Dear Clare: where did you go?

Part one of a two-part update

On June 21, 2014, just as Scout's Honor was starting to pick up some speed, I met a girl. A woman, really. What is with you, English, that it is so much more fun to say “I met a girl”?

Reader, we fell in love.

It turns out love is a lot of work! This particular relationships has its particular details that make it particularly hard, and particularly wonderful. It's not important to get into them. What's important is that she's had a Big Dream that goes back even further than mine. For twenty years, she's wanted open a restaurant, and for the last 12 she's known exactly where she wanted it to be. Not just the city, or the neighborhood, or even the block, but the exact address.

That storefront, which started out as grocery store in the 1920s and eventually became a cafe, has now been vacant for the last 3 years. Everyone in the neighborhood wondered what was going to happen to it, and last November, it came up for lease. So she did everything she could to get it. And she did. 

As for me, what started out as "Hey, I'd be happy to streamline your financial projection spreadsheets for you," slowly-slash-quickly morphed into full-gale dedication to this new project. Because, really, who can say no to starting a restaurant? (ps: yes, I still have a day job.) Over the last year, I've learned city planning codes and tracked down the perfect chairs (that just happened to be in the UK). I've been to the International Pizza Expo and to nearly every salvage yard within 50 miles of San Francisco. I have eaten a lot of pizza. Much of it has been very, very good, but I can still say confidently that hers is the best. 

We'd hoped to open in August, then October. Now we're crossing our fingers for January. I keep telling people Scout's Honor is "on the back burner." Meanwhile, the construction project slogs on, just like everyone said it would, and with each new problem that needs solving (ancient sewage pipes, poorly located gas meters, Kafka-esque discrepancies in the property use records from one city office to the next), the heat on that burner seems to get turned down a little lower. But I promise the flame is still on! In fact, there's a nice simmer going. So please stay tuned! And in the meantime, get your tummies ready for some pizza.