& BRITISH-SERVICE

start wondering when go to a restaurant and find out the waiter does not
know much about the menu, and the different meat cuts, he barely knows
from which animal they are. am very little impressed when the waiter does
not have a clue if the fish served was caught in fresh water or salt water, was
farm-raised or in the wild. am not fascinated when get the answer, " think
they are the ones from a jar!" n reply to my question, "What types of oysters
do you serve tonight?"
often think today's waiters have it much easier, than the generations
before them. They have more time to be attentive to their guests' needs. Very
little is table side. But then again am used to ten to twenty customers a shift.
Some waiters talked with recently say they usually turn and burn forty and
more customers per shift. " am too busy with feeding mouths en mass" and "
have barely time to go to the bathroom. Personal touches? F... forget it!" are
typical answers.
Still feel strongly that a waiter should be able to describe all menu items
and a good part of the wine-list. t is not essential but good to know that there
was a time when all food was served on platters. At one time, there used to be
also three distinct different styles of service in European restaurants:
f the meat was precut in the kitchen and than rearranged on the platter,
such was RUSSAN SERVCE. Experienced chefs precut racks of venison,
but put the meat back onto the bones so it looked like a whole rack. A whole
piglet was carved in the kitchen but put back together so it could be shown as
a whole in one piece. The chefs portioned a goose in the kitchen but carefully
served on a platter looking like a whole one. The same was done with a whole
fillet of beef or a whole fish. f it was filleted and put back onto the platter so it
looked like a whole, all done in the kitchen prior to serving, we called it
RUSSAN SERVCE. The cooks always did a nicer job to carve and garnish
platters, than most waiters. For banquets this was the preferred way and it
allowed a speedy service without rechauds straight from the platter onto the
patron's plates.
This the RUSSAN SERVCE, was told had been the typical way how they
served food at the Czar's table and at all major functions in St. Petersburg.
However remember my teachers saying, that Russian service came actually
from Constantinople but only reached its fame under the Czar and during his
famous banquets.
n contrast to the before mentioned way to serve food, the FRENCH
SERVCE was much table-side-work. The food cooked to perfection and
garnished with much care was brought on show platters to the guest. Most of
the carving and portioning were done in front of the guest. Such still includes
the skillful cutting of a whole fillet a la Wellington in front of the guest. The
carving of an entrecote double at a table is also typical for FRENCH
SERVCE, so are the cooking and flaming of a steak Diana at the patron's
table. t used to be that waiters took whole racks of venison of the bone in
front of the guest and sliced them with the customers looking on. Whole ducks
"Canard a la press" were typical for the best of the best French restaurants.
Not only sole, but bigger fishes like salmon and halibut were filleted in front of
a group of diners. Often the waiter brought the fresh caught fish for the
customers inspection to the table. The guests were able to admire the
freshness, before we cooked and served it. Pepper steaks too were done at
the table. Waiters made crepes for Crepe Suzette at the table. All these
examples are FRENCH SERVCE. One may ask does FRENCH SERVCE
have anything to do with French restaurants. t used to, it is not anymore.
Cooking, serving and eating habits have gone through many changes. The
styles have changed too.
Nowadays it is not uncommon for a restaurant to be truly international, but
be called whatever the owner wants to call it (see also New California under
Starters).
There used to be another type the BRTSH SERVCE, by which big
platters and tureens were placed onto the table in front of the guest. After
initially being assisted by the waiters, these guests helped themselves.
Another most likely British invention is still known as BUTLER style, that's
when canaps and other hors d'oeuvres are placed in the hands of servers
who offer these to the guests as they pass by.
A word of caution should be said about the styles of service and also the
origin of so-called regional food service. The royal families in Europe were all
related, at times they gathered, if they did not fight each other. The rules for
each country were made by their lordships. The British or/and the German
House of Hanover carved meat the French way at the table, so did the Czar's
family in Russia, and they called it whatever they wanted to call it, especially
while at war with France.
The same is true for many recipes: the Royal houses during peace time
traded with each other. They shared spices, they used the same seeds for
vegetables and they bought tree and vine cuttings for fruit from international
traders like the Hanse. They copied recipes and what sounded good to one
royal family was often adopted by others too.
What made regional food in the past reaIIy regionaI food was the local
availability, the limited storage due to climate and area and the ability, or the
lack of, to preserve certain ingredients for the daily meal. Food processing
used to be very limited. The common ways to preserve food was drying,
smoke curing and drying, pickling, salting and drying. Frozen fish or meat was
a luxury of a few northern countries, where ice was available. Today we have
many methods to preserve perishable food including canning, drying or
dehydration, freezing or freeze drying, fermentation or pickling, and irradiation.
Regional food nowadays is food prepared in the region but often nobody
knows where it was grown and harvested.

"Silver Platters and Rechauds"
The back-waiter brought the food to a service-table next to the guests' dinner-
table. Here he placed the sliver platter with hot food onto a rechaud.

