top: Many chefs use
pasteurized shell eggs to avoid
salmonella contamination.
bottom: Francisco De La Toba
works at the dim sum station at
Barona Resort & Casino, which
serves brunch seven days a week.
béarnaise sauce, allowing him
to bring his restaurant creativity
to this retirement community
venue. The challenge, but one
Bates handles with aplomb, is
the attendance factor, with its
irregular peaks and valleys.
“This is a fee account, with each
resident on a meal plan. We work
off a budget, with so much to
spend per resident, per plate.
So into weeks three and four,
some residents haven’t used
up their plan,” he says. “Some
may have 15 or 20 meals left,
so they’ll bring in family and
guests to dine, which means
that, especially in week four,
we’re very busy. But we do have
history to look at as an indicator.”
all day,
every day
In 1989, when Martha Hoover,
a criminal trial attorney and
mother of two, decided to
become a restaurateur, she had
no formal front- or back-of-
the-house training. She knew it
would be hard work, but with
passion and dedication, she
figured she could succeed. Now,
with eight Indianapolis locations
in operation—and a slew of
satisfied repeat customers—she
knows she’s been consistently
hitting the mark. Hoover’s
empire—five Café Patachou
restaurants; two Petit Chou
by Patachou venues; and
Napolese, an Artisanal Pizzeria
by Patachou—all serve what she
deems “brunch.” Actually, they
all serve “breakfast all day until
10 p.m. closing time, seven days
a week,” Hoover says.
Eggs are a prominent feature of
her menus, even at Napolese,
which only serves pizzas. “Some
pizzas are topped with eggs, even
quail eggs, and all are Indiana
produced,” she says. “We get
them within 24-48 hours from
the time they’re laid. We’ve
bought our chickens and all our
eggs from the same family farm
since 1991.”
farm-fresh
eggs
Not only does Hoover make
it her business to know what
the chickens who lay her
restaurants’ eggs are fed, but
she and her team periodically
inspect the farmer’s operation,
