Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Art Exhibit @ the 'Loop!

Hello Everyone!

Most of you who are coming to visit this blog probably already have the eVite sitting in your e-mailbox, so this could just be redundant, but for those of you who never received it for whatever reason (most likely bad e-mail address, we promise we don't hate you), California Shabu South Coast and Cantaloop will be co-hosting an Art Exhibit Friday, August 22nd, 2008 AD @ 9:30 PM PST.

My brother, Ivan Chan who you can meet at the exhibit, has created two crazy awesome finger paintings based on two (2) of my favorite monsters of all time for this event. Both paintings will be on display at the exhibit, but here is a sneak peek for you guys (for full details, hit up http://ivanchanstudio.blogspot.com):

Yeti

Sasquatch


Here is our original invitation that was sent out:

--Begin Original Message-

"I'm sure alot of your are wondering what art, yogurt, and shabu have to do with each other...well we are planning to have a private event at Cantaloop in Santa Ana, to celebrate all of the above. =)

We will be displaying original art from local artists and most of it will be for sale. And as far as the yogurt, the kicker is that it will be spiked by your favorite liquor! So we will feature our famous Pina Colada but served the way it was meant to be served (with rum haha! Weeeee!) and chocolate yogurt smothered with Kahlua. Of course, you can have the other delicious flavors like mango, plain, pom-blueberry froyo too. Red and white wine will also provided in case any guests need further inebriation.

We are asking guests to RSVP early so we can better plan ahead. Admission to the evening's fun and festivities will be $10 which includes a free yogurt, spiked or non-spiked. So come out, bring your friends who enjoy or would like to support art, California Shabu Shabu, and our special froyo ;)

Cheers!

Check out some of our featured artists:
Emily Miles - http://www.emilymiles.com/
Jeremiah Ketner - http://www.smallandround.com/
Marisa Haedike - http://www.creativethursday.com/
Stef Choi - stefchoi.blogspot.com
Ivan Chan - http://www.ivanchan.com/

--End Original Message-

Who: Everyone and Anyone Interested in Art, Forzen Yogurt, or Shabu
What: Art Exhibit from Local Artists
When: Friday, August 22nd, 2008 AD @ 9:30 PM PST
Where: Cantaloop OC
1935 E. 17th Street
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Why: Who doesn't want to get drunk off Frozen Yogurt?!

I hope to see you all there!

Smoochies,
Len

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Wine and Design

Woah, It's been a few weeks since my last post. Things have been swirling around for us at whirlwind speeds and I have had barely enough time to get our own things in order, let alone sit down and dedicate some time to writing. Either way, please accept my apologies for the delay (DARA)!

After about a week of prepping all the documents, gettings things notarized (big thanks to Tina's mama who notarized everything for us), and calling the California Alchoholic Beverage Control (ABC) about a gazillion times - I finally was able to take a trip to a branch of the department in beautiful downtown Santa Ana a little while back to submit our application, license type forty-one (41), to sell Beer and Wine at our location. There was much rejoicing in the land of alchoholphiles (and here you guys thought I was kidding all this time and that it wasn't a real word - so nee ner nee ner nee ner *tongue sticking out*).

I ended up spending about two (2) hours with a lovely Vietnamese lady, by the name of Kim Hong, who was super helpful and patient. Just a little side funny, I was talking to Tina and Ash about using thick, premium paper so that everything seems official. We kind of laughed it off, but thought, "Better safe than sorry." The first thing Kim said to me after sitting down was, "Nice paper!" Ha ha, so seriously...better safe than sorry. Anyhoo, Kim and I went through a bunch of checklist items, went through all of our paperwork, paid the government a nice little chunk of change, and was handed a Notice of Application to Sell Alcoholic Beverages - which I posted up almost immediately after leaving the building:

So here we are...our fate in the hands of ABC representative Nora Amante...officially in the running to sell Beer and Wine. For those of you fidgeting right now, don't worry, included with the Beer and Wine license is Sake and Sochu *Drooooooool*!

