Dear Dusty Buns Bistro and Bus



April 23, 2012

An Open Letter to Dusty Buns Bus and Bistro:

As a regular watcher of financial markets, when the cover of Time Magazine asks the question “What’s Next, Dow 15,000?”, it probably means we’re at a market top.

Recently, the Fresnobeehive.com reported “What’s the best grilled cheese in the Valley?” with words like “wow factor” used to describe Le Grilled Cheese from Dusty Buns. I basically thought “Oh S!!T, Dusty Buns is no longer the underdog story we’ve followed since they began rolling." Dusty Buns has made it to the big time in Fresno!

But it’s not just the media coverage that legitimizes Dusty Buns; it’s the brick and mortar location. Fresno has seen this before; plenty of local coverage, legitimacy, good food and a second location.

Lately, the foodie vacuum has sucked all the energy away from Dusty Buns and toward Tako, the latest “serious” food truck in town. I went to witness the attention at the Manchester Farmer’s Market. I didn’t want to wait in the Tako line, so I ate at the La Mexicana truck next door. Every foodie in town has re-tweeted, pimped, or reviewed Tako. To be perfectly blunt, there is no “serious” food truck scene in Fresno. There are two gourmet trucks and everyone knows it, the rest serve really good Mexican tacos.

Guess who didn’t have a line at Manchester? Dusty Buns. I suppose Dusty Buns got all “special” and “fancy” and found a concrete pad, employees and a lease. The Bus was ‘cool’ when it was Dustin and Kristin making a hard-scrabble living from a catering truck in 110 degree heat, fighting City Hall, parking where they shouldn’t to make a buck; a great underdog story. But what happens when the underdog becomes the front runner? As any boxer, political candidate, or high school quarterback will tell you; everyone is gunning for you.

How many days, how many more months will it take for Fresno to get tired of Le Grilled Cheese from Dusty Buns? After all, Le Grilled Cheese is available at the Bus and the Bistro every day. It’s ok to have fried calamari and horrible tri-tip on every menu in Fresno (and most of them are crap), but if Dusty Buns makes a bad grilled cheese more than once, Fresno will come down on them like a load of bricks. Then whispers will start. 

When will you hear from a friend that the Bus is “not as good” because Dustin isn’t making every single grilled cheese anymore, now the “nameless B-Team” is making them on the truck. Because Dusty Buns has “faces” like Dustin and Kristin, the mere fact another face is cooking Le Grilled Cheese out of the Bus, people will question the quality. Faceless works fine in most restaurants. Who’s the Chef at Yosemite Ranch? No one cares. Dusty Buns needs to have Elena’s reputation at Parma. Everyone knows Elena rarely cooks at night, she’s on the floor, but her standards are in every dish that’s served.

What happens if Le Grilled Cheese becomes the benchmark grilled cheese sandwich of Fresno, similar to the below average tri-tip sandwich at The Meat Market? How long will it take for Le Grilled Cheese to go down hill? When will a careless Dusty Buns staff member begin putting too much or not enough cheese on the sandwich? Or under cook the bacon or just plain not do it right? Again, we get back to high standards and reputation.

If you don’t innovate and keep pushing, Fresnans simply settle for 500 menu items at Cheesecake Factory, horrible American Chinese at PF Chang’s, or another mediocre burger or burrito from one of the chains. Mass-Produced Food is easy, filling, and generally consistent. Name Franchise Here always has “my favorite, mass produced, average crap meal” from where I can bring home left-overs and they even take my credit card. Ho-Hum it’s Fresno, all we have is chains where I get a buzzer to wait in line. And if I have to wait, it must be good. Oh look, twinkle lights and a water feature. Maybe I’ll have an oversized PBR or Coors Light at happy hour. Ho-Hum it’s Fresno. I hope they have a mist maker on the patio that will make me feel better about wilted lettuce, three day old bread and a dry meat patty.

