Tables, New Storage, and an Extended Wall

Our construction progress continues at a steady space. Great Wall construction is determined to get this project over and done with by October 16th. True to form, the team is working 6 days a week, 10 hour days. Not too many hiccups this past week. Cyrick and I spent the majority of the week tracking down equipment throughout the Bay Area. We went back to the auction in San Leandro on Thursday but came up with little. A few rubber kitchen mats are all we have to show. Since our space is VERY limited in size, all of our equipment has been spec'd to exact measurements. Of course everything we see is either too big or too small, never just right.

Our new dining tables showed up last week and look fantastic. Like I've mentioned before, we've rooted ourselves in everything classic. This, we hope, will minimize any design errors once everything comes together. The table bases are made of cast iron and have an Elizabethan design to them that look a heck of a lot better than your traditional restaurant bases. We went back and forth a lot on what material the tops should be made from. Our original intention was wood but we already had too much, so we decided on white Carrera marble instead. Actually, our bar is going to be white marble as well so this worked out perfect. Take a look at the finished product!



We also moved storage locations last week and I've included a few shots of the new digs. A lot smaller but it works. Big thanks to The Fillmore Center for hooking us up.



Oh, and we've gone more vertical with the walls. The ceiling is going in next week so we are building all the soffits now to accommodate the drop in ceiling. Our crew was perched like birds on a wire creating the frame.

Cleaning out the Wood Shop

We cleaned out the wood shop on Monday. Filled the Uhaul with all the wood items from the shop and dropped them into the space and to our on-site storage on the property. Lot's of work but with every move we get closer to a stable place.


1) Uhaul loves us. We rent a truck a week it seems like. 2) Cleaned out shop, nothing but drawings left.


1) The back bar in place temporarily 2) Cyrick getting ready to use the nail gun, .22 caliber. Nice.


1) Another shot of the back bar 2) Ripped up the vinyl in the bathroom. Going to be stained concrete when we're done.

Wine List

Today was one of the fun days that makes the others tolerable. Diane and I spent a solid 8 hours meeting with wine reps from around the city. A few were just introductions while a few others brought chilled bottles of their wares for us to taste. The wine offerings at Fat Angel will be anything but ordinary. We are dedicated to tasting our way through 100's, nay, 1000's of wines to hand pick the few that will be on our list.

Our vision is to have an eclectic mix of value wines from around the globe. Each wine having a story to tell, a heritage worth exploring, and a taste that will make you stand up and take notice. The last thing we want is for someone to take a sip and not be physically moved by the experience. Now, with that said, the experience can be either positive or negative. Just as long as there's a reaction. We want to push palates and expand minds. Create an sensory experience that's 180 deg. from the same old, same old most people--including me--fall into: Cali fruit bombs, over-extracted Aussies, thin white Italians, etc.

We will have a tight, manageable list with roughly 30 wines. Our by-the-glass program will have 10+ wines to choose from with a price range of $7 to $12, the medium being in the $8-$9 range. Our bottle list will max out at $50. I know the crew I roll with rues the days of sitting down at wine bars and restaurants and being presented with a wine list that wreaks of common, overpriced juice that you're forced to buy. Not with us. You're not going to feel violated when you walk out. We promise:)


1) Diane reading up on our next appointment. Nice lookin' scooter, no?


1) Chateauneuf du Pape and a Pinot from Chandon 2) Di tasting a New Zealand Chardonnay from Martinborough


1) Jason from Pacific Wines. Tasted a Gewurztraminer, Pinot, Chardonnay, and a Du Pape. Nice guy. He had the decency to leave us with the bottles, too.

Bar Back Installation

Another step closer! The team started construction on what will be the back part of the bar. They built a custom box and furred the wall out 6" to create a landing pad for our antique back bar. The piece itself was salvaged--by us--from a church outside San Jose. The church dates back to the early 1900's and was full of some amazing items that will also make an appearance in FA. The bar measures 11' x 5' and is made of first growth fir. A grain pattern so tight that every self-titled wood worker who sees it spends the next 20 minutes telling us how, "they don't make this any more!"

Cyrick and I have spent the better part of 2 months refinishing the piece in our wood shop. The bar had 6(!) coats of paint that needed stripping. It was amazing to see how the colors changed with the decades. The color order top to bottom: white, green, yellow, mauve, white, and, finally, a dark stain. Truth be told, the stain was without question the best looking. I guess it's easier to paint over than stain again.
We sanded the final piece with 50, 80, and 120 grit to make it nice and smooth. We have yet to determine the final color, but as the floors, ceiling, wainscot, etc. go up, we'll have better idea of her final look.



