| Building a Restaurant Menu with Chef Blake Rushing

On today's episode of The Restaurant Realty in 10 host, Michael Carro is joined by Chef Blake Rushing.  Chef Blake is Owner and Head Chef of Union Public House in Downtown Pensacola, FL. Find out more about Chef Blake and Union Public House at unionpensacola.com.
In this episode Chef Blake and Michael share how they built a menu to bring true Southwestern Mexican flavors, reminiscent Michael's years in Arizona, to Pensacola.

Find out:

How to run a reliable taste test

How to create processes to train staff on a new menu

AND....what caused Michael to take a spontaneous road trip to Texas for queso!

For more information on The Restaurant Realty in 10 or to get the show notes from today's show head over to TheRestaurantRealty.com

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Transcript

Michael Carro : 0:01

Welcome to The Restaurant Realty in 10. Ten minutes of uncensored straight talk for restaurant entrepreneurs. Twice weekly The Restaurant Realty in 10 dives into restaurant operations, facilities, real estate, and investments. Welcome to The Restaurant Realty show. This is your host Michael Carro. And I want to welcome back to the program Chef Blake Rushing. Blake with Union Public House--Welcome to the program.

Chef Blake : 0:22

Thanks for having me.

Michael Carro : 0:23

So this episode I want to go back eight years. When I approached you and said "I want to start a Mexican restaurant with a flavor profile that I miss from my high school and college days in Arizona." I went to high school in Phoenix and college at the University of Arizona in Tucson. And when I moved to Florida 21 years ago, there's a lot of Mexican restaurants that were pleasing, but they did not satiate my appetite for that great Southwestern cuisine. So I said I'm going to bring a taco restaurant to Pensacola. But of course, I'm not a chef. So I hired you. And I said, Chef Blake, I want a menu and I design the menu. And then I said, go to work. So walk me through the process from the day I told you what I wanted, till about three or four weeks later when we hosted a taste test.

Chef Blake : 1:19

So it was exciting. And something I hadn't really worked on before. I haven't worked in a Mexican restaurant before. And I love that style of food. I love heat, love, big, big flavors. And so I just started thinking about the different sauces and condiments building each taco with the different flavors with the different type of hot sauce, a different type of protein, whether it's corn or flour, tortilla. Different dips, all that kind of stuff and researching authentic style, rather than just what I know. And then we put together a tasting in my house for all the owners and friends get a general idea what the consensus was of what I came up with.

Michael Carro : 1:51

So let me set the stage. So chef Blake gives me a call and says I'm ready and I said all right. So how many people can we have? And you told me I think there was about eight of us at the table. And so I'm very strict when it comes to taste test because I do understand the power of people's influence when they talk first. Whoever talks first can set the stage for whether or not...if "Oh, my God, this is amazing!" well, then the next person is going to feel bad if they didn't like it. So the way I run a taste test, is I give everybody the same sheet of paper, it talks about the flavor, the presentation, what you like, dislike. The mouthfeel, things of that nature that I want to hear in any specific details. You know, maybe, you know, this might taste a little bit better with more red onion and or less, you know, things of that nature. So before we can actually talk about the menu item, they need to complete their profile on that item. And then I collect those sheets, and then we can talk about it. And that's what we did that whole day. I mean, we spent several hours going through all these menu items, and I remember you just in that kitchen, whipping things up and serving it up and It was a very awesome experience for me as well.

Chef Blake : 3:02

It was a good time, everyone seemed to like everything. And it was interesting.

Michael Carro : 3:05

And they did like everything. So, so yeah. So he's hedging his bet. So what happened was at the end, you know, of course, everybody is doting on Chef Blake, they're saying, "Oh my god, this is amazing. We can't wait." Bah, bah, bah. And I remember seeing everybody off. "Thank you so much, really appreciate you coming today." And then the door closes, and I look at you and I said, "That's not the menu I want." And you're like, What are you talking about?

Chef Blake : 3:33

Give me some details.

Michael Carro : 3:34

So what I was actually looking for and everybody did like to menu, but that's not what I wanted. I was not looking for a safe menu. I was not looking for something that everybody liked. I wanted a heat. A boldness that several people wouldn't like if everybody at the table likes it. I did not achieve what I wanted. I wanted it to be powerful. I wanted the heat to be too high for some people. I'm not saying hot for the sake of being hot. I'm saying full of flavor being bold. And you said, Okay, I hear you. Let me go back to work. And you and I privately got back together in a couple weeks. Yeah. About 2 weeks. And so walk us through what happened then.

