01.07.07
The Family Business
We had a new employee at Vero last night. My lovely wife Caroline stepped up to the plate, and helped out with food running and some table bussing. Seeing as how she had never waited a table in her life, I was really shocked to see her jump into the game like this. Here’s how it went down:
Friday night in the kitchen, and we are all cleaning up. My cell phone begins to ring, and I recognize the tune as that of my wife calling me. She informs me that she is in the neighborhood, and wants to stop by. Of course I say she is welcome to - it is always good to see her given how little we get to see each other nowadays.
Back in the kitchen, she is hanging out with us, having some leftover dessert (the benefits of being a chef’s wife never cease), and listening to our manager - Anne - bemoan the fact that we are one server short for the next day’s (Saturday’s) service. In jest, and partially in desperation, she asks Caroline if she wants to come on as a server for tomorrow. I laughed, thinking that it was a funny symbol of Anne’s desperation, and I figured Caroline would politely, but quickly, decline.
“Sure,” was her reply.
“Guhwahhhhhh??” was mine.
 “If you’re going to be in the family business, you’re gonna have to bring me bread. Lots of bread. Lots and lots of bread.” |
Fast forward to last night, Caroline showed up a half hour before we opened, she got a crash course in how to give people bread, water, clear tables and run plates out to people. Sure, it is not the world’s hardest job to learn, especially for someone as smart as Caroline, but I was still concerned that she may be a bit overwhelmed since this was her first time ever, and it was a busy Saturday night.
Well, I will cut to the chase now - she was awesome. Every server came back at some point saying how much they loved Caroline, and how she was saving them big time. I was truly impressed as she seemed to be all over the orders all the time. She kicked butt and took names, and at the end of it all, there was one truly great measure of how much she helped out:
Not one dish was sent back to the kitchen with the complaint that it had gotten cold. I’m not saying that this is a common complaint we receive, but it does happen on busy nights. And when food comes back, that means we have to re-cook items, and that makes a busy kitchen even busier. Nothing came back to us - it almost made the night seem easy as pie. And sure, I may be biased here, but I really think Caroline had a hell of a lot to do with this.
We have one server who especially liked to run her own food, despite the fact that she is pathetically slow. I gave lots of her dishes to Caroline to run out, so for once, all of her food arrived on time. The benefits of having Caroline on staff never ended! (It was also that server’s final night, so it was good for her to end with a night with everything delivered on time…)
 Oh hell no… |
And finally, as the night was wrapping up, many of the servers were asking Caroline if she would be back next Saturday as well. I of course would have no complaints with that, but then she might start a rival blog to mine, and I just can’t have that.
Stumble it!
Chris said,
January 7, 2007 at 9:40 pm
I think I know why I like your blog. It tames my addiction until the next Hell’s Kitchen, Top Chef, or Next Food TV star episodes come on!
Actually, what really resonated from this entry is how proud you are of your wife. That may seem silly, but most men don’t cherish their wife like they should. Kudos to you.
vomerific said,
January 8, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Go Caroline! Looks like you now have the other half of your future restaurant all set.
Alejandra said,
January 9, 2007 at 11:52 pm
I second Chris’s comment. You always write about your wife with such love and pride…that’s incredible. I hope she knows how lucky she is. Also, good job Caroline! I would be terrible at running plates as I am a magnificent klutz. That takes skill and finesse that I do not have.
PS I just want to note that you pics/captions always crack me up.
Matt said,
January 12, 2007 at 11:44 am
Thank you all, and Caroline says thanks as well. She had a good time, and in fact the owners want to see if she can do it again sometime if they are ever short-handed again. I am sure she would be game for that since everyone was so thrilled with the job she did the first time.
And yeah, she is really great, and very lucky to have me. (ha ha)
And thank you Alejandra for the comment on my pics/captions. I think that is one of my best areas, and I put a lot of time into getting the right pics for my posts. Glad you enjoy them!