Yes, we all like the grilled cheese. Yes, we all appreciate your struggle. Yes, you’ve been blazing trail. Yes, people praise you for your food; the Original Dusty Bun and Le Grilled Cheese. Here’s the thing: 

1. You don’t serve $1.50 carnitas out of a nameless white truck or mis-spell Takos for $2.
2. You don’t serve a dreadful $8 dollar Panini, have “cheesy bread”, or pre-seasoned fries
3. You don’t serve a $3.15“Animal Style” burger or a 3lb burrito for $6.49

   Dusty Buns is:

• You’ve got the training.
• You’ve got the spirit.
• You’ve got the following.
• You’ve got legitimacy (because you have a restaurant now, which means you’re not an underdog)

I’m asking, I’m BEGGING you to innovate and push your staff to be the best. Remind your staff they work for the “FIRST gourmet food truck in Fresno” and your standards have to be higher than most restaurants or Fresno will kick you to the curb. Fresnan’s have a habit of eating “consistent food”, which translates into “calculated mediocrity”, the afore mentioned tri-tip, fried calamari, and franchise food.

Create the next great Fresno sandwich, appetizer, and main dish. I want the next headline to be “What’s next for Dusty Buns?” or “Dusty Buns Bistro Still on Top After 20 years”. Accept the fact your main stream, with a cool edge, like snowboarding. Snowboarding has been around 20 years and it’s still edgy.

And start accepting Visa, you’re not a catering truck anymore. Hipsters like Visa and so do parents in a hurry looking to buy 4 sandwiches and don’t like to pay ATM fees or add one more step to get cash to their already hectic day.

Dustin, Kristin, don’t give Fresno an excuse to talk about how great you “were” or an “I remember when” story. Because Fresno will talk about you that way as they eat their meal combo at Chipotle, all the while talking about Le Grilled Cheese.

Warm Regards,

The Cured Ham

P.S. While you’re at it, can I have an organic soda or craft root beer or something? How about fair-trade coffee? Or a bottle of Pellegrino? All of them are sustainable products (that happen to be great margin for the restaurant too). North Fresno and various hipsters driving to Fresno High want more options than water and tea. Sodas, like bacon, aren’t unhealthy when people consume them in moderation. And since it’s going to be 100 degrees soon, the timing will be perfect. Besides the really cool hipsters drink their Acai out of BPA Free Nalgene bottles from REI.

Health Inspections, Fresno County and the 5 Second Rule

The story in the Fresno Bee , March 26, "How clean are Fresno County restaurants, and why are inspection reports tough to find?" seemed to capture the attention of several food bloggers in Fresno. I noticed several tweets linking to the article and to the County's website for information on the restaurant reports.

I browsed the report, noticed restaurants that I've eaten at and scrolled through the County database of restaurant inspections. I concluded that while the reports were interesting, I could care less. Why?

A few Cured Ham Facts: 

• Cousin Jeff's recent deer or wild boar kill from early that morning somewhere in the D7 CA Zone won't pass inspection and you cannot sell a hunting kill at a Restaurant. I've been eating Cousin Jeff's deer meat for years and I'm alive.
• Aunt's Celia's canned tomatoes. Aunt C doesn't have a commercial kitchen, but she's been doing canning since she was 7 years old and she's 88 now. Can't Serve home crafted product in a Restaurant because it's not made commercially under supervision. I'm alive and so is my 88 year old Aunt.
• September 1 every year is Dove Season opening day. I might shoot a dove at 3pm, clean it at 6pm and eat it at 8pm. Can't serve that at a restaurant.
• My own cultivated vinegar that is NOT Pasteurized. No Chance anything unpasteurized makes it into a restaurant. I love it on my salads.
• Roadside taco stands in Fresno County... No health inspection. Guess what? Local bloggers check into these below the radar spots all the time, The Cured Ham included. In fact, a story was written about it by James Collier, joined by Fresno's aficionado of tacos Mike Oz. I loved this story AND THEY'RE STILL ALIVE!
• Bus station in Peru, street vendor in Morocco, guinea pig in Ecuador, campground in Russia, tacos in Mexico. Just as long as we don't drink the water, we don't care about the health inspector because we're on vacation, right?
• Oh, I confess that I've eaten leftovers from a BBQ Party at Millerton Lake in the middle of summertime even after the ice in the ice chest melted 8 hours ago.

