New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni goes undercover at the East Coast Grill in Cambridge with My Week as a Waiter. Totally worth reading so you have some idea how much work goes into "just" being a waiter. Servers work hard, very hard. I saw it first-hand when I worked at Fifty-Six Union in 2004. Pretty much every job in a restaurant is harder than you imagine, even hostessing. I worked a handful of busy nights as hostess in August, and let me tell you, if you think you just read that list and take people to a table, you've got no idea. Just like Bruni as server, I was flummoxed doing what seemed like simple tasks.
My favorite memory was when it was pretty busy and things were hopping. I had no idea what time it was, people just flowed in, I seated them, menued them, and returned to do it again, while also ushering folks to the bar, taking people from the bar to their tables, and answering the phone. At some point, the phone rang and I picked it up,
"Good evening, Fifty-Six Union. How may I help you?"
The man on the other end wanted a reservation for that evening. I quickly scanned the book and spotted only two openings.
"We could do 6:45 or 9," I tell him in my most helpful, cordial voice.
"It's 7:15," he replied with a tone that pretty much also included the words, "You stupid idiot reservation girl."
"Well then, we could do 9," I say again, smilingly but now seething inside for being so stupid. Why didn't I look at the small clock mounted on my reservation stand? How hard would that have been? Oh the agony and the shame!!!
I don't remember if he took the reservation or not. What I remember is being humbled by the experience of hostessing. Over time, I improved, and would have gotten much better had I continued to do it. But even in just a few days, I learned the lesson that nothing is as easy as it looks, especially when it's new to you. Soon I moved to the back of the house and made many more stupid mistakes in the kitchen (like burning some little turnovers in the oven because I didn't check the temperature before I put them in, and it was at 500°!) Still though, it was great fun -- even the hostessing.
Oh yummy Paris and your yummy restaurants. Mark Bittman takes a look at France's famous three-star chefs going bistro for the New York Times in Restaurants of the Year: In Paris, Star Chefs Take a Casual Turn. Alain Ducasse has two Paris bistros now, and Pierre Gagnaire is now running an old fish bistro called Gaya where it sounds like he's up to his usual crazy tricks (fish and chips without any chips, reports Bittman). Makes me long for a return to Paris!
Yesterday in the New York Times Mark Bittman has a little article about scallops, In Winter, It's Scallops. Scallops are one of my favorite foods of all time. Before I liked any seafood or fish whatsoever, I loved scallops. I missed them so much when I lived in San Francisco that, one time when I came home to Boston for Thanksgiving, I ate scallops every night for dinner for a week!! Of course, those were mostly sea scallops, not bay scallops.
FANS of seasonal, regional foods have little to celebrate in the depths of winter, especially those of us in the Northeast. Among the notable exceptions is the bay scallop, often called the Nantucket bay scallop because one of the last significant fisheries for this gem, once found from the Maritimes to the Carolinas, centers on that island.
There is no doubt that the Nantucket bay scallop is the best scallop ever, and inspired by reading this yesterday, I headed straight to the greenmarket to see if the Long Island fishmongers had any. Talk about nothing to celebrate! The greenmarket was nearly deserted (I guess because of the horrible rain) and those who were there seemed to be only selling apples and squash. Lots and lots of apples and squash. I had to settle for sea scallops from Whole Foods instead.
Then you need this list from New York magazine: 101 Best Restaurants. A list by stars (of course) but that goes from one star ("Good") to five stars ("Ethereal; almost perfect"). So what's the #1 according to New York? Le Bernardin. I can't comment because I've never eaten there, nor at #2, Masa. That's it for five stars. Thomas Keller's Per Se is #3 and comes in with four stars. And there's lots more great stuff on the list. Aside from the top ten (which has many yummy places), there are some of my favorite places to eat in the city in the second ten (Blue Hill!) and lots of stand-bys both old and new listed throughout. A handy reference, more so than Zagat (which I find "annoying" and "unreliable") or Michelin (which I'm not so sure about for its first NY edition). Read to the very end, as there are standouts at the very bottom like #98, Grand Sichuan Eastern (Second Avenue) and #100 Café Sabarsky. Good eating!
A little late with this one, it would have been a better link before all the holiday entertaining, but still useful for those that like to invite guests over for dinner. Le plan de repas, or "[H]ow to plan a meal from start to finish and then stick to the plan."
My guests often accuse me of having worked too hard to prepare their meal, and I have a hard time convincing them that the whole process was very relaxing and not particularly difficult. Although they may want to think it, I really didn‰Ûªt stress over their meal. I learned many years ago how to plan a meal from start to finish and then stick to the plan.
Great advice there, and it's pretty much what I do whenever I have people over for dinner, even if it's just another couple. A few years ago when I did Thanksgiving at my apartment in San Francisco, I had 3/4th of everything done before guests even arrived. It was great, I was totally able to hang out and enjoy the day.
