How to Keep Your Restaurants and Cafes Clean

Nobody will want to eat in a messy or untidy restaurant and this why you need to keep all areas of your restaurant clean and tidy. Ensuring that you have a clean restaurant does not only make it pleasant for customers who eat there but it also acts as a pest control mechanism. Most people who frequent your restaurant will not only come there because of the food, but will consider it as a place for having quality time with their loved ones, friends and family. Therefore, the way the restaurant is presented is just as important as the food being provided. If you develop good cleaning habits, chances of your employees and customers developing illness will significantly reduce.
Even though achieving a clean restaurant and café involves plenty of work, you can achieve it by familiarizing your staff on the benefits of having a clean restaurant and the procedures to follow for achieving a clean eating place.
Pests can invade your restaurant any time and thus you need to have and maintain a good pest control system for your restaurant. One place to begin is by ensuring all the food prepared is properly stored and kept in a clean environment. This includes both cooked and uncooked food in addition to leftovers. Make sure that all the waste foods are properly disposed off to prevent the spread of pests. Moreover, you need to ensure that the trash cans have a functional lid and foods that are stored are placed in a sealed container.
One of the most effective pest control mechanism that restaurant and café owners can use is making sure the restaurant is rodent proof. This mechanism prevents unwanted pests from entering your restaurant and spreading diseases. Take a thorough look at both the interior and exterior walls of the restaurant and ensure they do not have any cracks or openings. If there are any, cover or stuff them with strong materials such as cement.
It is important for restaurant and café owners to sensitive their staffs on the benefits of pest control and thus they need to keep all surfaces clean and tidy. The entire restaurant needs to be kept clean after every shift. Doing this prevents dirt or wastes from accumulating. Each workstation also needs to be disinfected to prevent the spread of pests. There are a wide variety of pest control items that are available in local stores and will help in the cleaning process.
If you are experiencing difficulties in getting rid of pests on your own, then you have the option of hiring a professional pest control company. These companies have years of experience dealing with pest control and will do an effective job in making your restaurant and café clean and tidy.

Brandon Anido has been providing helpful information regarding Bed Bugs Connecticut for many years. His knowledge is the direct result of working many years in the pest control industry. If you are having trouble with bed bugs and would like some help he recommends giving Pest Control Connecticut a call.

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Culinary Arts Career – What are Your Options?

The field of culinary arts is without a doubt a fast-growing industry.  It has always been popular; but with today’s “celebrity” culture, people are more aware of the existence of chefs.  As a result, more and more people are pursuing a career in this industry.  They are seeing this field as a feasible one.  More and more colleges and universities are offering degrees and training programs to people who are interested in pursuing a culinary arts career.

Choosing Your Path

A career in the culinary field comes in many forms.  There are many areas to choose from.  One can always choose from among its many fields depending on his or her interest.   Perhaps, you are interested with cooking haute cuisine.  Perhaps, you like baking and you dream of becoming a pastry chef.  The possibilities are positively endless.  Every field offers its own challenges.  You need to take your time to consider what culinary arts career path you would like to pursue.  Make sure that you end up with a choice that would suit and fulfill you for a long time to come.

Choosing from Among the Different Areas

There are actually four areas that you can choose from.  First, you can choose to work at any restaurant and take on a restaurant-related position.  Usually, this type of culinary arts career involves food service.  You will often find people working in this particular field.  Restaurant positions vary depending on the needs of a particular restaurant.  A big establishment would require several employees while a smaller establishment would need a smaller number of employees.  There are operations with multiple outlets.  You will likely find corporate jobs in these businesses.  Accordingly, your interest may vary.  You could end up working as a chef.  Perhaps, you would qualify as a manager.

You can also pursue a culinary arts career in hotels and restaurants.  This industry is growing fast, and careers in this industry are also growing in number and variety.  This is the reason why more and more people are joining this industry.  The numbers of jobs are growing in this field.

If you don’t want to work in a restaurant, hotel or resort, you can always choose to work as a personal chef.  There are a lot of people who are working for a number of clients only, cooking for them and preparing their meals daily.  There are many people who are securing the service of a personal chef.  You can always choose to work privately.  This can be a feasible culinary arts career for you as well.

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How to Look for the Best Mexican Restaurants

Just like everything else in the culinary world, Mexican restaurants have new offerings.  They are branching out.  They are offering new flavors, creations and tastes.  It goes with the territory of being in a steep competition.  There restaurants need to offer something new in order to make their mark.  Unlike before where they offer dozens of bean dishes, these restaurants have something more to offer these days.  Aside from the standard tamales, burritos and enchiladas, you will also find other innovative and even unusual dishes.

