Capital Grill hurting since firing blogger

Well, yes and no. They were hurting before they fired our friend in Kansas City, but I’d like to think that it was a direct result of being buttheads. They are definitely underperforming in the steakhouse sector, but they did come in first in the chain steakhouse category in the most recent Consumer Reports nationwide restaurant survey. Personally, [...]

Cookbook of the day – Splendid Soups

Splendid Soups: Recipes and Master Techniques for Making the World’s Best Soups by James Peterson Publisher: Wiley (September 22, 2000) ISBN-10: 0471391360 ISBN-13: 978-0471391364   Once again, I don’t have the most current edition of this book. I have the 1994 edition, which clocks in at 100 less pages than this new edition. Mine has [...]

A couple of restaurant mnemonics

White is right. No, it’s not some sort of KKK infiltration of the restaurant industry or some white supremacist secret recruitment tool.  The conventional placement of salt and pepper is with the salt shaker on the right as you face the table. There are probably some restaurants that have a different spec, but this is generally [...]

Midyear checkup

Well, we’re a day away from the year’s midpoint. This is a good chance to take stock of where you are in your job. Have you been tracking your tips? If so, where are you as opposed to last year? Are you a little behind where you would normally be? If you don’t keep your pay [...]

Cookbook of the day – Sauces by James Peterson

Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making By James Peterson Publisher: Wiley; 2nd edition (January 27, 1998) ISBN-10: 0471292753 ISBN-13: 978-0471292753 Caveat – I have the original 1991 edition, which has a different cover and is about 100 pages shorter. It’s the edition that won the James Beard Award for Cookbook of the Year. This is [...]

Quick hint

I’ll be occasionally be posting some quick hit quick hints. Things that you might not think of but can help you solve a problem, streamline service or increase your tips. Some of them might be common sense or obvious for those of us who have been in the business, so, those of you who are [...]

Possible positive news from restaurant sector

From Restaurant News’  Breaking News: :snip: “The NRA is predicting that eating and drinking places will add 381,800 jobs between June and August, a 4.1-percent increase over the industry’s employment levels in March. The rise in employment may also be an indicator of the beginning of an economic recovery for the industry, said Hudson Riehle, [...]

Cookbook of the day – Sauternes

Sauternes by Bernard Ginestet Publisher:Jacques Legrand S.A. Paris ©1990 ISBN-  0-582-07544-0 ISBN- 2-905969-39-3 This is a book that you might have to dig for. It’s a mostly European-distributed book from the series Bernard Ginestet’s Guide to the Vineyards of France. It was translated by John Meredith and has a foreword by Nicholas Faith, who points [...]

Waiting

And no, this ins’t about waiting tables. It’s about waiting. My internet connection has been wonky the past few weeks and I have a service appointment at 3. So, I’m sort of biding my time, time I would normally spend making trenchant and sometimes treasonous remarks about the art of waiting tables. I’m avoiding pandering [...]

Tips for free-pouring wine in a large party

First of all, if your host has entrusted you with pouring wine at-will for his or her large party, this is a trust that should not be abused. Having said that, you want to pour the absolute most wine you can. So, how do you balance these two imperatives? Here are a few tips. Don’t [...]