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 Post subject: And now, soon, finally, Verjus (Hidden Kitchen Paris)
PostPosted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 6:32 am 
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Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:10 pm
Posts: 1060
Location: PA
Some of us recall trying to get into Hidden Kitchen. Here's an update.

At least to me, the underground aspect of HK was behind a lot of its mythical appeal, but I wish them success...
Quote:
When the idea to open a restaurant was just a tiny flickering candle
in the back of a very dark room, the advice we got from our parents,
restaurant owners and dog walkers in the park was unanimous. DON'T DO
IT! This was followed by a litany of reasons. France is anti-owner.
The high cost of opening a company is only slightly less than the
extremely high cost of closing a company. The euro is going to fail.
France doesn't support small businesses. It's hard to hire anyone.
It's impossible to fire anyone. You will lose all your friends. You
will go broke. Your life will be over.

Maybe we should of listened to them, any of them.

In the last month, a water heater cracked open and leaked. Carpenters
stole money and left a bathroom unfinished. The city denied our
license, then forced us to wait two additional weeks to serve wine. A
neighbor threatened to call the police on us. French police visited
twice, both times looking for free drinks. We broke off the door of a
moving truck on the narrow driveway of a parking ramp. Our new
carpenter covered two thirds of the outdoor tables of nearby
restaurants in plaster dust during lunchtime service as he sawed down
a wall. Our plumber turned the water off to all the buildings
surrounding us as everyone was showering for work. And we had our
laptop stolen.

So what keeps us going? Well, booze mostly.

We came up with idea for Verjus about a year ago. The idea came
because we felt like we had hit a ceiling on what we could do at
Hidden Kitchen. At times, we were getting fourteen hundred e-mails a
day requesting spots at our very limited Hidden Kitchen dinners. Even
if we increased the frequency of the dinners in our home, we wouldn't
be able to accommodate all the requests. I personally felt like we
had also hit a ceiling on what we could cook in our tiny home
kitchen. If we had a larger facility, with better equipment, all the
food we were serving could be elevated.

Our philosophy for opening and running Verjus is simple. Buy great
ingredients from small French farmers and producers. Cook those
ingredients correctly. Treat our staff well. Respect the people who
are paying to dine at our place. If we can do those four things, then
in our mind the restaurant will already be a success.

Verjus is possible because of the friends we have made through Hidden
Kitchen. It is for those friends and the countless more we hope to
make with Verjus that we will continue to strive to meet and exceed
the expectations people have for us and we have for ourselves. In
short, it's going to take much more than the garden variety drama I
mentioned above to dissuade us from creating the restaurant we
envision.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us at Hidden Kitchen and I
hope to see you all at Verjus.

Our wine bar is open Mondays - Fridays from 18:00 - 23:00.
The restaurant is open Tuesdays - Fridays from 19:00 - 22:00

For more information, pictures and such check out the old HK blog or
new Verjus site.

http://cts.vresp.com/c/?Verjus/fe278391 ... ca39d90799
http://cts.vresp.com/c/?Verjus/fe278391 ... e0e4394d3f

-Laura and Braden

Restaurant Verjus
52 rue Richelieu
75001 Paris, France

Verjus Bar à vin
47 rue Montpensier
75001 Paris, France

www.verjusparis.com


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