8 p.m. on Friday night. The busiest time of the busiest night of the week. And this wasn’t just any Friday night; it was the busiest Friday in the busiest month of the year. In the time it took me to register those thoughts at least half a dozen people began waving their arms frantically, as if in that mere second they would expire of thirst. For many who deal with the general public, they understand the travails of dealing… Read More »
Called in to work on a Tuesday morning. What a drag. One of the drawbacks of the restaurant business are the odd hours. Of course that is also one of its many advantages too. When you work in the highest grossing restaurant in the nation ($37 million) you are going to have to make some sacrifices. Especially if that restaurant is in one of the City’s most iconic landmarks. This particular Tuesday it is breakfast for a group of insurance… Read More »
When I read the history of the local 209 Distillery I became intrigued. The story goes that one William Scheffler bought a patent for a new design of pot still in New York in 1870. Moving West he first set up a distillery at Krug winery in St. Helena and then in 1880, purchased his own winery there. Later, in 1882 he opened a licensed distillery on that property; Registered Distillery 209. That distillery won several awards (including a prestigious… Read More »
It was a sun shiny Mother’s Day, full of the promise of Spring. The birds were chirping, bright colored dresses uncovering legs seeing their first sunlight of the year dotted the restaurant. It was the calm before the storm. Mother’s Day is the busiest day of the year for many restaurants. Not true for fathers day but I’ll leave it up to you to assign whatever values you choose to that. Mother’s Day business looks a lot like a bell… Read More »
Some years ago I was walking through the kitchen of the restaurant where I was working about this time of year. I walked up and swiped my employee card, punching in for my day. Surrounding the time clock were several cooks that I knew were from near Ixtapa inMexico, who were also waiting to swipe their cards. “Hola,” I said, virtually exhausting the extent of my non-food related Spanish. “How are you?” they responded. We stood there, adjusting our various… Read More »
Here it comes, the first Saturday in May. That means the annual running of the thoroughbreds at Churchill Downs, known as the “Run for the Roses” or more commonly as the Kentucky Derby. With the race will come the slew of rookie mint julep orders. Some years ago I had an experience that defined the weekend. “I’ll have a mint julep thing,” said the bubbly blonde at the bar. She had recently married into money and was in the process… Read More »
“Hey Jeff, were you working last Saturday night?” asked one of my more regular customers. “Sure was,” I answered, realizing in a second that I had also worked the previous 50 Saturday nights as well. “I think you were on Yelp, then,” he said with a grin. Yelp is the website where people are given the ability to voice their opinions anonymously online about local goods and services. Later that night-actually very early the next morning-such is the glamour of… Read More »
Being surrounded by subordinates, it was obvious that the boss didn’t know exactly what to do with someone he had no power over. He tried his best to wiggle out of a potentially embarrassing situation.… Read More »
Daylight savings time was like turning on a switch. One day it was business as usual and the next day it was gangbuster busy. The holiday season has officially begun, which means that a lot of people who don’t normally go out descend en masse upon us who work in the service industry year round. It makes for an interesting dynamic. The couple walked in the front door and breezed past the… Read More »
“What was I doing there?” I thought as I stood there shivering, in front of the nightclub with a pocket full of cash, a maglight and I’ll admit, a slightly bad attitude.… Read More »