I'm pleased that the County of Fresno is doing their job and they absolutely should crack down on restaurants that are in violation of the health code. Not my point.

Most homes wouldn't pass a health inspection because we don't have a Triple Wash Station sink, our refrigerators don't have a precise temperature control, and our cutting board might be made of the finest walnut that we just purchased at Sur la Table and would therefore not pass inspection because it's made of a porous material that I can't wash with bleach for 8 minutes at 220 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Let's not get too worked up about this Fresno, chances are we've eaten at several of the places that had a violation and lived to tell the tale. Just remember to wash your hands after you've used the toilet you filthy pig.

Max's Bistro, Fresno

What's it like?

I’m just going to jump into this one, Max’s Bistro was a night of extremes.

Horrible: Pathetically pale olive oil for the table that resembled vegetable oil with dry herbs. Whatever poor excuse for an olive oil is being used to dip a high quality bread in, please either remove it or pay the extra money to provide a reasonable product.

Delicious: Crispy, well-seasoned truffled potato fries and standard sweet potato fries. Positively wonderful. The truffle fries are some of the best I’ve ever had.

Horrible: Undercooked beets for my beet salad. Undercooked means that it took about the same amount of force to pierce the side of the beet as it would a raw potato.

Horrible: Old, brown romaine lettuce for the Caesar salad and 3 home-made croutons. There must have been ‘crouton rationing” and a lettuce surplus in the pantry. 

Delicious: Gorgonzola mashed potatoes.

Good: Rib-eye steak cooked medium-rare as requested, but under-seasoned. 

Horrible: Mixed vegetables that included over cooked squash (read mooshy)and brownish tinged green beans. Oh, I tried the vegetables. Luckily, we eat with our eyes first.

Outstanding: Savory amaranth bread pudding. This might have been better than the fries frankly. I would love to cook this for Thanksgiving one year. Brilliant.

Good: Lamb chops and cooked medium rare.

Fine: Commercial Andouille sausage that was awfully spicy. Don’t know if a really spicy sausage makes sense in this mixed grill. It kills the wine your drinking and seems to clash with a delicate quail.

Horrible: Quail. Dry as a bone.

Lazy: Penne with house-made Bolognese. The Bolognese was loose, real loose, near liquid with no viscous consistency to stick to the pasta. The pasta was cooked fine, but the sauce was a disappointment. Awfully sweet sauce as well. Not a classic Italian sauce by any stretch and yes, I’m hyper critical about this sauce.

Highlight of the Night: Halibut with potato cake and spinach. Overall, this one dish was the highlight of the night. Each aspect of the dish was well constructed and prepared. The fish had a lovely golden color to the outside top and was moist in the center. The potato cake was well seasoned and finished with a golden brown and crispy top. The spinach was simply wilted and brightened up the plate.

Service was friendly. The real hitch came near the end of the evening and the obvious closing and side-work period around 9:30. Our table wasn’t completely cleared when all parties had finished their meals. Lights started shutting off and some tables are left without being bussed in our section. I know servers what to go home, but don’t shut the lights out in the main dining room please, until we decide to get up and leave.

So the final analysis is about as confused as the outcomes that evening. The “fry guy” should get a raise. Whoever is preparing salads might need to take a refresher course on how long it takes to cook beets and what the color brown indicates on lettuce. Quail is not cooked like a chicken wing. Finally, who cooked the halibut and where was this person when the other dishes were being prepared?

I just don’t know. I’d like to go back. I ate some really great stuff. But will I get the fry guy or the salad guy who prepares my next meal?

