54 Hours and Counting Down

Kevin and Crew have under 54 hours to prepare for the New Year's Eve extravaganza that is the Wednesday night prix-fixe this week. Canapes, four appetizers, a soup, a salad, five entrees, three dessert, mignardises... Every dish has it's own garnish, vegetable, starch. We have over 80 reservations, and while we can be pretty sure that the oysters and the steak will be top choices, we also have to plan to have enough of everything so we don't run out of anything for the 9 o'clocks...last year we did not, but who can find my notes from the 2007 event? How much champagne should we chill, what should be a back-up if we run out of those U-6 shrimp, should the two sauces on the lamb mingle? A lot of decisions to make, a lot of prep work to undertake, all for one night's sake. It's very exciting but very stressful too. The only person who was working in the BT kitchen last NYE - besides Kevin - is LaVonte. Danae - our girl wonder garde manger - doesn't even work dinner service as a rule, but we asked and she accepted. Todd, a Chesapeake College culinary student who is a very interested apprentice cook, doing what ever is needed when ever it's needed, has been here since April. And the sous-chef Kevin certainly has plenty of New Year's Eve services under his belt, but this will be his first one at BT. But, hey, everyone on the staff, even chef Kevin, was new last year, so at least we have two people who have done this before, eh?

That's Danae, in the photo to the left, making champagne vinaigrette. Danae has been working here since September, planning to head to Baltimore Culinary College in the future - although we hope it's in the distant future! Todd and LaVonte are below there; why Todd has that "grimace" on his face, I don't know, but he's peeling the shrimp for the bisque while LaVonte supervises...

We'll see how much they get finished when we check back tomorrow.