The Modern Mexican Restaurants

You will find chicken that are baked in banana leaves.  You will be served hearty beef stews in some restaurants.  Indeed, these things just show that people are more open to new tastes.  And with the presence of numerous Mexican restaurants, there is a need for these restaurant owners and chefs to offer something different in order to attract more customers.  You don’t have to go to Mexico in order to experience the best dishes that the country has to offer.  But how do you look for the best Mexican restaurant in your area?

Finding Your Restaurant

The first thing that you need to do is to look for a listing of Mexican restaurants in your area.  You can check out the yellow pages or your telephone directory.  If you are on a trip, you can check out the place’s tourism office.  You can buy a restaurant guide.  You can go online and search for restaurants near you.  There are so many ways to go about it.

Once you have a list, you can then call them to make some inquiry regarding their prices and food offerings.  You can then decide where to go once you have compared the various restaurants.  Aside from calling, you can also read reviews about these restaurants.  The easiest way to get hold of reviews is to go online.  Chances are you will find good reviews that will help you decide where to go.  Often, reviews are written by locals, restaurant critics and travelers.  You can rest assure that you will be reading authentic and honest reviews.  If you are not comfortable with just reading reviews, you can ask for recommendations from friends or relatives.  This is really the best way to go about choosing your restaurant.

Nowadays, Mexican restaurants have a lot to offer, but you still have to choose the best restaurant in your area in order to have the full Mexican dining experience.

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Understanding the Importance of Your Restaurant Menu

If you run a restaurant, you need to make sure that you have the best menu that you can afford.  Of course, “best” does not mean expensive.  It means effective.  Indeed, your menu is one of your marketing and sales tools.  You have to make sure that when your customer sees it, it will influence them to buy.  It should be design to entice customers.  This is to ensure maximum profits for you and your restaurant.  If you really want to sell everything in your menu, you have to make sure that your menu presents every product favorably and enticingly. 

Your Restaurant’s Menu and Your Profits

The first thing that you have to understand is this – every item on your restaurant menu is distinct in its saleability, so do not expect Product A to sell like Product B.  If Product A is selling like pancakes, wouldn’t it be wise to emphasize the product?  If Product A is selling for $20 dollars and Product B is selling for $10, wouldn’t you earn more if more people buy Product A?  As you can see, placing emphasis on a product that you would like to sell can make a lot of difference on your profit.

Of course, you can draw your customers’ attention to Product A if you would use your menu well.  This is why your menu plays a very crucial role in selling your items.  It also pays if your staff understands this as well.  This way they can encourage customers to avail of Product A if a customer seeks for their opinion. 

Creating a Wonderful Restaurant Menu

They say, do not judge a book by its cover.  Perhaps, that is true – for books.  This is not the case, however, when it comes to menu.  People will judge your products by your menu and its cover.  You have to make sure that your graphics and images can entice your customers to buy.  Your menu should get your customers to think, “Oh, this looks delicious!”

If you have to spend a significant amount of money on your menu, then do so.  Your menu is an investment.  It speaks to your customers and tells them whether or not a particular dish is worth ordering or not.  You have to plan your menu carefully.  You have to devote time on choosing the right colors, images, materials and designs.  Do not take your menu for granted and never commit the mistake of presenting a haphazardly-created restaurant menu.

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Chef David Chang – The Rebel Who Offers Affordable Gourmet Food

Chefs have their favorite ingredients.  It is also inevitable that they would develop a penchant for cooking specific dishes.  There are chefs who develop a liking for organic ingredients and dishes.  There are those who develop preference for meat dishes.  Now, Momofuku Ssam Bar’s chef, David Chang, certainly likes his meats.  He is what you would call a meathead chef.  If you love veggies, you probably wouldn’t like his cooking much.  You will likely spend considerable minutes frowning over his menu before you would promptly leave.  However, to people who love meat dishes, this chef is a culinary god.

Don’t get him wrong though, he does use other ingredients and he also prepares fish and vegetable dishes.  It’s just that he loves preparing and cooking meat dishes.  He is a genius at it.  He should be.  His restaurant Momofuku Ssam Bar wouldn’t have won the 31^st spot in El Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants if he is a mediocre chef.  You can probably liken Chef Chang to Fergus Henderson.  Like the world-famous chef, Chang is also adept at creating thick and savory dishes.  His culinary creations can be addicting.  He loves experimenting with fusion cuisine, and he is quite good at mixing ingredients and culinary techniques.

