meatloaf, and a Grilled Peach Sorbet (the peaches are grilled BEFORE we make the sorbet, if we tried to grill the sorbet it would make a big mess in the kitchen)

Our costs continue to rise, we have had to raise prices on a couple grilled items, but it continues to be an important value for us to be able to serve affordable meals to the families in our neighborhood. Please stop in between 5 and 6:30, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Sunday for an excellent value, and some really great sorbet.

Equipment failure

One of the most expensive pieces of kitchen equipment that we bought for this place was the tortilla steamer, it cost over $800.00 as a refurb. A few weeks back the on switch failed (wouldn't turn off) so we moved it to a switched outlet and let it run that way for a while. This weekend the machine gave off a bad smell, like an electrical burn with melting plastic. Sure enough the switch had melted from too much heat in the system. Being Saturday afternoon there were few appliance stores open, and none had a switch for an older commercial steamer. I removed the switch and tried to run it "hot wired". It worked for a few hours and then the whole machine failed.
Service was difficult because we rely heavily on that machine, we tried grilling tortillas, we tried using the rice steamer, nothing was satisfactory. I guess that tomorrow I'm going shopping.

Unfortunately the Fremont Fair this weekend really drained our weekend business and finding $1,000.00 for a kitchen machine AND paying all the other bills, including back-excise-tax is difficult challenge. If you can't send me a new steamer, please send good wishes. Or better yet, come in for dinner and spend some money here!

What to do about 4th of July

Austin Cantina does about 1/2 of our week's business on Friday & Saturday night. Closing for a Friday night is very difficult because I'd hate to give up so much revenue.

This year 4th of July falls on a Friday. My experience is that people aren't going out to eat in Ballard on 4th of July. If we were by the waterfront, or near somewhere that people congregate to see fireworks that would be different. Most of the restaurant staff is convinced that we'll do no business at all, it will hardly be worth spending the day doing prep to open for a few hours and sit around while our customers are at BBQ's or at Gasworks Park waiting for the sky to explode.

If that is all there was to it, it would be a fairly easy decision to close. However, that is the first Friday after Seattle Metropolitan Magazine comes out with their "Best of Seattle, 2008" issue, which is expected to feature us in some way. There is potential to get some quite significant business from that exposure. If it weren't 4th of July, I'd expect to see 80 or more guests that night, with the 4th, maybe fewer than 30.

I just don't know how to resolve this. I'm strongly leaning toward being closed so that staff can spend the holiday with friends and family, but it isn't an easy decision.