Double Double Toil and, well not really that much Trouble

Yesterday and today I worked doubles between Harrys and the National. 9-3 ish at the National and 5-10 ish at Harry's. Doubles can be tough but I don't mind as much if its at different places, it gives me a chance to get out for awhile and at least its a change of scenery.

Last night at Harry's I was actually waiting tables which I haven't done in about a month or maybe more. It was a good change of pace to be on that side of the kitchen for a while. Getting to actually talk to, and interact with the customers, and hear how much they enjoy their experience dining out always reminds me why it is those of us in food service do what we do (assuming we are doing it as a choice and not as simply a waystation on the path to other things, though there is nothing wrong with that either I suppose.) There was a new girl working with me, she'd already gone through the basics of training but still had alot to learn as this was her first waitressing gig. I'm always at my best when I know someone is taking notes so I busted out the "super server" style and smiled, chatted, bullshitted and "upsold" like a damn Applebee's training video (but with more character ;-) Didn't pull many tips since it was a pretty slow night and, lets be honest, people eating BBQ in a shopping center near the highway on a Wed night are not generally high rollers.

This morning at The National we were very slow early in the day. Patrick our sou chef was working on some prep for our special menu New Years Eve dinner tomorrow night and some caterings that are going out tomorrow as well. He had these giant slabs of meat and asked if anyone wanted to learn how to cut them down into tenderloins for steaks. I had finished all my prep and had no orders in so I watched him do the first one and attacked the second one myself. It was neat to see this huge hunk of meat that I had never encountered before gradually whittled down to a recognizable tenderloin. I am a committed and proud meat eater (more on that later, but basically I believe we should raise animals humanely and healthily, kill them quickly and cook them tastily) so it was a very satisfying thing to really get into the meat and see how its composition, note the differences the surrounding areas of meat and the actual tenderloin itself. Feeling the silver skin, the fat the gristle and all the protein structures of the meat and seeing how each one held up against the sharp knife I felt like a kid doing a science project. Even the noise of ripping the fat cap away from the loin has a sort of primal satisfaction to it.

Tonight at Harry's for some reason we had three in the kitchen instead of the usual two so we did a lot of cleaning and got done very early. It was nice to work with Will and Travis, two of the others there that have been around a long time. We don't always get along but we usually have fun at work and have sort of bonded after many a long hard shift. We've been there through a million different checklists and policy changes, hirings, firing, write-ups, hellish UGA game days, early morning coffee breaks and after work drinks and that's something that draws you to someone despite your differences.

Update on Peter's stock-potted foot: the cadaver skin was just for keeping out infection apparently, not an actual skin graft. He is still in the hospital but doing well and making jokes already. Hopes to be home tomorrow and looking at about 2 months of recovery time if all goes well.