Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Sleeping Lessons

Here I am.

After a couple weeks of careful planning, 7-8 cups of tea per day, countless shifting of equipment and starring at walls we have settled on a final plan. Work can be crazy at times and to manage the ebb and flow of business while creating an atmosphere that is visually pleasing, efficient and affordable can be quite the task. We are excited to be getting started this week and I am taking my gummy multi-vitamins in preparation for the 7 a.m- 11p.m. workdays that are sure to ensue. 

While you can rest assured that there are a slew of photos of the project to come, I will be doing a small artist profile on Sir Evan Everhart (who to my knowledge has not yet been officially knighted, I just add important titles to people's names sometimes to make our little world a more interesting place.) He shares the same ridiculous love of his craft and creating new things as I do. We will hopefully be taking a visual tour through his studio this week and snap some photos of the metal pieces he is working on for us!

The open kitchen is going to be home to many things, one of them being our chef's table. Here you will be able to get a front row seat into my world, with customized tasting menus and exciting new ideas that I have been working on. After contemplating for some time, I would like to give the first public chef's table in the new spot away to a deserving guest. The tasting will be for six people and have five courses of food & wine!

To win the chef's table you must answer the following questions and send them to me at dan@1201restaurant.com, no later that Feb. 28th, 2012.  All answers must be completed and my staff and I will choose 5 finalists, whose fate will be sealed by a vote from our lovely 1201 facebook family. 

1. Your full name (kept confidential)
2. Your email address (kept confidential)
3. Your current job
4. What job did your parents want you to have?
5. Do penguins have knees?
6. Who is your favorite musical artist?
7. Who is your favorite chef?
8. What is your favorite all-time restaurant?
9. What is your favorite thing about Erie?
10. What is your fondest food memory?

Looking forward to the responses and for all the fun updates this week! I am so blessed to be able to do what I love everyday for such an amazing group of people!-Thank you for support!

from the kitchen with love,
                     danny k


Tuesday, January 17, 2012

And so it begins.

My name is Dan, I am a small man with extraordinary amounts of energy. I am a spaz. I have a pink collar job and love every minute of it. I get to cook for my friends and family everyday. I get to light things on fire, play with knives and yell loudly. My employees are as close to me as my family. We get to hang out all day and create what we want with food, then we eat it. All of it.

I am blessed.

My heart is super glued to the restaurant business. The hard work, long hours and stress all but disappear in my mind when I think that everyday, I am creating a moment for people to get together and have actual conversation, experiencing something that I poured my heart into. 

This pseudo-restaurant journal / blog will be a place for many things. It will have more than one author. It will be a place to share the love and excitement that I have always felt with cooking, with you. 

So with many more introductions, histories and inspirations on the horizon, I would like to announce the next big chapter at 1201 Kitchen-where we can share a little more of what we love, with you..everyday.

The excitement of the being in the kitchen is unmatched. The crazy composed ballet of dinner service is second to none in my book, where a behind the scenes look will really bring you in to our world. We have started to remodel our kitchen to accommodate a small "chef's table" bar and a large communal, "farm style" table to host parties and diners interested in something a little different. You will be able to sit "inside" the kitchen, watching the hustle and bustle of dinner service, plates being composed, with an up close and personal perspective on what goes on in our kitchen!

The details will unfold over the next few weeks, with future installments of this journal being about some of the really fun design elements we are incorporating into our open kitchen.

This is the start of a beautiful thing. I am looking forward to cooking for you in my kitchen.


-from the kitchen with love,

            dan kern