Summertime in Dubai and opening a restaurant

Summertime is the time of year when everyone gets outdoors. After a cold winter (for most of us) and a spring that can alternate from wet and rainy to snow flurries and bits of sun through the fog, summer brings the “p” in partay right to your door. Sun, fun and for the most part great weather to be outdoors enjoying some cold beverages, a weekend or mid-week BBQ with friends, taking in an afternoon hike on Mt. Tam to watch the sunset or dining al fresco in the Gaslamp after a baseball game. Here in Dubai, summer changes everything, and I mean everything….

There has been a month or so since I have last posted anything. One reason is that myself, and the rest of the opening team @ the Oceana Beach Club have been working at a fevers pitch to get the restaurant open, the beach club set and the staff trained before we open to the public. Long days that stretch into the nighttime hours is the norm, enough sleep is ever elusive and menu development that is never ending. The other, and probably the main reason is that is hot, really, really hot…

Let me define hot. Hot for me used to be hiking in the early summer time in the deserts of San Diego county. 100+ f ( 42+ c), dry heat and no escaping the sun was something that I always looked forward to, knowing that in the heat of the summer I would be sequestered to the coastal strip, where the temps are more moderate. My definition of hot has changed immensely, and let me tell you why.

Hot in Dubai is 114+ f (46+ c) heat, with humidity. Think of yourself slow roasting, cooking in your own juices and that is Dubai in the summer. You cannot really do anything during the day and nighttime a walk to Ibn Battuta mall (the mall nearest my residence) can and usually does end in a pool of sweat. Not that it is a bad thing, but…I am counting the days until summer ends with some excitement, something I have never, ever done before.

Since outside is pretty much non-accessible, indoors is the place to be. The route I have been traveling this summer seems to be the following;

Home, work, home with occasional stops at Giant supermarket, The Malls (Ibn Battuta, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai Mall), and rare appearances at JBR, Madinat Jumeirah and Brenton and Sal’s respective homes for a cold beer and wordpress tips.

Not a bad route at all and one that I am comfortable with, at the moment as my daily routine. As we develop the menu and put the final touches on things I have left my camera around the kitchen. Seems that my kitchen staff is a pretty good lot of photographers and have taken the opportunity to snap some images that I thought I would share, for a little laugh. Opening a restaurant is hard, opening a beach club with a restaurant, even harder. It is nice to see and refreshing at times to be able to snap an image from a moment in time when someone decided to think outside the box and document something so very special.

Enjoy the images from around the West 14th kitchen and I hope all is well in your respective world…chefRob

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