Heat wave..

Too often the kitchen becomes a nightmare land when a summer time heat wave hits early.. This particular scene was not a slaughterhouse, but instead an innocent wedding cake that became a victim of heat.. It didn't help that the inside was filled with raspberries and whipped cream.. Didn't help at all.

Bright side is that 200 people still got to eat wedding cake ..

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When the best of the best is just like the rest..

It always makes me chuckle a bit when management falls in love with one or two particular servers.. We've seen it throughout restaurant history for as long as eateries have existed..

Management and owners start to take solace in or or two workers.. acting almost cult-like in their trust of the worker. The worker can do no wrong.. they can not mess up. Confidence and trust is showered on them throughout their short histories at the restaurant..

But the confidence can so often go awry..

The cult leader worker begins to exhibit signs of total control .. Sometimes control to an extreme that cannot be undone. Sometimes the employee begins to have high ambitions or even delusions as he or she begins to feel as though they've been promoted to the management themselves.. Or quite often they even begin to show signs to customers that they know more than the ownership of the establishment..

And finally, when the fallout occurs (And it ALWAYS will) the worker calls in sick and becomes a no show just like every other staff person they criticized over the years..

And when they don't show, the show goes on. Because in the end, everyone is replaceable. Even the owner--the owner that learned everything from the "best of the best" before he or she became just like the rest..

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..I'm winded.

Waiting on 300 prom attendees is a little extreme.. Something I don't want to do again. Really.

The cops were on guard, and only 1 or 2 kids got arrested--one before he got there due to a little underage drinking.. You know, the kids aren't alright.

The food service? They really didn't care. We could have served them soap scum and sludge from garbage cans and they would still have been ok with it. But seriously, they got beef and chicken.. 300 kids dancing soon afterwards was literally, I think, making parts of the building move. I think they wanted to topple the place.

Smoking in the bathrooms.. Typical. Asking servers to sneak them liquor for five bucks.. By the end of the night, the serving staff stayed in the kitchen until cleanup. Booby traps were set up so they couldn't find their way to rooms were alcohol was locked away.. Salt and pepper shakers missing at the end.. sugar bowls filled with Pepsi. Ten years ago I guess my class did the same stuff..

But the shocker came near the end when the king and queen were chosen.. The principal of the school reminded everyone that sobriety checkpoints were going to be out and for everyone to be careful. He was mocked by all, booed by some, and also called a f**ker by at least one. The beat goes on, though. He bravely smiled at them and the king and queen were announced..
But the fact that a principal of a school tells 300 18-year-olds, in front of two police officers, that there will be checkpoints, was quite shocking.

And as the kids shuffled out to their after-dancing prom parties, sweaty from their three hours straight of intense music, the doors slammed shut and the few gutless teachers thanked the owner and staff.. And from a distance, a young kid screamed "time to drink!"

Indeed, the kids aren't alright.

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Not a big shocker: Restaurants choosing to sell cheap fish during recession

I've seen it done.. Tilapia crusted with some form of lemon or other flavoring.. Tilapia being one of the cheapest fish to buy still selling for over 10 bucks a meal at restaurants.. Same thing with haddock dinners: They are being replaced by cod, cod, and more cod. Tastes the same, butter and lemon added and few notice--the price can stay the same too, even though cod is reasonably priced and much lower than fresh haddock.

The new world of dining out in restaurants offering up cheap ocean meals--good luck on trying to find fish without the high amounts of mercury or chemicals added. Farm fresh? Gag me with a fishing hook!

An NBC affiliate is detailing out more about the fishy story. The news station says that Kansas City restaurants are not selling the fish that they say they are on their menus..

The station even caught restaurants serving red snapper.. but it wasn't that at all.

You are what you eat--but not always what you think you're paying for.

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300 prom kids tonight..

oh boy.. I'm sighing just thinking about the dysfunction serving this party is going to cause..

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Skyrocketing sodium..

Should come as no shocker..
Simply take a peak at your restaurant's powdered grazy mixture.. Normally about 600 mg of sodium or so per tea spoon---TEA SPOON!

And now a health group is focusing on sodium levels in chain restaurants ..

Red Lobster doesn't fair so well, neither does Olive Garden (6,176 mg of salt!?!?!?)

Jack in the Box should stay in the box..

Here's the full study..

The winner of the saltiest by the way? Red Lobster's Admiral's feast.. Over 7,000 mg of sodium in one sitting.

Don't stroke out.

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Did it.. made it through..

Mother's Day 2009 actually went off without a major hitch at the restaurant. Surprising, especially with the fact we did 400 people in a little under 3 hours at brunch--with only about 5 tables of 20 people waiting for more than 30 minutes for their reserved table to be cleaned.

I still don't take back my anti-Mother's Day tirade..

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I CAN'T SLEEP..

The tension is building. We're almost there: The worst day in the world of restaurants .. or the best, depending on your thought..
I have written about this before..

We'll do it.. It may be rough. But before we know it, it will be over.

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...The eve of destruction..

Prepped for 4 hours today for tomorrow.. majorly busy day coming for all.

May God be with you all -- and prepare tonight.. Drink the night away .. but not enough to miss work.

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When the country clubber loses his club

..It's a sad state of mind. When everything you once knew that was steady is now shaky--and often times gone..

The country clubber, once donned with golf clubs and fancy sweaters, sipped away at his highballs and Manhattans as he gossipped with other rich white alpha males throughout the club. The waitresses could have been dead behind the bar and they'd still ask for a drink.. The bartenders could have passed out and the country clubber would have thought the fallen comrade was a simple area rug, just something to be walked on -- and God forbid tipped.

But the country clubber has lost his club.. They are a dying art. Fewer and fewer places are members only.. more and more places are opening to the public. Yes, the masses, those asses.

You can tell when the former country clubber enters the room.. He looks glaringly at the commoners eating dinner--forgetting for a second that they are allowed in the room now .. The 20th century members only late night smokey filled bars are gone.. Enter the new generation of allowing those of different races and genders to eat at the tables that were once reserved for only the privileged and powerful.

The country clubber often gets confused.. The attention is not only on him at the bar anymore. Now there are more customers.. people are coming from all walks of life. And with them, the riff raff.. the problems.. the middle class! eeek!!

The country clubbers are a dying breed.. Once mighty and powerful on earth, now they scatter like rats in a cornfield.. desperate to swallow that last gulp of liquor with friends.. very rich, white friends.

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