Six Week Update

As the summer is getting closer, the restaurant is getting busier and busier. But unfortunately, the weather has not been cooperating, which is a large influence on business side of things. This past Sunday was Mother’s Day, which was busy, but not out of control. There was a steady pace of people throughout the day. I worked pantry and we had a special appetizer and special dessert to take care of. The special appetizer was four oysters with a spinach and parmesan risotto and the desserts was angel food cake with white chocolate mousse and a strawberry. Because we were well prepped, service went smoothly. I trained a new person on the pantry station as well. He is from Johnson and Wales, but because he is still in school, he only works weekends. I think he will be a great addition to The Mooring because he is very enthusiastic to learn the most he can and to stay busy.
By this time, I have trained on the Hot App station and been the hot apps person two days, but one of the days was ridiculously slow, so I really didn’t get much practice. This past Monday was a little busier, so I worked on the timing of putting appetizers up. For the most part, when a ticket comes in, we fire the appetizer, unlike an entree which waits. It is only when the ticket is AS ENTREE that we have to time it with the saute and grill stations. I have also been practicing the timing for when I have two or three items that take differing amounts of time so that they are both hot and fresh. There is definitely a lot less prep than the pantry station, but I can see how it would be very busy in the summer. I hope to pick up more shifts on the Hot Apps station so that I can become really good at it, since it is my only hot line experience. As it gets busier, it will be great practice for me to learn how to multitask. As for working the pantry station, I have definitely developed a rhythm and flow. I really enjoy working that station because there is always something to do for prep—sometimes too much to do! For both the Hot App and Pantry station, it is important to have back ups and to be aware of what the station has and does not have. For example, the Hot Apps station was running low on caramelized onions, but because it was not needed immediately, I just sliced the onions for the station so that when they are needed, the person working the station already has sliced onions.
The other day, Chef Adi and I were talking about how I will be picking up a shift as pastry/night prep once a week. I am really excited about that because I love making desserts, so I guess he saw that. Maybe this will give me a chance to come up with new dessert ideas too. I then mentioned that I like getting experience on the hot line and that I want as much practice and experience as possible by training on saute as well. He said that the best way to do that was to stay past my extern date (August 3rd) and to stay until the end of September or even through October. I only have three months left, so by the time I learned the saute station and became good at it, I would be leaving. Previously, the only reason I wanted to return on August 18th to CIA was to be with my stream of students because we worked well as a group. But if it means learning more and staying at The Mooring, I am strongly considering staying. I really love working at The Mooring and want to continue to learn as much as I can. But Adi assured me that there is no rush to making a decision, so in the mean time, I am taking each day by day and learning what I can. I am pretty sure that I will want to stay longer than August 3rd, I just need to make sure there is a date in October that I can return to school. I love Newport, I love The Mooring, I love my externship!