Thursday, November 16, 2006

the end of the day

chef invitado mateo



Hola --

Here I am in P. Vallarta, been here for 10 days now as guest chef in the Gourmet Festival -- made food, shared recipes, rode on a horse & went scuba diving, spent time with my wife. I am as tanned as you are ever likely to see me. I am including photos of the view from my "office" -- see you all in Seattle tomorrow.


buenos tardes,


mateo

Sunday, November 05, 2006

mexico

it's sunday night, i'm mostly packed for my trip -- i'm going down to puerto vallarta to be a guest chef (!).
i have no idea what i am walking into.

as you can see from the photos, we're beginning to move along.

i'm looking forward to the sun & the beach -- don't worry, i'll cover my legs so no airplanes try to land on me.

keep watching.
adios,


matt

Saturday, November 04, 2006

we're coming along

it's saturday. the water has been coming out of the sky steadily for the last couple of days, but at least it's gotten warmer. in about 48 hours i'll be on a beach in mexico, so here's the word before i go --

the walls are coming down -- dan spent a good deal of the last few days in there with our nutty friend ron and some big metal tools, pulling things down from the walls. more & more the view is shaping up to how it's going to be -- open, sweeping, pretty cool.


we met with the contractors (we like them, by the way) & found out just how much this is likely to cost. that's what caused the look on my face in the photo below. well, so it goes. we're moving forward with it.


the up news is that, since we're skipping the idea of using half of the room for private parties, the rest of the buildout schedule has stepped up -- we'll still close right after the new year, but we may be down for significantly less time than thought before. i'm not yet placing any bets, but i will let you know.



adios for now,



matt

the work of the WSLCB

there's a hole in the floor!

never make decisions without a room full of wine

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

the story



Hello, everyone, I'm back --

Sorry this took so long, but we've been running around quite a bit. The place is busy, the weather's cold, the construction effort is plodding along.


I'll go back to the beginning.

In case you haven't heard, Matt's in the Market is expanding. After 2 or 3 changes in plans, we have taken over the beautiful space to our south which used to house a dating service, "Matchmaker in the Market," for the past 20 years. The room is nice, the plan is good, we're making every effort to keep a Matt's in the Market feel to what we build. It's time. When we're done we will have gone from our current 23 seats to somewhere around 55 -- there will be a kitchen (!) and a bar (!) and a wide-open room with 4 wonderful windows & a view that only the dateless have seen for the past couple of decades.



Also, after another 2 or 3 changes in plans, I have taken on a business partner -- that's right, business PARTNER -- I am staying on with Matt's, despite rumours and at least one published account. I hope that's OK.


So first, here's THE PLAN:

- throughout the fall, we are doing as much demo & construction in the new space as possible. There's a lot to do -- stuff has to come down, then go downstairs to get thrown out. We've got to locate power, gas lines, plumbing, all sorts of stuff. If we're good & we're lucky, we may have the room usable for some holiday jazz parties. Be sure to watch this site to hear about the New Year's Eve "It's the End of Matt's As We Know It" party.


- we've been posted for our new liquor license. Some time last week the liquor agent (that's what they call them) came by & posted us. With any luck at all we'll have our new license in place by December. Come on down & look at the piece of paper taped to the door if you want. I guess Luther would have used a nail. Don't worry -- we'll have some good whiskeys & great well drinks & no flavored vodkas. Wine is still our thing.


- january 2, we close the restaurant. Everything must go -- we have to tear out all of the fixtures, all of the rotted wood & non-code equipment, all the bad plumbing. There will be sandblasters, soda blasters, a huge dumpster outside. Then we can rebuild.


I predict we will reopen around the Ides of March. et tu, matte?
If we beat this goal, we'll be sure to tell you here.



So it goes. Keep watching the blog, we'll tell you about what's going on. We're setting up a series of wine dinners on Sundays & Mondays -- the info will be posted soon. Come on down & eat a bunch of catfish before we shut down for a while.

I'm excited -- I think it's gonna be pretty cool. I'm actually happy to work here again.


hi ho,

matt