Chalk Hill Vineyards
October 21, 2011
I had the pleasure of staying at the Chalk Hill Vineyard in Sonoma in Septmeber for a couple of nights. It was as beautiful as any place I have ever been. Went for an hour long jog, (ok plenty of walking) at sunset on a warm breezy evening. Each hillside offered another panoramic masterpiece. One […]
Fire.
October 1, 2011
A small fire broke out in the kitchen when my sous chefs and I were working on a new menu earlier this week. The stove top was full with French Onion Soup, Basque Sauce and Beef Bourguignon. I didn’t want to spray the line with the fire extinguisher, what with the food cost and all. […]
A good Georgia Peach is hard to find…even in Georgia.
August 8, 2011
I have some beautiful peaches right now at Babette’s. Running a dessert: Cobbled Peaches with Our Own Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Several of my customers have asked how to find a good peach. They are finding mealy, mushy peaches in the grocery stores. I often have the same problem. The peaches that are shipped to […]
Father’s Day
June 21, 2011
In the last 3 or 4 years, Father’s Day has become as big as Mother’s Day, usually with a more adult crowd. Yes, we have some well behaved little ones, but mostly grown children taking their dad out. I guess they just can’t find anymore ties that he doesn’t already have. My crew started at […]
The truth about Scout Mob
May 21, 2011
A few months ago, I posted a note about how Groupon wouldn’t work for Babette’s, but now we are signed up for Scout Mob. What’s the difference? Well, almost 25%. Unlike Groupon, with Scout Mob, the customer comes into the restaurant and pays their 50% directly to the restaurant. If the customer brings in a […]
Staff Vacations
July 4, 2010
Covered for my Sous Chef last week, covering for my manager this week. Liquor orders, prep lists, recipe tweaking, costing updates. Waiting patiently for a new version of my recipe costing software to be sent to me. My old version was so old, the data had to be converted and loaded on the new disk and mailed […]
Dancing with my Sous….
April 23, 2010
Ah Mel. A couple days a week I find myself working with my AM Sous Chef getting ready for dinner service. Mel comes in between 9 and 10 am each day and at 7 am on Sunday mornings. He’s in charge of production levels, soups, sauces, desserts, meat cutting and many other things. He has […]
How to apply for a restaurant job.
April 14, 2010
We just did some hiring and I am surprised by the quality of some of the resumes and applicants. Here’s my advice on How to apply for a restaurant job: 1. Please update your resume. It doesn’t take but a minute. 2. I would encourage restaurant employees to stick out their current job and all […]
Snow Days.
March 2, 2010
I know I have blogged about this before, but it’s a big deal. I am currently sitting on the porch of a beach house in Florida, watching the waves. I am in a sweatshirt. Back home in Atlanta snow and sleet is falling. We need to close the restaurant tonight because of weather. I am […]
“Seating waiters.”
October 1, 2009
Seating waiters. This is an expression used when quests are seated at a table in a waiter’s station. A server is sometimes “double seated”,(two tables are seated within a few minutes) and then there is the dreaded “triple seated” event. This is when the waiter’s eyes start to roll back in their head and they give […]