It’s 11:30PM on December 31st, 1973, right in the middle of The Golden Age of Pompous Dinning. My Mom is handling front of house stuff as Hostess, my sister is working the coat room and the future Chef Hacker is still only a 16 year old weekend line cook who’s shift just ended after serving 600 tickets.
More Work To Do
Next up: We race to open 20 cases of Champaign in time for the midnight toast. Untwist the wire, throw a side towel loosely over the cork, anchor the towel by grabbing the bottle’s neck and twist the cork until you hear the pop. Then add that bottle to the others on the service tray and watch as servers carry each full tray out to the dinning room. The last tray departs the kitchen for the dinning room and just as the door swings closed we can hear the bar band leading the crowd, “Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!” We had made it just in time!
Happy New Year!
Then in comes my mother and wishes me a happy new year with a kiss on the cheek just as she likely did on the prior 15 January Firsts.
Then Things Got Magical!
Then things got magical for this young food nerd. Our wait staff, who were mostly women, started streaming into the kitchen. One after another, young and old approached me wishing and kissing and not aiming for the cheek!
It Was Innocent and Lovely
It was innocent and lovely and I’m pretty sure that on that New Year’s Eve there was no place I’d rather be.
Do you have a kitchen or front of house story from long ago?
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