The first weekend of Prelude is in the books!

Whew!

Tonight went off without a hitch. For the most part.

Last night we had five ladies asked to see me on their way out. They were unhappy with their burgers. They were dry and not very flavorful.

I said all the appropriate things. Thank you for sharing. I’ll speak to the chef about it. I wish you’d let me know sooner.

I checked in with the server who assured me they’d never said anything.

I also inquired as to how they were cooked. Medium well, and well done. And I found out from the chef later that all of them were ordered with no sauce or sauce on the side.

No wonder they were dry.

Tonight we had another instance of a foursome who were angry they were seated at a high top. They insisted they be moved to one of the five short tables that were opened.

As always I explained that they’d booked a high top. I could not give a short table to them and disappoint someone who made the short table reservation.

She doubled down at this point. It was not her fault. It was our fault. She’d called dozens of times and been told several times that they’d be moved to a short table.

I asked her to be more specific.

She’d called and left messages and no one returned her calls. When she finally spoke to someone they assured her if something opened up we’d move her.

At this point I explained that every message that gets left is returned. By me. I also assured her that since I returned the calls I would have never promised to do something IF things changed.

She continued to double down.

I finally interrupted and explained that the only table we had for them was the one they’d been shown to. I told her to let us know what she decided.

They stayed. And had a wonderful time.

They couldn’t help telling their server how horrible I was.

The other thing that happened last night was that two different groups made reservations for two tables of four.

For the life of me I can’t understand why they don’t call the restaurant for help. It says on the reservation site to call the restaurant for parties of six or more. It’s not complicated.

They could have called, gotten an 8 top reservation and everyone would have been happy.

I’ll end by saying I got several compliments about how I moved around the dining room, how I helped and how I really owned the space. It’s always nice to hear.

I also got several compliments on the staff as a whole because of how they worked together. Helped each other. And seemed to be enjoying their jobs.

We have a great staff!

A week ago I posted about the difference between a porterhouse and a t-bone.

The next day at work during pre-shift I shared my findings with my staff. Telling them the differences, why people don’t understand it everything they needed to know.

Tonight my 16 year old food runner comes up and says, thanks for the lesson on t-bones last week. Table 35 just asked the difference and I told them all about it with tons of confidence.

My work here is done!

Tonight was the first day of Christmas Prelude in Kennebunkport. This is the second most popular Christmas event in America according to HGTV.

It’s a gathering of mostly adults who drink their way thru town over 2.5 days. When I worked at David’s it was a disaster. Summer numbers with winter staff I liked to say. More drunk people than you can count.

Being out of the middle of town created a very different, much better experience.

Except.

For some unknown reason the Prelude folks decided to host a block party tonight. And closed the road that connects Kennebunk to Kennebunkport. For 2 hours. Four with set up and breakdown.

This was probably super awesome for people staying in the lower village with nowhere to go.

It was not awesome for everyone else.

Why you ask?

Because it closed direct access for anyone going to the other side of town via car.

Say for example if you’re driving to my restaurant from Ogunquit, Wells, or say even Kennebunk.

At least 15 reservations showed up late tonight because they followed their GPS that took them through the middle of town. Except they got to Kennebunk and found the road closed.

Suddenly they were late.

You’d think this would be the worst.

But the worst was the Smiths.

They checked into their hotel. They went to the various events. Then around 7:00 started getting ready to leave for their 8:00 reservation at my restaurant.

Only it was then discovered that their car was trapped in the parking lot. They were told by the police, the fire department, the city works folks that there was no way they could move their car. Not till 9:00.

You’d think someone might have mentioned this but nope.

They called us several times asking for help which we could not do. I spoke to them the last time and told them that if they got to the restaurant by 8:30 we’d feed them.

They finally arrived.

Turns out they’d walked 45 minutes in 20* weather to get a car from a friend, then six of them squished, and they arrived frozen, grumpy, hungry, and annoyed.

Turns out by the time they arrived I’d moved them to the chefs table to make room for another party.

I was worried they’d be upset.

But.

This could not have made them happier.

Views of the kitchen. 30 feet from 15 feet of fire. They were warm in 10 minutes.

They kept calling me over to tell me how wonderful we’d made them feel. How special the night ended up. And how they couldn’t wait to come back.