SILVER PLATTERS & RECHAUDS
Before portion-controlled food became worldwide the norm, all food was
loaded in the kitchen by the cooks onto large show platters. n Germany these
heavy silverplated platters were appropriatly called Hotel-Silber (silver for
hotel use).
n the 1960 and before good restaurants in Europe did not use plates in the
kitchen. Plate warming cabinets kept plates needed for hot food at a preset
temperature. Such cabinets would be found in or nearby all the guest seating
areas. Many fine restaurants had three different plate storage areas; The
warm plates were kept in the plate warmer, cold plates were stacked at room
temperature, chilled plates as needed salad and dessert were kept in a
refrigerated unit.
n the kitchen one did not use plates. The chefs created all displays on
Hotel-Silber show platters, artistically garnishing the same. These platters, hot
for hot food and cold for cold food, were carried to the dining rooms by the
kitchen waiters often called back-waiters.
The back-waiter brought the food to a service-table next to the guests'
dinner-table. Here he placed the sliver platter with hot food onto a rechaud.
Preheated plates waited to be used on another rechaud. These rechauds
were food-warmers. Such were common and used everywhere, until the early
to mide seventies. Rechauds were an essential for any European style
restaurant around the globe.
Many of the then used rechauds were handmade, crafted from brass or
copper. remember some which had silver claw-foot legs. Some rechauds
were crafted from several metals, like copper and brass, others had a rich
silver filigree decor. They were beautiful to look at, but hard to clean. The heat
source were candles placed inside and at times, by night's end, the bottom of
a the rechauds was filled with candle wax.
To remove the wax took much time and elbow grease, so did the cleaning
and polishing of the rechauds. The labor needed to keep the silver platters
clean and shining is today hard to imagine. n Germany, where had my
apprenticeship, the silver cleaning was the apprentice's job. My superiors told
me such was comparable to the daily deck-scrubbing of cadets on sailing
ships, an ongoing daily chore. t was a never ending Sisyphus work. did what
was told to do. t must have been important for spent four hours plus, each
day with silver cleaning. Yet did never believe that it was a chore necessary
to create discipline and character strength. But that was exactly what the head
waiter and the manager kept on telling me.
Restaurants all over the world hastily replaced rechauds which had been in
use, unchanged for over a century, with electric gadgets in the seventies. The
most common new electric warmer was an alloy-plate with two handles which
served as stands. The new technology, the modern style and the low cost per
use of any of these revolutionary warming plates caught on fast. These all
cast metal and stainless steel warming plates were stacked and heated in
their special designed stainless steel electric cabinet. They were easy to clean
and cheap to maintain. However these heat plates lacked the warmth of the
burning candlelight and the timeless beauty of the copper and brass rechauds
which they replaced.
The function of the rechaud was to keep plates and the silver platters with
food warm for the guest. The food placed on a rechaud by the backwaiter
stayed there till the frontwaiter or captain took over. He then presented the
food to the guests. After the customer's nod of approval, he put the platter
back onto the warmer. The front waiter took the waiting plates from another
rechaud, hot clean dinner plates. These were now placed in front of each
guest.
The captain or frontwaiter then picked the food platter up and went ahead
with serving the food, which was done from the left, without any exception.
The platter itself balanced on the server's left hand and arm. Between skin
and platter, the waiter used serving towels to protect himself against the heat
from the platter's hot surface. The waiters served all food from the guest's left,
with the serving spoon and fork always in the right hand. The waiter carefully
selected from the platter whatever the guest wanted on his dinner-plate.
Food was never piled high onto a plate, unless a guest requested such.
Little servings were the norm. A waiter had to know how and where to place
the meat, the vegetable, the potatoes and the sauces. t was common that
each vegetable and meat had their own sauce. There were for instance truffle
sauce for the meat, a hollandaise for the asparagus, hot bacon and lard for
the string beans, and cheese and bread crumbs for the cauliflower.
Single orders came out of the kitchen on one and the same silver platter,
meat, vegetable and potatoes. Still, it had to be served. For a table of four, all
the individual meat or fish orders were on separate platters, but usually the
cooks arranged the accompanying vegetables on just one big silver platter. At
a table of four (if everyone selected a different entree) there would be five
platters, on rechauds, surrounding the guests' table, an impressive
presentation.
To watch a waiter serving the food made the dinner a special affair. Picking
the platter up from the rechaud the silver-platter on his left hand, the waiter's
polite "May serve you more meat, more vegetables?" started a round of
serving and pampering the guest. Done with this he offered more of the
sauces, refilled wine glasses and made sure that they, his treasured guests,
were well-taken care off.
There was a drawback. Restaurants were not able to hire just anybody of
the street. Fast talking and being available was not sufficient to be a waiter
then. Serving from a silver platter, a waiter had to be able to balance a heavy
platter on his left hand. He had to be able to serve from it, while bending
forward between two guests. There the platter would hover over the table
while the waiter used the spoon and fork in his right hand like tongs. To pick
up meat pieces, he had to have a firm grip. To be able to move delicate items
like straw-potato-nests, stuffed tomatoes or asparagus spears he had to have
a gentle touch. This type of service was an art in itself. To lift small pieces of
garnish skillfully without destroying their appetizing appearance required
practice. None of these tasks were considered a big deal by any experienced
waiter. They could use spoon and fork to lift carefully and place food items
onto the guest's plate. Waiters used the spoon as a ladle to dish up some of
the au-jus, or to scoop up vegetables from the platter. Little round items, such
as peas, beans, berries and grapes had the tendency to fall of the spoon and
land in the wrong places, like in some bosomed lady's dcollet. Such was
usually outrageous funny to watch. Some women were like stone, not reacting
at all. One, she shrieked, pain and surprise in her voice, but blushed as
everybody stared at her. Another woman remember jumped up and ran to
the powder room to remove whatever had rolled between her breast.
t was not always the waiter's fault. Yet at times games were played on
purpose. At one formal dinner a gentleman paid me twenty Marks to drop a
chilled melon ball into the low cut dress of his table partner. guess he
thought she would allow him to retrieve it. He offered to do so, just after
dropped the half inch ball. She ignored my apology. Looking straight at the
gentleman at her side, heard her saying: " don't know what you think, you
plan to do. There is nothing wrong, nothing what would need your concern."
The part of serving food from a platter onto the guest's plate was the
easiest part of the waiter's job. The fun part started when the food from the
kitchen needed to be prepared, carved or filleted in front of the guests. Here
one either had the experience or one did not.
Think of a whole duck or a goose, crispy baked beautifully garnished sitting
on its platter on a rechaud, with guests waiting for their dinner, staring at their
order which is sitting on the side table. Think of the expectations and the
waiter who better carved and served it fast.
t needed skills, to quickly cut, debone and portion food. One wouldn't want
it to get cold. There was even a contraption to squeeze every drop of juice out
of a duck's carcass. Once the waiter removed the meat, he inserted the duck
bones as one piece into the press. By slowly tightening the screw on top of
the "Canard press," the waiter squeezed all juice from the carcass. These
drippings became part of the sauce served over the duck's sliced meat. This,
the duck a la press, used to be a bestseller in many restaurants featuring
French cuisine.
Much has changed since the sixties, a waiter might never get to carve meat
for his guests but it still helps to know the different names for meat cuts. t is
good to know how to fillet a whole fish and to have some basic knowledge
about carving. Table side service these days is very limited. Few places do a
Caesar salad in front of the guest. Some restaurants still have Chateaubriand
( fillet-steak for two) and here or there we find a flaming dessert on a menu.
Today silver-platters and rechauds are nostalgic items, antiquities.
Fast-food and buffets do not require much serving skill from a waiter. n the
sixties and seventies, ten customers were the maximum guest-count for one
waiter to be waited on, in any better restaurant. Today it is not uncommon that
a waiter takes care of twenty and more customers in a so-called fine dining
establishment.

