zenial
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Posts posted by zenial
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What am I to think? Here at this site we have many people who otherwise seem sensible, but when it comes to a really stupid television show (as most are) cannot wait to post some frivolous (aye, meaningless) comment.
Has television reduced everyone to the lowest common denominator?
Edit: Susie says I'm being too harsh. She thinks I'm being an asshole for being so critical. She also thinks that it is almost as bad to spend all this time at eGullet as to watch Rocco. Susie has assisted in this edit.
Edit II. Susie would also like to say that she just came off a tractor after spending five hours raking hay so it could be baled before it rains tonight. There is a little dose of reality.
Not that I like to admit it but it is TV's job to reduce everyone to the lowest common denominator. With the exeption of a very very small handful of programs. We are being raised as consumers.
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It almost made me miss the nasty Brazilian chick who couldn't be nice to the customers "because it's not me".
is Caroline brazilian? i thought during the interview she was talking about her "nonna" and her making "taglierini" with the "pasta machine"??? was she pretending to be italian just so they would hire her?
Caroline is brazilian
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Sheesh, it's just a tv show. Is anyone going to remember it next summer?
According to the Aug 4-10 ratings(http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/entertainment/television/6531088.htm), it didn't crack the top 20 nationally and here in the Bay Area was 19th.
Nationally, the reality shows ranked higher were "Big Brother 4" (twice, Tues and Wed), "Fear Factor," "For Love or Money," "Who Wants to Marry My Dad," "The Amazing Race" and "Last Comic Standing." Not to mention two pre-season football games.
In the Bay Area, a presumably food-interested market, more people watched the two football games, "Amazing Race," "Big Brother" (Wed), "Who Wants to Marry My Dad," "For Love or Money" than "The Restaurant."
I'm too lazy to look up all the ratings week by week, but I don't think this show captured the general public's interest.
I doubt if Rocco has anything to worry about as long as his serious cooking doesn't suffer from his flirtation with media success and pop culture glory.
All the other affore mentioned shows had much much better time slots. The Restaurant is on at 10:00 on SUNDAY. As far as the ratings went it was the best in it's slot. With an average of 8 million per show very good on a sunday night. Also if there was no public intrest which there was NBC would not want to do a second season which they do.
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In honor of the last episode of The Restaurant, I prepared Mama's Meatballs. A disclaimer: I can't make a recipe exactly as written; there's always some tweaking going on during the preparation. That said, on to the experience that has left me with a touch of post-ironic stress disorder:
I was lucky enough to find a package of a beef/pork/veal "meatball and meatloaf mix" in my local Giant supermarket. I try to avoid veal, for ethical reasons (my only food ethic) but somehow it seemed ok to use something that already had veal mixed in (because I couldn't easily remove it). I felt that the 5 eggs called for in the recipe was far too many and added three instead. I didn't have fresh parsley, so I used dried. And I made my own version of tomato sauce instead of using that of Mama Dispirito. The meat mixture was a gloppy, runny mess that refused to stay spherical in the pan. As I browned them, each ball flattened into a patty-like form, which made for uneven browning. In addition, they were nigh-impossible to turn and keep intact at the same time, because of the high moisture content. I did the best I could, with my husband (our official meatball maker) hovering anxiously over me. I poured my homemade sauce over the mostly-browned and now disintegrating blobs of meat in the saute pan and simmered the mess until it seemed like it should be done.
The cats got curious while I was doing the plating and husband tripped over one, neatly juggling the full pasta bowl in his hands and screaming "get out of here" at the top of his lungs, causing me to drop a meatball and splatter sauce on my shirt.
We rushed the steaming plates to the table and sat down to feast on Mama's Very Chunky Meatsauce and Spaghetti.
Underwhelming, at best. The meatballs were soft, but not in a good way. The taste was ok, but nothing to rave about. My family of non-Italians make much better without using a recipe. In fact, the best Italian-style meatballs I've ever eaten are made by my 100% Polish aunt.
Sorry Mama. Maybe I just didn't use enough love?
Not that i'm here to defend a recipe, but if your going to judge shouldn't you follow it?
I don't mean that as a slam it just makes sense
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Zenial, can you weigh in on my earlier post (p. 35)?
