Winter Carnival

On Saturday morning, we got a bit of a late start heading for Rice Park and the St.Paul Winter Carnival. Not an auspicious start to my restaurant empire.

My Co-pilot, daughter Avery, and I, already worried about time, found ourselves on the wrong side of the Winter Carnival 5K and couldn't get through to our assigned spot for a good 20 minutes.  A helpful member of St. Paul's finest helped us get ready to dash across Kellogg at the earliest opportunity.  We got to scoff at traffic laws, going the wrong way on one-way streets, and finally landed in our spot in front of the Ordway. Not an auspicious start to my restaurant empire.

Avery and I started setting up in the cold truck and thought, "hey, let's warm things up with the space heater!" Moments later-no power.  Tried resetting breakers on the panel.  No luck. Tried resetting all the GFI outlets in the truck. No luck. Finally, in a desperate call to my senior advisor, Mark Palm, he informed me that there is a breaker on the generator itself.  Who knew? Don't answer that. Not an auspicious start to my restaurant empire.

After all that excitement, and after my old friend Phil showed up, things started to take shape.  We finally opened up around noon, and it turned out to be a great first day!  Response seemed positive and lots of people, even if they didn't order anything, looked at the menu and said "ooh, mac and cheese".

So, with all that hoo-haw on Saturday, we would correct our missteps on Sunday, right?  Not so.  Still got there late and didn't open till noon. Not as busy, but still a good day.  Got interviewed by "Twin Cities Live" about my concept. Then we froze as the sun set. Mark Palm, thanks for installing our windows! It was a godsend!

Monday, got inspected by the MN Dept. Of Health. Thanks again to Mark and Chameleon Carts, we sailed through the inspection. Inspector Lady even said it was one of the nicest trucks she'd seen.

Tuesday lunch truly was smooth.  Getting the system figured out.  Thanks to all the support from Mrs. MacSammy's Co-workers at the Ordway and friends at the Schubert Club. Also met the folks from Gastrotruck!  Great folks.  I am pleased to see the camaraderie between all the truck owners.  It is cool!

Three more days to go! Looking forward to it!