Benihana's New Chef

The San Francisco Health Department is the one city office that we need to make really happy during this build out. Their list of do's and don'ts is mind-boggling. 80% of the requirements I get, the other 20% are debatable. The phrase that has been jammed into our heads from the beginning is, "smooth and washable". This is really their main hot button. Everything from the ceiling to the walls to the floor needs to fit into this mantra. Eric Mar is our inspector and we've gotten to know him well. Our thought process goes something like this: Keep Eric in the loop, call him, email him, stop by his office, constantly be in contact with him every step of the way. I can imagine most people just go ahead without really involving their health inspector and hope that when they get their final inspection they will have everything. We'd rather have Eric tell us something's wrong sooner than later. It's a whole lot cheaper to get it right the first time. He's actually saved us from our assumptions more than once.

So in honor of being smooth and washable, here's a video of the crew chipping paint from the walls in the kitchen. There's a slight texture pattern to the wall in the kitchen--not to mention the hideous color--that didn't pass muster with the HD so we're exposing the concrete to prep for primer and paint. Some of the more tedious work performed to date. --JK