“Regulars you mean?” Emma asked.
“Regulars yes, but there are also special guests that don’t come in often, but we need to be aware that they are VIP status and make sure they are well taken care of. For instance, tonight we have Senator Jameson and the mayor coming in. They are VIPs.”
“Got it.” Emma smiled. “I imagine if things didn’t go well for them, that kind of PR would be terrible.”
“Exactly.”
As Gary walked her through the reservations and pointed out any regulars or customers with special requests, the kitchen door suddenly opened and the most delicious smell wafted out. Involuntarily Emma’s stomach growled, and she quickly took a big sip of coffee.
“Are they making eggplant parm?” she asked wistfully. It was one of her favorite dishes and the scent of the roasted eggplants and rich tomato sauce was intoxicating.
“It might be a lunch special. Jason mentioned doing an eggplant rollatini today, like parmesan, but rolled up and filled with ricotta. A bit like a savory cannoli.”
Emma sighed, then realized that the look on her face must have spoken volumes because Gary chuckled and said, “I think perhaps you need to try a little, so you can describe it to a customer if they ask.”
“Yes, in case a customer wants to know. What a good idea.” Emma had a feeling she was going to like Gary. He disappeared into the kitchen and returned a moment later with two small plates, each with an eggplant rollatini smothered in sauce. They sat at the bar rather than risk dirtying one of the dining room tables that were covered in elegant, white linen. They ate quickly, with Gary glancing at his watch every few minutes and continuing his tutorial between bites.
“How long have you worked here?” Emma inquired. She guessed that Gary was in his mid-forties and wondered what he’d done before coming to Mimi’s Place. Almost as long as she could remember, he’d been here running the front of the restaurant.
“Forever,” he said with a smile, and Emma liked the way his whole face lit up and how the small wrinkles around his eyes enhanced rather than detracted. She’d always thought it unfair that laugh lines never looked as flattering on women.
“Actually, it will be twenty-five years next month. Time flies.”
“Every year does seem to go by more quickly. Grams always said that it would once you got older. I never understood what she meant until recently. What did you do before Mimi’s Place?”
“I was in college until we had some financial issues at home and I had to get a job. Times were tight then. There were almost no jobs available to a kid like me without a degree and no experience of any kind. Your grandmother took a chance on me. My mother had been one of her students many years ago and they were neighbors. I knew she put in a good word for me here, but I never knew until recently that she was actually the owner.”
“We still can’t quite believe it ourselves,” Emma said with a chuckle.
“Mimi’s Place has been really good to me. I started out in the kitchen, washing dishes. As you probably know, that’s just about the lowest rung on the ladder in a restaurant. I was so grateful to have the job. I got lucky when one of the busboys was out sick, I filled in for him, and that went well. I think I’ve done just about every job here, except cook of course. I’m terrible in the kitchen. Ironic, isn’t it? You’d think I’d learn by osmosis, but I think cooking is like singing. You either have the talent or you don’t.”
“I like to cook,” Emma admitted. “I like to play around with recipes and try new dishes, but it’s easier to cook for yourself. I couldn’t imagine doing it for an entire restaurant.” Emma actually thought it would be terrifying. She used to marvel at the intricate dance the chefs in the kitchen did. How they coordinated the timing of multiple dishes and parties mystified her.
“In a well-run restaurant,” Gary continued, “the front of the house and back of the house work in harmony. If it gets too chaotic out here, it can screw up the flow in the kitchen and then we have a real mess. Fortunately, we have a well-oiled machine, and that rarely happens. Not on my watch anyway.”
“I remember coming here for lunch with Grams and the dining room would be absolutely packed. The energy was so exciting, with all the well-dressed customers and the hustle and bustle of food coming out of the kitchen and tables being cleared. It was always a treat, coming here.”
Gary frowned and then smiled so quickly that Emma almost doubted what she’d seen.
“Is it still busy like that at lunch?” By the look of the reservation page, it seemed like they had a busy day ahead.
“Sometimes. Not often enough though,” he admitted. “There’s more competition now, more restaurants. Some of the newer ones are more appealing to the younger ‘foodie’ crowd. We’ve fallen off the radar some.”
Emma took an objective look around the restaurant. The colors were warm and inviting, the table linens crisp, but the carpet was uninspired, a bit faded and worn in spots. You really didn’t notice the carpet at first, but Emma wondered if it was just a symptom, a contributor to the overall ill health of the restaurant. She made a mental note to pay close attention to everything throughout lunch, at how many customers came in, what they ordered, and how happy or unhappy they seemed to be. She knew that Mandy had taken a copy of the restaurant’s financials home to look over with Cory. They were both great at understanding the ins and outs of financial statements and P & Ls.
Jason, the lunch chef, came out of the kitchen a half hour later and handed a slip of paper to Gary with the day’s luncheon specials.
“What did you think of the rollatini?” he asked Emma.
“Incredible. So delicious. Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” He turned to Gary. “What time do the Garden ladies want their soup?”
“Not until one-thirty. They want a full half hour with their cocktails before we interrupt them with food.”
“Of course they do.” He shook his head and strolled back into the kitchen.
“Has he been here long, too?” Emma asked. She guessed that Jason was closing in on sixty.
“Not too long. Five years maybe? He worked all over the North End before moving here. I think he is a native Boston-Italian. You can tell by his specials.”
