Watching a line cook handle his station during a dinner rush changed how I prep

I was working the grill at The Gantry in Portland last Friday and this new kid, Marcus, had his mise en place dialed in so tight he never broke a sweat. Every garnish was in a specific 6-pan, his towels were folded exactly, and he had a system for calling out tickets that saved us like 3 seconds each. It hit me that half the chaos in my station comes from me not treating my setup like a permanent thing. Has anyone else had a sous or a new hire show you a better way to organize your station?

2 comments

2 Comments

nancybailey17d ago

Totally changes everything when you see someone make it look easy like that lol

mila_flores817d ago

Yeah, that line "make it look easy" really hits home, doesn't it @nancybailey? It's like you've been struggling with something forever, then someone shows up and just nails it like it's nothing. Makes you wonder what you're doing wrong, but also kinda motivates you to keep trying (at least for me it does). I've had that same feeling a bunch of times, especially with stuff I thought I'd never get the hang of. It's a weird mix of being impressed and a little bit jealous, but mostly just glad for them.