Ten years ago newspaper executive Gordon Sinclair had a dream. Moonlighting as a maitred', he dreamed of dropping out of the world of big business to open his own restaurant. In 1976, on a shoestring, he opened Gordon in a seedy warehouse district behind the Chicago merchandise mart. Three restaurants, four Mobil stars, and four Travel Holiday awards later, Sinclair is finally putting the finishing touches on his dream--including a bigger, more glamourous dining room, an outdoor cafe, and a kitchen that veteran chef Daniel Castro says is the best he's ever worked in. Four times as large and infinitely better equipped than the original Gordon kitchen, the new facilities are an investment in the future, according to Sinclair. The payoff will be attracting, retaining and developing creative staff, one of Sinclair's major concerns.
As well as the human resource factor, the expanded, modernized kitchen was necessary to serve a growth spurt in business. Additional dining room seating, three party rooms with capacity of up to 120, a new Sunday brunch service, more off-premise catering, and outdoor dining in the summertime mean the new Gordon kitchen will serve from 50 to 300 more meals a day than in the original site. In addition, Sinclair anticipates increased traffic and longer service hours when a 2.5 million sq. ft. office /hotel complex down the street is completed in 1986. The best way to visualize the new kitchen is to listen to Sinclair describe working conditions in the old and new sites: "It was difficult to attract good, top people and to have a professional attitude when you were working out of the galley of a submarine to service a tablecloth restaurant and perform culinary miracles. During our opening rehearsal dinner, we got into the new kitchen at 4 p.m. and served 150 people that evening without a hitch. The kitchen worked superbly despite the fact that most of our under-the-counter refrigeration hadn't been installed yet. It's luxurious; we even have a window.'
Other features Sinclair counts as luxuries are the all-stainless steel surfaces, high ceilings and the 4-by-10 foot maple pastry station. The rest of the features in the new kitchen seem cannily gauged to increase productivity, flexibility and quality. One of the single largest expenses of the plan was the retention of an energy consultant to plan the heating and ventilation system. The consultant researched everything from window sizes according to neighboring building elevations to necessary velocities for exhaust fans. Special factors taken into consideration were the high ceilings and the fact that two large doors would open the restaurant to the outside during the summertime months.
One expense that was spared, however, was installation of exhaust fans in the basement kitchen which will serve the party rooms and offpremise catering business. "We decided the cost to ventilate there was prohibitive and that the basement kitchen will be used for prep work only. All finishing will be done in the main kitchen, giving better quality control anyway,' says Sinclair, noting that careful planning and scheduling should preclude overloading the kitchen during peak hours. Another economy was the installation of a cement/synthetic floor rather than tiling the existing uneven wooden floors. The material is designed to expand and contract without cracking and eliminates the expense of laying underflooring.
In the areas of equipment and layout, however, no skimping was tolerated. With an ambitious, constantly changing but refined menu, specialization is a key in the Gordon kitchen. Typical offerings this winter were: sauteed prawns with fresh herbs with seafood sausage in coriander lime butter sauce at $15.95, and roasted stuffed quail with veal pesto mousse in champagne sauce at $18.95. Because of the reputation for fresh seafood, a number of up-to-date systems were purchased for the new kitchen. A large ceramic briquet gas grill with separately controlled temperature zones and knee level, slideout salamander broilers is the centerpiece of the cooking line. Sinclair chose the gas system because it can achieve the same high temperatures as hardwood grills but with finer control and less mess. "We have a mesquite grill at Sinclair's (his Lake Forest, Ill., restaurant) and if you're going to ballyhoo it that's fine, but for Gordon that wasn't necessary.' Sinclair also objects to the longer training necessary for mesquite grill operators and believes that the trend may soon pass.
A series of refrigerated, under-the-counter drawers or "fish files' are located along the line opposite the saute and grill stations so chefs have instant access to various fish species without any temperature or quality loss. Sinclair notes that to avoid cross contamination of species through drainage, fish of a kind are filed vertically rather than keeping one drawer for one kind and the drawer below for another. Another specialized piece of equipment for the critical process of sauteeing fish and other delicate dishes is the variable-heat flat top range. Sinclair says that this range allows more productivity as well as quicker heat adjustments than a conventional four-burner range that would take up the same amount of space. On the flat top the chef can cook six dishes simultaneously rather than four on the conventional range.
