Indianapolis Chef Regina Mehallick Publishes First Cookbook

Since 2001, Chef Regina Mehallick has been garnering praise and shaping Indianapolis' culinary landscape from her restaurant kitchen at R bistro.

Just in time for the holidays, Regina has gathered 52 of her favorite recipes in her first cookbook, Regina's Seasonal Table: Recipes to Savor Throughout the Year.

Like at R bistro, Regina's Seasonal Table focuses on Midwestern USA's bounty and recognizes the joys of eating seasonally. The 124-page book includes more than 100 beautiful photos and four seasons' worth of good eating geared toward the home cook. Recipes include Indiana watermelon with prosciutto de Parma and Gorgonzola; Seared beef tenderloin bruschetta with roasted peppers and red onions on Asiago bread and arugula salad; and Ruby red trout with wild rice succotash and Pernod sauce.

You can pick up a copy of the cookbook at R Bistro or call 317-423-0312 to place an order and have it mailed to you!

Deceptive Letters Circulating to Indiana Businesses

A letter mailed to Indiana businesses, that would appear to come from an official government source, should be ignored. Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita announced today the letter is deceptive and does not come from his Business Services Division. Secretary Rokita and his staff are working with federal law enforcement to determine who is responsible for these letters and ensure they are stopped.

The letter has been received by at least one restaurant corporation that reported it to the Indiana Restaurant Association.

The letter solicits a $125 annual fee and claims it will be used for record keeping and processing of a company's annual minutes. It gives the appearance of coming from a legitimate government agency and cites fictitious state law. It also includes a "return by" date. The return address on some of the recent letters mailed to Indiana businesses goes to a box at a Mailboxes, Etc. store close to the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis.

"I will not tolerate an attack of this nature against businesses in Indiana," said Secretary Rokita. "My office has actively engaged the U.S. postal inspector who has jurisdiction in this case and will advocate aggressively for Indiana's businesses, large and small."

Secretary Rokita is concerned businesses may be confused and believe responding to the letter takes the place of business entity reporting that is legitimately required by state law. Businesses operating in Indiana can now securely submit these reports online through the INBiz portal found on the Secretary of State's Web page, www.in.gov/sos/business.

Businesses wishing to check the validity of any mailing from Indiana's Business Services Division or any division of the Office of the Indiana Secretary of State should contact the Business Services Division Help Line at (317) 232-6576.

Scams Hitting Indy Restaurants

Jeff Wright from Agio has sent us news that the old “Dry Cleaning Scam” is circulating again. The receipts are copies, but look more sophisticated than previous versions of the scam. This version is from Henderson Nevada and was actually sent via mail which is considered a federal offense.

If you receive such a scam via mail send along with the envelope to:
Fraud Inspector
7188 Lakeview Parkway West Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46268

This follows a recent scam where a man using a chef's jacket and business cards managed to eat and drink at a number of area restaurants using the name of the chef at Rick’s Boatyard Café.

Mike Hibbeln is the executive chef at Rick's Boatyard Cafe. He first learned there was a problem from a worker at Jillian's downtown. She said a man came in wearing a chef's jacket and ran up a $60 tab and said Hibbeln would take care of it.

Hibbeln said the man calls himself "Bill Matthews" and is using Hibbeln's business cards to further his scam. The man actually picked up the business cards from a display at Rick's Boatyard.

"From most people who've called, he uses the same deal. He tells them ‘This is the guy I work for. I need to go pick him up at the airport. I locked my keys in my car, I need $75 to get a locksmith so I can get in my car and pick up my chef.' And people are giving him like anywhere from $20, $30, $40," said Hibbeln.

Hibbeln said he also heard from a couple who Matthews had approached out in front of the Conrad Hotel, but they were smart enough not to take him up on his offer of a free meal. Hibbeln says he's hearing from callers that the scammer is a white man about 6'3" with medium-length black hair.

Anyone with information regarding the case should call metro police at 327-6621.

Adopting a policy to handle customer complaints at the time they occur can eliminate most problems while identifying those people who have truthful claims. Have documentation such as a daily journal or incident log where management records potential customer problems including date, time, table location, server, customer name and a description of the incident, even if the customer insists everything is taken care of satisfactorily. Once you have the journal and your staff is trained on its use, adopt a policy of only addressing customer complaints that are logged in the journal.

For more information please contact Debbie Scott at the Indiana Restaurant Association office, 317-673-4211 or email dscott at lmvconsulting.com.