The lads at Eater point out the nascent popularity of piles of firewood in dining rooms of spots trying to establish a rustic vibe of some sort-- one the BBQ spot Hill Country, the other Gemma. From the decorator's perspective, it makes a bit of sense -- the piles reinforce the actual wood-fueled cooking these places do. But from a restaurateur's perspective, it is a problem. Either this is an actual pile of wood, actually used for cooking, and actually replenished every shift or so as part of sidework, or this is simply a decorative, static, pile of wood. If it is active, I can't think of a better way to introduce a wide variety of insects into your restaurant. Trees grow in the forest, where there are bugs, and the bugs like to hang out in the logs, especially in the interstices between bark and wood. If the pile is static, you have created a potential Co-Op City for rodents in the middle of the dining room. It is possible that there is some sort of fumigation one could do, but I can think of better places to keep the wood for my oven than the dining room.
*Still no gas face for Professor Prince Paul.
Comments