Some Italian cooks needed in Forsyth!

Forsyth MO. - OK, so my little town of Forsyth supports a pretty wide range of restaurants, (as of early 2018). We had us a couple of fast food joints, two bars and eateries that supported most kinds of cuisine including Asian, American and Mexican. But, I felt that we still lacked one gender of food that I had come to miss - Italian. A few of you might know the kind of place I'm talking about - venues that were most always dark with heavy red drapes and food to die for! 

Where I grew up in Chicago, there was a time when I hung out with a few firemen from an Italian suburb. Sundays were special in that we'd like to meet at a little Italian place for a two to three hour repast that included clams on the half shell, pasta in all its various forms and garlic bread washed down with lots of alcohol! Those were good times and I'd love to see a similar enterprise set up shop in my current town!

The Frosted Mug revisited!

An aging, though venerable, watering hole! AKA, the Frote Mu!

It was a Late September day, overcast with a cool tinge to the air, a possible sign of colder fall weather to come. I had decided to stop at a bar known as the Frosted Mug, located on Hwy 160 in Forsyth Mo. A bar and restaurant that had been around since the time of Moses. There were nine patrons sitting at the bar when I came in, all of whom were drinking, with the sole exception of a gal to my left who was busy eating a large bowl of mashed potatoes with sausage gravy slathered on top. She eye me suspiciously as I sat a few chairs over and unlimbered my Kindle Fire. She was watching NASCAR on some kind of tablet and it wasn't very long before she began to accuse my tablet of interfering with her tablet. Such was life in a very strange century. When I glanced over at her, some gravy was dripping from her lower lip... I quickly looked away and studied the rest of my surroundings. 

 

The Frosted Mug, structurally, is a squarish looking building that has a full bar that holds about 24 seated patrons (more if you crowd them together). There is also a small stage for performers, a dance floor and a pool room with two tables that are generally in use. The rest of the open space off to one side of the bar area contains about 10- 15 tables that could hold sixty or more eaters. Something that rarely happens as the establishment is almost never crowded.

While most of the service personnel are OK at what they do, Tuesday's now sees the return of a popular bartender that worked there almost a decade ago by the name of Judy. She is very efficient and rarely leaves one waiting for a fresh libation. In the evening hours, after 5PM, a younger set of bartender staff take over to handle the generally younger crowd that stops there after getting off of work. Sunday's in the early fall feature no less that five large screen TV's that display both racing and football. Howrah!

Over the years, I've had occasion to eat at the Mug both sit down and take home. Of the many and varied menu items offered there, I'm told it is the beer batter perch offered on Friday and cheeseburgers during the rest of the week that are the most popular. The pricing at this venue is competitive with the other five or so sit down eateries, while only the Mug and a nearby place called Charlie's offer full service bars.Be a little wary of who is cooking, however, some cooks working there are much better than others.

Announcing DanO's Greasy Spoon! Uh, sorry we're closed!

Since my small town of Forsyth already had over ten eateries, I said to myself - 'What this town needs is another eatery!' So, to that end I've made the necessary preparations to open what I feel would be a unique dining experience! OK, so I was wrong....

I think my problems began, early on, when the sign people screwed up the name of the establishment! And, then they wouldn't redo it or offer a refund, so I had to change the name accordingly. That was a mistake, I can see that now! Grease, people can live with. Grit, not so much so!

My next problem and big hurdle was the bad deal I got on my kitchen equipment! I had purchased everything as a package deal from a country over in Asia. After it all arrived, I did my best to keep my patrons out of the kitchen area, but some managed to sneak in anyway. OK, I'll admit that the stove was a tiny bit dirty....

Then, there was the cook I hired to prepare the meals. After a week of watching him work, I began to suspect he had no cooking experience at all! Later, in court,, I discovered he was actually a patient from a nearby mental institution that had gone AWOL! But seriously, when he showed up for the interview, I just couldn't say no to him. (He really scared me to death)! And speaking of death, more than one of my diners had a brush or two with that very thing after dining in my establishment. In court proceedings, and after the fact, I did bring up the defense that you had to be pretty darn crazy yourself to even take a step into a joint like that! (As a matter of fact, towards the end, I had even put up a sign that read, 'Enter at your own risk!)' Ha Ha.

So, in the end, I figure it was a combination of the sign, and maybe the lousy food combined with those pesky cockroaches and strange cook that put the big kabash on my success. No biggie! I was thinking of entering politics anyway!

Why a restaurant can lose its customers!

Any venue that serves food has it tough. Eating is a uniquely personal experience that places special demands on both the cooking and serving staff. Often times a period when no customers come in the door are punctuated by a ‘rush’ when it seems the whole town shows up all at once! During such times, the employees go into ‘max stress mode’ when everything that can go wrong often does. Adding to the on and off again chaos are customers who are oftentimes indifferent and sometimes even surly in their attitudes. Is it any wonder, then, that the employee turnover rate is so high at many venues?   

Today, during what some consider the second Great Depression, it even harder for an owner to hold everything together. Two factors come into sharp focus when bad economic times hit; the cost of food and a customer’s generosity or lack thereof. As food costs climb an owner will oftentimes have no choice but to either raise the menu prices or to cut back on payroll. Sometimes he or she must do both! This puts an added strain on all the staff during times when customers are rushing through the door. Then, adding insult to injury, the customers will sometimes cut back on what they tip to help them make up for what they consider to be unfair price increases in the menu.

The end result of this process over time is that many of the really good professionals will leave such a place in search of better paying jobs. The vacuum that’s left then quickly filled with individuals who are poorly suited for this line of work. You then have a situation where ill mannered, cheap patrons are being served by poorly trained newbie’s who are often just as rude and inconsiderate as the person they are serving. A lose-lose situation for all concerned, not to mention the owner! Over time, some venues can lose so many customers that they are no longer able to stay open and so close their doors. What’s left in their wake are increasing numbers of ‘cut rate and shoddy’ businesses that hire poorly trained part-time workers, serve low quality food and survive by screwing everyone and thing within reach.

Who do we have to thank for this? Obama of course!