Fall Arrives

Mackie Dutton and Polly Ill were Kitchen Table diners last night, their second time at the tall top. They chatted with Kevin, while avidly watching the action on the line, and enjoyed a dinner of Lamb Chops cooked before their eyes. It was fun having the two of them in there!

It's starting to be a little cool in the kitchen now, with the change of season. Yesterday's constant drizzle and rain, with temps in the low forties, really made the arrival of Fall a reality. At lunch the most popular item seemed to be the vegetarian chili, with it's high comfort level being required by many of our guests. Oysters arrived yesterday as well, via Frank, but alas, they did not meet the criteria of the Chef and were sent back. Still not fat enough, I guess since it hasn't really been cold enough. We will all have to wait a little longer for our beloved oyster fritter!

Butternut squash and spinach are mixing it up with tomatoes, corn and zucchini these days. The juxtaposition of seasons amidst the vegetables is a wonderful way to make that transition to the long, cold months ahead, when eventually all that will be available will be cabbage and turnips...sounds pretty dreary, unless you have someone like Kevin making buttered cabbage with onion and county ham, and turnips stewed with apples and vinegar. He can make even the most pedestrian vegetable taste like something you've never had before! And want more of!

This time of year also brings a little re-weighing of business, in that we are heavier on the week end and lighter on the week day. This weekend brings the Chestertown Wildlife Festival, which is likely to help us some - although the venues for dining are increased in the downtown area as the population swells with visitors. Besides the usual street food, there will be a cocktail party with hors d'oeuvres on Friday night and an "Eastern Shore Dinner" on Saturday night, all of which offer plenty of competition for the dining dollar. The rain might take it's toll, but I doubt it will deter wildlife enthusiasts from enjoying themselves at this popular event.

Every Tuesday, as we drive into work, we ask "What's gonna happen this week?" There really is something every week - for example last week it was the server who became ill 20 minutes before her Friday lunch shift (serious drop in blood pressure results in many tests for the poor woman), leaving me to handle the lunch crowd, with Andrew luckily able to come in to help. That sure was interesting - "Hello, my name is Barbara, I'll be your server today." Thankfully I have a lot of experience at waiting tables, so things didn't go too badly... Of course the same server certainly was in no shape to work that night either, so we brought in our Saturday busser - Taylor Moore - who saved the night by being the Bread Boy. Whew, we made it though another almost crisis.

This week brings a new daytime salad cook, and a shifting around of the night time crew to accommodate the previous day time cook who moved into the evening garde manger position, with the former dinner G.M. moving onto the line. Got that? This of course means that Kevin is training three people in three new positions, but he is happy with the the changes and the end result will be a more cohesive, productive and professional kitchen crew. What could be better than that?

It's all about being flexible, isn't it? Cross training is pretty helpful, as well as having enough staff to bring in when someone else calls out. We might have to call in a few markers, but we aren't afraid to return the favors. People see the common goal - making the customer happy - and work toward it under every sort of circumstance, from picking up the slack when their team is short handed to switching roles to fill out a weak spot. It's their job, after all, and our employees really do take pride in their jobs. They know they are a valuable piece of the wheel, because they know how difficult things are when one of the cogs is missing. No one shirks from stepping up to the plate when they know they might need someone to help them the next time.

Anyway, it's Friday! Let the weekend begin!