New menus are always labor intensive and intense. New ingredients, trying different applications and presentations, choosing plates, training the cooks to get it right each time, training the staff how to pronounce “Scirropo” and whether each new dish can be produced “without meat” or “without dairy” or “without gluten” etc…programming, sampling, teaching, editing, printing, stuffing, discussing, tweaking–and then??? What? The head chef–amidst completing the fall/winter menu for TWO restaurants, gets the flu and is “down and out” for a week.
At moonstones, this would have been the perfect/appropriate time to “delay for another week” (my suggestion). But my managers and sous chefs alike (Tiffani and Andres!) said “Not necessary”.
And, so yesterday–with the GM keeping her day off– One assistant manager completed the programming at 4PM, while the other held a training session at 4:30PM, while another assistant walked through the door with freshly printed pages minutes before 5PM…and OF COURSE, by 6PM the restaurant was filled to capacity with a wait at the door. (NOTE: The new menu was not publicized until now. So the Thursday night “full house” was a simple fact of the love for moonstones– on a weeknight –and further testimony to the serendipitous nature of life;
New menu+No Chef+capacity crowd = ???
Equals a smooth, no problems all night, timely service and a thrilled crowd of customers! Oh, and one completely impressed and satisfied owner. Once again, I get to observe excellence in motion–and finally stop worrying. Until tomorrow anyway! What a team. What a night.
Bring on the weekend.
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