"Today's Plate Service"
One would want to think that there is a big gap in quality between the
reasonable American coffee-shop-chain restaurant and the price winning
restaurant...
today's pIate service and
AMERICAN STYLE FOOD SALES
Today PLATE SERVCE is the latest style of service. But let us look at the
use of plates first. Not too long ago porcelain was very expensive and only the
richest of the rich were using such fragile surfaces from which to eat.
At dinner time, at almost every European castle, throughout the middle
ages, trenchers were used instead of plates. These were flat pieces of bread.
On these trenchers one served and ate meat. After the meal these baked flat
objects were flung to the dogs or handed to the poor and hungry.
The porcelains from China arrived in Europe as the trade with Asia opened
up around 1500. Still it took another two centuries until hard porcelain was
made in Europe. Such happened around 1700. After that it took another two
centuries to make the use of porcelain common and to guarantee its place in
every household and every table.
t might come as a surprise, but kitchen-plated food, as we know it today,
would have been unacceptable 50 years ago in fine European restaurants. To
have a plate of food put in front of one was common at home. At a restaurant
however the guests expected to be pampered, to get a large selection to
choose from and the ones who could afford to eat at restaurants were quite
willing to pay the prices charged.
Only at the end of the 1960s and the early 1970s, restaurants all over
Europe started to replace the silver food-platters with individual plates. Portion
controlled, plated food was then successfully introduced.
By the mid seventies very few restaurants still used rechauds and platters
in Europe. By end of the 1970s, internationally almost all the hotels and
European style restaurants had changed to plate service. n the eighties
rechauds disappeared and large platters were only occasionally used for
banquet service.
Today it is kitchen plated food, or self served food wherever one travels.
The reasons are: Cost cutting, portion control and down sizing. "f it takes less
monetary layout to create the same revenue, than why not?"
Getting closer to the year 2000 even the finest of the finest restaurants, on
certain occasions, cut down on service. Owners or managers do not tell their
clientele "We plan to cut service, to cut cost." They do such by offering special
events. Such non-service is often disguised by great names and advertising.
But in reality even the greatest Friday Night Seafood Buffet or Sunday Brunch
Buffet setups are nothing but self service tables. They are a glorified cafeteria
style, or more precise non-service-pick-your-own-food displays. The same is
true for any salad bar.
The latest two AMERCAN STYLES (Cafeteria style and Franchised Fast
Food) are worldwide accepted as successful ways for restaurant operations.
First there is the Cafeteria Style. What many of us consider CAFETERA
STYLE is not new to California, it is said to have originated during the
goldrush-days. The first self service restaurant appeared in 1849 in San
Francisco. There everything was a la carte, customers were serving
themselves and paid a cashier for each item they chose. Now in 1996 nearly a
hundred and fifty years later cafeteria style is found everywhere around the
world.
The other AMERCAN STYLE is newer. t took less time for the AMERCAN
FAST FOOD FRANCHSES
(1)
to stake out new territories, than what it took for
the cafeterias. The franchises, which emerged in large scale in the 1950s,
have grown in numbers and are becoming the main feeding points for millions
of working people in cities in nearly every country. Many of these franchises
don't even provide plates. The franchises have in common that they offer a
limited selection of in advance prepared food which can be served fast.
Looking at the past: Americans grew up with hot dog, hamburger and similar
snack food stands. The idea to grab a bite to eat while on the go is not new to
American standards.
n many countries around the world nowadays both men and women work
to earn the income needed for a modern day household. The time to cook
regular meals is limited. Fast-food becomes tempting especially when the
price is right.
Fast-food establishments can be either franchises or chains. By selling
virtually the same at every outlet of one name brand, the production cost is
kept low and a reasonable profit is possible.
For the hungry traveler who doesn't want to pay for a restaurant meal, but
wants more than self-service-fast-food the American coffee-shop-chain
restaurant has wide appeal. Here the concept is the same as fast-food. The
menu is based on in advance prepared food items which can be heated up
and served in minutes. Added to it are a range of easy to prepare and serve
restaurant items. These restaurants are very successful near mayor
highways.
Different companies use a different approach to ownership. McDonald's
owns all its outlets, Kentucky Fried Chicken sells and leases outlets to the
operators. And Burger King which used to be an independent corporation is
owned by a British company. This is to name just a few examples of
successful fast-food business corporations.
The American coffee-shop-chain restaurant, uses plate-service, so do all
restaurants in the upper price class. The so-called better restaurants have
individual decor, they have a chef and not just a warmer-upper-person and
their menu offers items which are special for such type of restaurant. Some of
these restaurants make their own sauces, soups, desserts and charge
accordingly. Many don't, the reason being less labor is used by buying
preprocessed ready to serve soups, sauces, salad-mix, deboned and
portioned meat, or ready to cook fish.
Now one would want to think that there is a big gap in quality between the
reasonable American coffee-shop-chain restaurant and the price winning
restaurant. have to disappoint you, that's not always the case, many a times
acclaimed great restaurants use the very same sauces, soups, salads, bread
and desserts as the coffee-shop, only the garnish, the service and the guest-
check are different.
n plate service the guest doesn't have to see a whole rack of lamb or
venison, or a whole duck, or a whole sole, from which the waiters fillets,
carves and serves his table. Large food supply companies knowing that the
people working in the kitchen expect everything to be delivered portioned
according to plate size, ready to cook and serve, cater exactly to such needs.

