Sorry Chef!!

As managers it is difficult to embrace our mistakes. Nobody wants to be wrong, or rather nobody wants to admit to being wrong. Once you are the chef you can no longer say, "Sorry Chef!" and move on. The more responsibility you have is the more your shit stinks. Every mistake might as well be under a microscope. Your every flaw is exploited. The reason for this is because your mistakes affect everyone.

I like to think I am able to remain humble and accept when I am wrong, but I know that in the heat of the moment I am like everyone else and want to give reasons why it wasn't completely my fault. The truth is we as managers also have to embrace the fact that when our staff makes mistakes it is our fault just as much as it is theirs. Every person below you under your jurisdiction is another version of you. If your cook sends out a well done filet in place of a rare, then it is your fault just as much as it is theirs. The next in command above you is not going to ask the cook "What the fuck?" They are going to ask you.

I am writing this because I got a direct order today to manage the hours of somebody who up to this point for a year and a half has been managing their own hours. This person is a work horse and as we all know it is more important to focus on creating the best end result than the time it takes to do so. Up to about three weeks ago hours weren't so much an issue. Right now it is important we track and manage hours as best we can and allow no overtime. Even though we had a last minute super VIP event I can't use that as an excuse. I have to accept that even though he didn't warn us that he surpassed 40 hours, then 50 hours, then 60 hours, it is totally my fault. I will have to face the heat on Monday. All I can really do is apologize and hope they don't scrutinize my managerial duties too much. I'm on salary so a 60 hour week happens to me a lot and nobody will ever notice. I worked 3 weeks straight in September and yet my superiors had no idea. When my Chef di Partie works a 60 hour week in October it will require a series of emails and a eventually a meeting. I will take the heat, just as my Executive Chef will have to take it as well.

Part of me wants to blame it on the last minute events and a lack of consistent planning, but the reality is that it is in fact my fault. In turn it is Chef's fault, and then again the restaurant manager's fault, and then again the owner's fault. When I think about being in the owner's shoes I won't blame him if he is livid when he sees the reports on Monday.

What sometimes stinks worse than our own shit is the reality that our employees and those under our jurisdiction generally don't and will never understand the real gravity of these situations. After all in the end it isn't their ass. It isn't they who are going to battle for themselves. It isn't they who are reporting to the boss. All they have to do is say, "Sorry Chef!"

Bound to get burned

My boss called out sick last Friday night. The executive Chef called out sick on a fucking Friday. When shit happens, as you all know, it normally happens on Friday or Saturday night. Well, I had a server plate food for me. Now this server has a few nicknames: Goof Troop, Big Bird, Kevin(it's a girl), and Blumpkin. Despite all this she nailed it and was a huge help. Around ten-thirty the owner called and told me my Boss would not be in on Saturday.

I rolled in to work at 845 Saturday morning and got to working on catering orders and dinner prep. At 1130 found out that the EC would be coming in at normal time. Well he was an hour late and did nothing but tell everyone how sick he was the day before. And when I say nothing I mean he never got this cutting board or side towels dirty. He walked around and around. Then he told me about previous nights playoff baseball game he watched.

On the rare occasion I call out sick I certainly do everything I can when I return to work. Come in early, send others home early, clean everything. I would feel bad that I was not there for my teammates. How can people do that? How can a Manager/EC do that? I might not ever learn the answer but I know no one will gain any respect from me if they pull that shit.

Compliments

Top 3 compliments:

3. "You make cooking look effortless"

2. When someone takes a piece of bread and completely cleans their plate with it.

1. Silence

We happen to have a table in the kitchen which can get noisy depending on the group and the wine consumption. When 8 drunk people sudddenlly stop talking and start enjoying the food in front of them you know you made something wonderful. It does not happen every night but when it does it makes me feel like all of my hard work was worth it.

Anyone else have favorite compliments?

No one is going to create your destiny for you.

No one is going to create your destiny for you.

Bottom-feeder Appreciation Week

It is a stroke of marketing genious and a nightmare for BOH staff. It's "restaurant week" and it's coming soon to a reality near you. The premise is fantastic: a state, county, city or other locale dedicates seven days to offer diners prix fixe dining at participating restaurants, usually sponsored by a local publication. Customers get to experience the cuisine of establishments that they otherwise could not afford or would not patronize and the restaurants get free advertising as well as the opportunity to expose themselves to a slew of potential new clients. Sounds great in theory, right?
I have worked restaurant weeks past as both a server and a chef and it is a hassle from start to finish. Seven days of bad tips, continual weeds, stress and one crabby, burned out staff when all is said and done. None of the reptilian, water-drinking lowlifes that kept the place over capacity all week will be back until the next year. The regular patrons who butter your bread the other fifty-one weeks of the year stay far away or resent you. The punchline is that the local rag sends every staff member who can spell out to post critiques of the participating establishments and, for obvious reasons, the reviews are less than stellar. I even know of a server who was let go because of some seriously critical feedback posted about the blogger's dining experience. I think the author was a sportswriter. Nice.

Don't have none. Won't have none.

Farmers can be a funny sort. They work from morning til night plowing, sowing, and harvesting. Then they have to clean, package, and market their goods. I have a deep respect for the farmers who we work with. Today that respect was clouded a bit.

