Category: First course

It’s true, I feel compelled to quote a Kenny Rogers song. “You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em.” Honestly, I am a music junkie, and I don’t quote my songs lightly. But Kenny kind of sums it up perfectly, doesn’t he? I have four honest, intense passions in my…

I’m over it, now. Mostly. I’m still employed. Thankfully. Restaurant Gal Daughter periodically uses a great phrase, which I think is appropriate here: “Thank you, Captain Obvious.” For the record, Captain Obvious, it is incredibly bad form–nay, it is the absolute worst kind of form–to out a blogger who clearly wishes to be anonymous. That’s…

…the Chinese restaurant with the concrete lions out front, I’d get tired of writing about how I told the 2,765th guest, “Hey, tell your kids not to climb on the lions!” …the real estate agent for a house I often pass on my now-rare walks that has been on the market for two years, I’d…

I am not going to lie. Today positively, absolutely, 100 percent…could have been a hell of a lot better. No, it wasn’t the half-baked, almost-but-not-quite-good review online that cursed the day. No, it wasn’t the reserved happy hour gone crazy that made me crazy. No, it wasn’t spending hours fixing the reserved happy hour’s bill…

I walk through a cavernous hotel lobby every morning and every night en route to the subway or to retrieve my car. At first, I saw no one in this world within a world; I wallowed, instead, in my own work madness and newness. But in the past month, I have taken a moment to…

“I want to work as many days as you can give me,” said one of our more experienced servers. “When I’m off, I don’t really do anything.” Really. “So, could you go to the dentist for me?” I asked, laughing. “Sure!” he replied, laughing. “Could you run a billion loads of laundry for me?” I…

When all hell is breaking loose around you, sometimes you just need to go home. Last week, I went back to my old restaurant and hugged one of my favorite downstairs bartenders until I couldn’t hug him any harder. I didn’t tell him what was in store for me. I just told him times were…

I ran food to the food critic’s table (Yes, he was in again tonight–third time in a week). He smiled and thanked me. I wasn’t even nervous. He’s actually very nice. I made the elaborate surprise birthday a complete and total success–as in, we absolutely surprised her, and her significant other was thrilled with how…

Many signs in my path the past few days. Sign One: I lost my subway pass, the one I kept in a nifty little ID case along with my former office ID. I’ve had that thing for years, kept it even after I left the office job. I derived great pleasure by looking at the…

I had the most wonderful dream. The day dawned sunny and warm, but not hot. The lunch shift showed up on time and no one complained about anything. I sensed one server was not feeling well, and I asked if he’d like to head home. He did, happily. We quietly opened the doors for lunch,…