Progress Report...

Two months plus in Cork and leaving for Paris, London, Seattle, New York for three weeks for our first extended trip out of Ireland...

 

REPORT CARD

Apartment A-  

A garden would have been nice

St. Maries of the Isle B+   

A couple more English speakers would have been nice

Cork A     

Fantastic, vibrant city with nary a mall in site.  English Market is both Pike Place Market and Union Square Farmer's Market.

CW's Family A

Have stepped up helping with the DCs and have given us plenty of space

Exploring Europe B-   

Amsterdam, London, Paris...if we get Italy in November grade will go up a bit..

Exploring Ireland C

Dublin and Kilarney...a ways to go here especially only 2 pints in 2 counties...

Business prospects A-    

Ahead of schedule...have incorporated, know what we need for wine license,  found a neighborhood we like, opened business account..but, probably going to leave on trip without space unless potential landlord drops rent...

Overall, smooth move--probably will stay two years but if we don't have  a business in Cork by fall, 2009, we will begin to look at other cities in Europe and then beyond...

I have no idea...

Wine is fine, but beer...

Oh, a pint would be nice about now (or several glasses of wine ago).  No beer in wine bars here.  The powerful publican lobby has seen to that.  All the places I visited were perfectly respectable (and I was as well--pretty much), but nothing special.  Trying to find that place where you say, "Ah, this would work in Cork..or Edmonds..or New York, etc.."--it just doesn't happen.  To be in this business, you have to possess a certain amount of confidence and a lot of lack of risk aversion.  You can never be certain what's going to work--doesn't matter if you spend ten grand or ten million.  One thing we don't mind is opening in an economic downturn (understated?) as you get a better sense of reality of the business you will do over time.   Our first bar (in New York) opened in December, 2001--not  a great time in New York.

A trip to the Big City...

Dado is going to America for a while so we rented a car for a mid-week visit to Kilkenny--actually, CW and DCs went to visit Dado.  They dropped me at the Thomastown Train Station-makes Edmonds Depot look like Grand Central--for a two hour ride to Dublin.  Yes, the big city (of Ireland).  After several months in Cork, arriving in Dublin is like being on a different planet--smooth, suave, sophisticated--at least by Irish standards.  I was travelling to Dublin under the pretext of going to the Irish Food Show--lots and lots of cheese--as well as a couple of nights of "researching" wine bars as we are thinking about taking the wine bar plunge in quiet little Cork.  The food show was like all the others I have attended over the years.  The highlight was finally meeting John Gowan, who owns Cork City Coffee Roasters.  Great coffee and John is married to an Edmonds gal (nee Strickland) and he used to live there.  His retail store happens to be a few doors down from where we are thinking about opening the wine bar--it will be an Edmonds Dynasty! Time to drink some wine!   

2 Down, 30 to Go...

International Bar, County Dublin, Dublin