phlox

Thank you, those look great!

I am going to be in Philly for one night tomorrow and will be staying at the Sheraton Society Hill - where should I eat? My companion and I will be getting there later in the evening, so we probably won't be in the mood for anything too fancy or super crowded.

Well, I work in a restaurant now as a host and would like to keep working in restaurants, so I feel like I need to be able to use a wine key like everyone else does. I can use other devices, like those little butterfly contraptions for instance, but this specific type is what's giving me trouble.

I can't open wine with a wine key. There was a time when I was able to, albeit awkwardly, but the more people try to tell me how to do it 'right,' the less I'm able to do it, and now I've psyched myself out so much that I can't do it at all. Literally. I just stood in my kitchen trying to open a bottle of beaujolais, sweating and screaming and pulling harder than I've ever pulled before, so hard I cracked the glass on the bottle, and the cork will.not.come.out. This happens every time I try to open wine now. I know how you're supposed to do it - hold the metal prong thingies over the top of the glass part so you can use the key as a lever. I've tried pushing down, pulling up, I've watched people do it over and over and I just can't do it. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I suspect part of the problem may be that I'm so short that trying to do this on a countertop is making it harder for me, but I'm not sure. I'm taking a six-month long course on wine and have aced every exam, but I can't bloody open it! Help me!

My boyfriend is a cook and I work foh. When our days off overlap we like to take full advantage of being able to spend time together when the sun is out! We go to the Strip District and shop for goodies, and then he cooks them for me while I veg out and read or surf the 'net. I'm spoiled! I like to have friends over for dinner and work on various writing projects. My man likes to ride his bike and participate in alleycat races and such. Soon we'll have a garden in our backyard. But mostly we just like to sit around and watch DVDs, drink wine and eat things!

Yes, the line between dessert and main course, etc, is being blurred, but when I think about how much work our pastry kitchen does, the idea of expecting the hot kitchen to do all of that in addition to their normal workload seems insane. At the restaurant where I work we make all of our own breads, ice creams, sauces and chocolates, in addition to the regular dessert menu and the dessert courses for the tasting menu, which changes almost every day. It's a lot of work, and it's a different kind of work (more can and has to be done ahead of time, for instance), so it makes sense to have a separate team dealing with it.

Don't feel bad, Marlene - I went through a phase when I was about five in which I refused to eat anything for dinner other than lemon Dannon yogurt and a hot dog, no bun. No idea what that wa about, but now I am one of the most adventurous eaters I know.

The bartender at the restaurant where I work recently let me try a drink he's working on whose rim is dipped in orange salt (salt with orange zest). I believe it's Bluecoat gin, OJ, and something else I can't rememer. He had me try it sans salt first and it was kind of meh, but with the salt it was fantastic! The orange salt is really aromatic and yummy. I will ask him for more details on his new concoction tomorrow.

Finally, BRAVO ← Amen! Things happen! People get sick, kids get cranky, planes are delayed. My standard line is, 'thank you for letting us know, and we hope to see you again soon!' A lot of restaurants do overbook...it's all kind of a nerve-wracking process, especially on a busy night. Trying to fit everyone in, seat a few walk-ins, hoping that large party that sounded kind of strange on the phone actually shows up so the server who was going to get that table doesn't bludgeon you with a hole-punch...

Right now I am nibbling on a Giraudi 70% bar. Giraudi is a pretty pricy Italian brand, but well worth it. I also usually have an assortment of Guittard bars and couverture discs on hand because I think they make an exceptional product for a very reasonable price. Their single origin and blend bars are really great, and only two or three bucks a pop.

The restaurant where I work is having our wine director teach a wine course and I am taking it. It's a lot of fun so far! We are using the Kevin Zraly's Windows on the World book. I am also reading the corresponding chapters of the Wine Bible for a bit more background.

I love love love Bluecoat! I like it over ice with a twist of lime. It's so smooth.

Sometimes there is no big, cosmic reason. Sometimes people who might 'deserve' special treatment don't get it, and there is no big special reason why, just no one thought of it for some reason.

I am a slow eater myself, but sometimes I am shocked at how long people will stay at a table! I have seen four, going on five hours! Don't people have homes and jobs and lives?! Last week I was working a lunch shift. We serve lunch from 11:30 until 2. Then from 2 until 5 the main dining room is closed, but you can hang out in the bar/lounge and order from a tavern menu if you wish. At 5, we start serving dinner. A group of people came in and sat down for lunch at about 1:30. They were there until about 4:45! We had to hold the pre-shift meeting upstairs, and it made trying to get ready for dinner a huge pain. I really thought they were going to try and stay past when dinner started, and I'm not sure what we would have done then. This was on a weekday, too, which made it especially odd. Around 4 we were all like, screw it, we're eating our staff meal, and if they don't like seeing us scarf down some penne and packaged salad so we can keep going until 11, too bad! It was v. awkward.

