Photograph courtesy kikimaraschino.blogspot.com
6:32 Kids wake up way early. Don't they know I have a packed day? Anyway, I can see 16 minutes of Nickelodeon in my near future...
8:07 Head to the office to see what’s on the horizon. A few impromptu consultations with the team. Make a fresh pot of coffee.
10:36 E-mails done, as are vendor and deal calls. Traffic subsided—time to head down to UMAMIcatessen.
11:21 Downtown already starting to fill up. Have a cortado at Spring for Coffee and taste the batch of macha tea and the mescal slushie for quality control.
12:45 Site visit at new location in Thousand Oaks. Kitchen walk-through with development team, meet with designers about bar design, discuss new dishes for T.O. menu.
2:54 Stop by Umami in Loz Feliz to see how they are doing on their wine stock.
3:28 Brad Saltzman from L.A. Creamery brings us some pints for the office. Love the saffron ice cream!
4:02 Go by Umami La Brea to grind some new beef samples.
4:38 My chance to see the kids before they eat and wind down.
6:15 Back to the office to meet a new management candidate.
7:50 Back downtown to UMAMIcatessen to meet some press and have a few drinks with friends.
9:48 Home. Serious e-mailing, Facebooking, and tweeting before I pass out.
ALSO:
Read "Empire of the Bun"
Read "Postscript: Empire of the Bun," Lesley Bargar Suter's story on the making of her May profile