Plum renovations reflect California influence

Nation's Restaurant News, March 10, 1986 by Howard Riell

The lighting, Yesmont felt, was important because of the lighter, airier ambience it provides for the back-of-the-house crew.

"That was a major concern," he recalled. "Most chefs today are very particular about the environment they work in. They can't stand a dungy, grungy basement with broken quarry tiles. We tried to dress the walls up a little so they would look cleaner, whiter. We used fluorescent lights with white or aluminum ceilings to provide daylight colors." Floors were redone with quarry tile and nonskid abrasive materials.

There was other fabricating to be done as well: The top of an existing chef's table had to be cut at a 45-degree angle to provide adequate clearance in front of the pizza oven. A refrigerator had to have its top cut and replaced with stainless steel panels. The existing, L-shaped oyster bar unit also needed to be altered in order to receive a relocated two-section refrigerator.

Other pieces of new equipment in the main kitchen (both to add to and replace older pieces) include a $2,000 spaghetti cooker (without attached dump station) and an additional 8-ft. section of hood added to the existing 30-ft. hood.

The single most expensive part of the project, Yesmont said, was the new bakery. "The existing bakery was only two ovens and a little work table. I redesigned the basement area so as to increase the size of the bakery area to about three times what it was." It now houses two stoves, a double-convection oven, steamers, marble tabletops and all-new refrigeration, including product refrigerators, fish, meat and dairy walk-ins. Some of the desserts Silverton prepares there are pecan tartlets with banana ice cream, for $4.50, and a chocolate walnut tart, for $5.50.

Other assorted pieces of equipment Hager, Yesmont and Peel brought in include a two-burner heavy-duty modular range section with stainless-steel front; a three-burner heavy-duty split-top range with oven below; a four-burner hot plate with a stainless-steel appliance stand; a stainless steel overshelf and flue panel (over a two-burner range); semi-automatic espresso machines; a tilt braising pan; two tilting kettles on a 36 in. base; ingredient bins, two electric fudge warmers, rolling cabinets and a rondo dough sheet.