1) What the original piece looked like






1&2) some of the grain detail and color variations

More Walls and Tin Ceiling Panels

Solid week of construction gains. The new metal stud walls are up and looking good. The fellas are beginning to install the dropped ceiling as well as the rough electrical. So by the end of next week we should have a roof over our heads and some plugs.


1) Tommy showing us his two fingers 2) Left is the kitchen, right is the office/storage room



Cyrick and I are currently being booted out of the apartment and building we've lived in and managed for the past four months. It's a shame to lose free rent. Our new place is a lot smaller and looks like a homeless shelter compared to our digs in Pacific Heights. We've known about this for a month so it's not a shock but no one likes moving especially when we're trying to open Fat Angel. To add more angst to things, we are using a storage room turn wood shop in our old building that has ALL of the furnishings for FA. So on top of our personal effects in the apartment, we need to find another stashing place for an 11 foot back bar that's weighs 500lbs, a mess of old, wooden church pews, tons of wood chairs, tools, etc. Not to mention our lower backs have seen better days. Oh well, keep pushing forward. It's all about sacrificing for the dream.

We also got our tin ceiling panels in yesterday. They look great and will be placed in the cozy dining portion of our cafe and wine bar. It's going to make everything pop once they go up and the chandelier gets installed.


1) Tin ceiling panels are going in the dining area. There will be two smaller chandeliers hanging from them plus some killer crown molding to frame everything in the recessed ceiling. Beautiful!

-JK

Cheese Tasting

Diane and I had Jenn from The Cheeseworks in Oakland come by and taste us through what will eventually become Fat Angel's cheese and charcuterie offerings. Let me first say that she brought a cooler full of meat, pate, cheese, bread, and crackers. If that wasn't cool enough, she sent us home with 95% of what was left. Cyrick, myself and two buddies had a gorge fest last night with a few bottles of vino while watching the Giant's game. Great way to spend a Tuesday night.

Each day seems to be filled with a new set of challenges. I've always had one, maybe two challenging days per week throughout my life but working on Fat Angel has brought the word challenge to a new level. I keep telling Cyrick, the work has only started, the real work is when we open. Bring it!


1) Jenn from The Cheeseworks. We had a really good time and she was very well versed in all things cheese. Di and I were impressed. 2) A goats milk cheese that is set in wine barrels and packed with different field herbs and left to age. Not sure if we're going with it but it was mighty interesting.


1) The guys setting up Wall #2. This time it's metal and not wood. We lost a few days because of this but the fire code is something we can't scoot around.

A Wall Comes Down!

Just when we thought things were moving in the right direction a mistake in the plans was identified by our contractor. Suffice to say, the plans never specified what material the framing was supposed to be made from. You only have two choices, wood or metal. We chose wood and it was supposed to be metal. After a conversations with the architect it was decided that the walls needed to come down and new metal framing needed to go into its place. We lost a handful of days because of this, not to mention the frustration for our contractor and us. Oh well, we push on. Another day another dollar spent. If we get out of this without having to sell a kidney it's going to be a miracle. But then again, miracles are pretty cool when they happen so let the odds stack against us....


1) Where a wall used to be. Soon to be home to another wall, a metal one this time.

Some good new, however, was our weekly trip to Urban Ore in Berkley. I think I've mentioned this place before, it's like a Goodwill but for building materials and furniture. This place is massive and always packed with really cool stuff. We've spent the better part of 2009 collecting and salvaging materials to us in our restaurant from a handful of Bay Area salvage yards, however Urban Ore has always been the horse to bet on when it comes to amazing finds.


1) Urban Ore Ecopark: One mans junk...

Today we found nine Thonet No. 14 Bentwood Chairs (see photo) that I've personally scoured the United States looking for. Brand new these chairs are hundreds of dollars. They are your classic bistro chairs seen in restaurants around the world. We lucked out big time in finding this set. Now we have to piece together another 10 and we'll have a place for you to sit. Oh, and we got them for $10 each. Big win for Fart Angel!


1) Cyrick doing his best to secure our 9 new chairs and sandwich prep cooler that we picked up from the auction people. Zip Car supplying the wheels

We had a lot of excitement today. Nursing a headache now, trying not to think of what tomorrow will bring.

-JK

Visit from the Architect

We had a visit bright and early this morning from our architect, Terry Lafrano. Terry has been a great help though all of this and has come up with a killer design for us (see Facebook page or earlier posts for these pictures). We had him stop by today to make sure the Great Wall Construction crew was executing his vision correctly. The verdict? Good so far!

