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TDG: (Excerpts from) Gluttony at Table #1

jogoode

By jogoode
in Food Traditions & Culture

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jogoode

jogoode

Posted
Posted
The Beet was originally supposed to open mid 2001. It's typical for a restaurant opening to be delayed. Construction and difficulty in obtaining permits and licenses are the normal reasons for delays. The Beet had an additional handicap: incompetence...

Employee X shows us how an incompetent restaurant runs, from its accountant's perspective. Tony Bourdain wrote the intro and called the series a samizdat Kitchen Confidential. I can't wait for part 2.

* * *

Be sure to check The Daily Gullet home page daily for new articles (most every weekday), hot topics, site announcements, and more.

JJ Goode

Co-author of Serious Barbecue, which is in stores now!

www.jjgoode.com

"For those of you following along, JJ is one of these hummingbird-metabolism types. He weighs something like eleven pounds but he can eat more than me and Jason put together..." -Fat Guy

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srhcb

srhcb

Posted
Posted
The Beet was originally supposed to open mid 2001. It's typical for a restaurant opening to be delayed. Construction and difficulty in obtaining permits and licenses are the normal reasons for delays. The Beet had an additional handicap: incompetence...

Employee X shows us how an incompetent restaurant runs, from its accountant's perspective. Tony Bourdain wrote the intro and called the series a samizdat Kitchen Confidential. I can't wait for part 2.

* * *

Be sure to check The Daily Gullet home page daily for new articles (most every weekday), hot topics, site announcements, and more.

How did you do this.

If I go to General Food Topics I don't even see this thread, and I can't see any way to "quote" and post off of the article?

SB (not high tech)

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Marlene

Marlene

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more! give me more!

please.

Be patient my child. Soon.. Very soon....... :biggrin:

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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srhcb

srhcb

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RE: "Everyone says bartenders are the ones in the know. I say, if you want to know what's really going on, ask the accountant."

An accountant, of course, can't discuss a client's affairs. There are, however, two businesses that are directly proportional to the amount of sales, and no trick bookkeeping can hide them either. The most reliable sources of information about how a bar or restaurant is doing are the linen service and garbage pick-up.

This is one reason why these two businesses were traditionally controlled by mob people. It's a pretty accurate way to detect skimming in establishments where they had an "unsecured" financial interest.

IRS-CID employs similar procedures.

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Blondie

Blondie

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As I said on a similar thread on the New Jersey board, I’m thrilled that this material is finally seeing the light of day. Being one of the lucky recipients of the dispatches Bourdain referred to, and, not wishing to give anything away, I can only say that you guys are in for a treat.

Sometimes When You Are Right, You Can Still Be Wrong. ~De La Vega

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bloviatrix

bloviatrix

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Why so short? I want more dammit.

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

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Suzanne F

Suzanne F

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There are, however, two businesses that are directly proportional to the amount of sales, and no trick bookkeeping can hide them either. The most reliable sources of information about how a bar or restaurant is doing are the linen service and garbage pick-up.

Add one more: the purveyor(s) of product.

If you want to know who's gone to C.O.D., or not using top-quality stuff any more, ask the guys who deliver the ingredients.

Trish -- you mean that has an absolutely gorgeous sink but stocks it with cheapo z-fold paper towels? (Was that mentioned in the piece?) Are you sure you really want to know??? :unsure::laugh:

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jogoode

jogoode

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(begging, with tongue hanging out like a thirsty puppy...) oooooh, more, PLEASE! :raz:

Hey, I've got some more -- the second installment's right here.

Honestly, the only person I can remember getting fired is the cook who flung a plate at Mrs. B. In all fairness, she deserved it. The guy is presently collecting unemployment. The official reason per the New York State Department of Labor: "Owner tossed knife at claimant."

JJ Goode

Co-author of Serious Barbecue, which is in stores now!

www.jjgoode.com

"For those of you following along, JJ is one of these hummingbird-metabolism types. He weighs something like eleven pounds but he can eat more than me and Jason put together..." -Fat Guy

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jogoode

jogoode

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Next installment here.

The Baron ordered the chef to change the lamb ragu to a more "manly" dish: lamb shank, a dish that puts hair on your chest. On Thursday the BB ordered it and was not happy. He immediately proclaimed, "This dish is not fit for rats."

* * *

Be sure to check The Daily Gullet home page daily for new articles (most every weekday), hot topics, site announcements, and more.

JJ Goode

Co-author of Serious Barbecue, which is in stores now!

www.jjgoode.com

"For those of you following along, JJ is one of these hummingbird-metabolism types. He weighs something like eleven pounds but he can eat more than me and Jason put together..." -Fat Guy

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mamster

mamster

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And the next one here.

The crowd of 50 didn't pose a big problem; they could handle their tap water. But the security guys came in handy. They were invaluable in controlling the wait staff.

* * *

Be sure to check The Daily Gullet home page daily for new articles (most every weekday), hot topics, site announcements, and more.

Matthew Amster-Burton, aka "mamster"

Author, Hungry Monkey, coming in May

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mamster

mamster

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Easier done than said, katbalou.

I like to be bald! I shaved my head vonce, but The Baron went into shock vhen he saw me. I hate long hair. My mahther cut off my peegtails and I never looked back. It was so liberating. I luuuuv it !!!!

* * *

Be sure to check The Daily Gullet home page daily for new articles (most every weekday), hot topics, site announcements, and more.

Matthew Amster-Burton, aka "mamster"

Author, Hungry Monkey, coming in May

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jhlurie

jhlurie

Posted
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Like watching a slow motion train wreck. Fascinating, even as you brace for the impact. And a good reminder to keep up with your tipping math....!

Ah, as you've certainly noticed more Gluttony!

She [Mrs. B] either doesn't understand or doesn't believe the break-even reports or financial statements I have done. So I showed her in more simplistic terms and she finally got it. "Here's the money we take in (sales), here's what we paid out (in infinite detail), and we're left with negative a bazillion dollars." Stupid me. I'm chucking all the financial reports for this simpleton cash flow report.

* * *

Be sure to check The Daily Gullet home page daily for new articles (most every weekday), hot topics, site announcements, and more.

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

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jhlurie

jhlurie

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Is this from a book?

Nope. Could it be eventually? Perhaps.

Here's how Tony Bourdain introduced us to it:

For some time, I've been on the receiving end of a series of long, tortured e-mails, first person dispatches from the front lines of restaurant hell. For almost a year, Employee X, a NYC restaurant version of Deep Throat, regaled me regularly with the grim, outrageous, clinical details of a well-known Manhattan restaurant's rise, fall, and protracted and ludicrous death throes. Employee X, clinging to his job at the nerve center of a wildly dysfunctional beast of a restaurant, kept me -- and a discreet group of appreciative aficionados -- constantly informed of every cough and gurgle -- every terrifying injustice, humiliation, dashed hope, and bizarro initiative.

How Tony first came in contact with this guy, I have no idea. Then again, Mr. Bourdain has lots of interesting friends.

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

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mamster

mamster

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It's back!

Two middle-aged men came for dinner. One had his hair tied back in a ponytail, wore a black T-shirt and had rope chains around his neck with crucifixes. He looked like an over-the-hill rock star. As it turned out, he was a producer for the Discovery Channel. Same thing, I guess.

Indignities at The Beet

* * *

Be sure to check The Daily Gullet home page daily for new articles (most every weekday), hot topics, site announcements, and more.

Matthew Amster-Burton, aka "mamster"

Author, Hungry Monkey, coming in May

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