1. Franchise, here the right granted to operate a business under the general regulation
of the one who grants it.
New California Cuisine?
New California Cuisine is a new approach to regional cooking. t's not a
disguise, or hiding facts under a fancy name. New California Cuisine is
international food cooked right here on the premises. t is as diverse as the
population in California.
NEW CALIFORNIA CUISINE
(and other themes and restaurant IabeIs)
There is an abundance of restaurants in every tourist town. Not just to be
different, but to let the guest know in advance what they are in for, restaurant
owners label their restaurants in any, to them the business owners, suitable
way. Some labels are more precise than others. The following are the labels
used on the Monterey Peninsula:
AMERCAN CUSNE stands here for anything cooked in America.
BAKERY/DEL usually describes, "We bake and sell our baked goods on our
premises."
BBQ, most likely advertises ribs, but can include hamburgers, chicken and
sausages.
BRAZLAN, that's food from Brazil, with a zest for life, often a combination of
Portuguese, talian and African cooking.
BSTRO style stays for casual restaurants. But watch out for waiters who wear
long aprons, these can easy be a French restaurant. The wording bistro
stands for anything from American over Oriental to talian food and it's good to
check the menu first.
CAJUN/ CREOLE restaurant suggests spicy food.
CALFORNA CUSNE! You might ask what is such and let me assure you
"You are not alone!"
While working at a restaurant, titled New California Cuisine, receive daily
inquiries from potential customers who simply ask: "What is California
cuisine?" talk with the chef who explains that California cuisine once
indicated regional dishes only. Today looking at any typical California
restaurant offering California cuisine we find shrimp from Mexico, lamb from
New Zealand. The Mahi-Mahi is from Hawaii. The salmon depending on the
season was caught in Alaska or Norway. The seabass is from Chile. The
couscous is flown in from North-Africa. The escargots are shipped in from
France, olives from Greece, safran from Spain and caviar from Russia.
The menu includes crab cakes made from Alaskan snow crab and imitation
crab meat. The chef defends his recipe with: "Just a moment! Bare with me!
There is nothing wrong with imitation crab." He lectures me: "These aren't
East Coast crab cakes but California style crab cakes."
dig to get a specific answer. want to know what the chef means with
California Cuisine. After a lengthy explaining that the concept was created by
the owners not him, he gives me his definition: New California Cuisine is a
new approach to regional cooking. t's not a disguise, or hiding facts under a
fancy name. New California Cuisine is international food cooked right here on
the premises. t is as diverse as the population in California.
California Cuisine is not bound by one certain group of menu-items, it
represents a little of everything. t includes talian style pasta dishes, Spanish
gaspacho, French flageolet beans, local and imported fish. There are also
light experimental sauces made with mango and other exotic fruits. We do not
serve the old-fashioned heavy butter and egg yolk sauces, unless requested.
But we offer Soya and ginger sauces, saffron vinaigrettes and a variety of
coulis. And he goes into the details: "We use vegetables and salads from the
region which include both Napa and Chinese cabbage. We also use turnips
for many dishes. The Enoki and oyster mushrooms are from Watsonville.
Herbs are grown just outside the kitchen's backdoor and mixed with the
various imported spices."
look at the chef with a question mark on my face and get my answer, the
one had been searching for, when he says: "New California Cuisine is as
varied as the people we find here." n length the chef talks about the
employees who are French, Spanish, German, Mexican, British and what else
people. He ends it with: "That's what California is about! Variety! That's what
my cooking is about! Variety!"
CARBBEAN must mean Caribbean.
COFFEE SHOP is most likely a place were various types of coffee are sold
and some offer a small menu of sandwiches, salads or baked goods too.
CONTNENTAL used to be foreign food, sometimes it does resemble
European style cooking.
CHNESE, that's the type of food we all can afford, any time, any place. n
some Chinese restaurants they still use chop sticks and you might have to ask
for a fork and knife.
ECLECTC food might be Greek, might not. Before you look into the
dictionary, call first to find out.
ENGLSH FOOD can be a hint for fish and chips, pies, afternoon tea and
scones, but doesn't have to. Therefor better call first.
ETHNC food is another broad theme, it can suggest little or large selections
of anything. Definitely call before going.
EUROPEAN cuisine stands for any type of food, which could be typical to
Europe without a clear idea as to a specific country of origin.
EURO - ASAN is a broad theme. t can be a mixture of everything not
exclusing Australian, American or African food items.
FAST FOOD should equal food served fast.
FRENCH CUSNE is like a code implying high prices. t doesn't guarantee
typical French dishes or a French owner or chef. t does not even imply that
the French language is spoken on the premises.
GERMAN restaurants can be Hofbrauhaus style self service or regional
German or Austrian cooking with Schnitzel and Spaetzle.
GREEK restaurants usually serve Greek food.
HOFBRAU can specify a German style but often is not.
NDAN kitchen states ndian food from ndia.
NTERNATONAL food can mean anything and often it's very good.
TALAN stays for moderate prices. Some talian restaurants specialize in
pasta, others in veal. There are at least three talian styles: The northern
talian food compares much to international European and French cooking.
The middle part of taly is known for its wide use of olive oil and lemon juice,
little spice and great flavors. The southern part, the Sicilian kitchen is the
spicier of the three.
JAPANESE restaurants provide food typical for Japan. Sticky rice and small
servings of fish or meat are common. Often sushi bars, where experienced
chefs prepare and serve raw fish are attached to the restaurant.
KOREAN food is what it says: Korean, which is neither Japanese nor
Chinese. They too serve sticky rice with their meat or fish dishes. They also
offer a variety of Kim-chee to add zest to the meal, for my taste Korean food is
the way to go.
MEXCAN restaurants in America are most likely to serve Mexican style food.
Some offer various combinations of American versions which one cannot find
anyplace in Mexico.
NEW CALFORNA CUSNE, see California cuisine.
PZZA is what it says namely pizza.
SEAFOOD stands for a restaurant specializing in seafood.
STEAKHOUSE means meat.
SUSH BARS are usually attached to Japanese restaurants.
THA FOOD tells us that Thai food is served.
VEGETARAN RESTAURANT leaves no question open, that's were they don't
offer meat.
Enjoy...
...and in San Diego:
When looking for new places to dine in, read San Diego restaurant reviews
online to know what places to try and what to avoid.

"Restaurant Food"
"Edible art!" call it, looking at the plates created under the chef's fast moving
fingers. These plates, ready to be served, reflect years of training and
practice.

