Grandma’s Famous Clam Chowder Wins The Blue Ribbon!

WOW!  What an amazing day at the 6th Annual Razor Clam Festival in Ocean Shores, WA.  I cannot tell you how great it feels to win 1st place with Grandma’s Famous Clam Chowder.

I’m sorry it took a week to put up this post, but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around all of the thoughts and emotions leading up to and including the event.

It’s Been A Long Year

Not to belabor the point, but I have had a very rough year since we lost our restaurant.  Not only did I lose part of my business, I also lost thousands of relationships and a career that I am passionate about.  I know that it is only temporary, but it feels like it is dragging on.

I miss going to work and having a great time with my co-workers and guests in the dining room.  I miss talking to my friends and catching up on what has been happening in their lives since their last visit.  Almost daily I look at the empty grass on the bluff where my restaurant should be and I remember so many great times I had, laughing, serving, entertaining, connecting.  I think about how I can’t wait to have that again.

It Almost Didn’t Happen

When we had the fire, as we were watching the restaurant burn, we knew it was going to take at least a year to get back up and running.  My beautiful wife Sara and I were already discussing how we could participate in the Chocolate Festival, Razor Clam Festival, Taste Washington, etc…

In February, we weren’t able to put on our Annual Wine and Chocolate Party for the Chocolate Festival, but we did get to participate as judges and performing Chef Demos.  Our Executive Chef, Andrew Bickar, did a Chef Demo on Saturday and Sara and I did a Chef Demo on Sunday.

As we were on the Razor Clam Festival Planning Committee, people kept asking Sara and me if we were going to participate.  Actually, they were telling us that they wanted Ocean Crest Resort to participate.  We talked about all of the logistical difficulties involved with trying to participate in a food centric event that serves the public when we didn’t have a commercial kitchen, but we also NEEDED to participate.  I’m not sure exactly how to say it, but serving our guests is a way of life for us.  It is our passion and something that brings us immense happiness.

Anyway… since we knew that we had to participate we were left with trying to figure out HOW to participate.  We needed a commercial kitchen, we needed a place to have the supplies delivered, we needed the service equipment, and we needed to figure out how to make 15 gallons of Grandma’s Famous Clam Chowder without having left overs.

Preparing

So the search was on for a commercial kitchen, without that we would have been dead in the water.  A special thank you goes out to George Lee and Cheryl Turner for making our participation possible.

The next step was getting the service equipment.  That was easily handled with a trip to a restaurant supply store in Tacoma.

Then it was on to ordering the ingredients.  Our food reps were able to handle most of the order, but it is not easy to find Carnation Evaporated Milk in #10 cans.  We thought we might have to look for a plan B, but we were able to get the milk at United Grocers.

Preparing the clam chowder base was… I’m not sure what word I’m looking for.  I had to modify the recipe slightly in order to not have left overs and get as close to the original as possible.  Sara and I were laboring away in the kitchen and then it hit me, that familiar smell  of chowder base cooking.  It was a smell that I didn’t even know I missed.  It brought back many great memories of walking through the kitchen of the restaurant.  They say that our memories are more closely linked to our sense of smell than any of our other senses, and my memories were washing over me like a tidal wave.  It was wonderful.

Now I’m going to let you in on a little known fact.  In 1956 there was a ship named The Seagate that ran aground just North of Moclips.  When the owner of the vessel abandoned the ship my grandfather took my uncles out to the ship in a little boat.  They boarded the vessel and salvaged various pots and pans and cooking utensils.  Grandmas Famous Clam Chowder had been prepared in those pots for over 50 years before the fire.  During demolition we were able to recover those pots and they cleaned up perfectly.  I was able to use those same pots to prepare Grandmas Famous Clam Chowder last week.  It may seem like a small thing to some of you reading this, but to me it was a very significant detail… for tradition.

In Closing

Serving Grandma’s Famous Clam Chowder to a crowded convention center was exactly what we needed, Thank You.

Grandma’s Famous Clam Chowder has received great recognition over the years, published in the Ford Times in 1989, awarded “9 out of 10 Clam Shells” by the Seattle Times Travel Editor, and raved about by Olympic Gold Medalist Apolo Ohno in the Denver Post “The Ocean Crest Resort in Moclips (oceancrestresort.com) has a great restaurant. Whenever I go there, I have to have the spinach salad and Grandma’s Famous Clam Chowder. It’s fantastic. Unbelievable!”

While winning 1st Place would be great any year, this year it means a lot more.  Faced with all of the pain, heartache and difficulty of the last year, we overcame every obstacle.  We don’t have a new restaurant yet… but we don’t know how to give up.

Read more:Getting up to speed on Seattle, Salt Lake City and Japan – The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/goaway/ci_14336615#ixzz1qkPkrTw6
Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

Good Morning from Washington’s Winter Wonderland.

It has been a while since I last gave you an update on the progress of rebuilding the restaurant.  Unfortunately, other than a whole lot of planning, there hasn’t been much of anything to report.  Just before Christmas, the County approved our site plan.  We were told that our Foundation Permits would not be approved until after they returned to work, January 3rd.  Well… January 3rd came and went and at this time we still have only a site plan approval.  We just heard that the County anticipates approving our foundation permit tomorrow, let’s hope that the weather doesn’t put a wrench in those cogs.  At this point, if we get our approvals soon, we hope we can have our restaurant sometime in July.  This whole process is driving me crazy, I miss all of my “Restaurant Family” which includes co-workers and guests.

Well, there isn’t really anything we can do to speed up the process from our end.  Here are a few more pictures that I took this morning, I hope you like them.

There is something magical about the snow on the beach, maybe it is because we don’t see it very often.

Doesn’t it look inviting?

I have no caption for this one, so I just won’t write anything.

We hope to see you again soon.

Hutch Holiday Gala 2011

Every year the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center puts on a fantastic Holiday Gala, an amazing night of fundraising.  Philanthropists from far and wide converge in Seattle for an extravagant evening of dining and dancing, bidding and giving.

The single largest fundraiser benefiting Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the Gala is a black tie event featuring extravagant live, silent and cellar auctions, an elegant dinner and late-night dancing with more than 850 business and community leaders in attendance. The Gala has raised more than $75 million over the past 35 years to support vital research at the Hutchinson Center.

This year, Ocean Crest Resort’s own Award Winning Executive Chef, Andrew Bickar, was asked to participate with Seabrook in the Live Auction.

LAVISH BEACH LIVING AT SEABROOK
THE WEST COAST’S NANTUCKET IN THE ULTIMATE BEACH HOUSE
Escape to Seabrook, a unique coastal land
development dedicated to preserving and
promoting the natural environment. You
and up to 13 friends will stay two nights in
the Ultimate Beach House, designed by
celebrated designers Lew Oliver and Tim
Clarke exclusively for the nationally
renowned Coastal Living magazine.
Positioned to take full advantage of the
stunning Pacific Ocean views from three
levels, the Ultimate Beach House is only
steps to the beach. The house’s beachcasual
contemporary interior features a
gourmet kitchen, a large and open living and dining room with a large customforged
metal fireplace that will be the perfect setting for your weekend escape.
Chef Andrew Bickar, award-wining executive chef
of The Ocean Crest Resort, will create a
seasonally-inspired dinner featuring the beautiful
bounty from the coast of Washington for you
and your house guests. Your amazing meal will be
personally paired for you by Ron and Marianne
Lachini of Lachini Vineyards. They’ll bring their
top scoring estate pinot noirs, limited production
cabs and other delights from their personal cellar.
And tonight, you’ll take home a signed three-liter
bottle of their 2009 Lachini Vineyards Estate
Pinot Noir.
There is simply no home on the Washington coast that earns the “ultimate” title
more than this Coastal Living idea house. Come and experience it for yourself!
• Ultimate Beach House for two nights at Seabrook
• Dinner for you and your guests by Chef Andrew Bickar
• Wine pairings and visit from Ron and Marianne Lachini of Lachini Vineyards
Thanks to Seabrook Resort, Ron and Marianne Lachini and Lachini Vineyards,
Chef Andrew Bickar and The Ocean Crest Resort

This year’s event will be held at the Seattle Sheraton Hotel on December 3, 2011. The 36th Hutch Holiday Gala is held in the Grand Ballroom of the Seattle Sheraton Hotel with approximately 900 guests at $500 a seat, guests come from around the globe and it is one of the most successful fund raising events in the US. For more information on the 2011 Hutch Holiday Gala, please visit their web site at fhcrc.org/gala.

