Blogging again! Happy to be here. When they say that running a restaurant is a twenty-four, seven endeavor they really aren’t exaggerating. If I’m not cooking, cleaning or counting, I’m list making, errand running, planning, promoting and at the end of every long, exhausting day, pinching myself that this unlikeliest of career paths has been made possible to me. And thank YOU for that, every single one of you that reads this blog or has eaten a meal. I could not be happier to be doing exactly what I’m doing, exactly where I’m doing it.
The last two week’s have been incredible. I’m really overwhelmed by the amount of support and love that has been thrown at this project. It’s been so much fun feeding all of you! This last Saturday in particular was a blast. Friends came in and lingered, moving from the bar to tables, expanding in numbers, ordering extra waffle courses, refilling their coffee cups and mate presses. Babies were everywhere, adorable in their Lil’ Grub bibs, sweet potato hash smeared on their little faces. Lots of noise, lots of food, lots of fun.
Since Daily Grub has opened, a number of people have asked me why I changed the name from Clean Plate. I guess the simplest answer is that it is not Clean Plate. It’s something new and different. You wouldn’t give your children the same name (unless you’re George Forman), or title two sculptures identically. Vera and Mark Mercer have opened five restaurants over the course of their tenure in the Old Market – M’s, The French Café, V Mertz’s, La Buvette and The Boiler Room. They are all done in a similar vein, with a similar aesthetic, but they’re also completely unique from one another and each created with a different purpose.
With Clean Plate I had a very specific purpose — I wanted to start a conversation about food, the kind of food we’re eating and where it comes from. Every detail about Clean Plate was chosen with consideration of this. I hoped the long communal table would encourage people to share the experience and the photographs on the wall of turn-of-the-century farms and farmers would get folks thinking about the way life and food used to be. The food itself at Clean Plate was as close to out of the ground as it could possibly be – raw. And even the name, Clean Plate, was chosen because it gave the direction to think about what you where putting into your mouth and where it came from.
Daily Grub’s sole purpose is to create food and an experience that makes you feel good. Nothing high faluttin’ about it. Still seasonal and farm to table, still locally sourced, the menu, is full of simple, tasty, comfort food. Daily Grub is nestled in Train Town, one of Omaha’s great old immigrant neighborhoods, flanked on one side by blue collar, industrial businesses and on the other by a multi-generational, multi-ethnic neighborhood. The name reflects this rough-around-the-edges down hominess. I’m also hoping that labeling this kind of food (food that is usually considered fancy, expensive, bourgeois fare) as “just some grub” might get a few more folks eating this way. And if not, whatevs! We’re having a blast doing it.
Can’t wait to feed you soon!
Love and waffles,
elle
Thanks for sharing, Elle lovely. And thank heavens for your waffles. Feel good belly = feel good mood. True soul food.