RESTAURANT FOOD
"Edible art!" call it, looking at the plates created under the chef's fast
moving fingers. These plates, ready to be served, reflect years of training and
practice. Standing in front of the broiler, the grill and the ovens, the line-cooks
are sweating. The nightly work process starts the very moment when the chef
posts the first dinner order on the kitchen's order-wheel. Now, menu items are
called, food is being prepared, orders get picked up.
Cooks are preparing fish items according to order and menu. They bake,
poach, grill, pan-fry or saut their order. Some meat dishes are roasted,
simmered, or broiled. Vegetables are being fried tempura style, others
steamed or sauted. The precooked items are warmed-up according to the
required serving temperature. No time is left to look into a cookbook for
ingredients or cooking time. The discussions about sports or world politics
have to wait too, at least in the in the kitchen. As the business kicks-off, the
kitchen's teamwork makes or brakes the nightly feeding event known to most
of us only as dinner. Many factors create the customers' gourmand
experience. One is timing. That is the kitchen's ability to time items, belonging
to one table, correctly. The timing is the chef de cuisine's job. He, much like a
concert master, sets the tempo. Every cook has to be knowledgeable, has to
know exactly how long any certain item needs to cook before it can be served.
To combine orders per ticket or table however is in the chef de cuisine's
capable hands.
The cooking and preparing of the individual orders, the production of one
plate after the other, each unique, unequaled, one of a kind requires the cooks
to work hand in hand with each other. Seldom does one plate leave the
kitchen by itself. Usually there are a number of plates per ticket. For a deuce
there are two plates, a four-top requires four plates, an eight-top eight plates
and a party of twenty needs twenty plates for a completed order.
On the waiter's side, again, timing is everything. Once an order is ready for
the pickup, it needs to be delivered to the table at once. Waiters pick their
table's orders up at the kitchen's window, or pick up line, and a timely serving
of the food is important to the overall quality.
Created by an experienced cook, food art is often fragile looking, truly
temporary art. Regardless of the artistic, it is nourishing. However, restaurant
food does much more than merely the feeding of an empty stomach.
Restaurant food tries to please all senses. The eyes are feasting on the
colors, the shapes, the steam rising from a hot plate. The nostrils take a
plunge in the cloud of various delicious aromas hovering over the dinner plate.
"Food has to look and smell right to taste right." The guest's fingertips feel the
heat of the plate. A plate for a hot dish arriving cold, tells the brain the
assumption of "t's all cold!" Here it will not matter how hot the food itself is.
The sense of touch puts the guest's available senses on guard. The diner's
disappointing thoughts before actually tasting the food can still be overcome,
a negative thought process can be limited if, and only if, the food is much
better than expected.
Lips suck carefully on vegetables, the tongue slurps the sauces and teeth
nibble on - before they bite into - the food. f the senses of sight and touch
have told the brain how much they like the food, the taste buds will stand erect
in expectancy of the coming incredible sensational experiences. These
expectations have to be met. The guest's enjoyment and happiness hinge on
it.
Whenever the served meal lives up to the guest's expected standards, we
have a pleased customer who most likely will be back for more. Restaurant
food has little to do with so-called proper nutrition or with eating to provide fuel
for the body.
Restaurant food has to satisfy the mind in all aspects. Yes, it's not the
growling stomach where the diner's feeling-empty-ready-to-eat-thought
originates. No, the signal go-to-a-restaurant-to-eat comes from between the
ears. Restaurant food has to appeal to all the senses.
As a waiter have to be able to put myself into the customers position.
Such a roll change helps me to understand the guest's viewpoint. When dine
out and the waiter tells me the fish is three days old, certainly will not order it.
f my Romaine salad is not crunchy, will send it back. The same if it doesn't
look right, shall send it back. f the smell of food served to me offends my
taste of smell, certainly don't eat it. f the bread is mushy to the touch or the
steak too tough to cut, do not want it. And overall if it does not taste as
expect it to taste might not enjoy it, unless it is different or far better than
what remember it should be. Restaurant food has to be created with the
guest's needs and wants in mind. Chefs know from experience, that food sells
better if it is displayed with an artistic touch. That is why he puts the original
can and lid next to, with, the Russian caviar. That is also the reason why the
chef uses garnishing for his plates. May it be old-fashioned parsley or modern
day edible flowers, he will do whatever it takes to create his masterpiece of
display work.
Whatever the waiter carries out of the kitchen and serves to his guest is
nothing short of being the most incredible, delightful, nourishing Edible Art
created solely for this one and only paying diner.
"Gaspacho"
try not to listen to the bruised ego of our insulted chef, who has little
understanding for these guests' requests.
ASPACHO
The restaurant where work these days, happens to have at times tour
groups. These are the VP type. Any of these tour-guest may unrestricted
order whatever he likes from our a la carte menu. Many of these people, who
have paid several thousand dollars a person for a one week-plus Californian
tour, have extensive travel experiences. They are world travelers, so they say.
Working one of these groups, have a table of six, all mature adults, past
retirement age. They order prawn cocktails to start with, soups, followed by
salads, main-courses and desserts. listen to their whining complaints about
being forced to eat too much on this trip. ask if they want me to bring them
smaller orders. They tell me, "No, don't you dare shortchanging us!" still
think they order too much food for somebody who is not hungry at all, but
don't say it loud.
bring their shrimp cocktails. They love it. serve their soups. Four have
the gaspacho. The other two have French onion soup, the kind with the bread-
crouton and cheese floating above the rich broth and onions.
take the cold soups first out to the table and make a second trip to the
kitchen to get the piping hot onion soups. As put the latter down in front of
the guests, one lady, after tasting her gaspacho, starts to complain loudly
about her soup being ice cold. "Ja, sure! Gaspacho is a cold soup!" answer
her, stating nothing but the facts.
She glances up at me, then looks down at her soup. see her stirring the
soup with a fork. She fishes for the vegetable pieces. am sure she is
analyzing the ingredients as she brings some chopped up vegetables to the
surface. She does tells me her findings: "That's tomatoes, chopped
vegetable, water and give or take a pinch or two of spices."
"Yes ma'am!" agree a hundred percent with her. " tell you what" she starts
her lecture "This very vegetable soup would taste a lot better to me if it would
be warm." She corrects herself "Steaming hot should say."
"But ma'am we do offer it as a cold soup on the menu!" try to get her to
understand that there is a fine difference between hot and cold soups. She
ignores me completely. Yet she says: "That's what's wrong with it."
"But ma'am?"
" tell you this soup would taste a whole lot better hot."
"Yes ma'am!"
"And if you want me to, show your fancy chef how to heat it up." make
the grande mistake to ask "You honestly want me to heat your gaspacho up?"
And she gets really mad at me. She is not kidding. Not only does she accuse
me of calling her a liar, but she also says refuse to take her order and to
listen to her complaint. She has one of this tommy-gun mouths which is
shooting acusations at me of which most don't understand. as she rattles my
brain hear her telling me off for not taking her seriously and calling her a
joker.
She hands her soup to me and leave the table speechless. hear her
voice telling the others, "This tomato-soup-concoction ought to be served
warm in the first place!" take it back to the kitchen. "Okay lady say grinding
my teeth. Lucky enough we have a microwave oven.
serve her her soup hot. She loves it and get to heat three more cups of
gaspacho at the same table. These too, serve boiling hot. try not to listen to
the bruised ego of our insulted chef, who has little understanding for these
guests' requests.
They finish their meal and sign the guest book. These six are very happy
when they say "Good Night!" look into the guest book. smile and show the
chef the customer's remarks. These read "This was the best meal we have
had on the whole California tour!" Another wrote "This tomatoes soup was out
of this world!" And one mentioned " . . . the chef's hot tomato soup was
excellent." The chef mumble-jumbles something not suitable for print.
However, from this day on he changes the cold gaspacho to a hot tomato-
soup with spinach "Florentine style" on any of the days when these tours are
scheduled.
Fifteen Minutes Till
Between answering phone calls Marlisa is trying to fix her skirt. She has only
stopped dieting a week ago. Sitting down on the barstool behind the raised
desk, her hips were mightier than the skirts closing-device.
FIFTEEN MINUTES
(behind the scenes of a first cIass restaurant)
t is five-forty-five. All stations are ready for business. The door shall be
opened at six. Just another regular weekend night. n the kitchen the Chef de
cuisine glances at the sauces and it is the Hollandaise
(1)
which catches his
eyes. Here at the Old Coast House we use Sauce Hollandaise by itself and as
a base for two other sauces, the Choron
(2)
and the Barnaise
(3)
. The chef
empties the stainless steel insert with the curled Hollandaise into the floor
drain, the one with the grease trap. He pours a bucket of hot water after it and
tells Allen, the saucier responsible for the Hollandaise and all other sauces, to
hurry up and whip another batch together.
A tired looking waiter hangs out next to the prominently displayed eighty-
six-board. This large, green old fashioned chalkboard is used to communicate
no longer available menu items. The yawning waiter studies the word
bouillabaisse before taking a piece of chalk. He uses the white chalk to edit
some of the dark spots on his shirt's cuffs. t works. Some of the worst stains
are being hidden beneath chalk marks. He doesn't care that the white chalk
creates a sharp contrast on the once white, now yellow-gray material. This
shirt untouched by bleach and soap for a number of workdays, looks in dire
need of TLC much like the body it covers.
Distinct sounds can be heard. Cling, clang, glass is tumbling. Ping, bong,
bam, glasses falling, and a crash, bang announces the finale of expensive
glassware. The noises origin is the lower main dining room. Distinct sounds of
Austrian crystal falling, breaking, bursting into countless pieces get the
manager's attention. Today, like always he blames his shortage of hair growth
on the job's stress, as he runs his hand over his head where framed by a
small border of thinning hair a high gloss polished plateau reflects the light.
Still searching for hair where there is none he heads into the direction of the
accidental glass fragmentation.
The kitchen's air is filled with layers of delicate fragrances. Essences from
garlic to vinegar hang out near the cold kitchen side. Marsala wine and mint
linger above the sauce-section of the hot line. A whiff of fresh baked bread
rises from the ovens. Over there in the fish section the fish-cook opens a can
of scallops, their fishy smell makes many noses itch.
Past the kitchen next is the employee change area. Here is a line of
employees, waiting to use the bathroom. The cocktail waitress has locked
herself inside. She has love problems. Desensitized to her coworkers' needs
she does her crying behind the locked door. Her timing is bad. Somebody
calls the bartender who persuades his cocktail waitress by giving her two
choices: "Tina come out and go to work or come out and go home." He tries a
second time, less gentle, "Tina! Either way! Get your little buns out here right
now!"
She needs the job more than anything. Tina gets of the pity pot apologizing.
Her eyes are red. She is blowing her nose. The cocktail waitress has
everybody's sympathy. "How did she get hooked up with this guy, who is
married and has a handful of girlfriends on the side, in the first place?"
Somebody asks. Nobody answers.
n the front of the house, at the lectern style antique stand-up desk near the
carved entrance door, the hostess is making last minute changes in the
reservation book. The phone does not stop ringing. Marlisa, the hostess, is
taking reservations and erases cancellations. She staples new information
onto two of the waiters' function sheets. These are changes the captains and
waiters have to be aware off. She waves and smiles at the manager as he
rushes by on one of his duty calls. Absentminded he acknowledges her,
nodding his head. Between answering phone calls Marlisa is trying to fix her
skirt. She has only stopped dieting a week ago. Sitting down on the barstool
behind the raised desk, her hips were mightier than the skirts closing-device.
On the phone she is polite and friendly. Off the phone Marlisa is cursing the
now open partly ripped stuck zipper. She is cussing at whoever made the
same and his mother and finally the inventor of the impractical, unpredictable,
unreliable, un-good, undone, uncooperative double row of dark plastic teeth.
After one more attempt, half unzipped, she gets mad. She grabs the stapler,
and with a click-clack, click-clack she fixes her problem. The phone is ringing
and ringing. Marlisa picks up the phone and with a "This is Marlisa! Sorry to
keep you waiting. How can help you?" she gets back to her job's routine.
Back in the kitchen, the saucier is whipping the egg yolk into the warm
clarified butter, at a steady pace, not too fast and not too slow. Allen makes
the hollandaise in a stainless steel insert sitting in another larger insert with
hot water. The water bath in the double-boiler provides just the right
temperature needed. Too much heat and the egg will curl. Too little
temperature and the butter will harden. Allan finishes his task. Sweat pearls
drop of his face onto his white cook's jacket. He carries the ready hollandaise
over to its spot in the bainmarie
(4)
. The chef announces "One minute to six
o'clock ladies and gentlemen, on your stations."
n the dinning room the grouchy manager urges a sweating waiter "Hurry
up!" t is the one who frantically finishing vacuuming the floor, attempts to find
all the tiny fragments of two dozen shattered crystal glasses. Done, the waiter
drags the vacuum cleaner to the housekeeping closet. The manager's
thumbs-up-signal tells Marlisa that it is time to unlock the front door. This
night's fine dining experience may start now.
The players of the dinner act are ready to enter the stage. There is no sign
of hectic, there is no running, no shouting out front where the guests are.
Such is in stark contrast to the organized chaos, cooks racing against the
clock and yelling to communicate in the-back-of-the-house.

