I’m back! The holiday season was very busy for us, but now that things are settling down I’m hoping to find more time to keep the blog updated.

On Thanksgiving Pete closed the restaurant to the public and continued his annual tradition of serving a feast to friends and family of EVOO who have no family in the area or nowhere else to celebrate the holiday. Although I wasn’t present for the festivities, I love the idea of the celebration and think that it exemplifies the overall feeling of Thanksgiving.

We were also closed on Christmas and Christmas Eve, although on New Years we were certainly open, and very very busy. I spent New Years Eve with my best friends, and for a while I felt a little bit pathetic saying that (I was at work…) but then I realized that it’s pretty awesome that all of the cooks get along so well- I don’t think many people can say that about their work environment.

In the midst of all of the holiday chaos, we finally got ourselves a new sous-chef. Michelle was one of our line cooks, and had been putting in extra hours (and quite a bit of extra effort) for a while when Pete was out from surgery. She was recently officially given the title of sous-chef, and I couldn’t think of anyone better suited for the position. Her appointment has taken some pressure off of Randy, our other sous-chef, and we’re all hoping that he can get more sleep in the future. Despite his knee surgery, Pete is back nearly full time, and runs the line most nights of the week.

All in all, the line is functioning extremely well- everyone is back, working hard, getting along extremely well, and doing the best work we’re capable of. A few nights ago Michelle timed Pete when he was breaking down an entire lamb- he did the entire thing in under 10 minutes!

Menu changes can be found on our website, and I will (hopefully) update again soon.