Dishes in Heaven

The wildest, most precisely run, perfectly organized kitchen Eight has ever seen had the most intensive dish pit you can imagine. We will refer to this operation as Waterfall, at Waterfall, a team of 5 to 6, prepared a menu of 12-16 dishes for 25-30 guests. We will explore the inner workings of this incredible restaurant another time. But for now, we want you to imagine how many plates Waterfall was producing. Let’s play with high numbers, Waterfall could have had some 480 plates going back to the dish pit each night. That’s about as many forks or spoons and half as many knives. But really, you’re looking at much more interesting utensils than every day, all handmade delicate wild shaped plates and bowls, chop sticks, forks of all sizes, spoons for soup, dessert, tea, caviar. Ok so some 2,000 dishes in individual pieces sure. Glassware had it’s own operation luckily, because at Waterfall, the dishwasher was one of the 6 team members, there were 6 people who worked here. Sometimes only 4, or even 2, 1? at the beginning. Not only this, the dishes were done in a single hole sink, a 20x24”, fairly deep sink. No sprayer, no dish machine. Dawn dish soap, some sponges and steel wool. Ok, so let’s recap, one cook washes 2,000 pieces of dinnerware by hand, in a small sink, with a drying rack that measured some 3 shelves at 40” high, 12” wide, 36” long. That was after a 5 hour prep shift for the 16 courses being served. Needless to say, if prep dishes didn’t get done in time, there was no time to catch up during dinner. This was the most intense position Eight has ever worked. During dinner Eight still plated and helped cook dishes, ran food and introduced dishes, ran glassware, and did more dishes. The Dishes here all had their home, and nothing was out of place. The bowls were perfectly stacked, the delis straight, the lids organized. In 14 years Eight has seen only 2 other restaurants so well run, Waterfall will always remain a legendary restaurant with a legendary chef. With all the hell dishes have given Eight, none taught them the importance of washing as you go like Waterfall. And like everything else, systematic destruction has a big role in making you a dish pit monster.

A shot of whiskey

When you’re a quality employee and you want to leave a restaurant, notice is important. We usually suggest a month notice as it just gives everyone time, we’ve given as much as a 3 month notice, and as little as walking out. We don’t suggest walking out ever. Learn from our mistakes. Sometimes no matter how much notice you give, the restaurant may just spit you out. Once, Eight was working for an upscale bar, cute, farm fresh menu of salads and bruschetta. Eight was covering for the owner who was pregnant and needed to take leave. Eight was there for about 6 months in total, and the understanding was that Eight would be there just to cover the owners leave anyway. This bar had an incredible pop-up upstairs and Eight would poke his head up and drop off bites for the crew. Eight wanted to be a part of that! As the time neared that the owner would be coming back, Eight gave notice that they would be moving on when ready. Everything was fine and the date was set for a day in early February. The day came and Eight said their goodbyes. For a week or so Eight was working away upstairs, getting their ass handed to them and learning hand over fist. When the chef comes to Eight and tells them not to go downstairs without the team and to in general avoid the owners. Eight was very much confused. This carried on for another week before Eight reached out and wanted to talk with the owners to understand what was going on.

This morning Eight arrives at the bar a little early and is texting the owner asking to talk. They were instructed to text when they were outside and so they did. As they are waiting at the side door the male owner comes storming to the door. He opens it and barks at Eight that they are not welcome, they’ll never be anything and the only way that Eight will be coming into the building is when the team gets there. With no discussion the conversation ended there and Eight never talked to either owner again. To this day we can only assume the owner was upset that Eight had left but with no clear communication it’s hard to tell. Communicating is hard work, especially with expectations etc. If you find yourself in this scenario remember this. You don’t need to take that kind of childish behavior seriously. Again, recognize the hurt in the angry and let them do the work to figure it out. It’s not your responsibility to fix these folks. Give the correct notice the situation warrants and be true to your character. Know your Power!

Snow Bunnies

The 8 have experienced some wild and extreme food moments no doubt! Once there was a historic ski race we were asked to cook for. The location had a grill and tables, we just needed to bring the food. The menu: Burger, Hot Dog, Andouille Sausage. Chips and a Drink. This was early on and one of our first public outings. We built our minimal prep list and prepared our order. We questioned if we would be able to move the order with just our cars. In case we couldn’t we rented a U-Haul to move the food. That was a great choice, we filled a smaller box truck! This is the day before and we are taking the produce to the lodge so it’s all ready for us. We get there and realize the grill they have is a home propane grill. We think, hey, they’ve done this before we’ll be fine.

