News from The Restaurant Store

HS 2 Fundraiser

This past Sunday we hosted a little get together in conjunction with the Hemingway Day's Sidewalk Art Show at The Green Parrot Bar. Master loin roaster Bob Jameson did the meat honors, ably assisted by the Hairy Potter, Jay Gogin. My lovely bride Cathy brought the homemade sides of potato salad, coleslaw and Cole's Peace cookies and Cuban Bread. I drank beer. We raised over $1,200.00 for the HS 2 home school out at Florida Keys Community College and a good time was had by all. You cannot have a bad time at the Green Parrot Bar. It's simply impossible.

 

 

Do you know where your burger came from?

On today's "Food Show" on KONK AM 1680, I interviewed Jimmy Weekley, who runs the meat counter at Fausto's on Fleming Street (among many other notable accomplishments). It's a little known secret around town that some of the best burgers served in Key West restaurants owe a lot to Jimmy's hand-ground burger mix. We'll let him explain...

Start with Jimmy's burger mix, cook it on The Big Green Egg from The Restaurant Store, add your own favorite toppings and maybe a fresh loaf of Cuban Bread, instead of a bun, from Cole's Peace Bakery, well, that's Summer barbecue heaven my friend.

Dexter-Russell on the Radio

Well as if I didn't have enough to do... I just started hosting a weekday radio show on the new "KONK AM 1620" radio, the new public-interest radio station in town. My show will air Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 4:00 until 5:00 in the afternoon. We hope to make it a fun time to talk about food and wine happenings around Key West. On today's shows we spent a lot of time talking about quality knives. One of my guests was Charles Kowanetz from the Dexter-Russell knife company. Charles is an old veteran in the knife business and the company he represents is one of the few knofe manufacturers still producing in the United States. Here's a clip of Charles talking about the Sani-Safe and Softgrip lines of knives that are very popular in Key West restaurant kitchens and with the serious fishing community:

(Sorry about the audio quality. This is only our second day and we are still getting the kinks worked out.)

Vandenberg Sinking

We got invited to witness up close and personal the historic sinking of the U.S.S Vandenberg. This WW II relic of a troop transport and latter retro fitted into a missile tracking ship is now an artificial reef, dive site extraordinaire and working classroom for our local Community College, FKCC.

 

There was a slight delay in the scuttling timetable while a couple of sea turtles swam by but once they were safely away there was a red signal flare followed by a muffled explosion 1 minute latter. In under 3 minutes the 550 foot, 8 story, 17,000 ton vessel disappeared from view.

It was a momentous occasion for our community. Big thanks go out to a lot of different people who made this 8 years in the making dream a reality. Our hats are off to Joe Weatherby who had the idea and worked tirelessly to get it done and to City Commissioner Bill Verge who cleaned up every obstacle throw in this projects way and tied up every loose end to make this a reality.

 

James Beard Dinner at 915

We were among a lucky group of about 80 locals who got a preview of the dinner that is being served at the James Beard House on June 4th in NYC. Owner Stuart Kemp and executive chef Chris Otten run 915, one of the nicest restaurants in Key West. It's been written up in The New York Times and this is going to be their second trip to Beard House. You can find out more about the event at the following link: James Beard Dinner. When you come to Key West you need to dine at 915. Visit them on line at 915 Duval They've got a nice website.