So you're insulting his restaurant's wine list when you don't even know what restaurant he works for, and he's the one with the obnoxious attitude? When you post on a forum titled 'Restaurant Life,' you should be prepared for folks who work in the industry to let their hair down a little. Restaurants don't have to allow you to bring your own wine. In fact, they don't *have* to do anything. I mean, the movie theater doesn't let you bring your own snacks, and they crazily mark up the Junior Mints and what have you. They don't 'hate customers,' they're running a business! So your choices are: subscribe to Netflix, bring your own trail mix and risk being chastised by the usher, go hungry, or buy the overpriced Junior Mints. But the movie theater's policy should not be taken as a personal affront to your humanity, you know?

Oh, no! I'm so sorry this happened while you were here, Daniel! I work at Eleven and everyone was talking about this today. So weird. The Big Burrito restaurants are all good, I think, but in my opinion the best ones are Eleven (er, not that I'm biased or anything) and Soba (Asian fusian - my boyfriend is a cook there, and while I make fun of him for working at a place where they deep fry sweetbreads and drizzle some kind of fruity blackberry shit on them, the food is definitely tasty, although not authentically anything). Casbah is good, but I think it's fallen off in quality recently, especially the desserts. They just taste blah and flat to me now. Le Pommier is a French bistro on the South Side of Pittsburgh, and it is excellent. Seriously, I cannot say enough about what a great job they do. Cozy, casual but nice atmosphere, great service, and VERY reasonable prices for the quality and quantity of food you get. Right now they have this chicken liver mousse stuff they're serving with the bread. Mother of god, is that stuff ever good. I practically licked the little ramekin last time I was there. I also highly recommend going to the Strip District. There is a gourmet chocolate store there whose selection rivals a lot of stores I've seen in NYC (I work there a few hours a week, too). Of course there are the famous spots like Wholey's and Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, and Enrico Biscotti (basis for the movie The Bread, My Sweet), but my favorite places in the Strip are Cafe Richard (awesome sandwiches and pastries) and La Prima (Italian-style coffee joint; flagship coffeehouse for La Prima roastery, which I always have at home), to make up for the fact that while Cafe Richard has excellent food, their coffee is awful! Seriously bad, like old socks. Oh well, can't have everything. Feel free to PM me if you have questions or want more details - I am a hostess at Eleven, so I can hook you up with a nice table if you decide to go there!

I have never liked Dagoba or Scharffen Berger. In my opinion, the best value for your money for baking and eating is Guittard. I also love El Rey and Giraudi.

I feel like I should get a tip for takeout orders at the restaurant where I work, because I (the hostess) am the person who has to have a 20-minute long conversation with the customer on the phone about how they want 'soft' bread, a different side, mashed potatoes 'without too much garlic - last time there was too much garlic' and on and on and on, while trying to deal with the first part of the dinner rush. Seriously, this person's order practically took up a full page of notebook paper. I feel like we know each other well enough, after our involved conversation, that I should maybe send her a holiday card next year.

Exactly - it's not like I want gossip fodder, it's just that I can better solve your problem if I know what the problem is. Sometimes people just say, "I don't like this table" and make me guess WHY they don't like it. That's up there with my other favorite conversation: "Hello, how are you this evening?" "Mmm" "Do you have a reservation?" "Yes." ::silence:: People will seriously just stare at me as though they expect me to know who they are! It's hilarious, especially when they are not regulars. Most of the time I'm sure people aren't trying to be obnoxious, I just find it funny. My other favorite type of guest is the pharmeceutical dinner guest. Pharma reps will organize these nice dinners for doctors and whatnot, but sometimes we have several large parties or even more than one pharmeceutical dinner on the same night. So then people will show up and just sort of stand there saying, 'um, I'm here for a...a thing....' They don't know what time it's supposed to start, who organized it, what company it's affiliated with. WTF? Sometimes all they know is the topic of the talk, so I'll have to sneak up to the room and look at the power point slides and be like, 'ok, that one's bipolar depression, and that one's...Christ, some long string of syllables I can't make sense of...' Markk, I think your frustration stems from the fact that you're not an asshole! Your requests are usually accomodated because they're a)not insane and b)you're polite about it! You're not who we're complaining about.