All ended up well, but seriously don’t close the roads when it’s the only way to get where you are going.

I was a very picky eater as a child.

The only green vegetable I would eat was peas.

I didn’t eat lettuce until I was in high school and only then when it was swimming in 1000 island dressing.

There was so many things I refused to even taste.

God bless my mother. For all her faults she never forced me or my brother to eat foods we didn’t like.

Things weren’t much better when I became an adult.

Always safe.

Always cautious.

I remember eating portobello mushrooms the first time. I’d always thought I’d hate them. Turns out they are delicious.

But still I remained cautious.

Occasionally I’d be exposed to a food. Try it and learn that it wasn’t so bad.

Escargot.

Lamb.

Real salmon. Medium rare.

But still I remained cautious.

Then in 2009 I met a cute boy who liked food. Good food. Real food. Food that no one had heard of in Kentucky when I was growing up.

And for some reason I learned to stop being cautious and live adventurously.

At least with food.

I stared to try things.

Mussels.

Goat Cheese.

Real tuna.

Steak tartar.

Raw seafood.

Octopus.

Chicken liver mousse.

Oysters.

The list goes on.

There are only a few things I don’t really like.

Bleu cheese. (Although I did just eat pasta with Gorgonzola).

Olives.

And I’m not super fond of grilled scallops. It’s a texture thing.

And still, while dining out occasionally we continue to try new things.

I’ll always try it. I might not like it but I’ll give it ago.

Soooooo.

I started my new job in June.

Can you believe it’s been six months. And yesterday I made my 100th post.

Sorry. I was distracted.

When I started my job, there was much I needed to learn about the menu.

For example, the difference between a porterhouse and a t-bone.

How to pronounce chimichurri. I said it with an ah at the end not an ee.

And.

What blood sausage and sweet breads were.

Blood sausage is made with the blood of pigs, cows etc. It’s hard to find in the US but we get it through an importer in Miami. It’s also very tasty.

Sweet breads are made from either the thymus gland or the pancreas of a cow or sheep. The thymus when it’s a calf, or lamb. Pancreas when the animal is older.

They are delicious but the spongy texture will sometimes put people off.

Soooo.

This was a long way of saying we serve sweet breads and blood sausage on our mixed grill. It’s the jumbo combo of meats for my friends who worked at the Hard Rock Cafe.

When the dish is presented the runner explains what’s what.

And most of the time it ends there.

Occasionally panic ensues.

A couple of months ago, a woman tried the blood sausage. Thought it was delicious. Asked the server what it was and had the rest of the meal boxed up.

We are not surprised by this.

What is funny is what happened tonight.

Tonight someone saw that we had sweet breads on the mixed grill and asked if they could get it as a side.

They were very confused when the order was delivered to the table and it was not pastries.

The servers are often told not to include the sweet breads as the person is gluten free.

We all laugh.

But we don’t make fun. 10 years ago I would have thought the same thing. We encourage the guest to try them. But if they want them removed moved then we do it.

Let me say again, if you don’t think about what it is then it’s tasty.

As is steak tartar.

Tuna tartar.

Octopus.

Scallops ceviche.

Chicken liver mousse.

Chocolate ice cream.

As I’ve mentioned before we are not an inexpensive restaurant. However, we are far from super expensive. Check out some restaurants in NYC if you want truly expensive.

Every couple of weeks someone responds to our surveys with the comment that we are expensive.

Today’s comment was that our wine prices are too expensive for a local restaurant.

Which caused me to ask some questions:

What do they mean by local?

Isn’t EVERY restaurant a local restaurant for some one?

Is there a price guideline for local restaurants?

Does it depend on local to who?

Is 40 dollars really an expensive bottle of wine?

Is your wine list really expensive if you only have a six wines over $100?

And all of those are marked reserve?

Is it wrong of us to think when someone is spending money on a quality steak that they might want a quality wine?

I just looked at her receipt. She might have meant glass pours as that’s what they ordered.

Our glass pours are 10, 11, and 12 dollars. Not expensive by any measure. In Portland restaurants are charging $15+ a glass.

These are just a few of my questions.

So what should our prices be?

What kind of quality are you looking for?

Shouldn’t the wine quality and food quality match each other?

That’s all. Those are my questions.

Feel free to let me know your thoughts.