Near the end of each menu we always say we are going to make a few of the new dishes as Amuse, that never happens. Well folks I am putting a plan into action. I will either make the next menu transition amazingly easy or I will be fired for being a total dick. An advice would be helpful.
New menu blues
It seems that we always have a problem when the menu changes. I cannot find a reason for this other then laziness. We are not a high volume restaurant, all of us could easily prep one extra item. I just don't understand why we can't start prepping for the new menu a week out. We have the menu a week before it changes. The prep list yesterday was a mile long and filled with items that wold actually have tasted better if they were made a few days out. It just blows my mind that this happens every month. I want/need to know what is going on at all times. Not because I am nosey, but so I can adjust my plan for the hour, day, week which will allow me to produce a better product and therefore make this restaurant better. I am over this running around like an asshole with a blindfold on just hoping to get first dinner service over with. It is hard to produce a attractive plate when you don't know all the components until you start plating. Where's this? Where's that? Well I didn't know it went with this dish. Needless to say after each course I said to myself that it will be better tomorrow.
7 comments:
This breaks my heart, not just because I know how your format allows for damn near perfection brought about my excellent ingredients and technique as well as execution and FORETHOUGHT. Everyone gets busy and overwhelmed and catering can kick your ass, but all that time spent perusing foodie blogs might be better allocated to engineering components and plating diagrams to the smallest detail. Coming from someone deeply inundated with an upcoming menu change and all the inherent frustration, I sympathize. I'm reminded of the CMC portion of Soul of a Chef and how Brian Polcyn went out of his way to make sure his sous knew each dish conceptually long before cooking or plating ever began. It could be a sketch on a legal pad or whatever, but for fuck's sake don't waste all that wonderful menu planning by failing to get on the same page before service. Of course, the first few days won't be perfect and the learning curve will be steep, so why make it any more difficult by trying to fly by the seat of your Happy Chefs?
Tread carefully. Our menu changes used to be a fucking panic attack waiting to happen. Not anymore.
In spring,summer, and fall we change every month. In winter it is every two months because of the slower harvests.
We are getting more solid with having the menus planned and ready for print way ahead of time. We set deadlines. We are at the point where everyone is now working ahead of schedule. That way I have the product on a list to be ordered 2 weeks before go time. We confirm harvests with farmers and produce purveyors. We track down the specialty ingredients. We touch base with our fisherman, poultry farmers, a local butcher shop, and our mushroom/truffle pickers. The food is ordered. Prep lists and station mise lists are made. Recipes are drawn and posted. All this with time to spare.
Sorry to gloat, but it took a long time to get here. An important lesson was growing together in the process. More importantly is accepting that it is time for a fucking change because there is no reason to not be organized if you want to succeed in this industry
Pardon this dumb question, but have you offered to help the chef get more organized for the menu changes? He obviously trusts you. You are clearly dedicated and take a great deal of pride in your work.
Good luck.
I have asked and we will tell me to smoke nuts or something. The smoker does all the work. The last two days of the old new we chatted and I told him I could handle 100% of the prep and he should work on new menu things. He looked busy during those two days, but I am not sure what he did. When it comes down to it, he doesn't know what he wants until the last minute. I need to talk to him about it without letting things escalade into a fight. Tension is high right now there for many reasons.
maybe ride it out and communicate to the powers that be your eagerness for the exec position. Some cooks/chefs fly by the seat of their pants while other employees scramble to keep the place organized and efficient. Its a bitch. However, sometimes the most creative minds are most of the time wandering.
I am not qualified for that position. I will come up with a passive aggressive way to let me feeling come out.
I always enjoy using the middle finger. If you need something more alarming then try showing him the goat or the brain. That way you won't have to say a word.
I have new menu blues of my own that require their own post. It involves the awesome phenomenon of ordering and prepping the old and new menu for lunch and dinner for over a week now. Did I mention that it was awesome?
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