Today we’d like to introduce you to Dennis Bain
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My Story?
I grew up in California. Over 20 years ago I started working as a dishwasher in a small restaurant. A few job changes, a few casual chain restaurants, then I found myself at a high class steakhouse. The Chef there, Bryan Beneke, had a passion and a drive that I hadn’t experienced in a restaurant. He opened my eyes to the fact that food could reach another level, that it didn’t just have to be something that you shoved in your mouth to stop hunger, but that it could be an pleasurable experience, elevated to be something memorable. We ended up parting ways, but stayed in touch. We tried to work together again in Florida, in Hawaii, in Colorado, but were finally able to make a reconnection here in Texas.
Funny story. Me and my wife were on a road trip, we’d only been dating for a couple of weeks at the time. I pulled over to take Bryan’s phone call when he offered me a position here in Austin. He told me Austin was the blueberry in the marinara. I told him I’d call him back. I talked to my future wife and asked her if she wanted to move to Texas, she said yes. I called Bryan back and told him we’d be there in two weeks. We uprooted and loaded everything into our two cars and drove from Sacramento to Austin. On the way, one car broke down. We had to stay the night at a campsite, split the load between the two cars, and finish driving out here with only half of our things. We stayed in a hotel for a week or so while I started my surprisingly menial line cooking job, and looked for an apartment. The apartment we found was a cute little studio on Guadalupe. We stayed there for about a year, until some bad rains, poorly maintained roof, and leaks caused our roof to collapse in on us… Funny thing with a studio, when the roof collapses it takes up the entirety of the one room you have. We moved from there to some less than perfect apartments on Rundburg. That’s about the time my wife got pregnant. Shortly after that her two boys came out to live with us. We went from just me and her in a studio, to me her and 3 kids in about 6 months, a year later we had another child. I worked, alot, and we got out of the Rundburg apartments. They weren’t sustanible for 4 children, the water was turned off, the ac went out, if you didnt take a shower at 5 am you didn’t get hot water. So we got out of there and rented a house in the Austin Colonies area.
Meanwhile, Bryan bounced from one restaurant to another, with longer stays at South Congress Cafe and Snooze. Finally he ended up at this little restaurant called the Hideaway and he called me up needing a sous chef to get things in line. I came over and… it was a wreck here. We had 1 night cook, no order guides, scheduling was a mess, dry goods were just stacked in piles in the prep area.
My first few weeks were 80 hours each, just organizing and cleaning the back of house. To clean the fridge, I first had to clean the prep area, but to clean that I had to clean the dry storage… It was such a cluster f*ck. While I was getting things tidied, I had to put together the order guides. That’s a job in itself. While figuring out the menu and recipes. Writing down the recipes.
Once we got the kitchen workable, it was much better/easier to do everything.
Bryan, my chef, my inspiration, my mentor, was great at alot of things, however he was not great with unchecked power. He had some problems with drinking, which is standard, if not minor, in this industry. And it came back to haunt him, he was just sloppy and not as crisp as he used to be. We had quite a few services that were big, that went very poorly. He received a-lot of complaints about his behaviour, and he was walking a thin line when COVID hit.
A decision was made to let Bryan explore other opportunities, close the restaurant for a couple months, and promote me to the General Manager.
Those couple of months were vital in looking at what were were doing and planning on moving forward differently. We revamped the menu’s, reorganized the entirety of the restaurant, and deep cleaned everything. Then we reopened back up… and it was dead slow. Day by day we pushed through services with 2-3 staff members, cooks were washing dishes and taking orders, servers were expediting food, I was doing everything from payroll, writing menus, bussing tables, cooking food, everything that could be done.
We steadily picked up more and more business coming out of COVID, people had relief funds and they were coming out to eat from Houston or Dallas every weekend. But with all those relief funds, no one wanted to work, so we were short on staff. Again everyone did everything.
Then all the relief funds dried up, people remembered that they have to live on a budget. Things slowed down again. The job market finally caught up to the needs, but then the needs dropped off. We had to manage our labor much harder than we had in the previous couple of years.
Finally, this year, things have evened out. Our day’s are more predictable, our staffing much more manageable. Top to bottom, left to right, beginning to now, it’s been an adventure. As a restaurant we’ve overcome some amazing and embarrassing challenges. As a family, we’ve gone from arriving in Austin in a Toyota Scion 2012 model, to owning a home. As a person I’ve gone from washing dishes in a run down Mexican restaurant, to general managing a stand alone entity that makes the best brunch in Austin.
Life is exhausting. Life is challenging. I’ve been put through the ringer more times than I’d like to remember. I’ve worked hard and am proud of where I’m at and where going. I look forward to many more sleepless nights, pushing to make my mark on the world.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
General Manager, with a history as a Chef.
I work at the Hideaway Kitchen and Bar. Here in South Austin. We share a parking lot with the Ramada Inn (4323 S I 35, Austin Tx, 78744).
We specialize in brunch, but our dinner is underrated. We use local meats and produce whenever possible, doing our best to support Texas ranchers and farmers.
Our waffles are our most displayed product, strawberries and cream being the best seller. We also sell alot of chicken and waffles, that comes with a house made pecan bourbon syrup.
What matters most to you? Why?
People. Helping others be successful.
My purpose, at the Hideaway, at home, everywhere, is to help the world be a better place because I was a part of it.
At the Hideaway I achieve that by offering better food than anyone else Managing it could offer. In turn that allows my employees to make more money here, with me, than if someone else was running it. Me running this restaurant makes elevates Austin’s food and jobs market, just a little more.
That’s what I’m here for, to make my staff’s lives better, easier, happier. While also contributing positively to Austin.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hideawayatx.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HideawayATX/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/hideaway-kitchen-and-bar-austin
Image Credits
Jon Scott
