Vegetarian?

Waiters are often confronted with the issue of vegetarianism. I’m sure the term “issue” would be considered a pejorative term by vegetarians of all stripes. And I sympathize. But it’s the “all stripes” part that makes it an “issue”. So, let’s stipulate that I’m not calling vegetarianism itself the issue, only the different ways that [...]

New York union opens “training restaurant” for its members

The New York Hotel Trades Council, a union which represents hospitality workers, has opened a training restaurant which spends a million dollars a year to train some 800 front and back of the house restaurant and hotel workers. The New York Times has an article about it that you can read here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/dining/11union.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss The article [...]

A somewhat whimsical look at waiter charateristics by generation

Grooming: Baby boomer – increased emphasis on ear and nose hair, greying hair, managing the balance between bald tops and remaining side scalp, concern about moles, age spots and wrinkles, complying to the letter with uniform standards because “We must have standards” Gen X – keeping a tight, crisp hairline concentrating on the neckline and/or daily [...]

Off-topic post – help for Radio Free Nashville

My friends at Radio Free Nashville, a low power community radio station in the Nashville area are asking for any size donation in order to pay for transmitter repair and the installation of a new antenna that will extend their reach from a 10 mile radius to virtually the entire Metro Nashville area. The total [...]

The last check on quality control

As a waiter, you are the very last QC engineer before the guest gets their food. Obviously, if your restaurant uses food runners exclusively, this doesn’t apply to you, but if you run your own or other waiters’ food, you should always make sure that the plate looks like it should. Are all of the [...]

Story on mobile dining in LA on CBS Sunday Morning

I just finished watching a pice on the burgeoning mobile street food movement in LA, a trend started with Kogi, a true groundbreaking company…so groundbreaking that it recently came close to filing a lawsuit against Baja Fresh, which had decided that Korean-styled meat served from trucks was the next big thing and used the word Kogi [...]

Cookbook of the day – Small Batch Baking

Small-Batch Baking by Debby Maugans Nakos Publisher: Workman Publishing Company (November 15, 2004)  ISBN 10: 0761130357 ISBN 13: 978-0761130352 How many times have you wanted a homemade cake but didn’t want to throw half of it away after a couple of days because you didn’t want to eat the same cake for days on end? Those [...]

Waiter assaulted with mashed potatoes and survives!

From gothamist.com Diner Patron Threatens to Kill Server Over Subpar Food by John Del Signore Speaking of things waiters should “never” do, here’s something a diner should never do: throw your food at the server and threaten to kill him or her. On Wednesday night one Steven Scott, 40, was arrested for assaulting a server [...]

A sometimes hilarious guide to being a “Fun Waiter”

Fun-Filled Career Guide to Restaurant Waitering! Icarus Landing loves dining out in fine restaurants. Most of the time, the experience is good, although the quality of waitering is a little unpredictable – sometimes too rushed, sometimes too slow, sometimes too attentive, sometimes too inattentive – you probably know what we’re talking about. So, we’ve developed this [...]

Ruby Tuesday goes upmarket (sorta)

According to Nation’s Restaurant News, Ruby Tuesday has reworked their menu to grab a share of the upper demographic. They have, however, hedged their bets in a fashion similar to what we’ve seen in the high-end steakhouse market – the judicious use of cocktail discounting. They have also avoided dropping the value portions of their [...]