Showing posts with label restaurant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label restaurant. Show all posts

May 21 - National Waiters and Waitresses Day

Posted on May 21, 2017

Servers work HARD. Many (in the U.S., at least) are paid little and have to depend on tips to make a decent living - but many people don't tip, forget to tip, or undertip.




 Of course, some restaurants don't really have servers. Whether it's an Indian buffet or a Swedish smörgåsbord, Souplantation or Subway, or any of the millions of fast food restaurants, food trucks, or food carts, many food places allow customers to line up, order at the cash register, and pick up their orders to be eaten on-site or elsewhere. 

But even in those places, employees often help customers, bus tables, or even bring the food orders out. At Souplantation yesterday, a smiling young woman carried my daughter's tray because she was carrying her toddler, and other employees scooped up used dishes, asked if we were doing okay, brought or put away a high chair, and so on. I would definitely think of them in the same category as "servers," "waiters," and "waitresses."

 (By the way, shouldn't today be called "National Servers Day"? Shorter and gender-neutral!)

 Today, make a commitment to treating servers with the respect and dignity that all people deserve, and to tipping them well (again, in the U.S. - some countries pay servers a decent wage and don't encourage tipping - check a travel book if you aren't sure).
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Bay to Breakers Race

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October 4 – National Taco Day

Posted October 4, 2016


My husband grew up in upstate New York. When he came to California at age 13, his new friends asked if he wanted to go get some tacos with them...and he asked, “What are tacos?”

Of course the native Californians were astonished, but soon they taught the New Yorker all about tacos, burritos, tortillas, quesadillas, and all sorts of Mexican food. But today, on National Taco Day, I am wondering if American kids can still grow up into teens without knowing the word taco.

After using Google for a few minutes, I'm betting probably not. For one thing, there seem to be multiple Taco Bells in every state, and seventeen states boast Del Taco fast food restaurants as well. And they have taco right in the name.

Here are some stats to prove my point:

  • Tortillas have been outselling hot dog buns in the U.S. since 2010.
  • Last year, Americans ate more than 4.5 billion tacos.
  • If you laid out those tacos end-to-end, they would go to the Moon and back. That many tacos would weigh as much as TWO Empire State Buildings.
  • Mexican food is the third most popular type of menu in American restaurants, with more than 54,000 Mexican restaurants operating in the U.S. That is about 8% of all U.S. restaurants. And get this – that edges hamburger eateries to fourth place (about 50,000 hamburger restaurants operate in the U.S.)!
  • Americans spend more than $39 billion at Mexican restaurants!

Let them eat tacos!
Let them make tacos!
Tacos for all!

Of course, the best way to celebrate National Taco Day is to eat tacos! Whether you do take-out, a sit-down meal, or make them at home, be sure to consider all the variety of things commonly used in tacos:

The outsides:
Soft corn tortillas
Soft wheat tortillas
Hard taco shells
Puffy tortillas
Frybread

The insides:
Crumbled or shredded beef, pork, chicken, chorizo, or other meat
Fish or other seafood
Eggs
Cheese
Salsa or pico de gallo
Tomatos
Lettuce or cabbage
Cilantro
Onions
Avocado or guacamole
Sour cream, citrus mayonnaise sauce, or other sauce
Sliced radishes
Lime
Pickled or grilled chili peppers
Cucumber slices
Probably loads more possibilities!


Tacos are pretty much endlessly versatile, and some people have come
up with some unique taco recipes. Like...mac'n'cheese tacos?


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Great Books Week (First full week of October)






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September 4 – First Cafeteria in the U.S.

Posted on September 4, 2016

Self-service food? Getting a tray or a plate and grabbing your own grub at a restaurant?

This new idea was a time saver for workers, many of whom only had short lunch breaks.

The first cafeteria restaurant in the United States was apparently The Exchange Buffet, first opened in New York City on this date in 1885. It was right across the street from the Stock Exchange – hence its name.


And it was on the honor system!

Get this: customers picked up whatever they wanted to eat, put it all on a tray, and walked to a counter – where they ate their lunch standing up! It was only as they left that they told the cashier what they had eaten and paid for their food!
Apparently the E.B. of the
logo led many to call The
Exchange Buffet "the E & B."

It was said that this nickname
meant "Eat 'em and Beat 'em,"
a reference to how easy it
was to rip off the restaurant
by lying about what you've
eaten.

Perhaps a more likely
explanation for the nickname
is "Eat it and Beat it," which
refers to how fast you can eat
and then leave (beat it).

What if customers lied? What if they ate an entire lunch plus pie and coffee but then claimed only to eat pie and coffee?


Apparently, most customers were honest. Even less honest people didn't want to take the chance of being loudly accused of lying by sharp-eyed cashiers. The Exchange Buffet stayed on the honor system for more than half a century, at least, so it must've worked out pretty well! Also, Exchange Buffets ended up springing up all over New York City – more than two dozen by the early 1900s!

Here's another “get-this” revelation: when it first opened, the Exchange Buffet served only men! I suppose that the idea was to serve businessmen, because in 1885, there were only men working at the Stock Exchange? Still, decades into the restaurant's existence, menus claimed that the Exchange Buffet was a “Man's Place,” and the company's president claimed in an ad that “every Exchange Buffet is 'A Man's Place.'”

Of course, eventually the restaurants allowed women customers and even – gasp! – provided some tables as well as counters at which they could eat. This photo from the 1920s shows some women customers as well as a waitress standing between counters:





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October 28 – Happy Birthday, Auguste Escoffier


French food is so important that many food
words in the English language are actually
French.

These include (right off the top of my head):
gourmet, cuisine, culinary, pork, beef, menu,
entree, a la carte, cafe au lait, au gratin. 
Posted on October 28, 2013

As a child, he showed all the signs of having promise as an artist. And he lived in France, which was a great place for artists in the 1800s—but at age 13 he was shipped off to be an apprentice at his uncle's restaurant in Nice.

Guess what? People can be artists in the kitchen, too.


Auguste Escoffier (born on this date in 1846) ended up working at a restaurant in Paris and then acting as an army chef during the Franco-Prussian War. He learned about efficiency and canning partly through his military service.

Out of the service, Escoffier teamed up with Cesar Ritz and reorganized the kitchens of the Savoy Hotel in London. He invented many famous dishes, popularized dining out among women (who in earlier times rarely dined in public!), and helped make the Savoy a huge success. Escoffier left the Savoy Hotel at the turn of the century and went on to revolutionize other restaurants.



He was so good at what he did, Escoffier was sometimes called “the king of chefs and chef of kings.”

He wrote a culinary guide that is STILL used today.

He elevated the title “chef” to a respected profession.

He streamlined and modernized French cuisine. For example, earlier chefs created huge lists of sauces to be used in various dishes. But Escoffier consolidated the hundreds of different sauces into just five “mother sauces.” It is apparently easier to learn how to make five sauces very well and then how to vary them with additional ingredients, than to learn how to make hundreds of sauces individually.


Try some French food today as you toast Chef Escoffier!

  • Kitchen Daily offers “kid-friendly French recipes.”

  • Easy French Food has a resident 10-year-old kid who loves to cook and is eager to share his favorite easy French recipes with others. 


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