RANTS & RAVES: BERNARDEAU A NO?

(Flo, Sous Chef)

I can hear the telephone ringing over the thud of the oven door closing, plate rattling, and vegetables in a wok crying, “We are about to be over cooked!” My hands are tied up plating a dish. Chris grabs the fuming vegetables from the stove and places them carefully on the dish that I am plating. I tinker with it a little more, a little more, almost there. I can feel the eyes of the servers as they wait at the bar for table 43’s meal; Finally, Chris shouts, “C’mon, Flo, stop fingering the dish, and put it up!” Pleased with the dish, I cautiously hand it over to the server to deliver to the hungry patron. I look at the parting dish as if I was l sending off family on a greyhound bus, farewell.

I begin working on the next ticket. I am feeling good, and the kitchen is clicking as a unit. Suddenly, I see the server coming to the kitchen. The customer is unhappy I hear.

"Why?" I ask the server if the vegetables are overcooked.

“No”, he responds.

I ask if the meat if under or over done.

“No”, he responds again.

I ask if the potato or the sauce is the problem. His response is indifferent. Then why is the customer unhappy? I didn’t understand.

“Well, he said the food is great but the plate is too large”.

As in portion size I wondered to myself, but before I can ask he tells me that the actual plate is too large, and he is unhappy and wants to talk to Chris about it. The customer wants Chris to stop production, and bring the kitchen to a standstill.

There goes the clicking the kitchen was doing earlier.