1. Sauce Hollandaise, 1 cup of water with a pinch of salt and pepper reduced by two-
thirds. As it cools off, at just above room-temperature add five raw egg yolks. Beat the
same over very gentle heat. As the yolks thicken, little by little and beating all the time
add 500g of lukewarm melted butter.
(The water can be replaced with half water and half vinegar).
2. Sauce Choron is a Sauce Barnaise with concentrated tomato puree added.
3. Sauce Barnaise is a Hollandaise with chopped tarragon and chervil added.
4. Bain-marie, steam table

"Oshi Buri"
have to admit, to eat certain food with the fingers can enhance the
enjoyment. myself do not eat oysters with a fork; slurp each from its shell. t
tastes better this way. Spears of Romaine, celery sticks, carrot sticks, can be
eaten with a fork, guess. Still, never would do such. use my fingers
instead
OSH BUR
Oshi Buris are the wet hot towels handed out in Japanese restaurants. like
the idea. Not only are these towels refreshing and cleansing, there is also a
ritual to it. The offered towels provide the feeling that the people, who own the
restaurant, care about the individual guest's well-being and cleanliness.
Nowadays very few dinner guests wash their hands before they join others
at the table to eat. They are obviously not accustomed to such and am sure
it has nothing to do with the drought out here in California. The custom to
wash one's hands before any meal had been standard practice for the
Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans. These had servants who poured
water over the guests' hands before, during and after the mealtime. " eat with
knife and fork!" might be a good enough reason to eliminate the need for
washing one's hands? However only a small percentage of people eat hot
dogs, hamburgers, corn on the cob or chicken-wings with a knife and fork.
Finger food items may also include frog-legs, artichokes and whole crab or
lobster. Pork-chops, lamb-chops or veal-chops do not have to be picked up
with the fingers, but some guest do.
have to admit, to eat certain food with the fingers can enhance the
enjoyment. myself do not eat oysters with a fork; slurp each from its shell. t
tastes better this way. Spears of Romaine, celery sticks, carrot sticks, can be
eaten with a fork, guess. Still, never would do such. use my fingers
instead. The same with canaps, hors d'oeuvres looking like open face
sandwiches, they too could be eaten with a fork, but nobody would do such.
Now let us look at the many people who eat their food, including fast-food
with their fingers. They might as well lick the mustard, ketchup or other
drippings from their fingers too. Why not? t's part of enjoying the food, the
finger licking.
Where work, we do not use Japanese style rolled up steamed washcloths.
But whenever see a guest eating his food with his hands, automatically
bring him a finger bowl, so he may wash his hands with the lemon in the
provided warm water.


