BBVA Stadium, the shiny new home of your very own Houston Dynamo (and TSU) has announced its primary vendor, and it’s not Aramark.
Levy Restaurants, the same company that currently does the Rockets’ food offerings, will be handling the food concessions at the new stadium. If you’ve never had any of Toyota Center’s culinary repertoire, it’s quite decent.
There’s apparently some high-concept stuff at the Rockets’ home court. According to their website, the Red and White Wine Bistro features a Farm to Fork Table. I know nothing of this wine bistro inside Toyota Center, but I have had some food there that departed from the typical hot dog and nacho path that most other local venues employ.
http://margaritavilleblenderinfo.com/
Founded in Chicago, the Levy Restaurant brand has been operating since 1978 and is a huge company, coordinating a small empire of restaurants and stadium concessions the nation over.
From the MLS to NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL to Wolf Gang Puck restaurants and James Beard Award-winning eateries such as Spiaggia in Chicago, Levy Restaurants is not exactly tiptoeing its way into the world of food mass-production, catering and service.
This is a proven entity capable of doing a consistent and quality job. I’ve never taken issue with Toyota Center food. Levy runs a Wolfgang Puck joint inside Disney World. That’s a lot of large-bottomed tourists in khaki shorts to feed.
Arena, event and stadium food must be graded on the food bell curve — at one end you have the premium foods for commodity markets, such as Kobe beef, things with truffle oil or anything “deconstructed.” At the other end of the curve, you have anything you eat at the fair and then later regret. Hopefully, the new Dynamo stadium will offer something in between.
BBVA Compass Stadium general manager Doug Hall says Levy Restaurants has a “proven track record in our industry and in our market, and I know that Dynamo fans will be impressed with the quality of their service. We are happy to and fortunate to have them as a part of our team.”
I think Levy Restaurants is a significant improvement from the old Dynamo food, as well as most of the stuff at Minute Maid.
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DOTW Talks to Mixologist Jacques Bezuidenhout
A few months back, DOTW was lucky enough to sit down with Jacques Bezuidenhout, the brand ambassador for Partida Tequila. Jacques is an interesting fellow who is a master mixologist and tequila junkie. Not something that I would expect from a guy hailing from South Africa. Also, Jacques won the 2011 Brand Ambassador of the Year Award at Tales of the Cocktail. I imagine it being a little like being the Miss America of the cocktail world but I have to admit that I forgot to ask Jacques about. Here is our interview with Jacques Bezuidenhout.
How long have you been the brand ambassador for Partida?
I have been with Partida for five years. Before that, I worked with other companies in San Francisco. I helped open Tres Agaves, a Mexican tequila bar, and was there for a year as a bar manager when Partida approached me to become their brand ambassador.
How did it feel to win the Brand Ambassador of the Year Award at Tales of the Cocktail?
It felt amazing. The judges are my peers and great people in the industry, and it felt great to be recognized by them.
Where is your hometown?
Johannesburg South Africa.
What was your first drink?
Local beer and wine in South Africa. My first cocktails were Gin & Tonic and Campari & Soda.
http://margaritavilleblenderinfo.com/
What was your first bartending job?
I worked at a pub in London called the Irish Bank.
Favorite Drink?
I can’t decide. I like the Margarita, of course, as well as the Negroni and a Martini made with gin.
Favorite Place to drink Partida?
Tommy’s in San Francisco.
How did you end up in San Francisco?
I traveled around the United States on Greyhound buses. I loved San Francisco and ended up there.
Any tips for someone who wants to become a bartender?
Figure out whether you like people or not. When you work as a bartender, you don’t just stand there behind the bar and mix drinks. One of the most important things in being a bartender is to make your guests comfortable and feel welcome. Being miserable while making great drinks defeats the purpose of being a bartender.
Photo courtesy of Flickr.com
Trade Goods in the Post-Apocalypse: Alcoholic Beverages
ne of the most valuable trade items after the apocalypse will be alcoholic beverages. If you can provide consistently high quality wine, beer, and spirits, your livelihood will be assured long after the apocalyptic event fades in memory. But if you want to be ready to go into production at the appropriate time, you need to be prepared well in advance.
The most important lesson to learn as a producer of quality alcoholic beverages in the post-apocalyptic environment, is how to make alcohol out of whatever is convenient and at hand. Some kind of fruit is likely to be available, and anything with sugar (or starch) can be fermented with the appropriate pre-treatment and yeast.
This tutorial for home winemaking with fruit, provides guidelines for the use of a variety of fruit. Here is another short tutorial on making home wines from fruit.
Cleanliness is paramount, to prevent contamination with environmental moulds and bacteria.
Once you have learned how to make beer and wine, you will want to learn to distill an alcholic mash or liquid into a distilled spirit or brandy. The following video will provide some information in that regard. Be sure to abide by local laws, at least until such laws are obviated by the apocalypse.
Al Fin
JONESBORO, AR (KAIT) - The Jonesboro Alcohol Beverage Tax brought in $31,798 for the month of March. It's a toast to the most money ever brought in be the tax. It's been around for just over four years with the funds pouring back right into the city.
If the city thought last years totals were good, Jonesboro Chief Financial Officer Ben Barylske says the Alcohol Beverage Tax is bringing in record numbers in 2012 with March topping the charts.
"March is almost at 32-thousand dollars. So these are the highest numbers we ever had," said Barylske.
The money from the tax pours into the general fund, which is used for operations within several departments.
"The police department, our fire department, sanitation, parks department, planning and zoning," said Barylske just to name a few.
The Alcoholic Beverage Tax originated in 2007, which came from liquor sales from a list of 17 businesses. It brought in around 97-thousand dollars. Just four years later and an additional 14 or so businesses, the tax in 2011 generated 336-thousand dollars.
"These funds, this 336 thousand dollars last year and so far today 91-thousand, helps operate our city, for sure," said Barylske.
Barylske says the money can also be used towards economic development. And in the early years of the tax, the revenue from the tax was useful.
"When the economy was really bad in 2008, sales tax revenues were 2-million shorter than what was projected because of the economy and what happened on Wall Street. So this at that time helped fill holes," said Barylske.
As for the benefits for 2012, even with the sale tax revenue already so high, Barylske says it's hard to tell.
But what he does know is..."It gives us more flexibility, obviously yes, for guns, vests, or guns, or copy machines," said Barylske.
Barylske says one factor that played a part in the record numbers includes the money brought in by new businesses such as Red Lobster and Longhorn Steakhouse.
Copyright 2012 KAIT. All rights reserved.
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