Washington Coast Thanksgiving

 Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Ocean Crest Resort.  It is a different year for us, we have been entertaining guests with a Traditional Thanksgiving Buffet for as long as I can remember.  My family has always enjoyed serving others and making their holiday special.

This is the first year that I will be spending the whole Thanksgiving Day with my wife in 15 years, and the first Thanksgiving ever that I don’t have to leave my 10 year old son to go to work.  The reality is bitter sweet.

Tomorrow I’ll be roasting a turkey at home and preparing some Roasted Yams with Balsamic Vinegar and Gorgonzola.  My wife is preparing Candied Yams, Corn, and Mashed Potatoes.  We’ll also be pulling together to create some Liquid Love in the form of Turkey Gravy.  I almost forgot to mention Aunt Maggie’s Apple Sausage Stuffing.  This stuffing was a favorite that out friend, and Ocean Crest waitress, Maggie Maskell would bring to our Holiday dinners.  Maggie was a great friend and she just loved our son.

Our table will be well stocked tomorrow with plenty of food for all of our family and friends.  There will be plenty of eating, drinking, and general merriment.  I’m sure that the house will be filled with the smell of good food and the sounds of laughter and delight that reminds us all of what is truly important.

 As we dine and talk about events past and present, we will pause to remember Maggie as the Stuffing gets passed around.  Then, at the end of the meal but before dessert, we will go around the table, taking turns to say what we are thankful for.

I am thankful for my wife, my marriage, my boys, my parents, my family, my friends, my health, my job, and for this time that I will have with everybody.

I am thankful for the first responders that kept the whole resort from going up in flames, I’m thankful that nobody was injured in battling the blaze.  I am thankful for all of you, my guests and my friends.  I am thankful that I get to be home this year, and I can’t wait to be celebrating with all of you next year.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

All I ask is that you look them over, tell us what you think, and share these through facebook, Google+, Twitter, etc…

Ocean Crest Restaurant Ground Floor

Ocean Crest Restaurant Second Floor

Thanks, we can’t wait to hear what you think!

First the good news, in this post are 36 pieces of a puzzle.  When assembles correctly you will be looking at the draft floor plan for the ground floor of our new restaurant.

What is the bad news?  Some of the pieces are turned upside down.

Here is the great news… the first person to correctly assemble the pieces and post the completed image to our facebook page will win a free 2 night stay for 2 in one of our Front Ocean View rooms.

In order to be fair, anybody who has seen the plans already are not allowed to compete.  Have fun!

You might be able to use my simple drawing from my last post for basic layout.

It’s been a while since my last confession update.  We hydro-seeded the bluff about a month ago and have been watching the grass grow.  The lack of activity on the site has been absolutely maddening for me.

Today however, we have geotechs on site.  They are drilling holes to test soil composition and stability.  You may click on either image for a larger version.

So… that is where we are as of right now.  We have been working with an architect and restaurant designer on the plans for the new building.  I have my own renderings here…

I should warn you… I’m a REALLY bad artist.

This chair was in the upstairs conference room.

It is amazing to me that the material on the chair seems to be intact.

This was the fireplace in the lobby.

This fireplace is very special to us, it was the nucleus of grandma and grandpa’s 1 bedroom home in 1953.

A couple pictures of the Gift Shop.

This is the display that was under the stairs on the way into the gift shop.  It was regularly decorated to reflect the changing of the seasons.

This was the octagonal display case that held the Harmony Kingdom boxes and some hand made jewelry.

This was my office, it was located on the second floor above the gift shop.

This is the kitchen.

On the right is our walk-in refrigerator, to the left you can see our convection oven and steamer.  The prep area was removed last Thursday.

This is our steamer and convection oven.  They sit on top of a 4 drawer refrigerator.

Our dessert case can be seen in the background.  If you look closely, you can see the Blackberry Crisp and Creme Brulee on the top shelf.

Our path to the beach.

More than 150,000 gallons of water got put on the fire which caused some surface erosion on the bluff.

We have to finish demolition of the building and remove some trees from the ravine before we can rebuild the path.

This is what’s left of the building today.

This is the view from the 3rd floor of the 400s building.

This is the view from across the street.  I just keep thinking there should be a restaurant there.

This little web reminds me…

Life goes on…  That gives me comfort.