Chef David Chang knows how to respect cultures and take the best from them.  He is an expert on this.  After all, he is a Korean who grew up in Washington D.C.  It is fairly common for him to draw inspiration from his Korean background.  He combines Korean traditional cooking with modern cooking.

Before the creation of Momofuku Ssam Bar, Chef Chang indulged in modest cooking.  This changed after he opened his restaurant.  The operation took on a larger scale.  Demands were bigger and the stakes were even bigger.  Now, he has a world-class operation.  Accordingly, he has to push his limits.  He has to test deeper waters, and he needs to be more ambitious than ever.  All his past efforts have certainly paid off.  Landing the 31^st spot wasn’t easy, but he managed to do so anyway.  It’s just fitting for a culinary rebel.

Chef David Chang has definitely something to offer to his customers.  Not a huge fan of haute cuisine and expensive menu, he carved out a middle ground where he offers gourmet but affordable food.  His restaurant is definitely something else.  It is not McDonalds, but the food is certainly affordable.  This is certainly surprising.  We can only conclude that Momofuku Ssam Bar’s chef has more surprises up his sleeves.

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Top Chef Winners – Where Are They Now?

On the 25^th of February, Hosea Rosenberg was declared winner of Top Chef.  This was the fifth season of this world-famous show.  It doesn’t matter if you are residing outside the United States; you probably know what the show is.  It’s hard not to know.  It’s even harder not to take notice.  These winners end up with $100,000.  But does this mean that he or she is bound to join the ranks of Ferran Adria and Alain Ducasse anytime soon?  Where are the other winners?  What has happened to them?

Harold Dieterle (First Season Winner)

Harold was the winner of the first season of Top Chef.  Many would agree that he is the most successful of all the show’s winners.  Using the money he won from the show, he opened his own restaurant in New York, the Perilla.  Over the last two years, this dining establishment has received steadily good reviews.  He has been able to keep his business running since 2007.  Curiously, he has shunned the limelight since he won the title.  He refuses to attend reunions, and he deliberately avoids association to the show.

Ilan Hall (Second Season Winner)

Prior to being Top Chef second season winner, Ilan was working at Casa Mono.  After winning the prize, he left the restaurant and went on a culinary exile.  He worked and traveled abroad before he finally settled in Los Angeles.  He worked as a private chef before he finally opened his own restaurant, The Gorbles.

Hung Huynh (Third Season Winner)

Prior to joining Top Chef, Hung Huynh worked as Guy Savoy’s executive sous chef.  After leaving the show, he accepted an executive chef position at Solo, a Mediterranean restaurant located in New York.  He was supposed to be the temporary chef, but his temporary position has seemingly lasted for more than six months now.  However, he does intend to set up his own restaurant where he would offer Asian-Mediterranean cuisine.

Stephanie Izard (Fourth Season Winner)

Stephanie has followed in the footsteps of the previous winners.  She intends to open her own Chicago restaurant, The Drunken Goat.  It is scheduled to open in November of this year.  She intends to offer moderately-priced Mediterranean cuisine.

Top Chef has more seasons to go.  We can only wonder what will happen to the next winners.  Will they live up to the expectations?  What about Hosea Rosenberg?  Will he open his own restaurant?  Will any of these winners join the ranks of the culinary masters one day – or will they always just be the “once-upon-a-time” Top Chef winners?

Understanding the Job of a Head Chef

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The work of a head chef is far from being easy.  It is not just about directing people or barking orders for more garlic.  It is not just about delivering gastronomic delights.  In order to become an effective and successful head chef, you need to be able to take on a lot of responsibilities.

A Head Chef is a Good Leader

First of all, you need to be able to create memorable dishes.  This is actually the number one requirement.  Practically all head chefs are culinary geniuses.  Secondly, he also needs to know how to properly manage a kitchen including all his or her staff.  Finally, these chefs need to know how to provide the best customer service.  Basically, taking this responsibility means that one is a good leader.

Being a leader does not just involve telling people what food to prepare and how to prepare it.  As a leader, he is required to plan the menu.  He needs to supervise all the areas of the kitchen.  He needs to manage the budget and check inventories regularly.  He also needs to know how to change menus quickly if needed.  He has to ensure excellent food quality and food service.  He is in-charge of time management and task delegation.  He also needs to work closely with other restaurant managers to ensure smooth work flow.  He also needs to build industry relationships.

