FIESTA!!!

This week in La Friandise we dove into the cuisines of Mexico. Service on Monday went smoothly and the food disappeared like magic. We started off a little shaky thanks to a nervous General Manager (yours truly) and a lost first course, but once we got under way things began to fall in line nicely. I did notice a few things that we, as a group, need to work on. For example, our communication with one another and our execution of certain things still leaves a little something to be desired. Since this is only our second service, I have every confidence that we will have ironed out the kinks and be running like a well oiled machine by the end of the semester.

Now, on to the fun stuff. Let's talk about the food. After seeing the way the guests practically licked their plates, I was really excited to be back in the kitchen on Wednesday and being in the dish pit gave me the opportunity to really see what was happening at each station. The first course, home-made guacamole and tortilla chips, was a festive kick-off to the day and Dylan did a great job with the presentation. Next up we had Denise's delicious Chili Relenos, which I think we can all agree were absolutely mouth-watering. Our main course was the Grouper Vera Cruz, accompanied by fried plantains, black beans, and cheese grits with roasted corn. Millie really got down and dirty fileting the grouper and getting it ready to be grilled while Val started on the salsa that would go on top. It came out looking beautiful on top of small tortillas that were handmade by Mike and Nikki in the bakery, nestled against the vegetables that Sara had spent the morning pouring all her energy into. The final course of the afternoon were churros, beautifully arranged by Ben in wine glasses and served with a chocolate sauce.

Unfortunately for me, I got sick and wasn't able to make it to the end of the day and I really appreciate you guys stepping in and bailing me out. I know that sometimes we get so caught up in our own tasks and stations that we forget that we are a team and we are all working towards the same end goal. And while our individual efforts deserve props, none of us would be able to truly succeed without the efforts of the rest of the group as well. So thank you all for being such a great team this week and making it a pleasure to be the GM.

Adios!

Caribbean Week!

So, of course, the day I am assigned the GM position, catastrophe strikes...a ceiling tile and apparent leak from the storm over the weekend disabled service Monday. However, this gives me an opportunity to address more experiences I've had serving in La Friandise. The theme for our menu was Caribbean...difficult word to spell... and all our dishes were more or less inspired by okra, which is the African word for gumbo or "gumba" as they pronounce it. Caribbean dishes most often present sweet, spicy, fresh, crisp flavors that are vibrant and colorful in plate presentation, which i hope you will see in the pictures I am posting. I was also able to take some pictures of the dining room, which is very formal. We definately go above and beyond within our capacity to surprise our guests with upscale fine dining. From a wait staff perspective the issues i have run into are getting enough ice in the glasses (which i learned if I tilt the pitcher to the side, more ice comes out and it splashes less), polishing silver ware (best done with coffee filters), and guests not knowing proper etiquette in the way to eat certain dishes (such as corn on the cob, they will cut the kernals off the corn, causing theyre fingers to become slippery, instead of just picking it up with your hands and eating it...which is perfectly acceptable).