12/20/2024
From Renee, post 2/3
Chin became a chef.
Tanya and I became front of house managers.
We hired some cool people and let them be creative.
We were creative in those early days
We were pairing rare craft beer releases with foie gras and duck gravy poutine and definitely losing money running these specials but we had lines to the door and the energy on those days was electric.
The boston calling days were insane, but we somehow pulled it off. Friday lunch, late nights, Bruins pregame, St. Paddy’s, Pride…we crushed. The dream of becoming a nationwide chain was long dead. Our new dream was to crush and be cool. That’s it. It’s actually baffling to me that there are so many egomaniacs in the restaurant industry because I think I can speak for Tanya and Chin when I say we were humbled by our experience with Saus. You meet so many people - customers and employees alike - who are struggling with real problems and a restaurant is their only refuge. Not to mention that the work is disgusting—there is nothing glorified about grease traps, mop water, burn scars, toilet clogs, hood vents, potatoes.
The three of us worked hard, and our team worked even harder. I don’t know how we got so lucky with the people. One of our employees John Bowen once said:
“This place just has a good energy that I can’t explain”
Maybe that’s it. Maybe Larry liked us after all.
