New Friends

Last Weds. night we attended the annual potluck meeting for the Alamo Celiac group. This group represents Austin, San Antonio and Corpus Christi. There were about 30 in attendance and we met and talked with Jeanne. Our new friend Jeanne is the person in the group who is responsible for working and listing restaurants that are Celiac friendly. She told us about a national certification by Gluten Intolerance Group of North America or GFRAP. She seemed most excited when we told her of the concept for Riviera Bistro. There is a monthly dining group that we hope to join. The people were all very nice; the food brought by members was well seasoned. The dish we took was Meatballs in Marinara the meatballs were enjoyed by all. We took 33 and brought home 2. This group represents a specific demographic group that Riviera Bistro believes represents a significant percentage of our projected guest base. We are even more convinced of that after meeting with them. It was a good time for all, and we are looking forward to dining with them again soon.
It was nice to revisit the meatball recipe. The recipe was in a development stage of still having the cups and tablespoon as its measuring standards. The recipe was converted to weights in ounces using the trusty kitchen scale. Some ingredient tweaking was done. The same with the Marinara as a larger yield is desired. A shopping trip to find Gluten Free Oats and fresh Basil led to two different stores. It was a nice break in the day. The cooking went down to the wire; it went out good and hot. A yield on meatballs was recorded but then ran out of time to measure the Marinara. The next development dinner will feature one of the entrees that utilize Marinara so there will be plenty of opportunity to get a batch yield on the recipe. We did take a camera and then did not take pictures. The meatball is not the most photogenic food item out there and we did not make plates this time, so the meatball's photo op. moment will have to wait. Maybe next week.

2010 and it begins...

2010 is finally here and the restaurant plan is unfolding into the accounting team and legal teams with organizational agreements being formed. We have recently joined the Alamo Celic group. We are attending our first meeting that is a pot luck at the Faith Lutheran Church,in Austin. We have decided to take one of the child friendly items, Spaghetti with Meatballs tossed in Marinara. Hopefully we will connect with one of the demographic groups that Riviera Bistro is designed to excite. February the 6th is the projected date for our next Development dinner. The New Year often screams DIET so we are going to focus on the Salad section of our menu. January blogs are going to focus on the food side with salads and our pot luck experience, and reflection on a dining experience this past holiday. Enjoy.