Once we had all the ABC mumbo jumbo kicked off, since it takes approximately three (3) months to process, we have been more free to focus our energy on the design of our restaurant. Tina, Ash, and I have been kicking around ideas for a couple of months now and sketched out as much as we could how we wanted the layout of our space to be. Once we were relatively satisfied with what we came up with, we passed along all of our scribbles to our restaurant architect, Bob Parr. This is what he ended up putting together for us:

As you can see, our space is much bigger than Wayne's location (18908 Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley, CA 92708), on his recommendation. Due to the popularity of Wayne's spot, he has trouble with refrigeration space, counter space, space, space, and space. Even with this in mind, our joint was much bigger than we first anticipated, so we decided on setting aside a lounge area (it's pictured above where the sofas are, but we will not be furnishing it that way). This way, we would have a dedicated waiting area and a lounge for our friends and customers who want to come by for a drink or to relax before or after a meal. We initially had forty-seven (47) seats, in comparison to Wayne's twenty-eight(28), but decided to cut this down to forty-one (41) seats in order to enlarge the front waiting/lounge area. This was going to create a very long counter.

Did you guys notice the space between the two (2) seating counters? This popped up in Ash's head so that we would be able to keep the same amount of seats while providing a walkway for people to cut across the restaurant instead of walking allllllll the way around a full counter to get to the other side - where the restrooms will be located. We also wanted to keep lines clean and crisp, so we opted for straight cuts on the bar counter instead of the typical round cut. Because of this, we were able to carve out the two handicap spots without changing the design of the counter much at all.

With the layout finished, Ash, Tina, and I were left with our favorite part of the process - interior design. We thumbed through countless magazines and books and stopped by many restaurants since we first agreed to venture into this gig together. The three (3) of us have similar tastes in design, but we lacked a true focus. We had way too many ideas to fit into one restaurant. Dan, luckily, brought us down to earth by helping us trim down our thoughts and to try and come up with a single design theme. While this was going on, we enlisted the help of my good friend Tania, to help us sharpen our focus even more. The four (4) of us bounced around to different shops (Milk + Honey, Zipangu, Old Vine, Shabu restaurants, Izakaya Wasa, and plenty of other places) in order to find some inspiration and really hone in on what we wanted to convey. This is what Tania came up with after hearing an earfull from us:


This is not our completed "look and feel", but it's a good big step in the right direction. It's still a wee bit difficult to tell from the picture, but what we wanted as our theme was to be natural, open, and simple. Since the only windows are at the front of the store, we wanted to open up our space with lit cut-outs along one wall and creating a faux storefront window along the other side. Hopefully these, along with washing the walls with light, will help soften the length of the restaurant and give the space a more unconfined feeling. We are also planning on incorporating as many natural and organic materials as possible - wood, glass, plants, etc.

Welp, that's about where we are at this point. Check back soon for an update on an art show collaboration we are hosting with Steve, Howard, and Spencer's Cantaloop OC (http://www.cantaloopyogurt.com/)!

Boogers and snot,
Leonard

Big shout outs to two people making our ideas fly while keeping our feet planted:
Tania Soo - Interior Architecture & Design
949.412.7011
taniasoo@hotmail.com

Bob Parr - Restaurant Planning Services
714.258.3901
rps1942@msn.com

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Shabu Day One - Arrested Development - Part Two of Two

If you have just joined us, please read the previous post to catch up. Previous as in the next one, errr..the one below this one. OK, yeah.

So where was I? Oh yeah, my exploding thumb, which after a little over two weeks has just about healed. So after we washed up my thumb, we finished off the rest of the glass, which pretty much looked like this (feel free to click on any of the pictures to be redirected to the Kodak Gallery album which pretty much sums up these two posts with pictures and captions):

Ash and Ryan Getting Ready to Chuck Some Heat
After spending some time marvelling over our glass masterpiece, Dan arrived on the scene, soon followed by Charles and Davis - just in time to start helping us rip out the carpeting. We spend some time cutting the carpet with razor blades and then attempted to pull it out by hand. The carpet barely budges, so we all dig in and really give it a pull and realize that whoever laid down the carpet before, decided to get a little happy with the glue. After five (5) minutes of tugging at the nasty woven mess, we manage to pull back about four (4) feet to reveal *drum roll* LINOLEUM. Ugh...tile after tile after tile of linoleum. They never bothered to tear it all out, instead, the carpet was glued right on top of it. In a nutshell, we were getting nowhere trying to get all of the carpet off. *DING* Ash comes up with the bright idea of yanking it all out with the carpet tied to the hitch of his Jeep. We swing open the double doors and (**warning, there is some minor cursing in this video**):