My greens farmer dropped off my order yesterday and said, "We don't have any arugula for you, and we won't have any more in the future." No heads up. I have a popular arugula salad on my menu and we are very serious about sourcing locally. I went on the hunt for local arugula and came up with nothing. I ended up at the local produce company because they said a pallet had just shown up from Earthbound Organics. I had to take what I could get so I headed down there. THE ENTIRE PALLET WAS ROTTEN. Earthbound Organics is a garbage company to begin with. They seem to be trying hard to hold up to that reputation.

I put in a menu change, but it has to go through a series of channels before it can get printed. Nothing like a bureaucracy to keep a chef from changing an item on the menu.

Good luck this weekend Chefs.

alternative sourcing

I am still reeling from 55 of our 70 covers ordering between 6:52 and 8:00 on a lovely 113F "autumn" night. However, I swear that a tall, bald, white crackhead with two bulging plastic bags just approached me as I was leaving the restaurant and asked if I needed any peppers or eggplant. Now, I don't know how in tune you are with my problems sourcing big enough eggplant for our "signature" rollatini, but it took everything I had to say no and keep walking. Is this what it has come to? It's one thing to have unsolicited farmers strolling up to the back door with luscious crates of fresh produce in the afternoon, but 10:30 @ night? Which one of my neighbors' walk-ins did he just clip or is this the new business model for independently peddled vegetables? Maybe I smoked too much guar gum and none of it really happened....

Purveyors (Part Deux)

So, the great tomato crisis continues...
A few weeks ago, a case of the canned tomatoes that I use for our signature red sauce had three or four cans that were bulging. I opened one and it hissed like a botulistic snake though the product was actually okay. I didn't use them, of course, and asked my 77077 rep for a credit. (Quick background: they are Casa di Procope imported San Marzanos, roughly $4 to $4.60 per 106z can. They are the best than I can find within my budget. The distributor is actually a local restaurateur who imports on the side though, shockingly enough, I can't source them directly from him because of his 77077 relationship.) Last week she told me that she asked the broker, someone I've known since he waited tables @ WSAH, to replace them. He seemed to "be on vacation" and hadn't yet gotten back to her. I asked her why I couldn't just get a credit from 77077. No answer, though mysteriously this week our account was finally credited. Fast forward to this afternoon when I received the three cases I ordered in addition to a fourth case on a separate invoice. At the top, it had a Pocomoke City billing address, a different customer number and a different rep's name, but the invoice said SAMPLE with the broker's name and our customer number. Most importantly, it had a total of $29.00, more than I have ever paid for a case. I wish I could just include the email conversation between myself, my rep and the broker, but that wouldn't be fair. Basically, my tomatoes weren't stuck in customs as my rep originally suggested and it turns out that the case in question is a gift from the broker. Now, riddle me this, Batman, would I have ordered three fucking cases if I knew I was getting one for free?

Smoky the Clueless Bear

A server just told me that it is awkward when a whole table gets served entrees and one person's food drags for a couple minutes. This server has worked here for a long time. She knows our standards, when there is a problem with a plate we will not sell it, even if the rest of the food already left the kitchen. After all these years she doesn't understand that I will make those two minutes the most stressful minutes of my cook's whole night.

May I add that this server reeked horribly of stale cigarette smoke while she was telling me this. Clearly she was out smoking while her entrees were being delivered. She smelled like an ashtray and doesn't seem to think it is awkward to stink so bad while she is reaching over her guests pouring wine and dropping plates. It is pointless trying to explain this to her. I've tried to do so kindly and have gotten nothing but attitude about it. They make far more money than my cooks and have too big of egos to pay attention to how they can become better at service. I have a hard time hearing someone tell me what good service is while they serve their guests smelling like a stale ashtray and refusing to listen to me when I tell her that non-smokers find her odor to be offensive and gross. I smoked for 12 years so I understand the habit. We are however the finest dining around and if a server can't go a 4 hour service without a cigarette for the sake of our guests (and her $300 in tips + $8.50/hour) then we need to rethink our standards. I blame her managers, both of whom are smokers.

Time Off

Why is it that I must work nine days straight, including one day prep shift, in order to take two days off in a row?

Where did we go wrong?

We have been wanting to visit your restaurant for a very long time. We were not disappointed about the beauty and the wines we enjoyed. But unfortunetly I was disappointed by our lunch experience. My expectations were high. This is the season for fresh vegetables which are abundant and available everywhere. The crudite' we order was not the case. I had also ordered the salad - the romaine lettuce was turning and was even brown. My daughter's broccoli was overcooked and her chicken strips were cold and tasted as if they had sat for while. I am not a chef Ramsey but I would say that the lunch did not compliment the surroundings or the fine wine that is served. I noticed that plates returning to the kitchen showed a lot of veggies. I did share w/ our server and she comp'ed a dessert. Best Regards, XXX

The knife in the other hand

When a deuce walks in our doors, I generally don't think of their
presence as an overall experience, but rather than two more covers
that need to be executed.

Last night, for the first time in awhile, I went out for dinner. The
food was decent, but I cannot stand "fine" dining. Perhaps it's due
to an undiagnosed ADD or ADHD or today's fast-paced environment.
However, this dining style is not for me. I enjoy eating food, but I
enjoy cooking food even more.

I guess I never really thought about how long the customers actually
stay. Our experience last night took around an hour and a half. To me,
even though I was enjoying myself and not working, that hour and a
half felt like an eternity.

Just thought it would be interesting to think of it from a different
aspect. Anyone else have any similar feelings?