Strangest Halloween ever

Tonight was odd. I expected one thing, and something completely different happened.

I have worked something like 10 or 11 Halloween nights while in the food service industry, and tonight was the strangest ever. Not strange because of the weird costumes and bizarre antics of customers (0r their children), but strange because of the lack of that. It was like Halloween passed us by, missing our store entirely. There were 2, only 2, children all night in costumes. One adult in costume, and only half in costume at that.

Most years the freaks come out to eat. I normally wait on quite a range of people, but in years past I've either had people who only come out on Halloween, or I've had people who feel liberated by their costumes (and often some cocktails too). I feel almost let down. By the time I get home, all the kids are in their beds sleeping off near diabetic comas from the amount of sugar they have consumed, and all the adults are still out partying the night away at regional hot spots.


Related Tags: Red Lobster, Darden, Waiter, Waitress, Server, Food Service, Customer Service, Freaks, Halloween, Candy, Halloween Candy, Seafood

Most Dangerous Cities in the USA

There is a scary number of these top 20 in the Mid-West not all that far from me!

MOST DANGEROUS 20

1. St. Louis

2. Detroit

3. Flint, Mich.

4. Compton, Calif.

5. Camden, N.J.

6. Birmingham, Ala.

7. Cleveland

8. Oakland, Calif.

9. Youngstown, Ohio

10. Gary, Ind.

11. Richmond, Calif.

12. Baltimore

13. Memphis, Tenn.

14. Trenton, N.J.

15. Richmond, Va.

16. Kansas City, Mo.

17. Atlanta

18. Cincinnati

19. Washington

20. North Charleston, S.C.

SAFEST 20

1. Brick, N.J.

2. Amherst, N.Y.

3. Mission Viejo, Calif.

4. Newton, Mass.

5. Troy, Mich.

6. Colonie, N.Y.

7. Irvine, Calif.

8. Cary, N.C.

9. Greece, N.Y.

10. Coral Springs, Fla.

11. Thousand Oaks, Calif.

12. Orem, Utah

13. Round Rock, Texas

14. Dover, N.J.

15. Lake Forest, Calif.

16. Sterling Heights, Mich.

17. Simi Valley, Calif.

18. Roswell, Ga.

19. Lee's Summit, Mo.

20. Broken Arrow, Okla.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Related Tags: MOST DANGEROUS City, St. Louis, Detroit, Flint, Compton, Camden, Birmingham, Cleveland, Oakland, Youngstown Ohio, Gary Indiana, Richmond, Baltimore, Memphis, Trenton, Kansas City, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Washington, North Charleston, SAFEST Cities, Brick, Amherst, Mission Viejo, Newton, Troy, Colonie, Irvine, Cary, Greece, Coral Springs Florida, Thousand Oaks, Orem Utah, Round Rock Texas, Dover N.J., Lake Forest, Sterling Heights, Simi Valley California, Roswell, Lee's Summit, Broken Arrow Oklahoma, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Red Lobster is making changes

One thing we are changing is our daily fresh fish. There will be new table handouts (yes, that means 3 menus being handed out now) that will contain the information on what fresh fish are available. These will be printed up daily, and at times twice daily when supply runs out on a fish. We all have to be tested by our General Managers (that means servers, bartenders, hosts, all front of the house employees) on our ability to present this to the guest in the Red Lobster way. If we fail to do this properly and are caught 3 times we can/will be terminated.

Each store will have the opportunity to carry up to 8 different fish at any given time. My guess is that most stores will carry 5-6 depending on what is popular in their market. All will have Salmon, and Cod and Trout will also likely be very common. Mahi Mahi will also be one that I suspect many stores will carry, as it was a big seller when we used to have it in other stores I worked in.

Red Lobster's menu will also include new seafood items including a pan-seared crab cake appetizer, a lobster and seafood mixed grill dish, Maui Luau shrimp & salmon and Honey BBQ shrimp & chicken dishes. There are also a fairly lengthy list of things coming off the menu, most surprisingly Lobster Chops. Red Lobster will also be featuring pepper and salt grinders on the tables for the guest to use (steal) as they please. These changes will take effect October 31st, 2006.

