Splichal's secret potatoes

Everyone in the restaurant business has a story about improvisation in the face of disaster, but Joachim Splichal offers up a real dandy. In an interview with the L.A. Business Journal, the Los Angeles-based chef/bizguy remembers being stuck with sour, inedible mashed potatoes at a party he was catering for 1,500 people. So he sent 10 of his people to nearby supermarkets and had them pick up powdered mashed potatoes. Yuck, right? "We bought all the powder we could get and we put cream in the butter and we melted it and made the mashed potatoes," he recalls. Turns out that the partygoers loved them (goes to show what cream and butter can do, not to mention expectations). "You have to be very resourceful. If something happens, no one wants to hear you have a problem. That was the only time something like that happened on a large scale, but we overcame it." Splichal, who along with his partner bought back the Patina Group in 2006, recently opened Paperfish in Bev Hills and has plans for a Patina in NY's Lincoln Center.