In the Flames

Hump day...

At least it would be if there was a day off in the near future. Tonite was fun, Barton worked the grill, and it rained so half of the wood was wet. When the kitchen goes down and it is because of a cook, well, you can yell at them. But when it is the Exec working the station that has to slow down for whatever reason (even if it is from wet wood!), there is nothing you can do but roll with it and stay on top of everything around you!

It is fun watching Barton work the line, because he makes everything with perfect precision to a fault. He got upset with the grill before the wood problem because the flames were too high, so he couldn't cook over part of the grill. It adds an "undesirable" flavor to the food when the flames hit it.

As the night slowed down and he left the line for yours truly to clean up, we actually got a few tables right before we closed. So he tried to come back on the line, to which I simply told him, "Chef, don't steal my thunder." He gave me a look of bemusement, said goodnight and left for the evening 15 minutes later. That was, of course, before the the owner of Redwood came by and had me make up some food for him.

Guess it was payback for me coming into eat months ago, the first weekend their patio was open!