I really can't comment. I try not to post other people's feelings. Unless I know they would want them heard.
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With all of the drama that we see from the staff, you would think that we would've heard more about it if they weren't getting paid on time. I don't think that they weren't being paid. It was just a setup to give them another chance for product placement.
do you think that the cook who wasn't getting paid and said as much was in on it?
when you say that we would have heard more about it, do you mean here on egullet, or on the show.
Oh...believe me we were not getting paid.
zenial,
When you say not getting paid, were the waiters getting paid their tips every night, or were they on the paychecks also? I can understand the cooks getting edgy with no paychecks, but waiter paychecks are minimal if the tips are paid out in cash every night. Most places here don't do that anymore.
Well yea we were getting tips, however we had not been paid for our training yet which was not two much but at least it was something, the tips were so low. Now the Cooks on the other hand had not recieved ANYTHING since they obviously don't get tipped, they got shafted a lot worse than us. Granted we all did get paid eventually but when you live in the city you really can't afford to go ling without pay (which is really the case everywhere just a little more in NYC).
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With all of the drama that we see from the staff, you would think that we would've heard more about it if they weren't getting paid on time. I don't think that they weren't being paid. It was just a setup to give them another chance for product placement.
do you think that the cook who wasn't getting paid and said as much was in on it?
when you say that we would have heard more about it, do you mean here on egullet, or on the show.
Oh...believe me we were not getting paid.
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Maybe I'm mistaken in thinking this, but the only person who always seems to have it together is Laurent (sp). Maybe it's just a front, but he seems unflappable.
He is unflappable
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In regard to "brand Rocco," does anyone have the new issue of The New Yorker (the family issue)? Between pages 76 and 77 there's an ad insert for Ruffino and I swear, Rocco is in the ad. I handed the ad to my husband and said "what do you see?" and his response was "that's Rocco."
Is Ruffino another one of his sponsors? Or is it just another guy, with artfully mussed hair, that's his "double"? And if it is his "double," maybe that will be the twist NBC throws in for the final week - the guy walking around on the floor, flirting with all the women isn't Rocco, but his evil twin brother.
DUN DUN DAAAAAAAA
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original statement:also probably going to set a record for first-time-posters who offer nothing else to egullet.
care to try again?
Sorry your right. But I don't think it was as small a contribution as you make it out to be.
Hah. Stop fighting children!
eGullet will sail on successfully with or without people who are on the "inside" of any issue we discuss. On the other hand, they can indeed help the discussion, and from what I've always seen are usually given a pretty good shake at it.
In other words, eG doesn't "need" them, but can and does "appreciate" them, assuming the contribution is positive. The amount of that contribution matters not, I think, as long as it outweighs any negatives. Some great collaborations can occur this way (or not). Like all discussion sites, eGullet is inherently a bit of a jungle, but unlike some, it's in a nice spot where we've killed lots of bugs and cut away the underbrush some. It would be nice if everyone felt comfortable exploring the whole site, but its also perfectly valid for someone to be here specifically for one topic. I mean if someone has an axe to grind, or simply something to shill, and nothing else, we usually spot that too, right? It's part of the fun (and I'm NOT saying that either of those is the case with anyone here--I'm just talking about the concept of these things happening).
I think. . .
I'm not some site official speaking here, just an occasional flunky at most. So add an invisible "in my opinion" to every sentence above.{edit for spelking, I mean spelling. idjit.}
Well said!
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But I don't think it was as small a contribution as you make it out to be.
Wilde again:
"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."
Take heart, zenial. At least you're being talked about.
LOL
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original statement:also probably going to set a record for first-time-posters who offer nothing else to egullet.
care to try again?
Sorry your right. But I don't think it was as small a contribution as you make it out to be.
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At the rate it's going it may end up being the all time most viewed thread in eGullet history.
also probably going to set a record for first-time-posters who offer nothing else to egullet.