Who Tweets for El Toro?

(From a contribution to the Taste Fresno website posted July 8, 2011) In the last month or so, three food and beverage establishments have caught my attention Campagnia, Iron Bird Café, and El Toro Tambien.

A few facts:

El Toro Tambien was in business for over 25 years at West and Bullard. Campagnia is a restaurant with a 10-year history minus their recent hiatus and IBC is still an infant at just over one year old. El Toro never had a Facebook or Twitter site and a virtually non-existent website. Campagnia has over 1200 likes on Facebook and no twitter account. IBC has over 2200 likes, 259 Followers on Twitter, and an internal blog site.

Let’s do some basic economic math. El Toro Tambien has had a major impact on Fresno by staying in business for over 25 years. It has employed at least 300 people over that time period at a minimum. It has served thousands of meals and drinks, occupied a commercial space, and of course paid taxes to the City of Fresno for a very long time. It was technically a pioneer at West and Bullard along with Me N’ Ed’s and Baskin and Robbins when there wasn’t much in North Fresno but fig trees and the promise of great development and population. It was basically the anchor tenant of the strip mall.

Where is the “news story” about a 25-year locally owned restaurant in Fresno going dark after serving tens-of-thousands of customers, employing hundreds of people and contributing to the local economy?

Pivoting to the locally owned Campagnia, undoubtedly another major revenue source for the City of Fresno, a large employer, and major contributor to the local economy: Campagnia has served thousands of meals and employed hundreds of people before their reorganization and recently reopening on their 10^th anniversary. The re-launch was covered by local news, both online and on television. Facebook commentary increased on their fan page as a result of the announcement. But really, much ado about nothing; Campagnia re-opened and is serving customers again.

Moving on to the 1-year-old, Iron Bird Café. From the social media outcry, I thought The Elbow Room had closed (which is the equivalent to the sun in the North Fresno solar system extinguishing, and all social life as we know it ceasing to exist).  So, I get the social outcry. I’d be upset if one of my favorites closed or cut hours dramatically. After all, I’ve had a 25-year love affair with El Toro, 20 years with The Bow and 10 years with Campagnia.

But what’s the fuss all about? IBC has been in business a little over 1 year. I’ve got blue jeans that are older. IBC has cut its hours and is actively listening to customers more about how to improve its food and service. I thought growing pains were part of every infant business? I thought mistakes and resets were simply part of doing business? The success rate of a one-year food service business is poor to begin with, so I don’t find IBC’s story all that surprising, certainly not as newsworthy as the re-start of Campagnia.

How many other businesses have started in the last year and are struggling? How’s Yalla Yalla doing in a center that has lost Gigi’s, Red Door, Bentley’s, and Gold’s Gym amongst others? I guess Yalla is adapting, listening to customers, making changes and surviving on a tough corner. And Yalla has 159 likes on Facebook, no Twitter account, and a basic website with no blog.

When compared to either El Toro or Campagnia’s economic value over time, IBC is a de minimis player at this point. Perhaps, in time - and if they survive - IBC will make a major economic impact to the area. There certainly is a social media following by all accounts, but does social media positively correlate with regular paying customers? Apparently a business can have a lot of fans, but no customers.

Before Twitter, Facebook, or social media, there was El Toro Tambien at Bullard and West. People drove by it on their way home from work for take-out, they were regulars at the bar, or they stopped by for lunch because they heard from a friend that the food was good or the server was pleasant - sort of a “like,” but more meaningful. Sometimes the food was off. The place usually got a new coat of paint once every 5 years. People said El Toro wasn’t authentic. Sometimes the high school server got your order wrong. El Toro had its ups and downs over the years, but it would make it through, year after year. El Toro was a local restaurant that served consistent food, had decent service, and had owners that listened to patrons. If the owners didn’t listen and didn’t react, they wouldn’t have lasted for over 25 years. The Cured Ham “liked” loved El Toro Tambien before there was Facebook and I’d be sad to see them go.