Isolation of the pantry and baking stations from the main cooking line was another move toward productivity made possible by the expanded space available in the new kitchen. The pantry, equipped with sink, work surface, over-and under-the-counter refrigeration as well as a rolling salad cart and ice cream freezer, is located at right angles to one end of the line facing into it, facilitating coordination of orders both with the chef and order expediter. The baking/pastry station just beyond the pantry and right in front of the walk-in coolers is the pride and joy of the whole staff. Executive chef Castro calls it his favorite spot in the kitchen and does some of his prep work there at the large mapletopped work surface. The station has its own refrigeration, oven and range so that baking the exotic desserts which form an important part of the Gordon menu and daily special confections on the waiter's menu does not interfere with the main production line.
The location of the food expediter's station just across the cooking line's work surface means that plates are garnished and delivered to waiters just seconds after being removed from the stove. A runner system is used in the Gordon kitchen so that waiters rarely need to come into the kitchen and can spend most of their time on the floor looking after customers. A coffee and tea station is located in the main kitchen, but isolated from major preparation areas to avoid any interference with production. Because Sinclair anticipates continued growth of the off-premise catering business and restaurant traffic when current construction in the area is completed, the kitchen was designed for maximum flexibility. The line is set up to be operated by two, three, or four chefs, with the addition of a second four-burner range at the beginning of the line for use during heavy service periods. This feature, and the isolation and independent equipping of the pantry and baking areas, were also planned to allow training and development of personnel without throwing off normal operations. This spaciousness and flexibility of facilities also encourages experimentation with recipes and presentations--vital to the reputation of the restaurant. Though the artichoke fritters and flourless chocolate cake that customers talked up to their friends when Gordon first opened are still on the menu today, nothing else about the operation is static.
And though Sinclair's customers and critics would attest to the fact that the appeal and consistency of dishes produced in the old facilities were top notch, Sinclair feels that the morale of the team that produces these dishes is just as important. "I wanted to have a first class kitchen. I'm here for the longterm and it has a psychological effect. Besides, if the kitchen staff doesn't feel good, I don't feel good.'
As well as the human resource factor, the expanded, modernized kitchen was necessary to serve a growth spurt in business. Additional dining room seating, three party rooms with capacity of up to 120, a new Sunday brunch service, more off-premise catering, and outdoor dining in the summertime mean the new Gordon kitchen will serve from 50 to 300 more meals a day than in the original site. In addition, Sinclair anticipates increased traffic and longer service hours when a 2.5 million sq. ft. office /hotel complex down the street is completed in 1986. The best way to visualize the new kitchen is to listen to Sinclair describe working conditions in the old and new sites: "It was difficult to attract good, top people and to have a professional attitude when you were working out of the galley of a submarine to service a tablecloth restaurant and perform culinary miracles. During our opening rehearsal dinner, we got into the new kitchen at 4 p.m. and served 150 people that evening without a hitch. The kitchen worked superbly despite the fact that most of our under-the-counter refrigeration hadn't been installed yet. It's luxurious; we even have a window.'
Other features Sinclair counts as luxuries are the all-stainless steel surfaces, high ceilings and the 4-by-10 foot maple pastry station. The rest of the features in the new kitchen seem cannily gauged to increase productivity, flexibility and quality. One of the single largest expenses of the plan was the retention of an energy consultant to plan the heating and ventilation system. The consultant researched everything from window sizes according to neighboring building elevations to necessary velocities for exhaust fans. Special factors taken into consideration were the high ceilings and the fact that two large doors would open the restaurant to the outside during the summertime months.
