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December 17, 2004
Something Requisitely Witty and Urbane: Zen and the Art of Table Waiting
The people who invented the plate warmer so that all customers at a restaurant table could be served at the same time have a lot to answer for:
Something Requisitely Witty and Urbane: Zen and the Art of Table Waiting: It is something all waiters know well. The unbelievably excruciating pain that comes from carrying a plate from the kitchen to the table that, half way to the table, feels as if it well sear the very flesh from your hands until you are left with nothing but a cauterized hole at the bottom of which reveals the bones in your hands.... The third plate tends to have some contact with your wrist. Look at the underside of your arm, around the wrist area. Unless you have attempted suicide at some point, or are a Maggie Gyllenhall clone from "Secretary", then they are probably some of the softest skin on your body. The two plates in your hand don't hurt as badly, because your skin on your hands is more calloused. But the wrist...
I bring this up because, recently, we have switched plates to a thinner variety, and these plates get quite a bit hotter than the old plates. So, you walk to the table, trying not to show your discomfort, but speeding up your walk to try to get to the table as fast as you can. Now, this is how I know that meditation and the like must work, if done correctly, because you can literally just tell yourself "This doesn't hurt, this doesn't hurt, this doesn't hurt," and the pain goes away... [for] a second, maybe two, but this buys you some time to get to the table and set the plates down.
Posted by DeLong at December 17, 2004 11:05 AM
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Comments
There is a device on the market to solve this problem, it's called, I understand, a tray.
Posted by: big al at December 17, 2004 12:17 PM
Oh no, I know exactly where that leads! At first you try some meditation, maybe finding your Power Animal and the next second you are talking with Tyler Durden. Or even Giblets...
First, you have to give up...
Posted by: MarcinGomulka at December 17, 2004 02:42 PM
Gee, thanks Big Al... All this time, and the answer was right there in front of me... a tray.
Here is the problem, some trays are impractical in a busy setting. They slow things down (loading up a tray when you could be loading up your arms and walking out of the kitchen is much slower). Secondly, most of your higher class establishments don't like tray service, because it is a reminder of T.G.I. Friday's or Chili's.
Posted by: Dylan at December 17, 2004 03:03 PM
A GOOD restaurant kitchen doesn't need or use plate warmers or heat lamps. Given a number of orders for the ssame table with different preparation times, they do a time-on-target attack ;-)Ÿ
Posted by: Robert Ullmann at December 17, 2004 03:47 PM
I'll never understand why restaurants don't like trays. Nothing says "slingin' hash" like a waitress with 10 plates of waffles cascading up her arm... plate edges digging into the whipped cream on the plate next to it... I've worked in both ends of the spectrum, and I always used a tray. To me, it just shows more.. 'respect' for the food.
Posted by: Gregory at December 17, 2004 03:59 PM
"I'll never understand why restaurants don't like trays."
Thinner (hotter ) plates make for fewer (faster walking) waiters and no trays.
Posted by: Hans Suter at December 18, 2004 07:28 AM
Someimes accidents just happen. My daughter has several burn scars on her arm from taking pies out of the oven.
Posted by: cloquet at December 18, 2004 08:10 PM