CH15

"What do you think they're talking about?" Kate questioned Rick while they drove back to their place. "Knowing Oscar, he's bombarding her with questions which is probably a good thing. If he's going to help her and give her the restaurant that she wants and is happy with, she needs to answer his questions," Rick said. "I hope Mom is ready for this," Kate remarked and kept her eyes on the Jeep Cherokee out in front of them.

"I know she's a good cook, but does she like to cook? Really like to cook?" Rick had his own questions. "I know she likes to cook. Cooking for a lot of people for hours on end? That I don't know. …I just know she doesn't want to be a lawyer anymore. It brings up too many bad memories."

"Your father," Rick said, not really questioning. "Yeah, we took his death hard. Mom more than me. Until I dragged her out to Yellowstone for a vacation, I was sure she was slowly killing herself. It was during that trip that I saw my mother again and it gave me the idea to move out here. Get away from the memories in New York City. I hope she likes this idea. Mom needs something to do," she said. "Or she'll slip back into depression," he finished for her and she nodded.

They were back to sitting around the Beckett's dining room table. "I know I've laid a lot on your plate, so to speak. Just a little joke," Oscar remarked and watched Johanna hold up her hand and place her finger and thumb close together, causing Oscar, Rick, and Kate to chuckle.

"Before you show me your menu ideas, let me show you a few. Let's start with this one." Oscar handed her one that came out of his portfolio case. Johanna looked it over. "Pressed foie gras, Ravioli of lobster, Roast pigeon." She made a face and placed it on the table rejecting it. "That one was from a Gordon Ramsey Restaurant in London," Oscar explained. "Well I'm certainly not eating there. Pigeon? Really?" Johanna said, making a face. He handed over another one. "Hand-cut Ribeyes, New York Strip Steak, Filet Mignon." Rick's stomach rumbling got her to stop. "Sorry," he said, red-faced. "Sounds like a steak house," Johanna said. "All located in North Carolina and Virginia to be precise, but yes, a steak house," Oscar told her and watched as Johanna placed it on the table and shook her head. He handed over yet another one. "Loaded Brisket Enchiladas, Crispy Brewhouse Chicken, Grilled onion sirloin with gravy, Cedar grilled lemon chicken," Johanna read off the list. "That sounds a lot more like you Mom," Kate pointed out based on the meals she had been eating for days. "That happens to be an Applebee's Restaurant," Oscar explained. "They also serve burgers and drinks, meaning they have a liquor license and a bar. Some are extremely well lit while others are very dark inside. A few are sports themed meaning they have pictures of sports like football all over the walls. Some are for high school kids and others are more corporate looking," he added.

"Could we do a more natural nature theme, like something to do with Yellowstone maybe?" Johanna asked, fearful that Oscar would shoot her down. "ABSOLUTELY! We could put up man-made veneer stone walls that look and feel like the real thing at a fraction of the cost. We could put in a gas fireplace or two, especially in the addition you will need. Wood tables with wood chairs that have a wicker back and seat, wood-looking floors since I'm going to recommend a vinyl product that looks like real wood. It will stand up to heavy traffic better and not mark up your floors with every slide of a chair."

"We could use mason jars with handles for your glasses. Your employees could be dressed up as cowgirls or guys," Oscar suggested. "Meaning I would have to provide them something to wear." Johanna saw more dollar signs. "Any place you choose you are going to want your employees to look the part whatever your restaurant is. Black shirt, black pants, black shoes, black tie with your name or logo on the shirt. So yes," he tried to explain.

"You don't have to go too western. A plain pair of boot-cut jeans and a western shirt with a bolo tie for everyone perhaps. Simple and understated, plain black sneakers. You supply the shirt and bolo tie and your workers supply everything else," Oscar said.

"Now show me your menu ideas and let's see if we have a winner," he asked her as they watched Johanna get up and go into the kitchen. "Oh and lots and lots of pictures and other treasures from Yellowstone would be nice. Hire a skilled photographer to take pictures and frame and mount them," he remarked.

Johanna was back with the list of what she had subjected her daughter to along with a few notes. "This is suspiciously a lot like the Applebees menu though I see a number of differences and variations. A word of warning, a place like we're talking about is going to expect steaks or BBQ. Even if all you do is offer 2 different options of each, I would highly recommend adding them to your menu. Oh and don't forget to add a kids' menu, smaller portions with a smaller price," Oscar added. "With more chicken perhaps. Something with fewer spices. You want to have kids wanting to coming back and hounding their parents to do just that," he added. "Paper cowboy hats," Rick said. "That might work. Simple and inexpensive and gets the kids involved." Oscar liked it.

"What do I do?" Johanna questioned. "Finish your menu list of items and get it over to me. I'll break it down and find out what it costs to make each item and give you a cost of what it takes to make it and a suggest price to sell it at that will give you a profit. I'll hire the photographer, find someone to design and make the paper hats, tables, chairs and everything else. Wrap it all up and show you what it will cost. In the mean time I'll be downtown all day tomorrow chasing down codes, inspectors, local contractors, and finding out who owns that building and what it will take to take it off their hands. I also want to get my hands on a key so we can get inside. Back at the office I'll get started on the expansion and remodel and have something in your hands for you to see in about a month, maybe a day or two less. I'll also get someone out here to survey the building to find out what we have to work with next week."

"If we're careful and quick we might have you up and operational a little after the 4th of July, before if we can manage it. People like to eat out for the holidays," Oscar mentioned. "It'll be tight, but we might make it.

"NOW, show me this upstairs kitchen of yours." He was on a roll and he wanted to finish and get started. Kate took him upstairs along with everyone else. Rick and Alexis had never been up there. "Perhaps I should send you an interior decorator for this living room, too," Oscar offered. "The house came that way I didn't do it," Kate said, defending herself. Besides she didn't think it was that bad. It was a little masculine for her taste though. "I'll send her out next week too, free of charge. Now show me this kitchen," he asked. "It's this way." Kate led him to the little doorway that went into the separate kitchen.

"MY GOD! This is terrible!" Oscar didn't spare her feelings, though she wasn't a fan of it either. "The floor is awful, these cabinets look like they were made in a high school woodworking class." Then he lifted up the countertop; she had no idea that could be done. "The countertop isn't even attached to the bottom cabinet. …Did you have this house inspected before you bought it?" he asked and watched Kate and Johanna nod. "If he didn't say anything about this kitchen he should be shot." Oscar looked around.

"Nice window at least. Okay, we gut this place right down to the studs and floor joists. Lay new subfloor, install some nice hardwoods, some new custom cabinets, get appliances that were at least manufactured in this century. Remove this wall or at least open it up as much as we can. It's a big space, I'll give it that. Lots of room we can work with, but this mess has got to go. I'll send you a design for this place along with a cost to do it when I send Johanna hers in about a month. I'll tell Linda that we are gutting this room and opening it up before I send her. Better have a bucket ready when she sees this kitchen, she may throw up." Oscar was exaggerating of course, but still. "Get me out of here, I've seen enough. You leave that space to me and this space to Linda and we'll have this place looking like Rick's in no time, maybe even better," he teased.

"I'm standing right here you know. I can hear you." Rick pretended to be hurt, causing Johanna and Oscar to laugh a little at his expense. "Now, what's for dinner? After all of this talk of food I'm starving," Oscar announced. "OH!" Johanna raced downstairs.

"Will this work? I mean can we really do this?" Kate wondered. "Piece of cake. You and your mother just need to bring up ideas and approve or reject mine and we'll have a restaurant that will outshine anything in this town and for miles around it. Now I heard there were cookies in this place," Oscar said. "Alexis, you want to show Oscar where Johanna hides the cookies?" Rick told her and watched him follow her downstairs.

"Rick..." Kate began. "Look, Kate, I really am sorry. I was just trying to help. Plus I knew a few people that might be able to help her. I wasn't…" He shut up when she placed a finger over his lips. "My mother is alive again, Rick and that means more to me than anything. I was so sure I was going to lose her too. I was at a loss as what to do. Coming out here was my one big gamble. If this didn't work… So thank you." Then she pulled his head down and kissed him, asking permission for her tongue to enter and started searching his mouth when granted. When she broke from the kiss she let him hold her close as she buried her head in his chest. It felt like a number of her fears left her when he did that. 'Why do you resist him and me?' She heard the voice in her head again. It had an air of royalty to it, though it sounded rough instead of like it had been recently - a sweet song and delicate. The times before that it had sounded rough and a little gravely. Nothing like any voice she had ever heard. 'Why can't you just…' ENOUGH! Kate silently shouted and the voice shut up. Just where the hell did that voice come from anyway? And if it didn't stop soon, she was going to lose what was left of her mind, she was sure of it. AND WHY HER?

Johanna was slaving away in HER kitchen and had already shooed Kate and Oscar out while she made dinner. This time she placed it all on the dining room table and let everyone serve themselves. "This is interesting, what's this?" Oscar pointed to a dish. "That's tandoori carrots with spices and yogurt." Johanna answered his question and watched Oscar point to another one. "Sheet-pan paella with chorizo and shrimp. It was supposed to have mussels according to my mother's recipe, but I didn't have any so I did without," she explained. Oscar pointed to the only other dish on the table. "Mushroom and noodle soup. Oh! I forgot the bowls for the soup." She scrambled back to the kitchen. "She adds those steaks and BBQ and your mother just might have something." Oscar was dying to try them.

Johanna was sitting there looking at all of them, worried. "The chorizo and shrimp could probably use the mussels next time, just one or two should be enough, but it was lovely. The carrots could use a little less spice for my taste but was nice, and the soup..." Oscar rolled his head in delight. "It was exquisite, but then I'm a sucker for mushrooms so you had me sold when you put it on the table," he laughed and Johanna and Kate started breathing again.

"If the other meals you have subjected your daughter to are as good as this one, your only problem is deciding which ones to actually put on the menu. Though I do have one final piece of advice: create a summer menu and a winter menu. Use ingredients you can easily get during summer and heavier meals for winter. People want to be warm after they eat before venturing outside into 30 below zero temperatures," he advised.

Rick, Oscar, Alexis, and the dogs were leaving with Alexis carrying her plate of cookies. "Don't forget, we need that menu. The summer menu so we can start figuring out pricing and if you can, the winter menu too. You have a month so start cooking examples of your menu and fatten these three up!" He gestured to Rick, Kate, and Alexis. "Got it," Johanna confirmed. "I'll have some sketches, color schemes and a price estimate for you, what it takes for you to open. It will include everything you need to open with. Line item by line item with the cost for each. It will be some hard reading so I suggest you divide and conquer when it shows up."

"It's been a pleasure meeting you, Johanna Beckett and when you have the time, start playing around with names. Something that fits the Yellowstone theme that you've decided on. Pick your favorites first to last and I'll do a search to see if that name has already been used and if we can modify it somehow to avoid a lawsuit, which would be bad," Oscar informed her. "I'm a lawyer, bring it on," Johanna responded which only had Kate glowing. Her mother was even willing to fight. "I'll keep that in mind. Goodnight."

"Rick." Johanna stopped him. "I may have…I mean, I don't… Thank you," Johanna said in a rush, her words coming in bits and pieces. "You're welcome and I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to overstep. I truly thought I was just helping. Oh, and Oscar is a widower so he's not married," Rick told her. "Get out before I shoot you and break my daughter's heart," Johanna growled at him. "Yes ma'am!" Rick made a hasty retreat. "Not married. You better like him a lot Katie because I'm liable to kill him if you don't." Johanna closed the door on the lot of them and headed for the kitchen to clean up, not waiting for Kate to protest that she didn't like Rick that much.

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It took Johanna almost the entire month to finish her menu:

Every table got four slices of Russian black bread and butter

Appetizers:

Lobster toasts with avocado and espelette pepper

Smoked salmon rillettes

Savory mushroom and parmesan palmiers

Spinach puffs

Prosciutto-wrapped grissini (pork on a cracker stick)

Prunes in crispy bacon

Spanish-style tomato toast with garlic and olive oil

Grilled jalapeno poppers wrapped in bacon

Entrées:

Chili meatballs in black bean and tomato sauce

Chicken Bolognese with crispy oregano

Butternut squash verducken (scallions into a zucchini into an eggplant into a squash) – vegetarian dish

Venison Kabobs with sweet and smoky sauce

BBQ Rib-eye with bacon laid on top served with Au Gratin-Pumpkin layered casserole and green bean, grape, and pasta toss

Venison stew with crescent rolls on top

Asian Rainbow trout served with fresh Asian vegetables

Rosemary braised lamb shanks served with red garlic mashed potatoes and spinach casserole

Slow cooker venison roast served with three cheese potatoes and green beans, grapes, and pasta toss

Pan-fried whole trout served with pickled asparagus and red garlic mashed potatoes

Venison Schnitzel served with red garlic mashed potatoes and spinach casserole

Pheasant breast stuffed with apples in cider vinegar and prune sauce served with three cheese potatoes and grilled asparagus

Haddock Marinara served with linguine

Beef Wellington served with Spinach casserole and rolls

Root Beer and sesame glazed BBQ ribs served with Roasted garlic French bread and red garlic mashed potatoes covered with pork sausage gravy

Soups:

Butterball soup

Hot and sour soup with shrimp

Spinach and wild rice soup

Wild mushroom noodle soup

Desserts:

Thumbprint cookies

Sunflower seed cookies

Molasses cookies

Tarantula cookies complete with legs and red eyes

Rainbow cookies

Giant chocolate-toffee cookies

Black and white cookies

Fruit and cookie crust pizza

Cherry double chocolate cookies

Buffalo chip cookies

Triple ginger cookies

Spice cookies with crystalized ginger

Chocolate strawberries

Lemon mint pound cake served with berries

Coca Cola Cake

Oscar had replied that he would get pricing back to her within a week.