Related Tags: Red Lobster, Darden, DRI, Restaurant, Seafood, Seafood Restaurant, Food Service, New Menu, Red Lobster Menu, Feature, Menu Changes, Mahi, Cod, Salmon, Tilapia, Trout, Manager, Management, Crab Cakes, Lobster Chops, Mixed Grill, Maui Luau

Best Lasagna of my life (thus far...)

This is probably better suited for a blog about Olive Garden (another Darden Restaurants owned chain).

I made some lasagna the other day from a recipe I got at epicurious.com. Epicurious is my favorite source of recipes on the internet. I kinda followed the recipe, but also added my own flair to it for my own tastes. You can see my changes and notes in RED below.

We paired this with a 2004 Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc before the meal and a 2003 Da Vinci Chianti (DOCG approved) during the meal. For more on the Blanc click here. I really like the Blanc (and Mondavi is by far one of my favorite wine makers), though the pear flavor is pretty strong in this showing. The Da Vinci was new to me, and performed brilliantly. The flavor pair was amazing. I will likely buy a couple more of these Da Vinci Chianti's to just keep on hand for future use. The Chianti was an A and the Blanc a B on my grading chart. Our guests both liked both wines as well. Both wines also fall into a very nice price range.

THREE-CHEESE LASAGNA WITH ITALIAN SAUSAGE

SAUCE
1 tablespoon olive oil (I added a 2nd tablespoon, seemed a bit dry)
1 cup chopped onion (I used 1/2 cup not liking onion that much. I also food processed it)
3/4 cup finely chopped peeled carrots (food processed it)
2 tablespoons minced garlic (used 3 large cloves and it wasn't enough)
8 ounces lean ground beef (used 12oz. of Mild Italian, 6oz. of Spicy Italian Sausage. I would use all Spicy next time)
6 ounces spicy Italian sausages, casings removed (see above)
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes with added puree (used organic as they don't have such a strong canned taste)
1/4 cup tomato paste (I went over this amount to pump up the tomato flavor. Probably 3/8 cup)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (I used more than 1/4 cup, and it still could've taken more)
1 tablespoon golden brown sugar (bumped up to 2+ tablespoons)
1 tablespoon dried oregano (definately could have used more of this)
1 bay leaf (I used 2 large ones, but probably could've used a bit more)
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper (I felt it needed a bit more heat after eating it last night, so add more to your own tastes)

LASAGNA
15 lasagna noodles -about 12 ounces

2 15-ounce containers part-skim ricotta cheese (I used whole mike ricotta)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese -about 3 ounces (I doubled this)
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained,
squeezed dry (I hate spinach so I skipped this)
2 large eggs

4 3/4 cups grated mozzarella cheese -about 1 1/4 pounds

FOR SAUCE: Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and garlic; sauté until softened, about 12 minutes. Add beef and sausages to pan; sauté until cooked through, breaking up meat with back of spoon, about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer until flavors blend and sauce measures about 5 cups, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Cool.

FOR LASAGNA: Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook noodles in large pot of boiling salted water until almost tender, about 7 minutes. Drain; cover with cold water.

Combine ricotta and 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese in medium bowl. Mix in spinach. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in eggs. Drain pasta and pat dry. Spread 1/2 cup sauce over bottom of 13x9-inch glass baking dish. Place 5 noodles over sauce, overlapping to fit. Spread half of ricotta-spinach mixture evenly over noodles. Sprinkle 2 cups mozzarella cheese evenly over ricotta-spinach mixture. Spoon 1 1/2 cups sauce over cheese, spreading with spatula to cover (sauce will be thick). Repeat layering with 5 noodles, remaining ricotta-spinach mixture, 2 cups mozzarella and 1 1/2 cups sauce. Arrange remaining 5 noodles over sauce. Spread remaining sauce over noodles. Sprinkle remaining 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese evenly over lasagna. Can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil. Bake lasagna 40 minutes; uncover and bake until hot and bubbly, about 40 minutes. Let lasagna stand 15 minutes before serving. (The last 40 minutes I set the oven at 400F instead of the suggested 350F. Because I made extra sauce through adding more ingredients, I added that to the bottom and top layers of sauce.)
Serves 8.

Other notes - I used extra meat and some extra parmesan cheese and this barely stayed in the dish when cooking. The original recipe is probably the perfect amount for a 13X9 glass dish.