         The next day we go up around 9:30, it’s freezing, we are on a half-shoveled deck, chopping veg and setting up the register etc. As we fire the first stack of hotdogs and burgers, we open the line. We cooked for some 3-4 hours. We could handle only as many tickets as there were burgers cooking, some 6 tickets at a time. The stack of unread tickets was so large at one point that we feared a collapse, but with 2 building and selling food, one taking orders and cash, and one on the grill keeping a line of burgers and sausage charring, we moved the line along. Estimated wait time was around 30 minutes, but in that small frame we fed some 600 people from a home grill. At one point the burger fat was catching fire and we had a quick salt dump to quell it. We’ve rarely had such an intense flood of food like that, and it was a legendary day for the 8. We love to knock out big numbers and to have a great party to brag about, but honestly smaller numbers are better and allow for better food quality. This particular event was 150 guests to 1 chef. We have only done this ratio one other time and a slightly smaller run at 100 guests per chef once. It goes to show the power of a team and organization. Teamwork doesn’t seem work!

The Great Alaskan Adventure

Where Bald Eagles scatter the trees like pigeons. Thanks to one of our favorite Culinarians Eight traveled by boat, float plane, and damn near a Gray Whale, to an adventure of a lifetime! Eight had arrived home from a 3 week journey through northern Italy that winter only to find that in the spring they would be in Alaska, cooking at a fishing lodge in southern Alaska. Eight’s friend, we’ll call them Big Fish, reached out sometime in December, maybe November, and the planning started. Come April Eight was on a boat with 6 or so other employees of the lodge, a beautiful fishing boat, Eight was at the front, catching the sea spray. Eventually the lodge becomes apparent, a few clusters of buildings clinging to the side of the mountain. 

This place must have had some 200 or more stairs to navigate the maze of buildings. The staff had some 30-40 crew, from maintenance and mechanics, to captains, deck hands and maids. Office staff and the 2 kitchen staff, Eight and Big Fish. The first 2-3 weeks were fairly smooth, they opened the kitchen, made meals for the team and played a lot of chess! The teams all had down time, groups of them would venture out in all directions. They would come across black bear like squirrels! They would always hear you first and move on, but if you were diligent, you could see them. Or hear them! Cubs would be squealing as mom ushers them up a tree. Then silence. 

The lodge was nestled into the cove in such a way that it appeared to be on a beautiful still lake. The island in total was not very big, and with no roads to or near the lodge, you weren’t going far. Yep, the first few weeks were nightly bonfires and exploration. The team could take out 14’ aluminum boats and go fishing or exploring within range. There were kayaks and a canoe, paddle boat, and hiking trails, mostly animal paths, but it was a playground. The seals were water dogs that would follow you in a kayak, so if you paddled backwards, you could trick them. The wildlife was stunningly pristine, almost friendly to a comfortable degree. The salmon ran by the hundreds and the bald eagles were literally everywhere! 

But eventually it was showtime! The planes would be coming in soon with our first guests and the new schedules would start. Eight would be getting up at 4am to start breakfast prep, a case of diced potatoes on to boil, bacon by the sheet tray, fire up all the equipment and start the breads. Big Fish would come in shortly after and they would knock out a breakfast special every day as well as standard items. The captains sat with the guests asigned to their boats, there were 5 tables of 7-8 and the housekeeping was also the service team. So one server per table and the chefs would entertain as well and were generally interactive with the guests. Some days meals were served family style, sometimes it was plated. 

We made sushi, had crab boils with the freshest Dungeness crab possible, and made everything from scratch. Cookies and milk were a late night thing, so the team made 6 varieties of cookie to rotate pairings. Chocolate chip was always available and made by the 70 pounds! The team usually made it to bed by 9pm once they got the system down. But for the first 10 days Big Fish and Eight were swamped! 4am-11pm. With wake-up they were working solid 20 hour days, it was exhausting. With all this handmade food comes a bunch of dishes, well, this lodge didn’t have a machine, so Eight and Big Fish had to wash and dry everything by hand. The sudden doubling of the customer base took them by surprise as well, so prep times were lengthened. The level was brought up for the guests as well, the displays and appetizers. Many doughs and batters made each day, a wild creative flow from the chefs. It took a moment and a push to get over that hill. The two of them would never be the same people after the intensity and incredible show of force that was displayed. Eight would eventually get a tattoo of a stacked dish pit in commemoration to the insane amount of work it was. 