Limon, Fresno

First impressions make a difference. My first impression of Limon was a proper welcome and a surprise; they opened the front door for me.

While we were warmly greeted at the host station, I didn’t get any sense of intimacy or warmth in the restaurant as we sat down in the cold, industrial type space. Tables and chairs are quite basic, with no butcher paper or linens adorning any tables. No booths or anything cozy, simply 2 and 4-top tables arranged efficiently as possible.

As my guest and I were having wine, lovely stemware was presented for a rather common Albarino. With my recent experience using antiquated stemware at The Ripe Tomato, the use of Schott Zwiesel stemware at Limon was a treat. Other service touches that seem to contrast the cold space; servers were attentive, helpful, regularly refreshing silverware with each course, used a splash cover when refilling our water glasses, and always refilled wine. Service was professional with the questions that we asked easily answered by our server.

To start our meal, the house special ceviche of fresh halibut, calamari and prawns marinated in rocoto, red onions, fresh lime juice, served with yam and Peruvian corn. When the dish was presented to the table, it’s exactly as I remember it from my recent trip to Arequipa, Peru in terms of overall basic ingredients, right down to the Peruvian version of corn nuts. The curing liquid had wonderfully bright acidity, but wasn’t overpowering. Where Limon differed from its Peruvian counterparts was the attention to detail with regard to how both the halibut and onions were sliced. Limon crudely and unevenly sliced both the onions and the fish. Why am I so picky about this? Thick pieces of onion are unwelcome with such a delicate dish. Onions should be cut as thinly as possible in half-moons, not some diced, some chopped, some whole rounds. Additionally, roughly, unevenly, and partially cut halibut on a fish that’s easily cut and squared off is just plain lazy prep. I’m being very tough on Limon with regard to the details here because all the elements of flavor, freshness, and presentation are there.

The second starter, Anticuchos de Carne or grilled adresso marinated beef skewers served with roasted potatoes, huacatay (green) sauce and Peruvian choclo were fabulously tender, well-seasoned, and simply made my mouth happy. The beef was cooked to order at exactly medium rare. The depth of flavor in this beef was outstanding. I might actually crawl over broken glass the find out what this “adresso marinade” is. The roasted potatoes were crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle and well salted. Great dish! I could make a meal out of 3 orders, that’s how much I liked it.

We decided on two seafood entrées, salmon and sole, which also happened to work well with the light white wine we ordered. Escabeche de Pescado, or pan-seared fresh Petrole sole marinated in an aji amarillo escabeche sauce, served over roasted potatoes and sautéed spinach. Sole can often be the wimpy fish at the table; usually under seasoned, overcooked, and homogenously prepared with salt and pepper in butter. Not so at Limon. The Petrole sole jumped off the plate with flavor and spice, but didn’t take away from the delicacy of the fish. Well thought out and executed.

Pan-seared salmon served over chimichurri roasted potatoes and topped with sautéed spaghetti squash. The standout here was a seasoned crust on the skin of the salmon, again a rarity in most restaurants in Fresno. The salmon was fully cooked through, but was not dry. Proper cooking technique is needed to achieve this crispy skin and fully cooked interior of the fish. The other garnish on the plate did not distract from the focus on the salmon. The kitchen wasn’t slammed when they served each of our fish dishes, so if anything, I’d like to see how the kitchen handles a lot of diners at once and if the same skill and attention is paid.

Overall, my experience at Limon was very good. I liked each of the dishes as they were presented, flavors were good, and technique was solid other than for the rough cut ceviche. However, the regular reminder that the space you’re eating is resembles a corporate cafeteria rather than a warm or even contemporary dining experience is troubling for long-term success in Fresno. I hope the owners can spice up their space on par with the food and service.

Go to Limon for the beauty of the presentation, the quality of the service and the excellence in food.