a week ago wednesday Holopaw played Lightnin’ Salvage and thursday they went on an east coast tour which they are still on. john, lead singer, is the resident artist for LSE, and Jeff, bassist on the left of screen was our star pizza maker before leaving to open his own bar and pool hall called Palomino. the other jeff, on the right, is an old old friend who i’ve known since he was about 6, and patrick, on the left behind the first jeff, still works at satchel’s serving and has been with us many years. patricks twin ryan is on drums and matt is on keyboard, neither who has anything to do with us, except they probably eat our pizza and drink our beer. anyway, this was i think possibly the best show i’ve seen them play and it was a really fun night. there was a big crowd of very mature and hip people and i was surprised to find myself having so much fun.
thanks to wade for filming, with danny’s camera.

on another note, tonight a guy told me, “i’m 68 years old and this is my first time here and that was the best pizza i’ve had in my entire life!” another guy told andrew that it was the best pizza he ever had at our place. anyway, it was good times all around and there was even this amazing lemon cake my mother made that everyone loved. happy memorial day to all.

about 20 years ago, when i worked at leonardo’s pizza, i met a guy named steve conner. he seemed like a promising co-worker and i think i may have been a manager at the time. i picked steve as the manager to replace me when i went traveling and he went on to run the place for a while. after leaving gainesville, steve went on to become a chef at the four seasons hotel chain. it seems i remember him in LA, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Chicago… he traveled to different hotels as they needed him to and honed his skills as a chef. he recently was married and working in Chicago and has been interested in moving back to florida and opening his own place. he grew up in Sarasota, on beach street, and has chosen st. augustine for his restaurant, called beach street pizza. he opened a couple days ago and we went with a couple friends earlier today to check it out… the lasagna is amazing, the pizza was great, the salads are fresh and what awesome dressings… we ordered a caprese salad, a greek salad, a house salad with chicken, an eggplant parm, a meat and vegie lasagna, and i even went in the kitchen and made the kid’s pizza. if you get to st. augustine check him out. it’s 4171 A1A south, about a half mile South of the Publix, on the west side of A1A. watching him open brought back a flood of memories of the struggle of opening a restaurant. he’s standing around alone, waiting for customers. his sign isn’t finished yet. he’s not even got his beer and wine license yet. no one knows he’s there and yet he’s got some incredible food just waiting for people… a person has to be insane to open a restaurant… they struggle to get open, spend their life savings, and then wait for customers and try and figure out how to get people in… anyway, here’s a quick visual:

beach street from satchel on Vimeo.

tonight was interesting. i’ve finally, after 7 years, made a schedule i am not on. this does not mean i don’t work, actually i seem to be working harder than ever lately, and my brain hurts from working so hard. but i am interested in getting a kitchen staff that can make it happen on a weekend night in my absence, or while i check out the whole scene… bus tables, chat with guests, and troubleshoot.
i made a satellite pizza station in the prep room where i could make pies and be out of the way of the kitchen but still give everyone the practice and experience necessary to be able to handle it when or if i step away… it is difficult for me to not make pizzas and so this is a baby step away as i make pizzas anyway, but just not as intensely and in the thick of it. all of this is not information you really need to know. i am watching all the pies, making sure they are up to our normal standards and all of the pizza makers are top-notch and good at following directions… it’s mostly a transition for me as i try to see the big picture, make arrangements for if i ever get sick or die, and watch as my restaurant evolves. it is interesting. it is a big step in the big picture and one i am perplexed about. making pizzas is my favorite part of my job and so i don’t want to lose that job, but i know that i have to let go some too and get involved in the front of house more… anyway, i can’t even put words to it right… let’s just say i’m in a transitional period.

tonight there was a table and one of the women ordered a medium pie she said was all for her. i made the comment of how it was smart because she’d have leftovers and what not, but she acted like it was not about leftovers but about eating it right then… i didn’t think a woman could eat a 14″ pie by herself but i’ve seen crazier things and i busted out my camera like, “sure, i’ve got it on film, you can’t eat all that.” she proved me wrong and ate the whole pie, and i had given up on her too. we were getting near closing and i was collecting some items to take home and remembered her and thought it was too bad i didn’t check back on her but i didn’t want to make her feel bad anyway so it didn’t matter. then i saw her at the register and she HAD finished the whole thing. so, just proves the point i always notice, the skinny people can eat the most pizza.

skinny people from satchel on Vimeo.

you know you want to come hang with danny at LSE. he’s always got an ear for your story or a story of his own. get yourself a cheerwine or a mico-brew and see lightnin’ salvage.

new chines hanging in the oak tree… new awning being built for LSE front… lightnin’ sally the peahen is missing though, if you see her tell her we miss her… danny says she’s just out lookin’ for a man.

my friend aloe in st. augustine is teaching a skate camp this summer there. anyone interested can check out this link for rates and dates. or watch this commercial:

sometimes, actually quite often, we get drawings from our customers. we pin them up on a board which is now very very overflowing with drawings on napkins and stuff. here’s one i got yesterday that i was especially fond of. could make a good t-shirt.
last week we broke our record for busiest night ever friday night, and busiest day ever on saturday. whoa. it kicked my butt for sure… feels like i’m still getting over it.
but besides some of the pies taking way too long friday night, it went really well. and we were going as fast as we could but every ticket had 3 or 4 pies on it, then someone would call in 8 large pies, then table 8 ordered 6 large…. how can enough people fit at table 8 to order 6 large pies? they can’t. i guess they wanted leftovers.
here’s an oven with 6 large pies in it, 5 of them are majors: