Artists' Straits

Lauren's prompt:

Prompt taken from http://wordgrrls.blogspot.com/

"You win some money and decide to open a restaurant. Looking at the local phone book, there are already over a hundred restaurants in the area. How will yours be different? What will make people flock to your restaurant?"

Consider the food, decor inside and out (lighting, walkways, carpet and walls, tables and chairs or booths, etc.), the wait staff and cooks, the presentation of the food, the dessert list ... whatever you want!

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I'm not much interested in opening a restaurant, but I've dreamed off and on about operating a bed-and-breakfast. I know of a three-story gambrel-roofed house built on the Strait of Juan de Fuca that's on the real estate market, near a small airport, and probably has a water view from the third story. What I'd like to do is open a combination B&B and artist's retreat that offers a refuge for writers, musicians, actors, and visual artists. Nearby, perhaps down the hill closer to the water, I would like to either build or renovate a building for a dinner theater venue. Only this dinner theater would be a place where writers could read their work, musicians would perform new compositions, plays and musicals would be performed, and house an art gallery. I might call the place "Artists' Straits."

The food served at the B&B and the dinner theater would include seafood, such as clams, salmon, and halibut, and game meats, such as elk, deer, and turkey, depending on availability. Side dishes would be simple and show off the natural beauty of the food, such as whole steamed cauliflower with browned butter and toasted hazlenut topping and blueberry pie with a lattice crust. I'd have a two-week rotation of menus with 2-3 options at each meal.

Decor would be simple and homey in the B&B. My oak table would be perfect for serving family style meals in the dining room to up to 18 people. I'd also offer in-room meals for those who wanted privacy or to work through mealtimes. Since clouds and rain often dominate, interior walls would be light-colored and spaces well lit. Wait staff in the B&B wouldn't be necessary, but I would want to have help cooking and someone to do kitchen and house cleaning.

Some of my recipes would be in my file of family favorites. Others would be adopted from book series, like those catered by Goldy Shulz in Diane Mott Davidson's cozy mysteries. Cookies would always be in the cookie jar and fruit in a bowl on the table. I've always enjoyed baking more than cooking meals, so muffins, breads, cookies, and desserts would be the fun part of meal prep.

My alternate plan is to design a restaurant featuring hologram entertainment. As you sit down at the table in three-sided cubicle, you find a jukebox type system on which you choose a performance by a writer, musician, or dramatic artist. Instead of a centerpiece, the hologram will appear and keep you mesmerized. When your food is served, you can pause the performance. Food? Drink? Something unusual, I think.