The Beat
The chef de cuisine, like a Kapellmeister, coaches and directs his orchestra.
He watches the tempo, the individual cooks timing, who each like musicians
know to play their part.
THE BEAT
...a visit to a working kitchen of a fine dining place in California...
As the restaurant opens its doors to diners it's quiet in the kitchen.
Nevertheless, within fifteen minutes when the first orders start to get the ball
rolling shouting is filling the air. Rattling dot matrix printers are spitting-out
orders. The French chef standing near the printer, rips the paper from the
machine and reads the tickets aloud. His voice is loud enough that everyone
on the line hears his part of the table's order. "Table of four: Veal chop! Sole!
Rack rare! Primavera!" He pauses "Table of six: Sole! Rack medium! Three
capelini's! Chicken!" And as he separates the tickets he reads the next ones
"Table of two: Two Racks medium rare! And a table of three: Three fish
specials!" As the chef finishes reading each ticket, he clips these up on the
round order wheel, above the pick-up-line. n-between reading more orders,
some of which he has to shout to be heard, he double-checks with the line
cooks: "Alan! You have four racks in the oven?" and "Dick! You are doing two
soles and three fish-specials and three cap'linis!" and "Henry! You have a
chop and a chick!" to the one sweating at the broiler.
The crew at the hot line knows what each of them has to do. Over in the
salad station cold appetizers and salads appear on the pick up line as fast as
the tiny salad person's hands can make them. At less than five feet she is
small but fast moving. Wherever one looks there is productivity. Business is
running like clock work.
Yet there are obstacles, little challenges and delays too. A waiter moves his
ticket from the order wheel onto the pick-up-wheel. His "Pickup!" command
gets the chef's attention. The chef calls the first table: "We are picking up: one
sole, one veal chop, one rack rare, repeat rare, and a Primavera." The chef
does the pasta, vegetables and sauce for the Primavera himself. He watches
the other cooks plating up their share of the table's order. Then he lifts the
egg-noodles from the pot with hot water. He lets the water drip from the
strainer into the sink before he dumps the noodles on the hot plate. Now the
chef adds the light cream sauce to the pasta and tops the same with sauted
vegetables. A sprinkle of grated cheese, a little dash of fine chopped parsley
and the pasta Primavera is ready. The timing is just right. The other three
plates, the sole, the rack and veal are passed to him for inspection. The chef
hands these too up onto the pick-up-line. But there is no waiter waiting for the
food.
A frustrated Chef summons one of the cigarette smoking waiters who, while
not busy, hang out at the kitchen's backdoor. This food shall not be getting
cold. The chef makes sure of it. The plates are at once taken away and
served.
More orders come in; more food is being picked up. The Brazilian waiter
who had left with the first order returns all red in the face. He has dropped the
pasta dish on the floor. Naturally it is all not his fault. Our chef makes another
order of pasta Primavera and warns the waiter, "Don't drop it!"
A noticeable tension is in the air, as the incoming orders increase. The
speed picks up. Everyone in the kitchen - from dish-washer to prep-person - is
trying to keep up. The goal is not to get bogged down, not to fall behind. The
young Vietnamese lady in the salad corner of the cold kitchen, she needs
help. She has to get to the box of Romaine lettuce. t is the one box, which
somebody has pushed back into the corner of the walk-in-refrigerator, before
placing twenty boxes of whatever in front of it.
The Korean prep cook tries to get the chef's attention "Chef what you want
me plep (prep) next?" He relies totally on the chef. Too much prepped food
will reduce the profit, too. Little prepped will cause delays and unhappy
guests.
The chef notices the piles of hot dinner plates getting low. His voice alarms
the Mexican dishwasher, who hurries to bring more plates to the hot line. The
Filipino dessert cook is cussing at the oven in front of him, it doesn't seem to
get hot enough. The souffls are taking way too long to rise.
Two kitchen waiters, one German one Norwegian, each look for his food
among the ten plates on the pick-up-line, hiss at each other. "Don't even think
about taking my food!" "Keep your fingers of my plates you f... son of a . . . !"
The chef stops the argument right there with his, "Gentlemen no fighting in my
kitchen!" Without another look at the waiters the chef calls numbers and
orders to the prep cook waiting to be told what to do.
The rish bartender is sticking his head through the side door leading from
the kitchen into the bar, " need more limes and lemons! Please! And a tray of
strawberries. Can anyone get em for me? 'm snowed in!" The salad person
has gotten her case of Romaine lettuce. She acknowledges the bartender's
order. Her hands are in a huge salad bowl mixing ten orders of Caesar salad.
Her fingers are fast, as she divides the cut, coated with Caesar dressing,
pieces of Romaine lettuce onto plates. She decorates them with two fillets of
anchovy each, washes her hands and then gets the limes, lemons and
strawberries. She takes these out to the bartender and returning into the
kitchen she tells the chef, "Look at the bar. t is packed like an anchovy-can."
The British manager is talking to the chef between incoming and outgoing
orders. "Forty-five minutes, chef; that's rather long for souffls!" A whiff of
charred meat from the broiler teases his nose. The chef checks with the
dessert cook, who answers with an astounding vocabulary of four letter words
describing the oven's qualities. The chef cuts him off, asks if he could not use
another oven from over at the line. His answer is, "You guys need your two
ovens yourself, one for fish one for meat, don't you?" The chef nods and
thanks the dessert cook. He looks at the manager who wants his souffls. The
chef nods again and walks over to the eighty-six-board and he writes onto it
S-O-U-F-F-L-E-S. The manager leaves the kitchen trying to think up an
excuse why there will be no souffls tonight.
Organized chaos, everybody seems to know what they are doing, where
they are going and how to give the right of way without stop and yield signs.
Dishwashers are hurrying back and forth with clean dishes, silverware and
racks filled with glasses. Waiters arrive in the kitchen with trays loaded with
dirty dishes. Other waiters are leaving the kitchen, their hands and arms full
with as many as five dinner plates. One macho back-waiter is carrying five
rows of plates on his tray. He is walking slowly.
An Oriental cocktail waitress looking for clean martini glasses jumps out of
one waiter's way into the path of another waiter carrying a tray full with dirty
glasses. He, a stocky, talian fellow, barely is able to stop without walking all
over her. Still, one glass falls from the tray during his abrupt halt. He calls her
names. She does not deserve this. Therefor she tells him off titling him Mr.
Butthole. She cusses in a southern accent which doesn't match her Japanese
looks at all. As she helps him to pick up the broken glass pieces, she cuts
herself. The talian waiter turns out to be a caring polite person as he puts a
bandage on her finger. Both wait people are now apologizing to each other for
being clumsy and for being rude. They part ways after having agreed on going
for cocktails after work together to a Country and Western bar.
On the hot line the cooks drink gallons of water. They sweat in the heat
radiated by the ovens, stoves, grill, broiler and deep fryers. Built up high
energy transforms basic food into works of art. Above the grill and broiler are
two salamanders used to brown and glaze certain dishes. Right now a baking
sheet with six cups of French onion soup, topped with grated cheese floating
on bread croutons, covering the soup bowls like a fresh snow does on a
mountain, is loaded into one of the salamanders. Within no time at all the
cheese is melting like wax. t provides a tight lid over the soup and as the
yellow turns to an appetizing light brown the soups are ready to be served. On
the stove-tops are saut pans in which sauces simmer. A la minute
vegetables are cooked to bite. Fish is fried and meat seared all according to
the menu descriptions. The air is heavy and rich, layered with delicate
aromas.
Plates with ready orders line up in front of the chef de cuisine. With a nod of
approval he hands these up onto the pass, the pick-up-line where the waiters
take the plates from. On and off the chef rejects an item. He does such when
the plate does not match the menu standards or the guest's special order. The
chef is serious when he says: "Don't you ever forget it! t is my name which is
on the line!" The incoming orders set the beat. The chef de cuisine, like a
Kapellmeister, coaches and directs his orchestra. He watches the tempo, the
individual cooks timing, who each like musicians know to play their part.
The masterpieces, order after order, table after table, trays filled with
artistically produced one of a kind various plates of edible palatableness are
made to tingle the senses, to delight the ones who came to savor. The guests
get what they came for, to have a feast. Magic is created. t doesn't last.
Neither food nor sound last forever. Both are temporary. They both are to
please heart and soul while present. The divine creation of tasteful food is
much like the breeze which fills the sails of a regatta boat, not guaranteed, but
much enjoyed while available. Food-art is a pleasure to the senses with the
purpose to satisfy and nourish. This art, created with much care by expert
hands, much perishable while lasting only for minutes, can easily create
memories which linger on a lifetime.


