blogs: Steve Coomes's blog 

Owners will tell you the restaurant business is fun most days, and a hell of a headache on others. The last few days have been a borderline aneurysm for the owners of the New Albanian Brewing Co. and Bank Street Brew House. Last Friday at lunchtime, NABC (3312 Plaza Drive, New Albany) lost all its H20 when the local water company decided it was time to repair some rusting fire hydrants. Necessary, no doubt, but on FRIDAY? THE BUSIEST DAY OF THE WEEK? "After I got over my homicidal rage, I called them to talk about it," said Roger Baylor, NABC co-owner. "I couldn't believe they picked that day to do it." For a lot of restaurants, Friday sales make up some 30 to 50 percent of a week's take. Worse, the annual Gravity Head festival is underway there, and sales for that are typically 15 percent higher than a normal Friday. So you can understand Baylor's anxiety over having no running water for his customers and his kitchen. (And just thinking of those dry, dry brewing tanks make me verklempt.) And as if one plumbing problem wasn't fun enough (NABC reopened Saturday), on Sunday night, the pipes and toilets at Bank Street Brewhouse (415 Bank Street, New Albany) began their own revolt. On Monday a plumber snaked the pub's pipes but found nothing, but when the problem didn't abate, he returned Tuesday with a camera and found a broken pipe fitting. The solution? Jackhammer the floor and fix it. Sweet! "It's gotten to where every time my phone rings I cringe, thinking, 'What's gone wrong now?'" Baylor said. Not ironically, New Albany leaders and residents are arguing over whether to raise the town's sewer tax so they can upgrade the ancient system. "That's what we do here … argue about sewers." The good news is Bank Street will reopen today. New York politician wants restaurants salt-free:I always thought the country's weirdness originated in California and migrated east, but a New York City assemblyman has one-upped the Left Coasters on this one. Felix Ortiz is proposing (read the bill here) restaurant cooks not be allowed to salt foods when preparing them. Seriously. He thinks it's best to leave that in the hands of guests and applied at the table. Nice. Wonder how all that wonderful New York-style pizza will do without salt? Bill A10129 cites a report issued by the World Health Organization claiming that "three quarters or more of the sodium intake in the United States comes from processed or restaurant foods." I'm no dietitian, but that's a heck of a lot of salt to blame on two sources, so I find that hard to believe. Possible pseudo-science aside, I can't imagine anyone thinking this is a good bill. Even Michael Jacobson, the food Nazi from the Center for Science in the Public Interest addressed this correctly in Nation's Restaurant News when he said, "Limiting sodium requires more a scalpel than a meat axe." (Knowing that guy, he's just mad someone else beat him to this. Some sad good-byes: It's one thing to see bad restaurants close, but it's another when good ones like Kentucky BBQ Co. and Red Pepper (Chinese) call it quits. The sad fact is the market continues to correct itself, and when good eateries go under, it's clear proof that people have only so much money. But before some of you jump on me and ask, "Why are chain restaurants still doing well?" read what outgoing Domino's Pizza CEO said last week at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. When an independent operator asked him why Domino's kept prices so low and kept running promo after promo to drive sales and progressively hurt other operators, Brandon made no apologies. "Our job is to grow our own business. We're in competition with you. I have a whole team of people in Ann Arbor whose job it is to come in every day and kick ass. That's business." (No, he didn't say it meanly, but he made his point.) I have to agree with him. That's business. The strong survive. Even when their product isn't the best. Or even close. PS: If it makes the anti-chain crowd happy, On the Border (Westport Road) closed in February. Far as chains went, I kinda liked it, actually. But it can't touch this town's taquerias, so I quit going years ago.

ADD A COMMENT

	DavidsonDuke   wed mar 10 2010 at 3:28 pm         ·  I can't back up the stat, but when you look at processed foods and fast food, the sodium content is incredibly high. I stopped using McCormick's chili seasoning packets when i discovered that they had as much sodium as a bag of fritos. I make my own seasoning, salt liberally, and use way, way less sodium.
	Steve Coomes   wed mar 10 2010 at 4:58 pm         ·  Yes, processed food is loaded with it, so I, like Bragi, season my own whole foods instead of using any seasoning packets.
	Beverly Bartlett   thu mar 11 2010 at 11:46 am         ·  I don't know what I'm talking about really, but when did that ever stop me? I also think that part of the problem is the ease of putting salt into everything... So a McDonald's milkshake has more salt than their french fries. Obviously, no one thinks that the milkshake is a health food, but the point is that it's easy to get a lot of it without really registering that you've had any.