Permitting Headaches and a New Logo

There's not enough Tylenol in the world that can kick the headache we've experienced over the past two weeks at the Building Department. Imagine government workers with a higher skill set and the same attitude. Actually, securing the permit hasn't been the problem, that part was relatively painless. What's getting us fired up is the cost associated with this whole racket. We budgeted one number to cover permits but it's coming in at an entirely higher one. Suffice to say, we're going by department, down the list, and asking for a reduced rate. I've had better luck breathing underwater than I did in getting us a reduction in permitting cost.

Some good news is that we've decided on the logo--finally--and will be blowing it out to the public within the week. I have to give a plug for this on-line service called Logo Tournament. I can't stop singing its praises. The gist is this, you fill out a questionnaire that describes what your looking for in a logo. You set a dollar amount that you want to pay for a logo and the time frame you're looking to have it completed. So designers from around the WORLD submit sketches of your logo from the information you provided. So you literally get entries from Spain, Italy, Russia, Indonesia, China, the list goes on. Our particular logo contest got 187 entries over the span of 10 days. We got everything from the sublime to the ridiculous. Obviously, the higher the prize amount you set the better talent you attract. We ended up going with a guy from Romania who nailed what we were looking for. I will say that the decision was extremely difficult, with so many choices it got to be down-right confusing. But we had a handful of friends with a decent eye help narrow them down. You also get to work one-on-one with each designer during--and after--the contest to really drill down on exactly what you want. Brilliant! Go make yourself a logo!

Here's a sneak peak. Now it's still being worked on so save the comments for later;)

The Office.....not the TV series

Cy and I have established our base of operation as close to the Fat Angel space as possible. We have converted one of our former bedrooms into a command post of sorts, a few blocks away from all the action at 1740 O'Farrell St. We inherited two chinchilas that have been most helpful in keeping us company during the late night brainstorming sessions. Here's a look at the spot and our furry little scarves, I mean friends.

The Chinchillas names are Sir Chew-a-lot (grey) and Mr. Grumplestein (white)

Move over! I've got important documents....

So we got our final prints yesterday. We're extra official now. We had our contractor over to the space to do a walk-thru and interpret the plans for Cy and I.

Visionaries of the 1st order

Don Santos, our contractor, studying the plans. Cyrick relaying the vision.

The plans have been submitted to the building department and we are waiting for them to be ripped apart and sent back. The more "problems" that are identified earlier the better. This will prevent the dreaded "change order" from becoming the albatross around our necks. So far the Health Department has been the friendliest of the bunch, the Building Department can use a little customer service training. But you didn't hear that from me.... they're.actually very nice people (just in case this site is being monitored).

With a little luck we should be getting this thing started by months end. JK

Color!

Our architect just shot over a colored shot of the interior space. I must say, this place is going to look beautiful!
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View is from the front, right when you walk in. JK

Full Frontal

(Side view from Fillmore St. looking West on O'Farrell St.)

Here's a quick peek at what the front of Fat Angel will look like. The colors may change but the concept should stay the same. We got the final architectural prints today so now we go to the city and get a building permit. Exciting stuff!

Front View from O'Farrell Street

JK

Into the Ground they Go

Our lovelies are sleeping right now in their new bed. Parsley, sage, thyme, basil, chives, peppermint, and spearamint, all getting acclimated to their new urban lifestyle. We had my good friend Diane out to help with the Big Dig. I've known Diane from day 2 of moving to SF. She's been with me through the past 6 years and we've shared many a meal and bottle of juice together. Not only is Diane a certified pickler of every fruit or vegetable on the planet but she has a wicked keen palate that is currently dialing in Fat Angel's wine list. Here's our day:

As Cyrick said, the only other people that dress as well as him and use a shovel are the "Italians". Di gave a lot of love to those little plants today.

Golden Sage

Blue African Basil

Flat leas parsley

My face in a mound of Golden Sage. It's the wood that makes it good....JK

The Good Earth

"There is nothing pleasanter than spading when the ground is soft and damp."
-John Steinbeck

Choice words. Choice words, indeed. Today we tilled the soil. Our backs breaking under the heavy loads of dirt. We worked our 60 sf of earth today, amending the soil and making the perfect home for our new herb plants. The big planting day is tomorrow. Come time for the restaurant opening, we should have ourselves quite the bounty of organic herbs to use in our cooking. Take a look!

This city kid had NEVER even seen a shovel before today.


I'm a better foreman than laborer.


Cyrick found his true talent today and that's rooting out roots. Look at the size of this one! Chairman Mao would be so happy.



We used Organic Redwood Compost. I've always been partial to Miracle Grow but I was voted down.


Don't pretend you're not jealous. That is one fine plot of land we worked. We're installing the razor wire and land mines tomorrow just in case a wayward dog or kid decides to get wise.