Russian service. A style oI Iood service in which certain dishes, such as roast beeI, are carved in
the kitchen and then reassembled as iI whole to speed service during a banquet.
rench service. A style oI Iood service in which entire platters are brought to the table Ior show
and then carved and portioned at table-side.
British service. A style oI Iood service, now generally obsolete, in which platters and tureens are
placed in Iront oI diners and the diners, sometimes with the assistance oI waiters, help
themselves.
%raditional and modern French and Russian cuisine service techniques.
In Russian service, meals are served one course at a time, usually served in three courses. In
French service the meal is served more as a banquet and is quite elaborate, but is still served in
three courses. Carme's vision oI what French cooking would be like Ior ever, or so he thought,
was very deIined in what was created and how it was prepared. He believed that all dishes should
be served at the same time and should not be overly spiced, using mainly Iresh herbs. %he dishes
should be elegant and artIully prepared. Sauces should be reduced to be reconstituted Ior Iuture
use making it much Iaster to prepare a sauce. One oI the main reasons Ior the change to this new
type oI cuisine is due to the Revolution. During the Revolution there was a shortage oI Iood, so
when the country got through their Revolution their tastes in Iood had simpliIied. France
changed to the nouvelle cuisine by the 1920's which was a much simpler Iamily Iriendly version
oI cuisine. %his led to a much simpler, aIIordable way Ior all classes to be able to have dinner
parties without the need Ior grandeur.
rench 44/ Service
ith the change to nouvelle cuisine the French introduced certain rules into how dishes were
prepared and presented. One such change is that sauces should go under the Iood instead oI
being on top oI it. Soup is a meal only iI it is thick and has bread or cheese with it. A meal must
be more than just greens or sweet Ioods. %he meal must have Iirst the appetizer or soup, next the
main course, and lastly dessert. Another change was that smaller, Iancier portions were oIIered at
restaurants. Because oI this cheI's started to oIIer less on their menus because the customer needs
to order many items to Iill their appetites and the items take longer to prepare. Having less on the
menu means that the cheI can prepare more in advance to a service so that the wait time Ior the
guests is shorter. Flowers and glass are used to decorate the tables and the room must be pleasant
and inviting. %here should be Iour glasses at each table setting, one Ior each type oI beverage. It
is considered to be best when the guest count is small and they should arrive on time because the
cheI can never wait as this diminishes that beauty oI the meal.
Russian 44/ Service
%he Russian style oI service directly impacted French service. %he French ended up changing to
the nouvelle cuisine because oI it. %he nouvelle cuisine is almost exactly the same as Russian
service. Both are based on the a la russe style oI service, this means, 'a table tasteIully adorned
with Ilowers and Iruits, and the triumphs oI the conIectioner's art; indeed, all the cold dishes. %he
hot dishes are served, carved apart, to the guests. (. Blanchard Jerrold 257)

Read more at Suite101: French and Russian Food Service , Suite101.com http://tiIIany-
chavis.suite101.com/Irench-and-russian-Iood-service-a244863#ixzz1b17ad0Ic
FRENCH SERVICE
'French service' was generally used up until the 1850's. (This was not what French service is
today*) Under this method, the usually large menu (as many as 32 courses) was brought to the
table in 2 or 3 parts, and all oI the dishes oI each part would be placed on the table at once.
Guests would help themselves to each dish, most oIten in a conIused and combative manner,
those with the longest arms getting their Iavorites Iirst. Frequently by the time you got to much
oI the Iood, it was no longer hot. %hen all oI the dishes Irom that part oI the service would be
cleared Irom the table and next part or 'service' would be placed on the table in the same manner.

It was in the 1850's that Russian Service was introduced to France and soon spread to other
countries. Russian service is what we use today. Each course is served to each guest individually.

*(Today, so called French service refers to restaurant service where a waiter does the serving of
the food onto each guests plate, frequently with tableside preparation, rather than the food being
plated in the kitchen).

Russian service was introduced in Russia about 1810 by an ambassador oI the Russian czar.