3 April, 2018: This may just look like Ayr photographing a paper bag, but it really represents a whole journey into menu photography. A couple months ago, when we were in the middling stages of readying our order-ahead app for public release, we knew we needed to do something drastic to upgrade the look of the whole app. Menu photos!!… Read More
26 March, 2018: The first sign of spring in New England isn’t asparagus, or strawberries. It’s Parsnips. But not just any parsnip. These are Spring Dug. This time of year, Michael Docter and his crew at Winter Moon Roots brave the cold to harvest a special crop. Michael knows that something magical happens when you leave parsnips underground all winter in… Read More
21 March, 2018: We made a video sharing our recipe for fresh soup stock. I love fresh stock. I first learned how to make it from our chef Rolando who learned how to make it from Thomas Keller at the French Laundry. It’s the building block for every soup we make here at Clover. Stock only takes 1 hour (and most… Read More
11 November, 2010: Finally digging myself out. Here we are, almost 2 weeks later, and I’m finally posting on the first day. The cop? He was our first customer at the new store. (Aside: I think I accidentally offended our LL when he asked to be the first customer and I told him he should arrive early if he wanted… Read More
9 March, 2018: Back in August 2016 Vincenzo told me he could shape up a labor budget that was out of whack much more quickly than we had expected. I told him that if he could do it in 2 weeks I’d take him to a Japanese Whiskey Distillery. He delivered. And it took me a bit of time to… Read More
8 March, 2018: I will pay, out of my own pocket, to send Boston MBTA leadership to Japan to do a “riding tour” if they can come back and make real changes to our transit system here in Boston. ‘Nuff said. Read More
7 March, 2018: I’m not sure this one can make it to Clover. Because I’m not sure many Boston customers would love it. But Clementine (yes, the Clementine in the photo of me buying our first truck) LOVES mochi. I’m right there with her. It’s delicious. Here she is eating some that was just grilled over a bbq and smothered… Read More
7 March, 2018: I have a video of Blue Bottle pour over circa 2003 at the Ferry Building in SF. It’s awesome, and raw. Huge line. Sternos and cheap kettles. 40g coffee per 8oz cup (an enormous dosing). A spoon stirring the grounds. Splashes and spills. And I’ve watched Blue Bottle evolve and expand. I’d heard that Tokyo was a… Read More
29 March, 2009: Blue and I hit Restaurant Depot this weekend. There in the Mini you see vinyl gloves, heavy duty floor cleaner (hey, I’m not a huge fan of heavy chemical cleaners, but nothing gets the floor clean like this stuff), ketchup, BBQ sauce, deli paper, and a few other things. The ketchup is Heinz (which I like), and… Read More
6 March, 2018: Japanese pickling is so different from what I’m used to in the USA. We visited Kyoto where pickles are one of the most important regional items. Pickles were everywhere. In the US almost 100% of pickles we consume are made from vinegar brine. If you’ve ever had a true “sour” or “half-sour” pickle, that’s salt brine, as… Read More
6 March, 2018: Ever since I first learned of Japanese tea ceremony I’ve wanted to experience one. Clementine and I found a tea house in the middle of a garden in Tokyo and it was AWESOME! There are a bunch of details to the etiquette that they patiently taught us. The simplified version is (a) eat the sweet first and… Read More
2 March, 2018: If you’ve been reading the blog lately or hanging out with me you know I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about packaging recently. Packaging is easily the most hairy operational issue we face with the Clover App rollout. And while it pales in comparison to the positive impact we have by excluding meat from our… Read More
1 March, 2018: Vincenzo (leads food production at Clover) and Greg (our COO) both have Italian heritage. So what did they think of Italian Japanese food? To be fair we only tried it once. But capturing this expression on film wasn’t that hard because they held this pose for a while. The site horrifying them: a giant wheel of parm… Read More
5 August, 2008: My ideas for texture flow from the aspirations for the brand. Like nature, textures found in Clover should reveal a history. Note the process marks on the potato print. You can see where the ink lay down in the printing process. Note the patterns of the Clover flower and leaves. They are ordered, but not perfectly ordered.… Read More
28 February, 2018: I first started thinking seriously about savory breakfast when I saw my father-in-law make oatmeal with soup stock. I’ve been wondering for years now whether there is a place for savory on Clover’s breakfast menu. Enzo says emphatic YES. First morning in Japan. And we’re having a traditional Japanese breakfast. I want to make this when I… Read More