The End of August

With August nearly over, I can safely say that it was not that bad a month. Much better than expected. And though it started slow, this slowness sustained itself and built itself up into something of substance.

We should have the wine menu ready next Monday. I am really looking forward to this. We are increasing our wines by about 25%, so there will be much more selection. Also we are changing the format of the menu. Instead of listing the wines according to price, we are going to list the according to the drinking value of the grape: that is, whether it's a light, medium, or full bodied wine.

This should help customers when choosing their wines.

The new menu is doing superb with lots of compliments on our new tapas.

We also had Tom Doorley in Cava last Wednesday. He came in with Seamus Sheridan and both of them had nothing but nice things to say about the place. It's great to hear this and we hope that Tom puts those words in print for all to read and then we'll be forever thankful.

We are also doing a mailshot this week. We have designed a new flyer and are sending 8,000 of these out into the greater Galway area.

That's all folks.

Jp.

Saturday

The day started slow but picked up after 2. Then it didn't stop at all and (when I left) it didn't look like it was going to. Another busy Saturday.

Hopefully they keep coming.

All seems well with the new menu, a lot of duck confit still being sold, but the most popular new tapas seems to be the goat's cheese and sweet potato croquettes.

At the moment, I'm trying one of out new Sauvignon Blanc.

Pretty nice.

Jp.

Organic things

We have just found ourselves an organic farmer to drop us in some delightful vegetables. Which is good, isn't it?

Is organic the best and can it be sustainable?

Mike the non-organic veg man tells me if Ireland only ate organic veg in season, then the winters would be dull indeed. And what's more, there would not be enough veg in the country to feed all who desire it.

But it is nice to eat organic. To feel morally assured. To know that the vegetable had a good life and was treated with the utmost respect.

While I do think that it is better (the more free range and organic the better), can we really sustain a life of the former and the latter?

The cost is the thing:

1) A free-range chicken cost nearly three times as much as a normal (?) chicken

2) The majority of large producers have no interest in organic produce because of its quantity and its price

3) This means that organic things will continue to be more expensive and often out of the reach of those with less money.

4) Surely the government should introduce a subside on organic and free range things so as to help all involved, from the producer to the restaurateurs


Enough, with these salient ramblings.

I'm off to bed.

Jp.

Wine Prices

In the course of writing the new wine list, I have come across some interesting titbits that I am sure are of interest. Government duty on a bottle of wine is about €3.50 and then you need to add vat of 21.5% on top of that. That means, Mr Cowen and Friends are getting nearly 5 euro a bottle (on a €20 euro bottle). You may say: keep drinking I am helping the country. That is what Valcal Havel said about cigarettes.

But in all seriousness.

Most restaurants will need to make between 55% and 65% GDP on their wine. This is not profiteering. You need to go and get the eurosaver menu for that. It is necessary to cover the cost of the overheads (rent, wages, electricity, etc.) and ensure there is cash flow left over to keep the business going.

Commonsense, I assume.

But every now and then, one does get some chap in the restaurant (most often wearing a pink shirt that matches the colour of his nose) who tells us that such and such a wine can be had in Spain for a fraction of the price.

What is to be done?

Struggle on, I assume.

If dentists want stuff at cost prices, why don't they do teeth for cost? And maybe stop driving Range Rovers.

The week itself has been up and done, with very slow lunches and medium dinners. Strange for august.

Bring on the weekend.

Indeed.

If someone else asks me can I do that for less ...

Jp

Chorizo with figs

Chorizo with figs

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Oisin

Oisin was in yesterday doing a spot of cleaning.
A hard worker, unlike his father!

Jp

New Menu Finally Begins!

The new menu finally began in Cava yesterday. All seems to go well. With a number of new Tapas and new main courses, I hope customers enjoy our efforts. There are a number of new Tapas, for example, dressed crab stuffed inside piquillo peppers with pearl onions. There are many others, so I urge our regulars to pop down and give us their feed back.

We also changed the format, and now all the menu are included in one booklet. I think we are going to do the same with the wine menu, which will (I hope) come into effect Monday week.

The dessert menu will change next week. So all those with sweets thooths be assured - it will be nice!

Last night, we were booked out for both sitting (the early and the late) which is amazing (and also great!) because this didn't really happen during art festival week.

Jp.

Enrico Fantasia's Wines

As you may have already realized, the new menu did not start today due to a delay on the printer's side of things. It is, I can assure you, in print at the moment and we hope to have it ready tomorrow. By the by, I was up in Sheridan's wine and sampled some really great spanish reds imported by Enrico Fantasia . We carry a few of Enrico's wines, but it is my intention to carry more. They all have that extra something, which, I feel, separates them from the multitude.

