Baked Goods

When I was somewhere between the beloved age of 8 and 10 I saw a commercial that changed my life. I don’t remember all of the details but it involved a llama, a penguin that could whistle the A-Team theme and Mr. T singing something about mothers in the background.

Although no such commercial actually exists, I think we can all agree that Mr. T should have followed after a music career. Ah, the road one should have traveled. I do, however, want to recount a true story about a visit to a store that has changed my life: Restaurant Depot. Let’s take a trip down memory lane together and visit a post from February 21st. In the post I tried to visit Restaurant Depot and La Cuisine but Restaurant Depot was already closed. La Cuisine did not disappoint and since Alexandria is a long enough drive so as to be slightly inconvenient I had not yet returned to check out the Depot. 

Thank heavens for baby showers though. Cassidy is responsible for feeding 40 carnivorous baby shower attendees later on this week and had settled on  pulled pork salad a la Cafe Rio. She wanted to serve the salads in the aluminum containers that Cafe Rio serves them in so she called me up. Knowing that a restaurant supply store was our only hope (sorry obe won kenobi) I finally had a reason to make the drive.

Now Restaurant Depot is a wholesale supplier of all things related to restaurants so you have to have a business license in order to get a free membership. Lucky for me I have a computer business. Even more lucky for me is that Restaurant Depot doesn’t care whether or not your business has anything to do with food. So after digging out the license Luc, Addison, Cassidy, Matt, Nancy and I set sail for a world of adventure.

Upon arrival we entered through the front doors and started filling out the necessary paper work at the front desk. I knew I was in the right place when I was told I had to sign a release form because I was bringing children into the warehouse. You see, Restaurant Depot ain’t no sissy warehouse and hasn’t been designed for young children. It is filled with industrial shopping dollies and moving fork-lifts. At any moment a small child could be crushed by a 10-gallon container of peanut oil or eaten by an industrial waffle maker (think little shop of horrors people). Turning back was not an option so I signed the waiver and put Addison up on my shoulders. Luc is Indiana Jones so this was just a great adventure for him.

I don’t know that I can put into words just how excited I was. The best comparison is probably that of a young child going to Disneyland for the first time. A whole new world is revealed to you and as you look around you think to yourself, “Man, a whole new world has been revealed to me.” For the child at Disneyland that world involves a giant mouse that has no peripheral vision and who could accidentally sit on you if you aren’t careful. For me it was the realization that I could buy 16 lbs of pork butt for $20 (which Cassidy did) or 5 lbs of shredded Mozzarella-Provolone cheese for $8 or 105 ounces of crushed tomatoes (used for making my pizza sauce) for $4. Oh, and 200 round aluminum containers with cardboard covers: $25. And would you believe that someone like me could purchase a pizza peel? The very thought fills me with inexpressible joy (Cassidy convinced me it might not be a good idea to bring one home though).

In the end Cassidy and I barely scratched the surface of all that Restaurant Depot had to offer and merely wet our appetites. Cassidy walked away with pork butt, chicken, pizza screens and aluminum containers. I left carrying shredded cheese, crushed tomatoes, personal sized pizza screens, and a dough docker.

Here is a picture of the cute new pizza screens. I ran out of pizza sauce after two pizzas so the other two used some new combinations. Top-left: Barbeque sauce with pineapple. Top-right: red sauce with mild italian sausage. Bottom-left: olive oil with italian sausage and balsamic vinegar. Bottom-right: red sauce with pineapple.