The project is moving along at a steady pace. We'll keep you up to date on how the plants take to their new home. A little water, a lot of sun, and pinch of love should do the trick. Let's hope our thumbs look like my shirt! JK

Our SF Business License

We're legit with the city.....

Herbs, Herbs the Magical Fruit

One of the great things about Fat Angel's concept is our commitment to bringing the freshest, most nutritious, exciting, and tasty ingredients from around Northern California to our peeps in the neighborhood. There ain't nothin' like it right now so we're pumped to be the first.

In their efforts to be the first LEED certified development of its type, on the West Coast, The Fillmore Center (TFC) has dedicated tons of time and money to "greening" their entire operation. From motion sensor controlled common area lighting to low flow showers and toilets, TFC has made a strong commitment in becoming a more sustainable, natural resource friendly, community.

With that said, part of this drive has opened an opportunity for Fat Angel to run a pilot program that takes an existing green space on TFC's property and converts it into a fully functional herb garden. Obviously we jumped at the chance to participate. Here's the space we've selected:


So next week we pull up a few existing plants to relocate, til the soil, incorporate compost from the SF composting program, rework the drip irrigation, and plant these suckers. Everyone's more than welcome to come get dirty. I'll be the guy in the overalls with a piece of hay in my mouth.

We've selected all organic herbs to plant and they include Pineapple Sage, Lemon Thyme, Cilantro, Magic Michael Basil, Flat Leaf Parsley, and Ginger Mint. If it were up to me I'd plant a 100 more varieties but land is expensive and we are beholden to the K.I.S.S. Method in all we do.

Again, this is just a test to see if the herbs will take. If they do--and we hope they do--then this program could be rolled out as a neighborhood wide effort to create urban community gardens. Oh, FYI, take a look at this article that came out last week. Talk about GREAT timing!!!!! Click here...

JK

Possible Exterior Looks for Fat Angel

So we're working with the talented folks at Axis Architecture and Design for both our interior and exterior plan. Here are a few of the preliminary sketches and possibilities:




This was the first interior sketch Axis came up with. Surprisingly it hasn't changed much to what we're actual going to do.

Cyrick and I have trended toward the second group of sketches as we want Fat Angel to be a throw back to the classics. If we could Frankenstein our look it would be Parisian cafe meets wine country barrel caves meets a Gothic church meets an old, comfy gray sweater. JK

The Area Around our Space

Fat Angel will be located in one of the commercial spaces below this 143 unit apartment building of The Fillmore Center. Here's a shot of the building with the space shaded in white. Our storefront takes up both sections of windows below.


Here's a shot of the interior. Obviously the colors were from the woman's boutique that occupied the space before. Photo 1 is the back looking forward and Photo 2 is from the front looking back. Much work to be done....

Photo 1 is looking towards Fillmore St. Photo 2 is what you'll be looking at when you're sipping a glass of super-chilled New Zealand sauvignon blanc and nibbling on our porcini mushroom flatbread.


We will be directly across the street from the new Fillmore Center Plaza. TFC did a $2 million dollar renovation of their plaza and sponsors a weekly farmers market on Saturdays (year round) and hosts a plethora of events from weekly concerts to movie nights. This is a HUGE plus for our business and we hope to capitalize on the traffic.


Good things! JK

The Space

Fat Angel is located at 1740 O'Farrell Street. Pretty much the exact center of San Francisco. Here's a link to Google Maps.
The space is just under 1,000sf and was home to a woman's boutique called Diva Diva. She closed her doors roughly 3 years ago and the space has been sitting vacant ever since.

The space belongs to the mixed use development called The Fillmore Center (TFC), a mixture of 1,114 residential apartment homes and 30,000sf of commercial space.

For better (or worse), we're next door to Starbucks. The other food options within 300 feet of our restaurant are--get ready for this--Subway, Popeyes, Taco Bell, KFC, Panda Express, Safeway, and a bunch of Korean joints (of course Mc D's and BK are right up the street too). So this is the deal, you have an area of the city where there's a large number of government housing projects, the aforementioned fast food joints stammer to open up shop. They serve a heavily processed, nutritiously bereft, low cost food product that destroys the health of the people living there. Now, granted, no one puts a gun to their heads and says, "eat this or else...", but it's pretty obvious what's going on here. That's why this is such a great opportunity. We have the chance to change things. We will be the first restaurant in many decades to offer nurishing food at a comfortable price point to a community that is literally dying to eat well.

We can't tell you how excited we are to give people this option. Cyrick and I have lived and worked in this neighborhood for many years and the frustration factor is at a 10 when it's time to eat. I call the current food options, "emergency food" because there's no way these lips are munchin' down on a leg 'n' thigh value meal unless I'm really hard-up, and by hard-up I mean crack addicition or worse.

So for those of you out there who have the means--meaning choice--to eat well, count you're blessings!

More interior pictures of space: