REVIEW: Kettle Valley Station Pub

I have known for a while that Kettle Valley Station Pub was working on a remodel and updating of their place so we were looking forward to the day when it was completed. 

In early March there was a news article online about the recent re-opening and their renovations so we decided to go in and check it out. 

On first entering we noticed gone the old clutter and generic look and now was more contemporary and modern look with clean looks and crisp design it made us anxious to see what else has changed. 

Before:

After:

It was quite busy for a Friday and I was happy to see that the changes have helped create a busier atmosphere: I talked to the Chef James and he told me that since the change the sales have increased significantly, this made me excited to see what creations were made to accompany the new look pub.

My wife, brother in law and I all find a table to squeeze in to as the place was packed and our waitress came by to get our drink order and drop off some menus. I ordered a Black IPA and opened the menu to see the delights...

One of the menu pages was holding on for dear life and the pages were sticky, perhaps this is just from careless kids who were in our section of the pub (yes kids between ages of 6 to 15 were around us). As I began to peruse the menu I could not help but notice there was no effort in layout or design of the menu. A generic font, no graphic to draw your eye or attention to anything in particular on the menu; it was like reading a random page from a textbook, no expression no passion. The menu did not seem to change at all, or at least not that I could tell; disappointing to say the least but perhaps the quality had changed.

We started off with a Spinach and artichoke dip to share between the 3 of us and it was okay, it had a spice  to it that gave it some after taste heat. Surprising but I could live with it, i figured it was a nice change and great way to up your beverage sales with a touch of heat in the appetizer, on to the next course.

I had ordered a burger that came with cheese bacon and onion rings on the burger and for a side I asked for fries. Disappointment continued when our meals came. I don't understand how any place can not even slightly melt cheese on burger? But that was not my only issue, the burger was overcooked and flavourless, no seasoning, no taste, dry, and unappealing. I understand maybe it was just me and that my expectations are higher than most people's and I get that, but I also think I am right to expect more as everyone does the same thing in the town.  I asked my wife how she liked her food and she said it was okay, but the dip for her yam fries with her bacon cheddar burger was weird, I had a taste of it and I most definitely agree, it was different and threw me off; it was a sweet honey mustard type of dip for the yam fries that was in my opinion not a very flattering accompaniment for the yam fries.I asked if her burger was over cooked like mine she said yes but she did not mind so much. My brother in law Kevin had similar thoughts on his meal as well, it was ok but nothing worth writing home about.

I can confidently predict that with time and no other changes that the furor of what is making Kettle valley Station Pub busy now will die off and the realization that nothing has really changed other than a fresh coat of paint.  The crowds will filter away and business will be back to the way it was and if it was not attached to a Ramada and nearly across the street from the South Okanagan Event Centre this pub would struggle.

I would have to rate this 2-1/2 stars out of 5.

Review: The Hooded Merganser

The Hooded Merganser, or The Hood as us locals call it, is located at the Penticton Lakeside Resort here in Penticton. This location has one of the best views in Penticton as it is located on the water near Okanagan Lake Beach.  The atmosphere and decor is very modern and open and the service was quite good and over all the experience was decent.

It was my uncle's 20th anniversary of being 64 (84th birthday for those mathematically challenged), and we had a small family gathering of 6 people. My wife and I have not been here for dinner for a few years as my wife was a vegetarian for a while and there is a very limited amount of options that cater to her former needs. However she is no longer living a vegetarian life and it was a special occasion so off we went for a nice dinner. 

Upon being the first to arrive there was a loud group of about 40 people who were celebrating a retirement right behind us, this created for a loud atmosphere but generally it is a quieter atmosphere and you don't usually have to strain to hear a conversation at your own table, on this night though you did, no fault of anyones just a chance happening.

We have come a few times for breakfast as the breakfast they serves is quite tasty, dinner though in the past had been less memorable. I want to feel that the Hood is the premiere place to go in Penticton but I feel let down so often I just can't say it, I hoped that this time would be the redemption.

Once the rest of our group arrived we ordered some wine and our entrees, no appetizers were ordered. For my wife and I it was approaching 6:30 pm and lunch was nearly 7 hours ago, we were starting to get hangry (hungry / angry for those not hip to the term). Tabitha was pleasantly pleased with the wine selection as they seemed to cater mainly to local wines, as they should in my opinion since we are in wine country!  

I ordered the 12oz ribeye steak and my wife the 6oz filet mignon, not often do I get the chance to order a steak dinner let alone a ribeye steak, so I had to take advantage of the opportunity. Our steaks came, and I have to admit I was put off a bit by the brown dull looking plateware, it reminded me of something you would get at Walmart. the food presentation was okay at best, some roast vegetables and potato with a steak on top. I could tell that the steak was brushed with butter just prior to being plated and sent to the customer, me, and it looked tasty. the steak had good grill lines and was glistening as I cut into it, I was expecting perfection..

What I ended up with was a decent steak with no real seasoning on it. When I personally order or cook a steak in a professional environment I expect the flavors to pop in my mouth. The first bite should include the taste of the caramelization of the meat on the grill giving it the grill lines, it should be properly seasoned so that the flavors burst in your mouth complimenting and satiate one's appetite. You should notice a slight sense, in the very least, salt and pepper, enough to compliment the steak and bring out the flavour of the steak; alas I got nothing. I then had a taste of Tabitha's filet.. nothing. Both steaks were cooked spot on but to me, I feel like there was no real love given to the meals, I felt as if they were made on an assembly line at a hospital, that bland was the objective so that you don't affect anyones medication. 

I don't mean to sound like a dick with this but for the price of the steaks $32 for the filet and $40 for the ribeye it should be seasoned to perfection and i should not see each of my family members reaching for the salt and pepper at the table.  Any chef or kitchen of quality will agree with me that food should always be seasoned to perfection prior to serving ( has no one seen Hell's Kitchen and Chef Ramsay go off on his staff about bland food?).  It bothered me as a chef to see everyone grab the salt and pepper from the table; I expect it from Denny's or White Spot but the Hood should be so much more..

As it was a birthday there was dessert and most of us ordered something, I ordered a chocolate mousse and while it was good, i was expecting something lighter, something less dense. It was tasty and I did like it, I was just thinking more pillowy and delicate. tabitha did not have any dessert but I did have a taste of my cousin's chocolate torte and it was rich and tasty, but for me again it was a bit too dense. We had joked about needing a knife to cut through it as it was nearly pure chocolate.  that was slightly melted on the outside. 

Now perhaps the steaks were under seasoned on purpose due to the aged population of Penticton which I am sure averages somewhere in the 60+ age range, and from my experience in kitchens they are more sensitive to seasonings. However for me being in my 40's and what I like to consider the median age of tourists coming to Penticton and a representative of what their expectations are when arriving I found the Hood let us down again. they are so close to hitting that home run but end up just hitting that pop fly to left centre field, not even at the warning track. 

Overall I give The Hooded Merganser a 3 out of 5  average rating.

On a side note that I can never reiterate enough:

Penticton needs someone to come in and revitalize the food quality and expectations in most establishments here in town. The people moving here are more educated and come from top foody markets where people push the envelope and create exciting dishes and thus the expectations need to be raised to accommodate the growing and changing needs of the people. 

REVIEW: TUGS TAPHOUSE

I had only been to Tugs one other time since the name change from Best Damn Sports Bar to Tugs Taphouse a few years ago so we thought it was time to go back and see what is going on.

We walked in and my wife searched the place for a suitable table; she knows that I do not like chairs with arm rests as I am a fluffy guy and the handles bother me, and even though it seemed that was all that was available the arm rests did not bother me much. I think it was a combination of me working out and the chairs being a bit wider than normal chairs so they were nice and comfy!

We perused the menu a bit to see what they had, and while the selection was decent it was the same as most other pubs in Penticton ( I just want something original, flavorful and unique when it comes to menu development! C'mon man!). We ended up ordering some wings to share, I had a burger with yam fries (against my wishes as my wife loves yam fries and I rarely find ones that are worthy enough to my standards) and Tabitha ordered a Vegetarian Pizza with Feta added.

The wings came out and they were okay, there isn't much you can do to screw up wings. The wings came with the usual carrot and celery sticks, about a dozen wings in total and had just the right amount of salt and pepper on them.

Our main course followed shortly afterwards, I had the "Rattle Snake Bite" Burger, a burger with cheddar, BBQ sauce, crispy onion rings and banana peppers (though I asked for no banana peppers as I am a wuss). the burger was decent and as I said before that I was skeptical about the yam fries I was pleasantly surprised. Usually I find the fries undercooked and the dipping sauce proved bland but at Tugs Taphouse they were spot on! 

Our server was nice and friendly and very helpful with Tabitha on assisting in menu suggestions. I am not sure how the wine list was but I know my wife found a wine that she never had before but really liked. 

All in all a 3-1/2 out of 5, 

(And in my opinion one of the best choices of places to watch the game and have something to eat here in Penticton.)

Mother's Day.. my own personal Hell in Restaurant Biz

After 25 + years in the industry I have come to a few conclusions; 

Never touch another chef's knives!

There is no such thing as a day off!

Mother's Day is hell on earth!

Don't get me wrong, I love my mother and I am very appreciative and thankful for all she does and had done. I think every day should be mom's day; but in the restaurant business it has a different meaning for me. 

Many times in my years I have worked the open to close on Mother's day, the busiest day of the year in the restaurant industry. Not only have I worked doubles but I have worked the two busiest positions for each of these positions when doing doubles; eggs in the morning and broil/grill at night. Working at a busy chain restaurant, Milestones (exclusive to BC only at the time) so many years ago, in the late 90's, I was tasked with working a double, and asked at the last minute too! Where a typical sunday brunch at the time would be a $5000 morning (average breaky back then was between $8 and $10) a mothers day we would be looking at around $8000 to $10,000 between 10 am and 3pm. The night time on a busy night would be around $7000 in sales but on Mother's Day  it was closer to $12,000.  

Now I know you think ok, so your really busy but lets break the numbers down further for the brunch sales. 

$9000 = Average Mothers Day Brunch food sales 

$9.00 average meal price

1000 meals served

10am to 3pm is service time = 5 hrs of brunch service

1000 meals / 5 hrs = 200 meals an hour

200 meals per hour / 60 mins = 3.33  meals a minute

ideal ticket times is 7 to 8 mins - but Mothers Day  is about 12 to 15 due to volume

15 mins x 3 meals a minute means you have 45 meals to pump out in those 15 minutes.

Believe me this is not fun or easy!

Dinner was not much different than brunch in the respect of craziness, and the truth is for the first 3 hours all I did was poach eggs and make 2 or 4 of everything and waited for the finisher to call for something and i would cross with the item. I never even looked at the ticket. Even during night shift on broil.. I would have on 3 or 4 steaks for each doneness, if a rare wasn't selling for long enough i would make it sell as a medium rare instead, same with the other donenesses. This system is not easy to do especially trying to avoid any waste; I had to have complete control over my grill and the hot zones and holding/resting zones of my charbroiler, and was absolutely vigilant at making sure no one touched a thing on my grill, they were not allowed to take or add to my grill without my permission, not even the head chef would have the balls to mess with my grill.

 I took complete ownership of my station, no matter where I was in the kitchen because I was a perfectionist and did not want anyone to disrupt my flow of the system I had in place. Once I noticed it was starting to slow down with tickets coming in I would ease back on the loading of the station.

I would start my day with purchasing 4 or 5 gatorades and end the day guzzling the last one down around 8 or 9 pm, drenched in sweat, I would have changed my uniform at least twice. Management would have ordered pizza for 3pm and 10pm for the staff to have something to eat; most of the time pizza would be gone before the main line guys would have a chance for a piece so I would have a steak that would be a casualty of the loading of the grill, there is always one or two that fall through the cracks but a manager would usually have it so as not to count it as a loss. I would tell them I am having a steak or whatever was left over and it would be on them as I was doing a double shift for them. They would moan and bitch and I would not care most of the time. I once had a manager (Pat W) argue with me over a skewer of prawns and that he wanted me to pay for it, I caved and did but I would make it very clear in the future that any favours I do for them would cost a full meal and 2 beers after work on the house, plus my overtime wage.

After 20 years I still remember the feeling and anxiety of working these shifts, the adrenaline rush, the sweat, the intensity, the overwhelming feeling, the feeling of accomplishment when it was over, and the exhaustion at the end of the day; and after all that I would do it all again.

Now a few pet peeves and things needing to be cleared up on Mother's day.

1. Everyone is in a rush, not just you so sit and wait your turn and your table will be ready when it is ready.

2. Clearly we are busy so no you can not get your meal faster.

3. The server has more than one table and you are not more important than any other table, it may take 5 or 10 minutes before your food is rung in so when you say it has been a long time for your food, get a grip relax and it will be up as soon as possible.

4. Dont exaggerate waiting "an hour" for your food, we can tell exactly how long it took to make and send out to you.

5 Always make a reservation for Mother's day at least 2 weeks in advance. DO NOT CALL IN ON MOTHER"S DAY looking for a reservation as I will laugh at you and hang up.

6. Tip your server extra well on Mother's Day as we are all sacrificing time with our mother to take care of yours, show us some respect.

7. WE ARE NOT BABY SITTERS. YOUR CHILDREN SHOULD NOT BE RUNNING AROUND THE VERY BUSY RESTAURANT. KEEP YOUR LITTLE MENACES AT YOUR TABLE!

8. Don't be an asshole and complain for the sake of complaining! Have some common sense, we are busy, if we see steam coming off your food it is still hot, don't say it isn't just to prove a point.

9. If you have a legitimate complaint we will gladly fix the issue but nothing is instantaneous but please know your complaint if legitimate will be taken seriously and made the top priority in the kitchen.

10. Smile and be polite, we do remember who you are if you have a shitty attitude and you will get bare minimum attentiveness back in service.