One expense that was spared, however, was installation of exhaust fans in the basement kitchen which will serve the party rooms and offpremise catering business. "We decided the cost to ventilate there was prohibitive and that the basement kitchen will be used for prep work only. All finishing will be done in the main kitchen, giving better quality control anyway,' says Sinclair, noting that careful planning and scheduling should preclude overloading the kitchen during peak hours. Another economy was the installation of a cement/synthetic floor rather than tiling the existing uneven wooden floors. The material is designed to expand and contract without cracking and eliminates the expense of laying underflooring.
In the areas of equipment and layout, however, no skimping was tolerated. With an ambitious, constantly changing but refined menu, specialization is a key in the Gordon kitchen. Typical offerings this winter were: sauteed prawns with fresh herbs with seafood sausage in coriander lime butter sauce at $15.95, and roasted stuffed quail with veal pesto mousse in champagne sauce at $18.95. Because of the reputation for fresh seafood, a number of up-to-date systems were purchased for the new kitchen. A large ceramic briquet gas grill with separately controlled temperature zones and knee level, slideout salamander broilers is the centerpiece of the cooking line. Sinclair chose the gas system because it can achieve the same high temperatures as hardwood grills but with finer control and less mess. "We have a mesquite grill at Sinclair's (his Lake Forest, Ill., restaurant) and if you're going to ballyhoo it that's fine, but for Gordon that wasn't necessary.' Sinclair also objects to the longer training necessary for mesquite grill operators and believes that the trend may soon pass.
A series of refrigerated, under-the-counter drawers or "fish files' are located along the line opposite the saute and grill stations so chefs have instant access to various fish species without any temperature or quality loss. Sinclair notes that to avoid cross contamination of species through drainage, fish of a kind are filed vertically rather than keeping one drawer for one kind and the drawer below for another. Another specialized piece of equipment for the critical process of sauteeing fish and other delicate dishes is the variable-heat flat top range. Sinclair says that this range allows more productivity as well as quicker heat adjustments than a conventional four-burner range that would take up the same amount of space. On the flat top the chef can cook six dishes simultaneously rather than four on the conventional range.
Isolation of the pantry and baking stations from the main cooking line was another move toward productivity made possible by the expanded space available in the new kitchen. The pantry, equipped with sink, work surface, over-and under-the-counter refrigeration as well as a rolling salad cart and ice cream freezer, is located at right angles to one end of the line facing into it, facilitating coordination of orders both with the chef and order expediter. The baking/pastry station just beyond the pantry and right in front of the walk-in coolers is the pride and joy of the whole staff. Executive chef Castro calls it his favorite spot in the kitchen and does some of his prep work there at the large mapletopped work surface. The station has its own refrigeration, oven and range so that baking the exotic desserts which form an important part of the Gordon menu and daily special confections on the waiter's menu does not interfere with the main production line.
The location of the food expediter's station just across the cooking line's work surface means that plates are garnished and delivered to waiters just seconds after being removed from the stove. A runner system is used in the Gordon kitchen so that waiters rarely need to come into the kitchen and can spend most of their time on the floor looking after customers. A coffee and tea station is located in the main kitchen, but isolated from major preparation areas to avoid any interference with production. Because Sinclair anticipates continued growth of the off-premise catering business and restaurant traffic when current construction in the area is completed, the kitchen was designed for maximum flexibility. The line is set up to be operated by two, three, or four chefs, with the addition of a second four-burner range at the beginning of the line for use during heavy service periods. This feature, and the isolation and independent equipping of the pantry and baking areas, were also planned to allow training and development of personnel without throwing off normal operations. This spaciousness and flexibility of facilities also encourages experimentation with recipes and presentations--vital to the reputation of the restaurant. Though the artichoke fritters and flourless chocolate cake that customers talked up to their friends when Gordon first opened are still on the menu today, nothing else about the operation is static.
And though Sinclair's customers and critics would attest to the fact that the appeal and consistency of dishes produced in the old facilities were top notch, Sinclair feels that the morale of the team that produces these dishes is just as important. "I wanted to have a first class kitchen. I'm here for the longterm and it has a psychological effect. Besides, if the kitchen staff doesn't feel good, I don't feel good.'