Abraham Lincoln once said “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” In a restaurant, “sharpening the axe” is all the prep that goes into a successful service. Continue reading Sharpening the Axe
Category Archives: Industry Standard
Cry Havoc and let slip the Hot Browns of War
For hospitality workers, Derby means war.
It’s not a contest against the sea of festive diners. It’s a battle against time and against mistakes, against anything that tries to keep us from the summit of a perfect service. After weeks of preparation, it’s a brief war, lasting at most two days; but a crucial one on a couple of fronts. Continue reading Cry Havoc and let slip the Hot Browns of War
Our Restaurant Bubble Tea Party
There has been news over the last month or so of a cluster of local restaurant closings. I’ve heard a lot of different reactions, including “Well, only the strong survive!” and “There are too many restaurants in Louisville as it is!” and “Competition is good!” and of course that old chestnut, “Their prices were too high for what they were serving, anyway.” Continue reading Our Restaurant Bubble Tea Party
What’s the Hubbub, Bub?
I see and hear a lot of restaurant goers discussing the noise levels they encounter when dining out. I get it. As I age it’s harder and harder for me to hear my companions’ conversation in the midst of a noisy crowd. However, I have yet to cross a restaurant off my to-visit list simply because I heard someone, or even several someones, say it was “too loud” in the dining room. Continue reading What’s the Hubbub, Bub?
Annual Inventory
Happy New Year! If you’re like me, you’re exhausted from the holiday hubbub, but looking forward to the challenges of the coming year. So it’s a great time to take stock of what’s in your kitchen, get rid of some old stuff, and at least make a list of what you need to replace. Continue reading Annual Inventory
Knife Fight
Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. Family dynamics aside, how did it go for you, culinarily speaking? Continue reading Knife Fight
Order Like a Pro
I know – you’re wondering if I’m really getting ready to school you on how to order food at a restaurant. This is a task nearly everyone does dozens (if not hundreds) of times a year. There’s no one special trick that will vault you over other diners to an extra level of respect from a restaurant’s staff, but I can offer a few pointers that might get you a higher standard of service when you’re dining out. Continue reading Order Like a Pro
Talk Like a Line Cook Day
September 19 was “Talk Like a Pirate Day” – one of those internet-created faux holidays everyone loves to talk about on social media and at the water cooler. (Do people in offices really gather around a water cooler anymore? I picture them alone at their desks hunched over their $5 pumpkin-spiced Life Water, scrolling through Instagram on their phones.)
Having worked in restaurants for many years, I can usually spot a line cook in the wild at 40 paces or less, even if they’ve eschewed their every day uniform for civvies. Continue reading Talk Like a Line Cook Day
Is it Safe?
I am, in modern parlance, “an old,” so I remember the unsettling scene from 1976’s “The Marathon Man” in which a Nazi war criminal, played by Laurence Olivier, repeatedly asks Dustin Hoffman “Is it safe?” while laying out dental instruments with which to torture him with. Hoffman – terrified, sweating, strapped to a chair – replies “Yes, it’s safe, it’s very safe, it’s so safe you wouldn’t believe it.” Whenever I see the blue polo shirt of a Metro Health Department inspector slip into my place of employment, my brain coughs up this scene. Continue reading Is it Safe?
Love, War and Restaurant Openings
A few weeks back, someone I worked with briefly at another restaurant opened a restaurant of his own, with partners. They’d renovated and re-fitted an empty restaurant which had been a neighborhood institution years ago. Continue reading Love, War and Restaurant Openings