After the system was in place though, they were cruising! Big Fish would have a consistent fishing time that would catch him a 110 pound Halibut, an absolute beast of a fish. Eight would kayak every morning after breakfast service and the boats had left. Again back to paradise. Once, Eight was fishing with another staff member. At this moment Eight was keeping the 14-foot aluminum boat off of the rocky shore, maybe 35 feet from said shore. When all of the sudden, the huge back of a grey whale surfaced between the shore and Eight. Over what felt like minutes, Eight watched this huge animal roll past them. Perhaps as large as 50 feet long, it was enough for the two to head back to the safety of the lodge. The ride back was almost as scary and amazing with a choppy ocean almost sinking their little boat. A truly humbling moment for Eight and certainly a day they will never forget. Alaska was an experience to say the least!

After 128 days straight with no days off, working 14 plus hours a day, the two chefs were done. The whole team enjoyed a poker night party, Eight hustled quite a bit of cash off the captains and everyone was relieved and ready to go home. This dynamic duo saved the lodge around $14,000.00 in their first year and were thanked again and again for their hard work. While both chefs would return for separate stints again, it just wasn’t the same. Whenever an epic opportunity presents itself say yes! You never know what it’s going to lead to. Stay wild squids, enjoy your life.

Heavily Spiced Tenders

Let’s set the stage, the eight was running a burger shack in a little mountain town. They offered the classic shack foods: burgers, dogs, shakes. They also had a chicken section: wings, fried thigh and leg, and tenders. These tenders were polarizing. Some people loved them, others thought they were burnt, even when they were remade right in front of them. These tenders were well seasoned with spices and herbs. Compared to the general’s, these tenders were darker. The seasoning read as too spicy for some, others wouldn’t even try them, claiming they were burnt just upon sight. Yet sometimes, we’d get a customer that would say, “That’s the best chicken I’ve ever had!”. The process for these tenders was a brine for 2 hours, buttermilk soaked, and then dredged to order. Certainly, this dredge was seasoned. We are in the business of flavorful foods of course. Every batch of chicken that went out was temped to be sure they were cooked well. We ran timers for consistency and ate our own food daily. Brendan ate there every day for lunch and dinner for almost a year straight. Burnt you could never have called our chicken. And don’t even get us started on dirty fryers, we changed our oil twice weekly and scrubbed the fryer every change. We even had a chicken fryer that we ran at 325 and a separate French fry fryer that we ran at 360.

One day, a small family comes up. One thing stood out, the father was drinking a beer, smoking a cigarette and holding his daughter. To be polite, this guy looked rough and was making some questionable choices. This is judging a book by it’s cover no doubt, and this will be relevant soon. The family orders food, the daughter is having tenders. The order goes out after a moment and off they go. A few minutes later the dad comes back. He’s irritated and points to the tenders saying, “These are burnt!”

We respond, “Oh no sir, we suggest you try them, our dredge is spiced and so the color is darker than others.”

Dad responds flabbergasted, “Spiced! These are for a kid!”

We respond, “Well not spiced like hot, just there are spices and they are seasoned, please just try a bite and if you think they aren’t going to work and we will replace it.”

Almost in defiance he flips open the container and takes a nice bite from a tender.

Dad, “That’s good chicken!” 

We thank him and smile, he apologizes and goes back to enjoy his meal with the fam. We love this story because here is an individual that some would judge harshly. And too he judged harshly upon appearance. But what makes this individual stand out is he did take a bite, he did go to the source to find the truth. More “educated” or more “esteemed” individuals would not even try a bite. Guarantee for a replacement and they wouldn’t even try it. We had a gentleman come back almost shaking mad about his burnt chicken. We tried to calm him and tried to ask him to just try the chicken. But he just wouldn’t! Or a fellow food worker who came back saying her husband’s tenders were burnt, we remade them with her standing there waiting, some 7-8 minutes go by, we present the fresh, no pressure, only thing on the order cooked tenders. She opened the container right there and said, “They’re burnt!”. You just can’t please everyone folks. It is certainly good to listen to your customer base and to make changes the majority are looking for. But then again, we never had trouble selling our tenders