First Friday on the line

By four o'clock the BOH was already moving. Chef wanted mise en place finished by 4:45 because a four-top reservation had moved up and the FOH manager was insisting we open early. My station was garde manger — cold apps and salads — and I had under-prepped the vinaigrette twice already this week. Today I doubled it without being asked, which was the first thing all evening that earned me a quiet nod from the sous.

First ticket came in at 5:08 on the POS. A two-top, easy. The expo called it out, I plated two house salads, dressed one SOS because the guest had asked at the host stand, and the food ran out clean. Three more tickets dropped before I could even wipe my board. By 5:30 we were taking a six-top and an eight-top simultaneously, the FOH was rattling tables together to seat a walk-in twelve-top, and I learned what people mean when they say "weeded" by 6:15.

The expo saved me twice. Once when I tried to send a Caesar without anchovy that the ticket clearly called for — he caught it on the pass and made me redo it before it hit FOH. Second time when I was about to plate a salad on a hot pickup plate from the walk-in shelf that someone had stacked wrong. Both saves were quiet, both saves were fast, and both saves meant the food got to the guest correctly. By 7 we had to 86 the salmon and the FOH had to break the news to three tables, but the expo had already alerted them through the POS message, so the recovery was clean.

By 9 we were coming down. The walk-in needed a wipe-down, the line needed a deep clean, and the POS reports printed at the manager's station for the night. The sous came over with two beers, slid one across the pass, and asked me what I'd do differently tomorrow. I said: more mise. He laughed and said: always.

Friday morning I'll do my mise en place an hour earlier, double the vinaigrette without asking, and start treating the walk-in like the most important room in the building. That's the part nobody teaches you. The POS, the FOH, the expo — all of those have a screen or a person to remind you. The walk-in is the silent test of whether you actually respect the kitchen.