Yea who wants a bunch of different opinions.
since you spoke up, i'll go ahead and suggest that you'd be a good example: you've contributed nothing to egullet except for your thoughts on this thread. i don't particularly think that's a bad thing, but rather i was simply pointing it out.
if you followed my posts here on egullet, i think you'd see that i'm all about freedom of expression, and i welcome divergent opinions, as long as they're based largely on fact rather than emotion. and i'm sure that i speak not only for myself, but for others, when i say that i've appreciated your input thus far, as well as that of the other staff/actors from Rocco's, as it has been entertaining to say the least.
To say that I have contributed nothing execpt for my thoughts on this thread is to say that I indeed have contributed something, which is in direct contrast to your original statment. I think that for us to voice our opinions about the given subject (The Restaurant) from our vantage point (Actually working at Roccos) brings something to the discussion that no other egullet member can. True, I have not posted in other threads, but to say I have not contributed to egullet at all is a little hastey and also false, you said so yourself. Likewies I have recieved invaluble input for numerous industry professionals about the show and serving in general. Now not to call you out but do you still believe that I have contributed nothing to egullet.
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At the rate it's going it may end up being the all time most viewed thread in eGullet history.
also probably going to set a record for first-time-posters who offer nothing else to egullet.
Yea who wants a bunch of different opinions.
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I have never been surprised by people's misconception of thier own importance. The FOH bitch session about the concept of the restaurant was hilarious. They thought they had something at stake because of thier positions. Thats laughable, Rocco or Chowdrow or NBC put up 4 million dollars so they could make the decisions on the concept of the place. If Topher, or Pete or Gideon want to make those decisions go down to the bank sign away everything you own (hair gel, playstation 2, bling bling, and thier parent's house) and feel free to give it a try. Maybe then you would want to know how the busboy thinks you should serve the appetizers.
Yeah, I was amused by that sequence too. I think the complaints may have been valid in their content, but it certainly isn't a staffer's (i.e. non financial risk-taker) place to make them unless otherwise solicited by ownership/management. I'm sure folks who coughed up the $4M for this venture couldn't care less what those who didn't have to say about it--especially since the backers have a history of previous successes.
=R=
Although I agree with a lot of what you are saying, Rocco made it clear from the begining that this was "OUR" restaurant. Not only was feed back wanted it also seemed expected, it felt like a dream job. Come to find out he was to busy to care (not that blame him at all). That's why the bitch session.
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As a former BOH slavey: Hey, BOH does not make for "good" TV of this type. We come in, do our prep, set up our stations, cook and do our best to cover for the mistakes the FOH makes, clean up, and go home. For a lot of us, the place shown is only one of our jobs, because you can't take care of a family on a line cook's pay. Who really wants to see that? The only time we screw around -- and how -- is when it's slow, which doesn't seem to be the case at Rocco's.
And while I haven't read much of this thread, please, those who bash the Post -- it wasn't always the way it is now. Way back in the days of Dolly Schiff (within my lifetime), it was one of the best liberal papers in the city. Damn Kalikow. Double damn Murdock.
How the mighty are fallen. 
Oh yea the BOH Never makes mistakes.
When we goof up you guys have to work harder. We you goof up we have to work harder and loose money. Neither job is easier than the other, and mistakes are USUALLY even sided.
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First post - please be kind.What bothers me is that all the people know what editing can do but will still complain about the incompetant staff.
I'm sorry, I don't buy this line for one second. I watch a lot of reality tv, and while editing can often concentrate on just one side of a person's personality, it cannot put words in your mouth, nor can it fabricate your actions. This is a Mark Burnett show. The man has made the editing of reality shows into an art form, and the truth is that his editors are rarely off the mark.
As an avid reality show junkie, I have rather mixed feelings about the show. Most people here ripped the premiere apart, but I truly enjoyed it. I found it very entertaining, and frankly, I don't expect much in the form of "reality" from reality television, and the reason I generally tune in is to mock, rather than to follow blindly. I'm also entirely too accustomed to product placement in reality shows, so in truth, I probably missed half of the rather blatant commercialism.
The second episode made me a little uncomfortable. Perhaps because the first one painted Rocco as less of a tool than I expected. His behaviour was annoying, but not yet reprehensible. I found the wait staff absolutely laughable. I can't really comment as to which of the staff were actors, and which were experienced waiters, but what I saw was a joke, and the comments by some of the waitstaff in this thread didn't do much to sway my opinion. Whether they received a month of training or a day of training, professionalism isn't something that can be taught in that time frame. You either are or you aren't, and for the most part, there was no professionalism at all, and I'm not only talking about the waitstaff. It is entirely uncool to have arguments on the floor. For anyone.
