New Kitchen Idea

just throwing it out there... but we are going to open a new restaurant, (steak house style)& I have been toying around with the idea of going sous vide and induction on my line (of course there will be a gas grill). I was looking for some pros & cons please? fyi, I am toying with this not because of space but because of accuracy and efficiency... what do you think?

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Tim_Sutherland_52834

I would do it, but I have been cooking SV and induction for many years now.

An issue I see is cost. Gas ranges are cheap to buy and install. An induction line would be more expensive to purchase and install. Sparkies charge an arm to run 220v, if you need 3 phase I hope you are an occtopus.

It will take a little longer to get kitchen staff up to speed if they do not have experience with SV and induction.

Run a mock up of the line to get it where it works for your operation. Gas is plug and play, so easy to change. Induction not as easy to change around.

Expect returns from customers. A customer use to med rare from a traditional steak house, can think a SV Med rare steak is under.

Once you sort out the few minor issues you will be turning out consistent product efficiently.

bkeene12

Depends on your target market. If you are going to be competing against the Golden Corral then it be a bad idea cause you'll need to keep cost low. Expectations of your product won't be too high from this demographic. If you're going after a "higher end" stomach then you should certainly consider it. Recently, I was at a "fancy" steak house, a woman at the table next to ours ask for her tenderloin to be served "sous vide". Granted, this woman had no idea what she was taking about but it does illustrate that the concept is gaining some attention from the general public and might be a "menu draw" you can charge an additional $4 or $5 dollars for.

Byron_Wilson_86895

great feed back thank you!

Byron_Wilson_86895

you are right! I will be in a "meat n potatoes" town... and a casino just down the road... eeeesh!

Brandon_Byrd_40557

I don't know what the sous vide workflow would look like in a restaurant where steaks are cooked to order. It seems like it'd be hard to do given the time constraints. Would you have multiple baths set to different service temperatures? Hold the steaks in the "rare" bath and move them up to warmer water when the ticket comes in? Or maybe cook them all to rare, chill, and then retherm in whatever bath you wanted? That sounds really convoluted and you'd need a ton of baths. This isn't to dissuade you from using SV or induction on the line, but I don't know how feasible it is to run a line where SV is used to cook all the proteins to the customer's specifications.

On an unrelated note, am I the only one who doesn't prefer steaks cooked SV to conventional preparations? Of course I like short rib and beef cheek "steaks" that you can't possibly create without low-temp equipment, but for serving most actual steak cuts (ribeye, strip, etc.) I'd rather eat something from a grill or broiler.

bkeene12

There are a few more on your steak team- neither wifey nor my son care for an SV tenderloin preparation.

Byron_Wilson_86895

Thank you for your feed back! To be honest, I know I typed steak house, but the menu I had in mind is not going to be that of a traditional steak house( I just can't really categorize it quite yet)... not every steak will be sous vide... for example, I was intending to SV for say, vegetables, or light sous vide on fish then using a searzall... I do have every intention on employing gas broilers, salamanders, ovens, etc. I am really just investigating as many options for a kitchen that is easier than normal for my staff to clean after service, practicality and i am a sucker for cool kitchen gadgets! lol... the feed back I got was immensely helpful and has reinforced in my mind about not trying to reinvent the wheel. Although this is my second restaurant, after 20 years as a chef, we usually get a kitchen already built then get handed the keys. this will truly be customized by me from the drains up and I want to take full advantage of the learning opportunity with out breaking my bank account. I have waited a long time and put in some hard work, so I posted for some great advice, thank you!