April & May 2019

one night last August, at the peak of service, we
did. I ran out the kitchen, drove the car to Acme,
cleared the shelves of basmati rice and drove
like a maniac back to the restaurant. I was tailgating
some guy in a black truck, and I hate tailgaters,
but I couldn’t help it. He stopped dead
in the middle of Lafayette, blocking me, and
yelled out of his window... “Get off my ass, you
asshole!” I yelled back, “I’m sorry! It’s an emergency!”
He pulled right over and let me pass.
Well, for me, it WAS an emergency.
My friend Deanna, who owns the Red Store
with her husband Lucas, was one of the people
who had to wait a long time for their rice that
night. Well, Deanna, this is why.
If I thought I could get away with it, I would
do away with tips tomorrow and increase our
prices by 25%. But customers wouldn’t like it,
and servers DEFINITELY wouldn’t. But, yes,
cooks are usually woefully underpaid and they
would benefit most if we did away with the
tipping system. In our defense, I think we pay
cooks more than a lot of people do.
Speaking of prices, if you think Cape May
restaurants are pricey, consider this: most of
them are open half the year, but they have to
pay rent for the whole year. Trust me, very few
of us are getting rich off this caper. The profit
margins are wafer thin.
But not as wafer thin as gas stations. Oy.
And still speaking of prices... restaurant
prices ARE going to go up by about 25% once
the new minimum wage of $15 kicks in. Don’t
blame us when they do.
Cooking in a kitchen is very difficult. I think
bartending is, too. I have a pretty agile mind, but
it’s not agile enough to remember the orders of
three or four different customers barking at me.
Those people at the Rusty Nail on a Saturday
afternoon in August or Cabanas on a Saturday
night? They’re gods to me.
When I shake a cocktail, my whole body
shakes. Until that was pointed out to me, I didn’t
realize how uncoordinated I was. So, yeah, I
could definitely never be a bartender... though
the Manhattans I make at home? They’re perfect.
I’m not the type to feel sorry for myself but,
maaaan, we’ve had a huge amount of bad luck
and weird things happen to us since we opened
the Filling Station last August. I hope we’re done
with it. Enough excitement already.
We have liquor now at the Filling Station.
That’s a whole new ball of wax. I’ve been to a lot
of bars and drunk a lot of booze in my time, so
I’m not an amateur in this game. But there’s a lot
to learn from the State of New Jersey when you
get your hands on a liquor license.
And I guess I never figured out how quickly
you run out of booze compared to food. That’s
been a learning curve.
But making my first-ever cocktail list? That
was surreal and a lot of fun. Felt like a kid in a
candy store. I don’t mean I’m drinking the profits...
I just like being surrounded by liquor. It
appeals to my creative side.
The best thing you can drink with a curry?
Mango beer, which we have by the can. Next
best is an IPA from Cape May Brew Co., though
I don’t like hops, personally. And if you don’t
like beer? Riesling wine is perfect. We have one
called Kung Fu Riesling. Cool label.
Speaking of labels? I chose our wine list
100% based on how cool the labels were. So if
you like the classics from France and Italy, you
are going to be very disappointed — there’s not
a single one on our list. But lighten up and try
those cool Aussies — they always design the
best labels. Besides, you can get the classics at
the Washington Inn or Ebbitt Room. We always
try to be a little different.
Don’t mix red wine with curry. The spiciness
of the red fights with the curry, and loses
every time.
Two people told us our Mumbai Manhattan
is the best of its kind they’ve ever had. We
added cardamom to the mix because, well, we
Cape May’s original farm-to-table
CHOCOLATE BAR
Dinner @ 5pm
Please call to book
609-884-5882 • 104 JACKSON STREET
106 Jackson Street, Cape May « 609-884-5519
exit zero 44 april-may