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One night early in my career as a manager, I passed one of my new servers in the dining room and heard him responding to a guest’s question about our beers. “We have Heineken and um… Budweiser and um…Becks and um…” After service, I met with him and explained that he had told the guests we had two brands that we did not, in fact, carry and forgot three that we did serve. In addition, we did not have any “and um…” beer. He defensively replied that he couldn’t help it—he was an actor, not a waiter.

Interviewing candidates in a buyer's market

Today’s economy has produced a “buyer’s market” for employers who have open positions. On the surface, this looks like a good problem to have. After all, you can get more for your money! However, with the market saturated with good people looking for jobs, the hiring process can be daunting.

Cooking with wine

For many of you, the title of this article refers to what you do while cooking for your family at home—wooden spoon in one hand, wine glass in the other. However, here we’re talking about using wine as an ingredient in professional cooking. All of us who graduated from the CIA cooked with wine at one point or another, making traditional sauces (beurre blanc) and braises (boeuf Bourgignon) in which wine was a major ingredient.

Selling wine in a down market

The first time I realized how severely our guests were cutting back on wine purchases was in early 2009. After a not-so-busy Tuesday at the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant, when we’d served about 100 guests, I noticed that there had been only one bottle of wine sold. All other was by the glass. This fact, combined with the doubling of sales calls from distributors and wineries eager or desperate to sell whatever they could, started me thinking.

Developing flavor

At every step, a chef controls the flavor of a dish. At the same time, every chef is limited by his or her customers’ expectations and what they are willing to pay. Regardless of what type of budget or kitchen is at the chef’s command, any cook worth his or her salt knows that a mediocre chef can ruin high-quality, expensive ingredients, but a talented chef can turn ordinary or inexpensive ingredients into something fabulous.

Cooking in a vacuum

Over the years, countless changes have occurred in the industry, and the need to prepare safe, consistently seasoned food using a minimum of human and fossil energy has led to modern, innovative methods of food preparation. Many eating establishments, from the corner diner to the busiest Michelin three-star restaurant, are embracing a cooking technique known as sous vide.

Keeping up with wine

Can one ever really be a “master” of wine?

I asked three of my friends— Sally Mohr, Master Sommelier and former owner of the Boulder Wine Merchant in Colorado; Peter Marks, Master of Wine and vice president of education at Constellation Wines; and David Stevens, who received his master’s degree in enology from UC Davis and currently works as a winemaking consultant—what they do to keep their edge.

Sushi: the edible art from Japan

Globalization has had a huge effect on our culinary world. A visible example of this trend is the exploding popularity of sushi. It started out in high-end Japanese restaurants but has since made its way into moderately priced casual eateries as well as take-out establishments and the refrigerated section of supermarkets. Now is a good time to step back and learn more about the sushi phenomenon.

Medical insurance

As medical costs continue to rise, it should come as no surprise that health insurance is one of the benefits most valued by employees. Medical insurance protects them from big bills and unexpected charges, and is an important component of their total compensation package. It also benefits you as the employer, because when your people are covered, they will be more likely to take advantage of wellness programs and screenings. And as we all know, a healthy employee is a more productive employee!

The chef's role in seafood sustainability

Start a seafood lover talking about fish and invariably the conversation will alight on some seminal experience in his or her life that started the whole affair. For a close friend of mine who is a marine biologist, it was the Jersey Shore in the early seventies (when the Beatles’ “Octopus’s Garden” played often on the radio). For him, Cape May still has a magic all its own.

The power of global flavor dynamics and exploration

To assume an industry leadership position in the culinary field, it’s a given that a chef possesses strong technical abilities. But to become a leader and an innovator, there are additional skills and areas of expertise that a chef must gain. Returning to the building blocks of flavor and gaining a strong knowledge of today’s global flavors is key.

Grapes make the plate

Chefs know they can count on grapes to add refreshment to a cheese plate, color to a fruit plate or a wholesome crunch to a salad. But if you think of grapes only as a garnish, you’re missing a lot of the fruit’s culinary potential. In the hands of professional culinarians with an innovative bent, fresh grapes can go in directions you may never have imagined.

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