Related Tags: Lasagna, Lasagna recipe, Olive Garden, Olive Garden Lasagna, Darden, Darden Restaurants, DRI, Italian Sausage, Pasta, Italian food, Italian Restaurant, Mondavi, Robert Mondavi, Mondavi Vineyards, Wine, Wine pairing, Wine Lasagna, White Wine, Red Wine, Sauvignon Blanc, Chianti, Da Vinci, Da Vinci Chianti, Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc, 2003 Chianti, 2004 Sauvignon Blanc

Unaswered prayers

(for the record, that is one of my favorite songs by Garth Brooks)

Some time ago I interviewed for a job in a very high end restaurant. An uber restaurant. A place with bottles of wine that exceed $400 on the rack, and more expensive reserves in the cellar. A place with a rotating menu, the kind where you have to get and extended briefing from the chef daily so you can explain the features for that day. The kind of place where you might only have 6-8 tables a night. The kind of place you dream (as a server) about working at. Privately owned, world renowned chef, very chic.

As I weighed their offer (it potentially conflicted with my schooling, but for an opportunity like this I considered changing things for them) something happened. Something bad. In a blink of an eye the place went out of business after a handful of years of outstanding food and service. A real head scratcher. Apparently the owner had some personal issues, quit paying some venders, and they all quit delivering their products/services almost simultaineously.

A few weeks later, the general manager who interviewed me for the job happened to come into my restaurant. He looked aweful, to the point he might have been strung out for as bad as he looked. I didn't have him in my section, but I discovered he was in our store when I walked his food out to his table (I couldn't see him from my section). It was a bit strange to say the least.

In manly fashion we visually acknowledged each other, nodded heads, and let it pass. He had a guest, a girlfriend perhaps with him. I wanted to ask, but rather delivered the food and verified nothing else was needed.


The other grass isn't always greener, and sometimes unanswered prayers are the best kind.


Related Tags: Unanswered prayers, Greener Grass, Server, Waiter, Waitress, General Manager, Restaurant, Red Lobster, Fine Dining, Food Service, Wine, Changing jobs, Career change, Career

Working for the 4-6%

Many customers come in having already decided how much they are going to tip. Not in a dollar amount, but in a percentage, with caps on the top end regardless of the amount spent. This means that on most tables, we are working on a range of 4-6% of tip that we can actually influence as servers, barring incredibly bad experiences for the guests. More and more I am frustrated by giving over the top service, and being given crap tips. A 12% might come in, get outstanding service, and still only leave 15%. While the few dollars don't seem like it would be that big of a difference, to the waiter it is huge. I rarely wait on less than 100 guests a week (often a good deal more than that). My guest check average varies night to night, but I'd say it averages in the $21-22 range for the most part.

$2200x10%=$220 $2200x12%=$264 $2200x15%=$330 $2200x20%=$440

So that little bit of difference really adds up for a server. It is the difference between paying the light bill or not. Especially after you factor in tip outs and taxes. It is a difference of thousands of dollars to your server. So think about that, while it is just a dollar or two, it really adds up for us. Very few waiters are getting rich serving you. So if your server goes above and beyond, makes grandma feel special, cleans up after your hellion children, listens to you tired jokes, and gets you a stiff drink after a long day, take good care of them, they are trying to take good care of you.


Related Tags: Red Lobster, Server, Waiter, Waitress, Darden, GMRI, DRI, Food Service, Restaurant, Seafood, Seafood Restuarant, Tipping, Gratuity, Lobster, Crab, Shrimp, Red Lobster Biscuits, Waiting

You know it is going to be a crap tip when...

...when anyone at the table is wearing a shirt memorializing a dead rapper. Notorious B.I.G., Easy-E, and Tupac to name a few.
...when anyone at the table is wearing a shirt memorializing one of thier homies.
...when your patrons refer to you as "dude" when you are old enough to be their parent.
...when your customers ask you if there is a place they can park their skateboards while they eat.
...when your customers are under the age of 40 (and over the age of 10) and have no front teeth (and pro boxers or pro hockey players don't count because they buy replacement teeth).


Related Tags: Red Lobster, Darden, Waiter, Waitress, Server, Bartender, Food Service, Tipping, Tipping etiquette, Etiquette, Service, Seafood, Restaurant, Lobster, Hockey, Boxing, Meth Mouth, Meth, Skateboarding, Tupac, Easy-E, Notorious B.I.G., Dude