Acquiring the Skills of a Head Chef

With all the things that a head chef needs to do, he needs to possess leadership skills.  It will help if he as completed a course in culinary arts or hotel restaurant management.  These courses can teach a person how to properly manage a kitchen or a restaurant.  These courses involve menu preparation, meal planning, food presentation, staff management, inventory valuation, customer relations, employee communication and other things as well.

There are so many things involved in running a kitchen successfully.  A head chef needs to be able to rely on his staff, so he needs to make sure that he has in his team people he can work with.  This is very important.  Everyone in that kitchen is his partner.  It is impossible to prepare meals for 200 people in one night, so he should make sure that he will be able to handle his staff properly.

A head chef needs to possess varied skills.  He needs to know how to cook sumptuous meals and he also needs to know how to manage the kitchen successfully.  Creating this balance will allow him to run his kitchen well.

Chef Training – Pursuing a Career in the Culinary Arts

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Cooking comes easy to some people, but this poses a challenge to many.  There are some people who have the natural knack for cooking.  To them, cooking comes easily.  These are the lucky ones who have the natural flair for tastes and flavors.  Fact is cooking is not that complicated.  With the right education and chef training, one can develop all the culinary skills that he needs in order to become a very good chef.

Hence, a good chef training and education are necessary before one can work as a chef.  People who have the same are often regarded as culinary kings.  Chefs are given the highest regard when it comes to cooking.  Their skills are often unquestioned.  Of course, reaching this height is not easy.  Before one can be acclaimed as a chef, he or she needs to undergo rigid and tough chef training.  There are a lot of skills that one needs to learn and perfect before he or she can be known as a true chef.

Qualifying as a Chef

You don’t actually have to be a high school graduate just to get into a good culinary school.  There are chef training programs that you can apply for even without a high school diploma.  Of course, being a high school graduate has its perks when it comes to learning.  After all, mathematics can come into the picture when cooking.  Managing a restaurant or a kitchen also requires knowledge of basic things that you can learn in high school.  Still, if you don’t have one, you don’t have to sweat it.  There are programs that are offered by hotels and restaurants.

Advancing as a Chef through Training

You will likely start out as a prep cook.  This is if you are working in a huge restaurant which requires several chefs working in the kitchen.  You could start out as a short order cook.  However, you can move up the next level if you will devote yourself to vigorous chef training.  You will have to develop your skills and hone your techniques.

When you undergo chef training, you will be enrolled in an apprenticeship program.  If you are lucky, you can be an apprentice to any of the world’s best chefs.  This will surely help your career later on.  You will likely be hired by the same company.  In truth, this is the most common path pursued by many of the world renowned chefs today.  Perhaps, it’s the same path that you can pursue.

Understanding a Chef’s Outfit

Chefs are often known for their attire especially their “funny hats”.  In truth, a chef’s outfit is quite notable and distinctive.  They have worn it for years, and their outfits have always been associated with them.  Typical attire includes a toque (chef’s hat), a double-breasted jacket and a checkered pair of pants.  It is this combination that has made them easily recognizable over the years.  Curiously, however, the origins of this outfit have never been really established.

The Chef’s Outfit

Perhaps, you have never considered this but there are practical reasons why a chef’s attire is the way it is.  For instance, the double-breasted jacket has its practical purpose.  It is usually made of thick cotton which is designed to protect the chef from heat.  It is double-breasted, so that chefs can easily reverse them in case of stains.  The checkered pants also serve the same purpose.  The pattern helps hide stains and splashes.  Of course, there are many chefs who prefer to wear aprons to cover them waist down.

With all the practical reasons for the shirt and pants, the toque is completely another matter.  There have been many theories about the tall hat.  Some people believe that this hat has been around since the 16^th century.  At that time, fats would build up on the ceiling, and the hats protect the chefs from the drips.  There are some people who believe that these hats are meant to conceal chefs from persecutors.  At that time, chefs were considered artisans; and like other free thinkers, they were persecuted.  These hats were meant to deceive the persecutors into thinking that the chefs were priests.

A Chef’s Outfit – What Does It Tells You?

Today, a chef’s attire is one way to distinguish kitchen ranks and statuses.  The height and the pleats of the toque identify the rank of a chef in the kitchen.  The higher the height, the higher is a chef’s rank.  The pleats represent the number of ways a chef is able to prepare an egg dish.  This may sound impossible for some people, but a really good chef can prepare at least 100 egg dishes.  That’s actually the highest number of pleats a chef can have on his hat.  It is very important that ranks be shown in the kitchen.  With several chefs working in the kitchen – and everyone wearing identical outfits – the hat tells the difference.  With orders coming in quickly, being able to identify the head chef quickly makes a lot of sense.