I LOVE IT when people do this. I hate it when there is fumbling or awkwardness right when people arrive; it puts a damper on their experience, and I hate handing off annoyed people to the server and leaving it to them to calm them down! I will seriously coordinate with another hostess/manager/person hanging around at the door to make sure that we don't both ask to take your coats at the same time. Things are that choreographed. I am also a little obsessive about making sure there are no smudges on the glass doors. It bugs me so much, argh! (OK, so maybe I am just a little obsessive in general...)

Here's the other rub, though - your hostess, server, busboy, etc., are working not only to please customers, but to not piss off their bosses so they can keep their jobs and pay the light bill. If another party is supposed to go to a certain table, I might not be able to seat you there because my boss, the general manager, has done the seating plot for the night and wants to have it that way, for whatever reason. On a Friday or Saturday night, I often have close to zero wiggle room and no room for walk-ins at all. It stinks because often I am not the person making decisions, but I have to be the bearer of bad news. Sometimes, that's just the way it is, and sometimes you are not the most important person there. I can't really help that - it's not my restaurant, I just work there - all I can do is use what little control I have to make things as pleasant as possible for people and try to be as nice as I can about it when I can't fulfill a request. The other night a man literally started yelling at me because I couldn't guaruntee a certain table for him for Valentine's Day. There weren't any managers around that I could have him talk to, and he just WOULDN'T STOP. It takes a lot to fluster me; I've delt with a lot of jerks, but I almost cried he was so mean, like up in my space yelling at me. We just went around and around, it was so frustrating! I don't make up the rules! I even said that (in a more polite way) in an effort to level with him, but no dice. Aggh, I just wanted to run into the bathroom to get away from him!

It takes two seconds to get a fork! That is not what we're ranting about at all. Of course all restaurants want to make money, and happy customers mean more money for everyone. But some people are just bloody annoying - service industry folks are people too, we get annoyed just like everyone else who works with the public. I'm an extrovert in a big way, and even I get burnt out on being around people and smiling and standing up straight and bla bla bla. And while I respect not wanting to talk about your personal medical issues with some dumb hostess you've never met before and I wouldn't expect this kind of explanation for a polite request, sometimes when the person making the request gives some kind of reason, it humanizes the interaction (and also can help me find the best solution to the problem), which for someone who spends all day/evening having pretty much the same freaking conversation over and over, is...well, nice. Not required, but nice.

I may take you up on that someday! The Looking Pretty part is actually sort of fun - the hosts and floor managers kind of set the tone of the place, so it's important. If a little lipgloss and some ironing makes people feel like they're someplace glamorous, I'm happy to do it!

Ooh, this issue really burns me up! I really think the cooks should get a cut of the tips, and they don't where I work. All the FOH folks make more than the kitchen staff (excluding chef, sous chefs, managers). The other day one of the women who works in the pastry kitchen (and this is in a really nice restaurant) told me what she makes, and I was appalled. Her hourly wage is well below the poverty level in my state.

Exactly! This is another reason why it's always better to make a reservation, even if it's the same day or just a few hours beforehand. I ask an almost annoying battery of questions so that when you actually come in, everything goes smoothly. I ask if it's a special occasion, if anyone in the party has trouble using stairs. We use Open Table, so I can jot down all kinds of notes - so please, if you have an allergy, hearing problem, a certain kind of wine you like, you're going to a show afterwards, whatever, tell me ahead of time! I will plan for it! But if you want to change tables at 7pm on a Saturday, please excuse the look of panic in my eyes! Ha! And yes, I do take my job seriously. A lot of hostesses just sort of stand around, but the host/hostess really does have the power to make the restaurant run more smoothly. At least where I work, we are expected to keep an eye on every table and decide which ones to turn, and we are who you can blame if the kitchen dissolves into chaos at 7:30. I also know the menu (people I work with seem surprised that I actually like food - hello, I work at a restaurant!), and I try and listen in on the little spiel the chef gives about the tasting menus for that day, even though I'm not really required to know anything about it. When I'm getting people's coats and saying goodbye I ask what they had or if they liked anything in particular if they seem chatty. For whatever reason, guests sometimes give me more feedback than they give their servers! I also have the all-important job of being The Person Everyone Goes To When They Are Bored And/Or Need Something. Need a rubber band? Glue? A safety pin? A mint? A cab? Someone to join you in making fun of the guy who looks exactly like Bilbo Baggins at table 119? I'm your girl!