What Business Plans May Come

Hiatus.

We have come to the realization that Fran needs to delegate more of the day-to-day kitchen operations. She has spent the last year chopping onions, stuffing jalapenos and grinding toasted peppers while attempting to hold together a house with four young children. The problem is that even with our loyal customer base, the space we currently occupy just cannot generate the kind of income needed to employ extra help. Our much ballyhooed expansion seems to be on infinite hold as the owner of the building cannot decide if he should stay or go. We thought the return of the beer and wine license to the ghetto convenience store would herald an acceleration of the renovation but this has not been the case.

It is with light-hearted irreverence that we annouce our hiatus from Chapman Chile. That's right; we're taking a break. The simple truth is the Kitchen never made much money and frankly we are tired of subsidizing the endeavor. We know the problem - no seating and short hours. Without money we can not rectify those shortcomings.

Fran and I would like to sincerely thank everyone - even the person who told us buffalo were extinct. This has been an amazing experience. Lessons learned and contacts made will occupy the coming months as we formulate the next step; we are not done. Hopefully we will be back soon with a new space, the money and menu to give this a real go (if you have money let's talk!).

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep what business plans may come?


Call 214-887-8872 to get your chile and chili fix while you still can.

PS - Our sign has been tagged. Evero - I know you are a scrawny good-for-nothing white punk and if I had the inclination I would make you clean my sign and the telephone pole across the street. You are no artist. You make no statement. You are no more original than a 12 year old who thinks it's a riot to toilet paper the house of the head cheerleader. Revel in your generic non-expression you insignificant clone. I cannot begin to fathom the sheer insecurity of one who has to write his name everywhere. Oh! Did I make you spill your Pabst? Sorry! You know it's brewed by Miller right? Keep supporting those Canada-based multi-national corporations.

Love, Randal

Chicken Salad is Back!

Fran asked that I put a quick post up to say that the chicken salad is back. Hopefully she made enough to last a while but with my luck I'll be fresh out on my shift this Saturday.

$5.99

(yeah I know what the menu says - it lies)

Cowboy Karma and Wings Ahoy

Last Saturday we had more than one person come in and mention that our chili and stuffed jalapenos were good luck charms. Eaten no doubt in some arcane and complex ritual; I am not certain but had imagined monotonic chants, silver chalices and flowing garments. Some people will do anything for football.

As I rang up a couple of quarts and a six pack of peppers the person across the counter commented: "We brought some of your chili over to a friend's house when the Cowboys played the Saints and they won!"

"Oh, that's nice", I thought to myself. A little while later another person came in and declared that he and his family were going to have stuffed jalapenos for every Cowboy game from now on because they ate them during both wins against Washington and the Eagles. Evidently our chili and peppers contain some sort of magic so potent as to cure a 13 year playoff win draught. I am on board with this notion. I think Jerry Jones himself should enjoy some chili and peppers while surrounded by the astounding opulence that is his solid gold master stateroom in the new stadium. I am sure I would be arrested long before I got close enough to deliver any. If anyone has any ideas email me.

We have been trying to bring back the wings. The BBQ I had been using to smoke them was just an el cheapo Wal-Mart special, not suited to smoking 40 pounds at a time. I was using hardwood lump charcoal and it was a messy ordeal. After buying, and returning, two different electric smokers we still haven't found an answer that suits our space requirements. The units we bought were both defective, something I later learned is not uncommon to this particular brand after I wised up and looked at reviews on the internet. Wings will be back soon, even if I have to fire up the old grill and stand around poking at the charcoal fire in sub-freezing temperatures.

Lastly let's welcome Melissa! Fran met her at Mawker coffee at the Dallas Farmer's Market where she works weekends. Melissa will help out running the Kitchen and is the first new face in what will be more as we work toward the expansion.

Don't forget our expanded hours: Tuesday -> Saturday 11:00 am to 4:00 pm

New! Amazing! Website!

Be sure and check out our new amazing website. I think the PDF version of the menu may contain some lies (or maybe just half-truths) as I don’t know if Fran plans to continue making the chicken salad in its current incarnation. This definitely sounds like a broken record and I have long since given up asking for any kind of schedule but progress is still being made on the renovation. Hopefully we will have a dining room before I turn 40!

Speaking of seating Fran and I will be playing around with new menu items to feature when we become a bona-fide restaurant. Don’t be surprised if she offers up a free Serrano pepper stuffed with salmon mousse or something.

Hope everyone is having a great holiday season!

Are Bison Extinct?

Fran (answering phone): "Chapman Chile Kitchen - may I help you?"

Caller: "Yeah, uhh - your burgers... Are they buffalo?"

