Monday, March 7, 2016

Next-Door Businesses Flourish in Downtown Plattsburgh

By Eve Barnofsky

Plattsburgh NY -  In Historic Downtown Plattsburgh sits a little cafe, Irises Cafe & Wine

Bar. The cafe offers over 200 wine selections and a menu of all in house made food.

Owner Carol McLean, owns Irises, Delish, a bakery next to Irises and also Elks Lodge in

Plattsburgh. She successfully runs all three of these business all by her self. Irises established in

1997 was named after McLeans mother.

All the food is made in house at Irises according to their Facebook. The bread and

sometimes other food is also prepared fresh at Delish. The head baker is also a line chief at

Irises. Some of the food is also locally bought at farms like Fledging Crow Vegetables and

Kilcoyqne Farms. This can all be found on their Facebook page.

Irises has also won Award Of Excellence three years in a row, in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

They have also won Best Restaurant For Wine Lovers and Best of New York 2010, according to,

American Registry. Walking into Irises they have their awards lined on the wall for costumers to

see when they first walk in.

The head chief Tyler Puchrik, has only been working at Irises for a year but is still very

familiarly with the business. At 16-years-old he started out as a bus boy, but then left to work for

another restaurant in Plattsburgh. After struggling with addiction for a while Carol accepted

Puchrik back to the cafe to work as a su-chief and then to take over as head chief.

“I’m always learning new things, I'm always trying to do my best, to do things that

people wouldn’t normally expect. To be able to take a meal and present it in a way that people

will really love it.” said Puchrik.

Puchrik even though he did not go to culinary school he is well skilled in the culinary

arts. He grew up with his mother as a chief and working in various restaurants gaining

experience. You are able to tell that he has a passion for cook with the way his dishes come out

of the kitchen.

“It’s really important to me the way that I cook food together its kinda like a therapeutic

emotional release. I try to put my love and passion on to every plate that comes out of the

kitchen.” said Puchrik.

 Chelsea Bell, a hostess, and also a bar-back has been working at Irises on and off for

almost a year and a half. She first started out at Delish and then started working at Irises. She still

works at both places.

“What I think is really cool is that I feel like I'm the only person who can be placed

anywhere to work there. One day it was a pretty busy day at Irises but slow at Delish, so the head

baker asked me to help make bread so hoped over to Irises to make it, then the bartender was

busy, so I went over and started making drinks.”

Bell enjoys working at both places. She likes switching it up. Meeting the people who

come into the cafe is why she loves working at the bar the best. Working in the restaurant

business is hard because of the pay but whats worth it to her is the people that she works with.

“The food is all about looking great and looking fabulous. Its all about wowing them.”

Its a very high stress job according to Bell. Putting out the food on time and dealing with the

waitresses and making sure the food is perfect is hard to deal with.

“The thing that makes it worth it, is the people. Everyone else is super cool and fun to

work with.”

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