Akvavit? What the Heck is Akvavit?

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Rebecca McKinney

I was born a foodie. My dad is a chef, baker, and restaurant owner and my mom might as well be because she owns whatever kitchen she walks into. I grew up working in my family’s restaurant and bakery in Pawling, New York – McKinney and Doyle. I started behind the bakery counter at 12 years old after begging my parents to let me start working. At 16 I worked as a hostess. By 18 I was serving tables and training behind the bar where I then worked every other weekend throughout my college career. Even now, when I am visiting my family in New York, I help out where I’m needed. To make a long story short, the food and restaurant industry has been my life for as long as I can remember.

I wanted to create this blog for a few reasons. First and foremost, to share tips, tricks, and knowledge about the food and beverage industry in general but also to help people see a different side of the restaurant world. Every restaurant has a totally unique culture and world within it. I want to help open people’s eyes to more than how fast the service is or how easy or hard it is to secure a reservation.

So, thanks for stopping by! I welcome your ideas, input, and feedback and hope you enjoy!

Eat well & travel often,

Becky McKinney

Latest posts by Rebecca McKinney (see all)

If you are subscribed to the M&D newsletter, you received our November edition this morning and learned that this month’s featured cocktail is the Old Fashioned. If you are not subscribed to the newsletter and are interested akvavitin staying on top of what’s going on in the bakery and restaurant, you can subscribe here. Anyway, our very talented restaurant manager and professional mixologist, Andrew Sarubbi, came up with a really unique twist on the Old Fashioned and it features Akvavit. When he was first explaining the drink recipe to me, I was lost. “WTF is Akvavit?” I figured I can’t be the only one in the dark on this one so today I want to share what I’ve learned.Continue Reading

Revisiting Reputations in the Restaurant Industry

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Rebecca McKinney

I was born a foodie. My dad is a chef, baker, and restaurant owner and my mom might as well be because she owns whatever kitchen she walks into. I grew up working in my family’s restaurant and bakery in Pawling, New York – McKinney and Doyle. I started behind the bakery counter at 12 years old after begging my parents to let me start working. At 16 I worked as a hostess. By 18 I was serving tables and training behind the bar where I then worked every other weekend throughout my college career. Even now, when I am visiting my family in New York, I help out where I’m needed. To make a long story short, the food and restaurant industry has been my life for as long as I can remember.

I wanted to create this blog for a few reasons. First and foremost, to share tips, tricks, and knowledge about the food and beverage industry in general but also to help people see a different side of the restaurant world. Every restaurant has a totally unique culture and world within it. I want to help open people’s eyes to more than how fast the service is or how easy or hard it is to secure a reservation.

So, thanks for stopping by! I welcome your ideas, input, and feedback and hope you enjoy!

Eat well & travel often,

Becky McKinney

Latest posts by Rebecca McKinney (see all)

Okay so this post is one that I wrote and shared at the beginning of the year but this past weekend I was reminded of why it’s so important. I was out to dinner with some friends when I heard the table next to us talking about how restaurant reputationsbadly they felt for their server because he “didn’t seem like he had any real career goals and would probably be a waiter for the rest of his life.” Ugghhh … Continue Reading

Have You Tried Barr Hill Yet?

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Rebecca McKinney

I was born a foodie. My dad is a chef, baker, and restaurant owner and my mom might as well be because she owns whatever kitchen she walks into. I grew up working in my family’s restaurant and bakery in Pawling, New York – McKinney and Doyle. I started behind the bakery counter at 12 years old after begging my parents to let me start working. At 16 I worked as a hostess. By 18 I was serving tables and training behind the bar where I then worked every other weekend throughout my college career. Even now, when I am visiting my family in New York, I help out where I’m needed. To make a long story short, the food and restaurant industry has been my life for as long as I can remember.

I wanted to create this blog for a few reasons. First and foremost, to share tips, tricks, and knowledge about the food and beverage industry in general but also to help people see a different side of the restaurant world. Every restaurant has a totally unique culture and world within it. I want to help open people’s eyes to more than how fast the service is or how easy or hard it is to secure a reservation.

So, thanks for stopping by! I welcome your ideas, input, and feedback and hope you enjoy!

Eat well & travel often,

Becky McKinney

Latest posts by Rebecca McKinney (see all)

Relationships are important in the restaurant industry. Quality restaurant owners and staff care about their relationships with all of their customers and they care about the relationships with all of their vendors. This is one of barr hillthe reasons why it was such a pleasure getting to know Todd Hardie, one of the owners of Caledonia Spirits and Winery in Hardwick, Vermont. This relationship is particularly special because of how it formed. A very dear friend of mine, and a favorite customer of the entire M&D staff, Maria Reade, introduced my father to the winery’s name.
It is because of this introduction that a fantastic and unique hand crafted gin was added to M&D’s bar lineup some time ago. It has since gained a ton of popularity all over the east coast. The next time you are out, look for the bottles that are labeled by hand, it will be Barr Hill Gin, from Todd’s distillary and winery up in Vermont. What makes them so buzz worthy? The question holds a hint … Continue Reading

A Lesson in Vermouth

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Rebecca McKinney

I was born a foodie. My dad is a chef, baker, and restaurant owner and my mom might as well be because she owns whatever kitchen she walks into. I grew up working in my family’s restaurant and bakery in Pawling, New York – McKinney and Doyle. I started behind the bakery counter at 12 years old after begging my parents to let me start working. At 16 I worked as a hostess. By 18 I was serving tables and training behind the bar where I then worked every other weekend throughout my college career. Even now, when I am visiting my family in New York, I help out where I’m needed. To make a long story short, the food and restaurant industry has been my life for as long as I can remember.

I wanted to create this blog for a few reasons. First and foremost, to share tips, tricks, and knowledge about the food and beverage industry in general but also to help people see a different side of the restaurant world. Every restaurant has a totally unique culture and world within it. I want to help open people’s eyes to more than how fast the service is or how easy or hard it is to secure a reservation.

So, thanks for stopping by! I welcome your ideas, input, and feedback and hope you enjoy!

Eat well & travel often,

Becky McKinney

Latest posts by Rebecca McKinney (see all)

a lesson in vermouthI am back from an absolutely incredible vacation during which I spent two weeks tasting my way through parts of Italy, Spain, and Portugal. I spent the first week exploring the Tuscan region of Italy with my boyfriend and his wonderful family and the second week wandering the streets of Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, and Lisbon with Andrew Sarubbi, an amazing friend of mine and the beloved manager and cocktail expert of McKinney and Doyle. In Italy, we focused a lot on food and wine (naturally), and in Spain, Andrew and I focused on food and cocktails (and wine, but mostly food and cocktails). Now, I love all three of those things (food, wine, and cocktails) but most of my knowledge in the realm of food. Andrew however, thrives in the wine and liquor department so I was happy to follow his lead on our quests. We had a lot of unique concoctions and I can’t say that there was anything that I didn’t like but I was really surprised at one thing in particular that I loved: sweet vermouth.

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