Book Club: Service Included, By Phoebe Damrosch

It's worth repeating: I love food. So obviously, the majority of my reading lately has been about food and the restaurant industry.

Also, I currently work in a restaurant as a bartender. So I love accounts of the industry. The ins and outs of serving guests. The little facts that only people in this business truly know and understand. No matter if you serve in fine dining or at the corner diner, there are common truths about the food business.

"Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter" by Phoebe Damrosch is a re-telling of her life and experiences while working a Per Se in New York City. My personal serving experiences in restaurants is nowhere near the level of this author. Her descriptions of her job make me salivate with jealous at the level of food quality and sweat with anxiety at the thought of the caliber of service required for such clientele. I day-dream of working for a restaurant like hers where I truly respect the food and chefs. This statement is not meant to bash the establishment which currently employees me. I work for a super corporate chain restaurant ---and, for what it is, the food is above par. But, needless to say, there is no caviar, truffles, or bone marrow. My knowledge of such things in limited to drooling over shows in the Food Network and Travel Channel. In short, my job has not provided the food education that I crave.

Damrosch's telling of the attention to detail in the service at Per Se is overwhelming. It makes me realize how easy I have it at my restaurant .... and yet also to understand the type of service I wish that every guest could receive (even at my casual dining chain restaurant). Eating out at a restaurant is an all around experience of the food, atmosphere, and service -- which should be (positively) memorable and deeply enjoyable whether it's bone marrow or diner pancakes.

Despite the obvious differences between Damrosch's life in "Service Included" and my current life at Nameless- corporate-chain, there are also amazing similarities. The odd pace of life, the comments from friends and family about your job not being "real," the restaurant romance, the eccentric customers, the camaraderie with coworkers, etc.

I could go on forever about how many ways this book touched me but I won't for fear of revealing too much about my employer and for boring non-restaurant-industry folks. Whether or not you work in a restaurant, this book still tells a lovely and fun story. But if you DO work in a restaurant, you will definitely find a kindred spirit in Damrosch.

Cheers

Rules of margarita-making

So I have split personalities somewhat. I'm an ESL/EFL teacher by day and a drink slinging bartender by night (I need a superhero name, quick!). Strangely enough though, teaching and bartending have an awful lot of similarities which is probably why I enjoy both so much. But that is a story for another day. Today the topic is MARGARITAS.

So I have worked in two types of restaurant bars: Anonymous American fare and Anonymous Tex-Mex fare. Each one had a different recipe. As you can probably guess, the Anonymous Tex-Mex fare restaurant made them better. This fact and numerous experience drinking margaritas at other location has led me to the conclusion that one should only drink margaritas at a Mexican, Tex-Mex, or Latino style restaurants.

The Anonymous American Fare restaurant I work at now makes HORRID margaritas. Besides the typical 3 to 1 tequila to triple sec ratio, we have to mix in some weird combination of Orange juice, splash of lime, and sour mix. I guess this doesn't sound so bad, but trust me it is. First off, there is too much juice mixer added in general. Second, a REAL margarita doesn't use SOUR MIX!!! YUCK. (on top of everything, we use an extremely cheap sour mix which tastes extremely watered down.

Kelly's Rules about Margarita Making:

- Never use sour mix

- only use lemon and lime (OK, throw some sugar or simple syrup in there if it's too tart for your taste) (Orange juice is OK only if it's a Gold margarita - gold tequila and Grand Marnier)

- always drink margaritas on the rocks, never frozen. Frozen margaritas are for wussies. But leaving the name calling out, putting a margarita through the blender melts the ice excessively then waters down and destroys the taste of the tequila. If you want a frozen margarita please don't waste your expensive bottle of tequila, grab that plastic one that smells like hangovers and spring break parties.

-salt the rim. It's not a margarita without the salt. Sorry.

OK now close your eyes and imagine you're on a warm beach with beautiful blue water. Margarita Mission: successful.