Chef Blake : 4:15

So that's just, I think a lot of chefs will have an issue with ego and that sort of thing where it's what the what your client wants or what their idea it's not my taco restaurant. And so that's where the whole thing comes in. Where I was like, Okay, well, I see what you're going for more so let's not be quite so safe. And let's have some bigger heats. Let's get some hatch chilies. Let's have Michael drive queso and chips back to me from Texas for 10 hours. Delived to my doorstep.

Michael Carro : 4:40

So that story was, so there's this one restaurant in Texas that I love their queso. And during your initial thing, it was a normal queso. So but I mean, I wanted this big bold queso that had hatch chilies in there. And so I said Chef Blake, I'll be right back. And I drove to Texas. Got the queso. And I said, I've got the queso. So I'm coming right back to you. And 10 hours later, I literally pulled up to your doorstep. You met me, because I was so tired.

Chef Blake : 5:11

Yeah,

Michael Carro : 5:11

You met me at the car door. I handed it out. I said, "Duplicate this!"

Chef Blake : 5:15

Chip, chips and all!

Michael Carro : 5:16

Chips and all!

Chef Blake : 5:17

It was great I was actually I get to learn a bunch of stuff on these menus is I'd never worked with hatch chilies. And I just love them now. But yeah, duplicating that. And then I started learning more about fermentations that's when I started doing those with the hot sauces. Where you take different chilies like habaneros or scotch bonnets or any of these chilies and puree them up with the salt, letting it sit out 24 hours overnight to firm it adding vinegar and letting it sit another two, three weeks to develop that flavor. And that was where most the hot sauces came from that were made for the taco shop. And it was just it was really cool. Not trying to worry about what the public reaction would be, completely, more so just kind of going out on a limb with bigger flavors that aren't normal to Pensacola, but normal to the Southwest.

Michael Carro : 5:59

Yeah, and And the taco shop still has a great loyal following based on those recipes. And you know, those recipes have been in place now for, I think seven or eight years, and great following at the restaurant. So thank you so much.

Chef Blake : 6:13

Of course.

Michael Carro : 6:13

So once we finalized the fact that we liked what you produced, walk me through how it goes from you to training of the employees so they can produce the same food you did.

Chef Blake : 6:25

So the biggest thing was once we locked in all the flavors and all the menu we liked. It was building the recipes, we had the recipes, but basically writing them down in a manner to where anyone could follow them.

Michael Carro : 6:35

Well, and in batch sizes, right

Chef Blake : 6:38

In larger batches.

Michael Carro : 6:39

You were making stuff in a very small batch.

Chef Blake : 6:41

A couple portions. Yeah.

Michael Carro : 6:41

But you know, scaling that up to, you know, a higher volume restaurant is is a little bit different.

Chef Blake : 6:46

Right. Exactly. And it never works to where you can just triple it or double it or whatever, you've got to adjust for larger batches. They're always gonna be different. It's not gonna be the same as a small batch. So adjusting those recipes to where they'd be correct. And then adjusting those same recipes that we did for the recipe file for the staff that was gonna be working the taco truck. Watching it, doing it with them and then seeing how it is a little bit different on a larger batch we need adjust this, tweak that, that kind of thing. And then training these guys that were really excited and enthusiastic. And it was funny because after a couple weeks of training, I said "Alright guys, I'm out." And they're like, Wait, where are you going? You guys got this that's it. I was here to do this and you guys have it now.

Michael Carro : 7:28

It is tough having somebody love your talent, you know, always there walking them through walking them through and then you know, you're like the the mommy bird pushing him out of the desert. I mean, that's that's tough.

Chef Blake : 7:38

That was cool, though. They were I mean, they had it. That was a really good crew.

Michael Carro : 7:42

Well, I can tell you it was a great experience. The menu is still as solid today as it was back then. And we thank you for all that and look forward to our next venture together.

Chef Blake : 7:49

Awesome. Thank you.

Michael Carro : 7:50

Thank you for listening to The Restaurant Realty 10. If you're interested in restaurants, whether operations, facilities, buying, leasing, or investment, The Restaurant Realty in 10 is for you. Please subscribe to this podcast and you can also visit TheRestaurantRealty.com for show notes, topics and additional information.