1) Terry Lafrano: Architect and Gigolo

1) 80lbs is nothing for a strong, German-Floridian 2) Weak Chinaman

1) Don't say I never did anything to contribute to the build out. 2) He's thinking what a jackass of a partner he got hooked up with.



1) Hector Macho Camacho, Jr. prepping for the concrete laying.

-JK

Frenzy at the Auction House

The auction house was a fantastic experience. We got to the warehouse at 10:00am and perused all the stuff. We spent an hour honing our list to only the necessities. It goes without saying that auctions of any kind are fast paced and exciting. However, because of all the excitement--and good, old fashion competition--you end up walking away with a few more things than you intended.

It's a little sad, though, to be bidding on someones defunct dream. I mean unless a restaurant owner is retiring to Florida or upgrading there equipment, you assume most of these items have been repossessed by the leasing companies or are salvage from a belly-up operation. In any case, it feels like you're grave digging for gold fillings. But once you get passed that there are some amazing deals to be had.

Now the auction itself took about 8 hours. There were roughly 500 lots, everything from tables and chairs to walk-in coolers and a BBQ smoker the size of a small trailer home. Actually, the smoker retailed for $26,000 and someone picked it up for $10,000. Oh, and this thing had been used maybe 4 times, it was spotless. This company fills up their warehouse every two weeks. A little scary if you ask me.

Our list of items included bowls, bins, knives, cutting boards, spatulas, pans, whips, a blender and soup warmer, a 5' deli cooler, and a host of other nic-nacs and whatnot, all for the low low price of about $2k. Brand new this stuff would easily cost double, especially the equipment. We're hooked. If anyone is planning on opening a restaurant, you would do yourself a disservice by not attending a few of these.

Our friend Diane told us that she used to be an auction house plant and was paid to bid on items to drive up the price. Once we got savvy to that game we were a little less aggressive to jump into the fray until we felt confident the price wasn't artificially inflated. Lesson learned. Thanks Di!

-JK




1) Video from the 8 hour auction today


1) Cleavers: Cyrick and I have a fascination and subsequent collection of cleavers mostly from Asia. We passed on this lot. Too small. 2) Cyrick was the official recorder of everything we bought.

Passed Inspection #1

The first of many city inspections was performed yesterday and Fat Angel had no problem passing. Scratch that, no problems that couldn't be fixed with some extra money. The plumbing inspector decided that we didn't have enough floors drains in our 100sf kitchen and requested that we add an additional one for good measure. So $1,000 later we now have a total of 4(!) drains of some type in our tiny kitchen. I've decided to sell this drain to you, the faithful followers of FA, so if anyone wants to kick in a G, I would totally install a gold plaque with your name on it. Drains are important so don't think this is just money you're throwing down, well, I'll stop at that.

1) Big Perm installing more venting pipe. 2) A confluence of brass piping, each with a special purpose that will be revealed to us in the near future.

1) Tommy and Robert Chow, drinkin' some Starbucks. Oh, Starbucks is our neighbor so traffic shouldn't be a problem. Converting coffee drinkers to wine and beer drinkers is our business so game on. 2) I call this guy Hector Macho Camacho, Jr. He's been the go-to guy for the plumbing team. These guys worked straight through this past weekend and even worked the holiday. Needless to say these guys aren't Union.

1) Just because you haven't seen enough orange walls with piping. 2) Another group of pipes that will handle our hand washing sink

1) Impressive! 2) Our great friend Diane Dillon. A whole blog section will be dedicated to her but this is the only picture I have handy. Di is a crucial piece of the Fat Angel puzzle. She's the other half of our brain.

So stay tuned for the next update! -JK

More Exciting Plumbing Pictures

I know, more plumbing shots. Yyyawn! This is equivalent to a parent telling you stories about how junior said what sounded like a word. Or that he grew three additional hairs on his head. Stick with me, though, I promise to make this as engaging and exciting as possible, really!


1) Grease trap: They decided to put this below ground to give us more room underneath our sink. Very thoughtful. 2)Floor sink: Where our espresso machine, hot water tower, beer cooler, ice machine, and whatever else we have that drips is going to land. We hope.


1) The "Blue Glove Method" was invented by the Sioux Tribe circa 1670. Scholars maintain that the birth of modern day plumbing stems from their use of a buffalo's udder sack to prevent water leakage in tepees all over The Great Plains. 2) Floor drain. Simple yet effective for draining things like water. What a fascinating modern age we live.

Killer shot of pipe and dirt. Yeah, I know, you're impressed. Just look at the bend in that pipe, though!

-JK