Understanding the Concept of Gourmet Food

A gourmet is someone who is an expert on foods and drinks.  Accordingly, when people speak of gourmet food, they basically refer to the art of preparing high quality and luxurious dishes.  Usually, this is the type of dishes that you would not get from McDonalds or KFC.  This is why it is also referred to sometimes as haute cuisine.  Preparing this kind of dishes involves elaborate and often intricate process.  Of course, the results are feasts for the gastronome.  This high-quality food is often decadent in preparation and presentation.  The truth is that it is as much as treat for one’s eyes as it is for the tongue.  Everything is meticulously planned, prepared, executed and presented.

People are often confused about what constitutes gourmet food.  What makes this different from regular ones?  Where do you get this?  What separates this kind of meal from a regular meal?  Is it the price?  There are some people who have a vague idea what these foods are – and they would accordingly make their own conclusion without having had experienced a full gourmet meal.  To each their own perhaps, but it is hard to understand an aversion to this kind of food.  After all, how can a treat to a connoisseur be distasteful?

There are actually numerous kinds of food that come under the label.  The list includes meats, condiments, desserts, drinks, cheeses, oils, fruits and a lot of other things.  But when people speak of gourmet foods, they are usually referring to high quality – and often expensive – foods like foie gras, truffles, smoked salmon, caviars and specialty meats.  Exotic condiments like Spanish saffron are also used in preparing gourmet food.  These condiments create a heady combination of flavors and aromas that embellish the already robust taste of gourmet cooking.

Cheeses that are used in this type of cooking are far from your typical cheddar cheese.  An example is the Agour Ossau-Iraty, a cheese that is made from sheep’s milk.  Another example is 34 Degrees Australian marinated feta.  This is made from goat’s and sheep’s milk.  This is usually produced in Israel.  Of course, these are just two of the many kinds of cheeses that are used in high-quality cooking.

Actually, there are numerous options when it comes to cooking gourmet foods.  For instance, if you will visit a store offering top-notch ingredients, you will find a huge selection of caviars from all over the world.  So as you can see, there are many choices when it comes to gourmet food and cooking.  This is why it is almost impossible for anyone to dislike this type of food.

ChefBlogDigest: What Makes Up the Best Chef Blogs Online?

ChefBlogDigest: What Makes Up the Best Chef Blogs Online?: "With so many blogs and websites online, it is definitely hard to look for the best chef blogs. If you are in the field of culinary ..."

What Makes Up the Best Chef Blogs Online?

With so many blogs and websites online, it is definitely hard to look for the best chef blogs.  If you are in the field of culinary arts, you may be looking for blogs that are definitely worth your time.  Of course, you don’t have to be a chef to look for a good culinary blog.  Perhaps, you just love cooking and you are looking for a website that offers good reading.  Perhaps, you are looking for blogs that will inspire you to make your own.

What Constitutes a Good Read?

What makes up a good chef blog?  Basically, a good site offers information.  That is vital.  A website should offer a lot of information.  You should be able to learn from it.  Aside from that, it should also be inspirational.  It should be able to make you want to do something or achieve something.  It should make you want to cook a delicious dish, go on a trip or go to a culinary school.  It doesn’t matter as long as the site would inspire you to achieve something.  A good blog should be interesting.  There should be a lot of things to see or videos to watch.  It should be fun to read.  It should have its own personality.  It should leave you chuckling or grimacing.  These are the characteristics that are common among the best chef blogs.

Creating Your Own Chef Blog

The best chef blogs online can inspire you to make your own blog.  If you want to get people’s attention, you need to make sure that you have a fairly engaging food website.  You need to provide information that is useful to practically everyone in the World Wide Web.  You need to push boundaries with your ideas, and you should be able to inspire people.  If you are chef, this is fairly easy.  You just have to stretch your food biases and experiment with what-ifs.

The best chef blogs are honest and witty.  These blogging chefs have the knack for playing with words.  They often speak right to the heart of a reader.  It is easier to write for your blog if you can speak with your heart.  After all, this is the same thing you use when you cook.

Pictures!  You need to have a lot of pictures.  You can’t leave your readers hanging with just words.  You need to show them a lot of pictures.  If a particular dish is mouthwatering, make sure that your readers know exactly how mouthwatering it is by showing them a sumptuous picture of the dish.  The best chef blogs often have engaging photos.

These are just some of the things that you can do if you want to create your own website.  Visiting the best chef blogs online will certainly give you a lot of idea.