Chef Marla

Author archive

Buying New Equipment!

I got to buy a new convection oven last month. It’s very exciting. When the one you bought 20 years ago dies with a dramatic clunk on Sunday evening, and it is one of your most important pieces of equipment in the kitchen, you have no choice but to spend the money. I had just […]

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Friday at 4:45pm

Why oh why does the heating and air conditioning system always go out on Friday afternoon at 4:45? Reservation sheet is full, service people on overtime and only if you can get them. Chilliest day of the year. I’m pulling my hair out.

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Light bulbs, and don’t even mention Christmas Lights.

Last weekend I realized that we had 3 different light bulbs in the lanterns on the back porch.  When I went to dim them for service, it looked like a laser show.  Light was blasting into one guest’s eyes and the others couldn’t see.  When “they” started adding different clarity of lights to the florescent […]

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No Shows.

No Shows: def:/ someone who does not show up for a reservation at a restaurant. I am a huge Robert Altman fan.  (deceased movie director for you young people)  I must have seen “Nashville” 20 times.  In his movie:  Pret-a-Porter, Lyle Lovett plays a baker whose customer does not come to pick up and pay […]

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Am I confusing you?

Standing in the wait station having coffee at 3:00 pm on Friday: Me:  So pancakes on Sunday… We have espresso butter, a little bit of hazelnuts.  Didn’t know we would have so many figs come in.  Produce company changed the pack size.  I got d’anjou pears in to replace the figs, but now they will go […]

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Saying Goodbye.

Julian and Jim moved to Maine last Wednesday.  I thought of them during the closing for the sale of their house here in Atlanta on Tuesday.  I thought of them during their 1200 mile drive with two cats that hate to travel.  I thought of them arriving Friday in Maine to their home which is now […]

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Day Off…

Pasta man, Mark, called my cell phone to leave a message about my order. I happened to be up reading and grabbed it in a panic. It was 4:53 am. I had no idea his day started at 3:30 am. Dropped husband off at airport and slid by the state Farmer’s Market for an unannounced […]

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Traffic=Late Tables. Help!

So Friday nights are the worst.  This last Friday, we had the “Gift Mart” and the Atlanta Boat Show in town, bringing in over 100,000 people.  My hostess received six phone calls (which we greatly appreciate),from customers who were stuck in gridlock on the freeways.  It was raining too, which often creates a mind boggling […]

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Being the owner. The real perk.

Twenty eight years ago, while in culinary school, I swore I would never open my own restaurant.  This was at the conclusion of the class in which you designed your own restaurant; from the menu, scheduling, dining room design to the profit and loss.  No way I said.  Too much work. Well, a mere nine […]

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Today.

Called my heating and air guy about reconfiguring the thermostats on the new heaters on back porch.  Did this while still in my pajamas at home, watching last week’s TV shows on On Demand. (The greatest invention, besides the I Phone) Stopped at Farmer’s Marker because Arborio Rice did not make the delivery truck. Home […]

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