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!

Well, Here We Go!

Okay, all kidding aside, I'm starting to freak out. There is something so surreal about seeing something you have thought about for so long actually come to fruition. R. A. MacSammy's Grand Opening takes place at the St. Paul Winter Carnival!!  No easing into things for us.  We're just jumping right into the fire!


Sailed through the St. Paul City Inspection with no problem (thanks Chameleon Carts), and the truck gets its new look on Friday morning (thanks to Leah Horvath for the awesome design (above) and Big Print for the execution).

The menu for the Winter Carnival is gonna be:

Classic Mac & Cheese

"Build Your Own" Mac

add-in your choice of

Caramelized Onions

Tomatoes

Sauteed Mushrooms

Sauteed Peppers

Bacon

Black Forest Sandwich

Ham, Caramelized Onions

Gruyere Cheese and Dijon-Horseradish Sauce

on Grilled Sauerkraut Pumpernickel Bread

Grilled Turkey Chipotle Sandwich 

Hickory-smoked Turkey Breast, Sauteed Mushrooms

Cheddar Cheese and Chipotle Aioli

on Grilled 10-Grain Bread

Creamy Tomato-Basil Soup

Some Assorted Sweets

Hot Apple Cider

Hot Cocoa

Bottled Water

Absolutely can't wait to see how this all goes!  The Food Truck Roundup is located at Rice Park in Downtown St. Paul.  We will be there Friday, Saturday, Sunday (1/27-29), Tuesday and Thursday for lunch (11am-2pm), and Friday, Saturday (2/3-4).  Hope to see everybody there!!

2 steps forward, 1 step back

So, a friend told me that the Saint Paul Winter Carnival was looking for more food trucks. I checked into it, and, lo and behold , they are!
If all goes well, R. A. MacSammy's will be there for at least a couple of days!
Now, all of a sudden, things have to get done very quickly. Of course, the first thing to happen is my new griddle showed up damaged (see picture). Curse you UPS!
I remain undaunted, however. I can't wait to get started on this adventure. I am thinking I will be at the carnival the first weekend, which is January 27th and 28th. Hope to see you there! Bring good weather!

"Spend Money " Week

What an exhilarating week it has been!  Signed papers and bought the truck on Tuesday, ordered a new griddle/broiler on Wednesday, got a starter website up on Thursday, and bought a lot of smallwares today. (Thanks Maggie!)

Check out ramacsammys.com !  It's small and simple, but we will make it bigger and better once we have a real logo. 

We are also looking for suggestions on lunch locations that will draw from multiple businesses.  Can't go to Minneapolis proper, but let us know if you have other ideas. 

The Big Cheesy

So this is it!  My office!  My kitchen!  My home away from home! 

Now all of the other tasks are starting to pile up in my in-box.  Getting insurance lined up, buying smallwares (pots, pans, utencils, etc.), finding help designing a logo, getting decals made, licensing, finding a commissary, a place to park, signing up for festivals, finding a food vendor.  Whew! 

Happy New Year, Everyone!

We're Comin'...

Well, after fifteen years of learning, cooking and slaving; a couple of years of wishing and hoping; a year of planning, researching, and fine-tuning; six months of searching, brainstorming, and selling a concept, a dream is materializing. We are days away from putting pen to paper and purchasing a food truck!

R. A. MacSammy's is born! First of all, I gotta give a huge "Thank You" to my parents, without whose support and encouragement this would not have been possible. My whole fam damily has been sooo upbeat about this whole endeavor that MacSammy's is gonna be a huge success.

I also can't say enough good things about Mark Palm at Chameleon Carts. He's been a great source of information. inspiration and support. He took a look at a truck I was ready to jump on and pointed out the issues I would have with it. He's a great sounding board and the voice of reality when I get a little goofy. He also put me in touch with Maggie, who, after one season of running her food truck business, and loving it, got thrown a curveball and had to sell her totally awesome truck. I promised her I would take good care of her baby.

I am excited to hit the streets with a menu of specialty mac & cheese (including a "build your own"), awesome sandwiches and scratch soups. I will be featuring breads from Denny's 5th Avenue Bakery thanks to my good friend Ivan.

I hope to have a website up soon, and we are on Facebook. So much to do!