His first Friday night was off the hook. It was not so much the number of covers as much as the way they came in. Being a Friday, people ate later, or at least couples did. So the biggest rush started about eight and they ran orders all the way to midnight. From five to seven they had families, couples with kids, mostly younger kids who needed to eat dinner and then after dinner and a brief family time be gotten ready for bed. Lots of hamburgers and inexpensive steaks and chopped steaks.
Between seven and eight a lull ensued. They had orders, enough of them, but no rush to speak of. The singles, childless couples and daters were spending their time at one of the several hotel bars. Many of these people were getting sloshed. When they came in to sit down for dinner, drinks in hand as they walked in, they were happy and hungry. This crowd ordered fancy food, frogs legs and lobster tails, and they were so far gone they virtually never complained about anything.
Old kitchen adage: specially if it’s not exactly right, make it look beautiful and make sure it is so hot steam rises out of it.
Meat Loaf: two out of three ain’t bad.
Jimmy G, Bill and the girls all worked straight through. There were brief moments to run to the bathroom, but that was it for the two cooks. Kalista brought them espresso. The girls brought them soda or water. No one fooled around. Caesar pretty much stayed out of sight. No food came back. No complaints came in that Bill knew of. What he didn’t know and wasn’t supposed to know until the next day was that the chef came in to eat along with the food and beverage director. Caesar was instructed not to say anything and of course he didn’t. He hoped Bill would mess up their order. Rosie served them and since Caesar was always intent on “getting” Bill, he followed Rosie to make sure she didn’t warn Bill.
Edelgarde and Jo Ann did. Long ago and far away… the girls had devised a set of signals they used to warn each other about things happening out in the dining room. Many times with Caesar not knowing, they had warned Jimmy G about someone of prominence in the hotel being out in the dining room to eat and not wanting the kitchen staff to be forewarned. So Rosie who was being watched by Caesar signaled Edelgarde. This is what Caesar was counting on and watching for, so he was, and they figured he was, watching her too. Edelgarde in turn signaled Jo Ann who was slick enough to tell Kalista who told Jimmy G in Greek when she immediately stopped what she was doing to bring them espresso. Jimmy G passed it on to Bill.
By the time it was served, Bill knew whose order it was and exactly where it was going. The food was perfect, and beautiful, and steamy hot.
And no one was any the wiser.
The three girls and two banquet-staff weekend busboys ate the same food Bill and Jimmy G and Kalista had eaten. The busboys ate at eleven, then Jo Ann first and then Rosie and Edelgarde after, at midnight when the room was closed and only the stragglers remained. Everyone was happy with their food. Everyone was hungry. Everyone had worked really hard and was tired. Jimmy G and Bill had been there, in the hotel working, just about all day, and they would be back again early in the morning.
“Good night we had,” Rosie said to Bill after she’d eaten.
Bill was in the kitchen working on his cleanup. The board was empty now and no orders were working. He was waiting for Caesar to tell him there would be no more orders even though deep inside him he already knew this.
“Yeah. It was a good night,” Bill said. “We all worked hard.”
“Work hard, play hard,” Rosie said. “That’s my motto.”