I look forward to the new wine list as its expansion will not only broaden our own knowledge of Spanish wines but also showcase the best available in Ireland at present.

Jp.

New Menu

New menu kicks off at 5 today, so if you're around and want to see what news Spanish dishes have come to Cava, come on down.

Jp.

Tuesday

Not a bad day in all. Still trying to get the last of the changes to the new menu sorted. Hopefully tomorrow, but maybe Thursday. Two nice lads in from RTE. Said the food was great. They waddled out around 1 so they must have been happy.

The duck confit sold like hot cakes (if that expression makes any sense).

With the cured pork belly in the oven for 10 hours, I'm off home. That's the great thing about slow food. You can take your time watching it.

Jp.

Tell me why I don't like Mondays

A rainy start to the week, with a nice trickle of people in for our bank holiday brunch. Though it dipped during the hours of the early evening by dinner time, Cava a number of diners in again looking to be feed.

The Scallops and Black Pudding Tapas stood out above the rest and was certainly the best seller of the night.

Not much else to report, other than Ennio made the staff dinner. Is that a first?

Jp

San Miguel Returns

The greatly known San Miguel (in Ireland, but in Spain) has returned to Cava. San Miguel was being brought into Ireland by Beamish and Crawford (Cork) but they were bought by Heineken who dedided that there are two many beers in the world and said no to exporting it. But somehow it has made its way back into Eire (the land that loves alcohol) and will help keep the Government afloat with the outrages taxs on beer in Ireland.

Unfortuantly, the beer will retail for 4.75 as it has gone up. And yes, I know you can buy it in Spain for a euro a bottle, so you're welcome to go there and have some free olive and nuts at some bar in some distant part of Spain.

P.S. Saturday night was (Margaret informs me) also crazy! So, it seems, the Recession was banished for a least two days of Race Week (with a possible third, being thursday). But one cat cannot feed China (or something to that effect).

Jp.

Spectres of the Recession

Well it certainly seemed that (for a day anyway), the Recession had gone. From when we opened our doors yesterday (Sunday) until we closed (around 11), Cava was packed to the nines. I really don't know where all the people came from (as we had a desperately quite lunch on Saturday), but come they did and boy did they eat and drink! So why did they come?

Was it for Brunch, Tapas, Dinner? Or all of the above? Maybe so. Everything so well yesterday, but the Tapas are always miles out in front of everything else (the way it should be!). The specials also sold well (Rib-eye steak with chorizo, spinach, and pan-fried potato; Scallops with warm fig, chorizo, and cherry vine tomato salad; and Organic salmon with samphire, asparagus, and brasied fennel).

I am looking forward to the new Tapas menu, as it will inculde a good few new Tapas and will certinaly freshen things up. I don't understand restuarants who never change there menu. Many are guilty of this in Galway. Maybe the great William P. Shaw can put pen to paper and inform us! Surely that is something worthy of both word and world.


I hope that it all keep goings this week, for the Rent (with a capital R) is due at the end of August and anyone who knows me will know how much that is.

Jp

Samphire: New Vegetable?

Cava Sous-chef, Szymon Misniak has just introduced a new vegetable into the kitchen in Cava. But can you call is a vegetable? And is it new? Samphire is an edible plant which grows on costal areas. Originally "sampiere", a corruption of the French "Saint Pierre", Samphire was named for the patron saint of fishermen because all the original plants with its name grow in rocky salt-sprayed regions along the sea coast of northern Europe or in its coastal marsh areas. It is sometimes called sea asparagus. Samphire is even mentioned in Shakespeare's King Lear!

Half-way down Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade!

Samphire goes particulalry well with fish, but it can also be eaten by itself: blanch it in boiling wated and then put some butter on it! You can also but some Spanish goats cheese with it.

Bloody good!

Samphire is in season during July and August.

Jp

Race Week

Another race nearly over and it has not been as bad as expected. Certainly a bit quieter than last year, but that it is to be expected with the recession and all that. One thing that Cava will not miss is people booking large tables and not turning up! In the current climate, this kind of practice is really disappointing as restaurants depend on the honesty and integrity of their clientele. A pity, but that's the races. You have to take the good with the bad.

Cava will serve brunch tomorrow from 12 to 5, with DJ Carlos playing relaxing tunes from 2 onwards. So come on down and have a beer (or coffee!)

On bank holiday monday, Cava will also serve brunch during the day, so we hope to see your there.

Jp and Drigin.