Fran: "Yes. We use bison in our burgers and chili."

Caller: "Are you sure?"

Fran: "Uh - yes."

Caller: "But they're extinct!"

I think our mystery caller may have been on to something because we have been trying to get an order of bison for over a week now. We are completely out and have no burgers and only mild chile at the Kitchen. This weekend we will be at the Dallas farmer's market as well as the Firewheel Four Seasons Market on Saturday and the Junius Heights Home Tour on Sunday. Fran may close the Kitchen tomorrow (11/04/2009) so she can drive to Fort Worth and see what is going on so call before dropping by. It takes a long time to make our chili and it looks like we will need 4 batches to cover all of our commitments. Getting our order tomorrow will be cutting it close.

In other news, I began a new contract this week. While it will bring much needed financial relief for the family, it leaves Fran and Melinda to take care of all the Kitchen duties. This will most likely mean an amendment to the hours we are open so Fran can pick the kids up from school. We still haven't figured out the whole thing and Fran is nearing the breaking point wondering how she will juggle everything. It could be interesting to see how she snaps; don't worry too much if you walk in to get a burger and find her in the fetal position or talking to imaginary friends.

On a lighter note we are exploring doing more catering. We handled the KNON event which was at least 125 people and have been asked to cater a luncheon for 250. This could be a real financial shot-in-the-arm for the Kitchen and allow us to hire more people, be open longer and move to a more suitable location. Things could get really crazy and Fran may even be able to take a day off; but just one. We wouldn't want her getting soft or anything.

Halloween Chili Tradition

Over the past 13 or so years it has become tradition around the Chapman house that we make chili for Halloween. Two batches - one super spicy and one mild (ostensibly for the children). I brew a pumpkin ale (this year - pumpkin porter) and make homemade caramel for caramel apples. We invite a whole bunch of friends and their kids. Everyone takes turns walking with the kids to trick-or-treat; drinking pumpkin ale and eating chili all the while. A week or so ago a friend asked about our Halloween plans. Would we have the usual celebration? Would there be beer, caramel apples and ... chili?

Don't get me wrong. I love our chili - I still do "quality control" daily. The latest batch of mild I borrowed a brewing technique called dry hopping - hop oils, like toasted dried chile aromatics, are quite volatile and boiling drives them off. If you want an extra wallop of hop aroma in your beer (yes please) then you soak fresh hops in the beer while it conditions in secondary fermentation. I did something similar with the mild chili; fresh-from-the-oven ancho and cascabel aromatics are preserved, integrated and embedded in every bite. I love our chili. Love it! However - do I serve it for Halloween? I wonder if Ray Kroc served Big Macs on special occasions at his house?

So that is the question - should we continue our tradition or find some new scary spicy Halloweeny type food to serve? What would it be? Durian braised sweetbreads? Habaneros stuffed with ghost chiles? All suggestions welcome.

Start your own chili Halloween tradition! Come on by for 32 ounce containers - if you need larger quantities just give us a call (214-887-8872) and we'll work something out. Also, kids just love stuffed jalapenos in their trick-or-treat goodie bags! If you need chili or jalapenos at the last minute don't forget that Fran is down at the Dallas Farmer's market - even on Sundays! It's kind of like the liquor store being open an extra day - now you don't have to plan ahead for those last minute football parties.

A New Hope

Since I was a pre-teen I have had an agreement with my mom. She worries incessantly about everything and I attempt to either foster that worry or convince her of impending senility. She used to keep a running grocery list on the refrigerator for weekly shopping trips. I practiced and could soon mimic one word of her handwriting, adding "eggs" to the list each week.

"Why do I have four dozen eggs?"

My mom reads this blog and has appointed herself chief grammar Nazi, combing sentence structures to find tiny mistakes that would make Jack Lynch smile. I guess it is only fitting that the intentional grammar bomb in my last post ("Our son, Graham, and me...") would end up getting propagated throughout the ether. An email with the subject line "Arrrgghh!" appeared in my inbox and I smiled because it was not the content of the post that caused the consternation. Satisfaction was fleeting as I read that this, of all posts, got forwarded to the D Magazine and Dallas Morning News blogs.

We want to thank everyone for the kind words and making the trip to the downtown Dallas farmer's market on Saturday. We had a great weekend and Fran plans on being there each Saturday and Sunday. The kitchen hours will remain the same. Hopefully we can build momentum from last Thursday's low point when we were ready to throw in the towel. I am writing a new business plan centered around finding a larger location; ideally in the same vicinity. We want to make sure anyone who bikes or walks to us now can continue to do so.

Fran says: "Thanks so much for buying peppers and chili this weekend. Continue buying peppers and chili."