The third episode made my stomache turn. Rocco was shown to be an unmitigated and unprofessional ass. Starting with his inability to be straight with any of his staff, and primarily with Gideon and the annoying Brazillian chick. I think the wait staff hit the nail on the head when they pointed out the identity crisis of the restaurant. Either it's a chow house, or an upscale restaurant, but those are two extremes that can't mix. You can't be replacing cutlery with every course, while expecting people to eat out of disposable dishes. Furthermore, the way Rocco reacted to criticism was absurd.
No joke. I don't care if there was a dialogue that wasn't shown, but the man has absolutely no ability to read people. Those were not people with a sense of humour. They were angry, and when you deal with angry people, you kiss their ass and comp them. Furthermore, a business owner, and I don't care how casual a business (and if he's changing cutlery with every course - it's hardly supposed to be a casual place), should never swear in front of customers. Ever.I especially disliked the part where he apologized to Topher's friends by saying "what can i say, he's a fuck-up." Who knows what really happened, but in any case, i can't imagine circumstances under which you would say that sentence to guests.His behaviour with Linda Stasi was also pathetic. Granted, the woman is hardly a food critic, but she's a critic nonetheless, and acting like and ass and then not even caring if she got her food? If I were in his position, I'd be down there cooking the food myself. Absurd.
I'll keep watching, because I enjoy the fall from grace of reality "stars", but I am unimpressed to say the least.
Well. um. Your wrong I won't go through the whole thing again. But they ACTUALLY DID put words in peoples mouths, thats just the start
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I don't know why Rocco was wearing a cook's jacket. He wasn't cooking.
No, he wasn't.
And is it just me, or . . . is he really not *that* cute?
What I did like was the line cooks sitting around the bar, after their shift, with *no* drinks.
Those weren't cooks, they were waitstaff. And no drinks is ludicrous....they drank nonstop!
I must agree, we pretty much drank non-stop after the shift.
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These websites are cracking me up. Zenial is right. Opening and working at Rocco's that first week was like alternately getting tickled to death and flayed alive. But apparantly, I got through it by smoking in every scene?! haha. You're missing a lot of info with the maniacal editing. If you're interested and/or a service industry lifer, A few of us have websites with background and filler info concerning each episode that might provide more fodder and amusement-- www.uzaytumer.com, www.gideonhowowitz.com, www.tophergoodman.com, www.misslolabelle.com
cheers.
lola
(p.s. zenial...the pseudonym is mysterious. find me)
Does 151 a corner store and a cup of ice ring a bell.
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Hey guys before you down the staff too much. You have no idea what they took out, we put up with more s@#t then any restaurant server would.
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Hey Topher you going to be at freight sunday.
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Oh yea. If anyone knows of a restaurant in Manhattan looking for a server, there is a server in Manhattan looking for a restaurant.
Sorry about the self-whoreing, we all have bills.
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What bothers me is that all the people know what editing can do but will still complain about the incompetant staff.
The proof is in the pudding -- folks have to go to Rocco's and experience the staff for themselves.
At this point, the incompetents should have all been canned anyway. No excuse to have poor service once the filming stopped.
LOL. I must admit I am one of the so-called incompetents that was let go.
Mabye I am incompetent, but I have waited tables for many a year in many a restaurant and recieve nothing but praise. Also the fact that myself and the others that were fired had NO warning of the impending doom, other than people getting fired (in fact the night before i was let go my manager recieved a customer compliment on my behalf) leads me to believe there were other reasons behind the involentary mass-exodus.
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What bothers me is that all the people know what editing can do but will still complain about the incompetant staff.
The proof is in the pudding -- folks have to go to Rocco's and experience the staff for themselves.
At this point, the incompetents should have all been canned anyway. No excuse to have poor service once the filming stopped.
LOL. I must admit I am one of the so-called incompetents that was let go.
"The Restaurant" Reality Show Season 1
in Food Media & Arts
Posted
Whisky sour with gatorade, sounds great.