Day 158: Hog Wild!

Listening: Just when I thought I said all I could say, my chick on the side said she got one on the way. These are my confessions. Man, I'm thrown and I don't know what to do.

What's my problem? It's starting to get cold.

It's the end of days. By that, I mean that we're slowing down SERIOUSLY, and we're going from six day workweeks down to five day work weeks as of next week. Two of the interns have taken off. The last one was supposed to take off next Monday, but because of the way the internship had to be completed, he has to stay until the ninth of November. We've gone from having consistently over sixty diners a night to between twenty five, which we had last night, to forty, which we had two nights ago.

The bonus to it slowing down is that the sous-chef, the saute guy and I have started doing rounds. We'll all prep our home stations, but we'll work service on other stations. I'm working grill two nights a week and I'll be running a couple of days on saute and a day on the plating station a week or one day on saute and two on plating.

Yesterday I worked my first day on the plating station since last year. I'll be honest, I don't always make the prettiest plates. Sometimes I have a hard time gauging how to wing sauce off of a spoon and make it look nice when it hits the plate. I get nervous when I'm not comfortable on a station, which makes it harder for me to get it right. It's not like I shake like a leaf, but I definitely beat myself up when things don't end up looking like I want it to look like. I figure it'll take me a few more shifts before I get comfortable again.

What I really want to happen, probably won't. See if Chef would be willing to work the saute and the plating station, we could do a complete round robin. We could each take a day on the other three stations and work the weekends on our home stations. Chef pretty much sticks to hot apps or grill if he NEEDS to. The saute guy has expressed interest in working hot apps, and I enjoy my time on hot apps, whether I get buried or not. There's just something satisfying about seeing a perfectly browned, seared scallop. Then again, there's something satisfying about eating a perfectly browned, seared scallop as well.

In other news, the restaurant is holding its first annual Hogtoberfest weekend. Chef Matt Jennings from Providence's La Laiterie to run a few classes with my own Chef and Pastry Chef over this coming weekend, and will culminate in a Nose to Tail six course dinner with wine and/or beer pairings. It sounds like it's going to be pretty bangin'. We've got some jowls hanging in the walk in, tails in the brine, and ears already poached in addition to the house cured ham, mortadella and other tasty treats that Chef Jennings has in store. I strongly urge anyone who can make it down to Nantucket for this coming Sunday to book a reservation for the dinner.

Actually, I found the menu, and this is roughly what it's going to look like. We might tweak it a bit. In addition, if you're in the industry, you get the beer tasting cost for free.

Food:
Snacks
Fresh Ham & Cheddar Cheese Biscuits, Pork Rillette with Sweet Chili Jam, Pigs Ear Poutine.

1st
House Made Charcuterie & Assorted Favorite Garnishes

2nd
Boudin Noir & Smoked Jowl With Poached Pears, Arugala & Crispy Poached Duck Egg

3rd
Cast Iron Seared & Slow Roasted ginger Beer Pork Belly with Anson Mills Buttermilk Grits & Pickled Apple

4th
Pork Pie: Savory pork Shoulder & kidney Tart With Confit of Root Vegetables, Mustard & Parmesan Reggiano Cream

5th
Three Little Pigs Grilled Loin of Pork, Braised Pork Cheek & Crispy Tail with a Maple Parsnip Puree, Drunk Plums & Caramelized Brussels Sprouts

6th
“The King” Peanut Butter, Chocolate, Bacon & Jelly

$95 for Food
$120 food & Beer
$135 food, Wine & Beer

I also want to tell you that the pigs' ear fries are RIDICULOUS. Fucking RIDICULOUS. Makes me want to cry like a baby.

In other news, there isn't much other news. I told Chef that I would be dressing up as a ninja on Halloween. That's right. I'm going to look like a ninja on the line. Halloween is on a Saturday night, which means that it's going to be a crazy slow Saturday. I figure a ninja on the line might provide some comedy. What would be even better is if I could find a Storm Shadow costume. I mean, he already wears white...

Anyhow, finally, I'm still on the hunt for proper writing samples. I've decided to cut and paste all of my entries into a Word document in an attempt to clean them up and edit them a bit. I am still looking on feedback from my entries and which ones people particularly liked and which ones people didn't and why. So if you're reading, check it out and let me know. Hopefully it'll parlay itself into some sort of work for me. Til' the next entry...