The Anatomy of a Restaurant
By Kimberly Stolz |
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A dining room can look and feel like a three-ring circus come dinner rush. The cacophony of chatter, plates clattering; the smells of fresh bread, the sexy notes of perfume drifting by, the melange of different wines being uncorked all add up to that mysterious vibe that make diners feel like they are in the middle of a happening. Then there is the hustle - hosts winding guests through the room like a hungry conga line in search of a table-clothed trough, bussers' invisible hands topping off water glasses, filling vacant bread baskets and making the remains of that night's special disappear in a quiet, swift motion. From the kitchen, bursts of steam exit and the hiss of cold food hitting hot plates adds to the soundscape. An unforgettable meal out is not the sole domain of an excellent chef; it is the result of many hands and hearts all dedicated towards the customers' pleasure.
1. Host
"I am the first face greeting the customer," explained Erica Hayes, hostess at Level in the Short North. "It is my job to make people feel welcome and stay as friendly as possible."
Even in the face of long waits, towed cars or lost reservations, the host needs to assist and stay cool. What diners don't realize is that hosting is a science - servers each have a station and everyone has to be seated fairly. The host is like a conductor, making sure each section is playing smoothly. Having done time on the see-and-be-seen South Beach strip in Miami, the Central Ohio native is happy to be home.
"In South Beach, I was outside, there was the heat, people were irritable and would cuss me out and that made my attitude bad," she recalled. "The people in Columbus are a lot more polite and genuine. Out-of-town guests say that they have never felt so welcome as they do when they come here."
For Hayes, working the host stand at Level is a way to put her brilliant smile, deep laugh and charming personality to work.
2. Server
Janine Dunmyre has served hungry customers for 23 years, everywhere from Dairy Queen to her current gig, Hyde Park on Old Henderson Road. For Dunmyre, waiting tables is about more than taking orders and slinging plates; it's an exercise in psychology.
"We have to know what people want before they know what they want," she said. "We have to be manipulative in a sense - we have to transfer our positive energy so people have a good time . . . it's like romancing the guest."
What many patrons don't realize about the server's post is that the tip is actually shared amongst the server and everyone else in the front of the house that has a hand in making the diner happy - the bartender, the busser and the food runner. When it comes to tipping, Dunmyre's pet peeve is the "verbal tip."
"It's like for every complement they give me, it takes five percent off the tip," she laughed. "I don't understand it."
Her long history on the front lines of service helped Dunmyre most when she had triplets.
"All that multitasking," she said, "Thank God I waited tables for twelve years."
3. Prep Cook
The yang to the dining room's yin is of course, the back of the house - the kitchen and food prepping environs. The kitchen runs like a ballet with the chef, or kitchen manager, as the choreographer of the dance. The prep cook is certainly one of the prima ballerinas - without his or her practice and preparation, there would be no steps, no ingredients, to the danse de cuisine. Dustin Taubert has worked the kitchen at Easton's Bon Vie for more than a decade. As a prep cook, he completes such jobs as precisely chopping over 20 pounds of zucchini to accompany dinners, parboiling 10 pounds of penne pasta, and whipping up all the sauces so that when an order comes into the kitchen, all the parts are ready to go into a delicious whole. From his days at fast food joints until today, Taubert noted that he loves the "hectic, fast-paced" world of food service. With a right forearm that has grown in musculature thanks to all those hours of whisking hollandaise, Taubert loves that he is constantly learning, as Bon Vie changes up the menu two or three times a year.
While he enjoys the kudos he and the other cooks receive, he adds that he believes the most important person in the kitchen is the dishwasher. "No matter how much prep we do, if you don't have a plate to put it on, we crash," he stated. "The dishwasher is overlooked and [they are] a key part of our operation."
4. Chef
Creating new dishes is one of the creative highlights of being a chef. At Figlio Wood Fired Pizza, Sean Selsor explained that it takes up to two months to create a new dish. He tries it, his fellow cooks on the line give it a go, the owners take a bite and it gets tweaked here and there until it's just right. Selsor's talent at the wood-fired ovens comes from years of experience, not from culinary school. "Being self-taught is a badge of honor," the chef smiled. "I think it's the way to go, you open yourself to new experiences, new recipes, there are no rules . . . you can do whatever you want." Under his tutelage, Selsor has seen workers come in as teenage dishwashers and end up still by his side 16 years later. "It's great to see them grow up," he said. "No one here has formal training, everyone starts out washing dishes and bussing tables first."
One of the most intricate plays in the kitchen, Selsor explained, is getting the timing of all the various dishes down. "Pizza and pasta don't take the same time," he said. "Everything has to be hot and ready to go together." The crew at Figlio is able to produce this intricate dance because of the camaraderie of the crew, he added. With the open kitchen, Selsor is able to look out over the crowd and not only note who needs what, but can also celebrate what he has created. "At the end of the day, I can look back and say, I did that," he said. "People left happy because of my kitchen."
Though hours may be long, the cacophony and the hustle tiring, those who play a part in the symphony that is a night in the Columbus culinary scene give their soul to the job. The sharing and providing of food is such a basic, human rite, that taking part in its ritual is joyous for those sitting at the table and those responsible for what's on top of the table. "People are always coming out to celebrate a birthday or an anniversary," said Dunmyre. "I tell people I get to go to a birthday party every day when I go to work."
Originally Published: July 1, 2010
