Running a restaurant is a business. And like any business venture, the more profit you make the happier the big bosses are. And, sometimes, the key to a fatter bottom line is scrimping on a few things here and there. Eats Now Or Never shows you (once again) what it’s like behind the counter and the kitchen. (Read Part 1 here.)
Chopping Boards
Just like cars, chopping boards are color-coded, too. Red is for raw meat and raw poultry; blue is for raw fish and seafood; green is for salad greens, fruits, and vegetables, and white is for cooked products, baked products, and dairy. However–as you would probably expect based on the title of this article–not everyone follows the rules.
One of the major causes of foodborne illness (or cross-contamination) is the usage of unsanitary or dirty chopping boards. Just imagine your fruits being prepared on a board full of blood stains from raw chicken, or your “fresh” salad greens being chopped on a board that’s been used for filleting fish. This is unacceptable in any type of kitchen. But, yes, it does happen. If you’re a cook or chef and find yourself working for a restaurant that does this type of practice, you better get your ass out of there–not unless you want to serve a salmonella salad to a guest.
Dirty Bathroom = Dirty Kitchen
If a restaurant’s bathroom is dirty, just imagine how the kitchen looks like. Never trust a restaurant with a dirty bathroom. With the power of social media these days, one camera click can bring down your restaurant’s reputation and next thing you know, your restaurant is all over Facebook’s wall of shame.
Ensuring that you have a clean restroom to offer to your customers could be one of the keys to protecting your business. As written in Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential: “If the restaurant can’t be bothered to replace the puck in a urinal or keep the toilets and floors clean, then imagine what their refrigeration and work spaces looks like.”
Cut your own steak
Steaks, if prepared well, can be very expensive–ranging from P1,000 to P3,000 per serving, in fact. And with prices like that, you’ll certainly want to savour each bite. If you order, for example, an 800-gram steak, you’d expect to consume close to 800 grams of meat. But what really happens is that you might get a good 750 grams. It’s very rare for one to get an 800-gram steak. If you brought your own weighing scale, you could, perhaps, find out yourself. But when you do, expect the server to tell you one thing: “That’s the cooked weight, mister.”
Here’s a little tip: Cut your own steak; do not let the kitchen do it for you. What lies underneath that grilling station is a bowl full of strip steaks ready to be eaten as a staff meal. For every order of 800 gram steak, 50 grams of it goes to the kitchen. Imagine the pile of meat you get after service. If you’re part of the kitchen staff, you’ll be in steak heaven.
Serving While Sick
One thing people would find shocking about the restaurant industry is how frequent the person serving and preparing your food is sick. If not all, nearly all restaurant positions do not offer health insurance. It’s a gem to find an establishment that gives you paid sick days. Some heartless employers won’t even allow you to call in sick.
Giving health insurance support for their staff is a thought that keeps restaurant owners up at night. This is one of the biggest cost cutting measures in a restaurant. I’ve worked in a restaurant company who does this practice and it sucked like hell. I honestly think that this should be viewed well by owners because this is serious stuff. This will lead diners getting sick because of improper food handling by their staff. There’s no one to blame but the irresponsible employer.
The 5-Second Rule
You’ll never know what’s happening at the back of a closed kitchen. Working under a quick-paced service, all you want to do is to bust out cooked food to the hungry and demanding customers.
Still, one can’t avoid kitchen disasters like accidental bumps or slips. And when things fall, the 5-second rule applies. Beer-battered fish fillets that hit the work surface, knives and cutlery that falls to the kitchen floor, the occasional thumb or kitchen towel that accidentally takes a dip in your sauce or soup– most of these go straight into the dining area and right in front of you. But if you believe in the 5-second rule, all of that is perfectly fine.
Do not enter a restaurant nearing closing time
As a responsible diner, you should always set your dinner early or at least 2 hours before the closing time. During this time, the staff cleans the kitchen and the dining area: dishwashers scrub the dishes; the service staff sweep and mop the floor of the dining room; and the deep fryers, grills, and ovens are turned off and cleaned.However, if ever you get to a restaurant late, you can kindly ask a server if they are still accepting orders.
It’s more about being a considerate human being. During the last hour or operations, everyone simply wants to close on time. But with you there, they obviously can’t do that. And you can expect the same kind of enthusiasm–or lack, thereof–in their preparation of your food. Even though it’s their job to serve you, you should respect their time, too. After a tiring night of service, all cooks and servers want is to get home, grab a cold one, and hit the sack as early as possible. -#EatsNowOrNever
Photo credits: Main and post images from CorbisImages.com
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