Before we really get going on the carpet, Ash, Ryan, Dan, and I decide to climb up to the roof to check out the air-conditioning unit and to check for any leaks. We swing around the back of the building and find out that none of the keys we were given opens the lock to gain access to the ladder which leads to our roof. Ash and Ryan, being the climbers they are, survey the situation and within thirty (30) seconds Ash is already on the roof with Ryan right behind him. Dan and I shrugged our shoulders and followed suit.

We pop on the roof and survey out our spot. Everything looks good so we start goofing around on the roof. Ryan and I end up messing around with some of the hardware up there:

Antics that Lead to...Well You'll Find Out

On our way back down, Ryan notices this little black box sitting on top of a little black pole. Ryan guesses it's a motion detector. So I get in front of it, bend down, wave my hand in front of it a few times and guess that it could be a camera. The four (4) of us give it no thought and begin to make our way down the ladder after a few more minutes. This:


was the last thing Ash saw, my arse in his face, before turning around to a female police officer with her gun drawn, screaming, "FREEZE! GET ON THE GROUND!"

Nice way to start off our restaurant.

At this point Ash and I are already at ground level, Ryan's on the ladder, and Dan is watching in disbelief on the roof. I hear "I SAID GET ON THE GROUND!" and I look over to Ash and he is already on his stomach with his arms stretched out to his sides (it seemed so natural). So I listen to her and sit down Indian style.

"LAY DOWN!!"

I start laying down on my back.

"ON YOUR STOMACH!!"

Ryan is already on the ground looking like Ash, so I finally get it right. Dan hops off the ladder and lies down to the right of me. In. The. Sun (mind you it was over ninety (90) degrees that day). The officer proceeds to call for back-up with her Glock pointed at us. As she, and I guess we, waited, Dan is fidgeting around so his chin and cheek don't fry on the black top and he let's out a little "I wish I was in the shade..."

"I SAID SHUT THE @#$& UP AND DON'T MOVE!"

Someone hasn't been spooned in a long time. We laid there sun tanning for a couple more minutes before another cop showed up. Another few minutes, four (4) more showed up and a fire truck with two (firemen). They grab all of our wallets and phones and stack them in a little pile as they run all of our identification cards, by now, two of the police officers are laughing because they can tell we're no harm to anyone. Still, they feel the need to cuff us and pull us to the wall. Ash and I kindly ask them to take a couple of pictures for us. Here is one officer's artistry:

Jail Bait

Dan's Tan - Check Out The Officer to the Right

Oh man, I realize that I am ranting on longer and longer with each post, so I will just give you a quick run-down of the final couple of hours there.

After they uncuff us and apologize, we tell them that we understand how bad it looked being up there with our shirts off, ripped jeans, a baseball bat, etc and that we know they were just doing their jobs. We find out that the pharmacy next door has been broken into a few times, hence all the security. So they hop in their squad cars, their motorcylces, and their firetruck and take off after we let them know that they'll all be invited for a dinner when our doors open up. We walk back into the mess that we've made and see that Ivan, James, Hae Jung, and Q have been hanging around front talking with some of the cops.

The rest of the day consisted of:

James, Ivan, and Ash Helping with the Carpet (check out all the crap flying around in the air and into our lungs)

Hae Jung trying to crowbar out the linoleum tiles

Q sitting on his arse twiddling with the drill (Hae Jung really likes that position)

Me hopping around knocking down the ceiling

Ash and Hae Jung Doing Their Thing

The Aftermath (and Dan Talking Design)

Now that we've torn down the walls...all there is now is to do is what we've been taught throughout our whole lives to do...BUILD.


Boogers and Snot,
Lennypoo