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Rick drove Oscar into town and didn't hear from him again until almost dinner. He picked him up with Alexis and the dogs then drove over to Johanna and Kate's house.

"So what's on the menu tonight?" Oscar asked after he sat down with a glass of wine while Rick pulled out one of his beers. Kate and Johanna had wine also. "Tonight is Mongolian Beef on white sticky rice," Johanna answered. "I'm not convinced it should go on the menu since it's a little too Asian, but I wanted to try it since Katie and I will be eating menu items for the next few weeks," she remarked. "I volunteer myself and Alexis for when Kate works the afternoon shift," Rick said helpfully.

"So you're not the cook's helper, what do you do?" Oscar asked Kate. "I start work as a deputy sheriff for the county beginning next weekend. I had to buy my own uniforms, can you believe that!? Three of them, no less. Plus I look terrible in light brown," she moaned. "You didn't tell me you had to buy your own uniforms," Johanna pointed out. "Must have slipped my mind," Kate said. 'Yeah you were too busy kissing Rick.' The voice sounded happy and a little softer. Kate could only growl back internally.

Oscar had new respect for Johanna's daughter. Being a county deputy sheriff sounded like a difficult and demanding job.

"Well I want to thank you for the meal and the honor of spending the day with you. I think you're going to love what we come up with. Once I have the cost you can look into securing the necessary funds. Just remember to add 15% onto the total I send you for contingencies. One never knows what will come up during construction. Plus we may need to change materials due to manufacturer shortages and need to pick something more expensive that is immediately available. If we're going to meet the July 4th deadline we can't have any delays," he said as he made his farewells.

Rick drove Oscar, Alexis, and the dogs back to his place.

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Come 6:00 in the morning Rick and Oscar were in the truck headed for the Rapid City Airport. As they traveled Rick asked, "What did you think Oscar, honestly?"

"I was being honest. The only fear I have is if Johanna really is committed to running a restaurant and all the work that takes. She can't just be back in the kitchen and ignore everything else. She needs to keep close control over how much food she has. Pay the bills. Hire and keep her employees happy. A very important item is keeping the health inspector happy. She needs to be in the upper 90s each time he comes out. One hundred if she can manage it, which is tough to do. Customers really do look for those things. She falls into the 80s and she can kiss the place goodbye until she brings it back up and maybe not even then. In a town of this size people talk," Oscar mentioned.

"Book keeping." Rick said. "Yes, very important. You don't want your restaurant running in the red. Serve everything fresh as you can especially the vegetables. Most people understand that fresh fish here just isn't going to happen. It'll get shipped frozen until thawed and cooked. Everything else like steaks should be fresh from wherever she can get it. Rapid City most likely. Some may be weekly deliveries. Perishables may be closer to daily or every other day. Spinach, mushrooms just to name a couple," Oscar advised.

"You think Newcastle is big enough for another restaurant?" It was Rick's only fear.

"Without question. Think back to where you used to live. Just how many restaurants of any type did you have within walking distance, let alone by taxi? For the really good ones, you would drive into Manhattan from the Bronx to get there."

"She needs to make sure the locals love her place and come often. They're going to be her base. What she gets off of the highway will simply be ice cream that goes with her fruit pie. That group will simply increase her profits."

"I hope she comes up with a good name. People will remember something unique." Oscar remarked. "So Jo's Fine Food without the 'E' would be bad." Rick didn't want Oscar to shoot down his choice, but it sounded like he would. "Most definitely. What she is talking about has a little class, not a fly-by-night corner restaurant in a tired old town in a tired old building. Don't tell me, Jo's Fine Food was your idea?" Oscar was fast for his age. He started chortling at Rick's expense. "Well I'm glad she took your idea of a restaurant. A lawyer should have the tenacity to keep on top of things and not hold any punches to get her prices from distributors and shippers down. She's going to need to be tenacious or they'll take her for all she's worth," Oscar warned Rick who made a note to tell Johanna and Kate.

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Rick had something to do the second they got home which had him on his laptop to get it shipped to him before Kate started work: Kicking Horse Whole Bean Coffee, Three Sisters Medium Roast.