In the Beginning

The hardest year of my life must have been 1989, the year that my wife, Angie, and I opened Sanford. 

I had spent ten years as chef at John Byron’s, five of them with Angie in the front of the house. We were hands-on, involved with purchasing, hiring, firing, financials, repairs and customer relations. We thought we had solid insight on what it would be like to own our own establishment. Well, no matter how much you think you know about the restaurant business, there is nothing that can truly prepare you for ownership. Luckily, we were fast learners and had a great staff to help us grow along the way.

I think back to the most difficult night of that fateful year: opening night. We were a couple of weeks behind schedule, running on fumes and very anxious to open our doors. We practiced for the big day with a pre-opening gathering serving hors d’oeuvres for all of the friends, family and craftsmen who had helped us make our dreams of opening a restaurant come true. We felt confident, as that night went off without a hitch. 

A few nights later on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we officially opened for business and it will forever live in infamy within my mind. I thought I had put together an opening menu that we could produce with ease for our low-stakes audience of 30 good friends. We hoped they would be tolerant of any first night jitters. 

The dining room staff was in top form, which vaguely concealed the hellish situation conspiring in the kitchen. We were woefully unprepared. It reminded me of one of my sister’s first dinner parties: after a few welcome cocktails, the food never appeared. Everyone eventually did get fed, but they would have been better off staying the night. The one bright side was that everyone loved the food, probably because they were starved for most of the evening. 

Angie and I were shocked, embarrassed and devastated by how poorly the evening had gone. We were nearly comatose as we mumbled, “Goodnight,” to the staff and retired upstairs to bed. The staff gathered in the dining room until almost daybreak discussing the fiasco: why it happened and how it could be changed. The next day they sat us down and brilliantly laid out a simple plan that we had been too overwhelmed to even consider. By day two we had achieved a normal restaurant pace where guests received prompt food and service that reflected the standards that we had originally envisioned. 

One of the dishes we debuted that first night was a Grilled Pear and Roquefort Tart with Caramelized Onions and Walnuts. As our success blossomed, this dish went on to become one of our biggest sellers and is still on the menu today, 30 years later. For my taste, this is a perfectly balanced dish: the onions are deeply caramelized and deglazed with vinegar to balance the inherent sweetness. The pears are seared and in combination with toasted walnuts, they add a swath of bitterness that balances the pears’ ripeness, the rich and slightly saline Roquefort cheese and crisp buttery pastry shell. Once you have all the components ready the dish is a breeze to put together. If only opening a restaurant were that simple!