“Rollatini, braciole and escarole and white bean soup with Italian sweet sausage. Oh, braciole, isn’t that the meat that’s stuffed and rolled up and then cooked for hours in a sauce?”
“That’s it. Evidently the theme for today is rolls. You’ll have to try a little of the braciole later this afternoon when we slow down. It sounds like a cliché, but it really does melt in your mouth.”
The lunch service flew by. Gary had Emma take all the calls that came in. After each reservation, he checked the book and showed her how to plan and how to stagger them so that the guests wouldn’t have to wait when they arrived and wouldn’t feel rushed as they ate. It was definitely a balancing act and Emma was glad that Gary was being so patient with her and double-checking everything because twice she needed to call a customer back and change the time slightly.
Emma was straightening out the pile of guest checks when one caught her eye. At the top of each check, the waiter always indicated the table number and size of the party. “Wow, this guy must have been really hungry,” she commented. The amount of food he ordered would have fed two to three people comfortably.
“Let me see.” A somewhat worried look came across Gary’s face as he read off the items the guest had ordered.
“Braciole and the rollatini plus the eggplant parm off the regular menu, escarole bean soup, Caesar salad, stuffed mushrooms, a side of ziti with marina sauce plus tiramisu and cheesecake?” He raised his eyebrows at Emma. “My dear, I suspect we had a food critic in today, and regretfully, I should have picked up on this while he was here. He must be new. I usually recognize them when they come in.”
“Do you think we have anything to worry about? I’m sure everything he had was delicious.”
“It’s not just the food. Normally w
hen someone orders like this, out of the ordinary for one person, we take note and assume that he or she may be a food critic or travel writer of some sort. So, we’ll just take extra care to make sure there are no glitches and that service goes smoothly.”
“I think he was in during the busiest part of the lunch rush. I remember seating a single dark-haired man at the small table by the window. He seemed pleasant enough.”
“We’ll see.” Gary smiled at Emma, but she could still see a hint of worry on his face.
Chapter 8
Jill was having the day from hell. Just about everything that could possibly go wrong did.
She tried to dial in to the office for the Monday morning job order meeting, but her phone kept disconnecting due to construction on the next street over. By the time it was working again, the meeting was long over. Her computer was driving her crazy too, due to Gram’s painfully slow connection. She had called the cable company first thing that morning to upgrade to the high-speed network, but the earliest appointment they could give her was a week away.
By lunchtime she just couldn’t take it any longer. She packed up her laptop and cellphone and headed down the street to her favorite local coffee shop, which offered great sandwiches and soups and best of all, free wi-fi. She called her office, had Jenna forward all her calls to her cell, then settled into an empty corner where she could plug her laptop in and hopefully not bother anyone. Interestingly, she noticed there were others also working on laptops and talking on cellphones. This could work.
She was in the middle of an interview with a star candidate when another call beeped through, and Billy’s number flashed. She ignored it, figuring she could call him back when she was done as she thought it was rude to answer another call in the middle of an interview. But when he called again five minutes later, she apologized to her candidate and clicked over.
“What’s up? Is something wrong?”
“No, I just wanted to see what you were doing? You didn’t answer the first time I called.” Billy was all charm, and she wanted to kill him.
“That’s because I’m working. I’m on the line with a great candidate and only answered now because I figured if you called twice like that it had to be important, an emergency even.”
“What, talking to me isn’t important?” he teased.
“I have to go. I’ll call you later.” She clicked back to her candidate, apologized again and finished the interview. A minute later her phone rang again, the main number from her office.
“Jill, it’s Jenna. Just wanted to give you a heads up that Roger Anderson just called in looking for you. I told him you were in a meeting and would call him right back. He said your candidate no-showed for his interview.”
“Thanks. I’ll find out what happened and call him right back.”
After a half hour of tracking down the missing candidate who somehow got the interview day mixed up, and rescheduling with the client, Jill finally had a chance to call Billy back.
“I thought you were ignoring me.”
“No, just putting out fires, as usual. What’s going on?”
“It’s weird without you here. The energy level is down.”
Jill chuckled. “Are you trying to say you miss me?”
“We all miss you.”
“That’s sweet, but I’m right here. I’m still working. This morning was just a glitch, and it was my first time dialing in. Once I’m regularly part of the meetings even from a distance, it will be better.”
“I suppose. It has to be, right?”
“It will be. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Go bill up a storm, would you please?”
“You got it.”
Jill hung up the phone and then, feeling suddenly restless, took a walk up to the pastry counter and gave in to temptation. She settled back at her table and took a bite of the cherry strudel pastry. She couldn’t make a habit of it, but just for today felt she deserved a little treat. She didn’t admit it to Billy, but she was already missing being in the office too. She missed the fast pace and the constant hum of people on the phone. After only a few days, she was missing everything—Billy most of all.
“So how was your day?” Mandy asked brightly. She’d just arrived at Grams’ house and had a bottle of red wine and a casserole dish that smelled amazing.
“Fabulous,” Jill lied. “What is that?” Mandy had called earlier and said she was bringing them dinner and was anxious to hear how things had gone for both Emma and Jill.
“Veggie lasagna. It’s a new recipe. Low-cal, but still tons of flavor. We’ll see, I guess, right?”
“Well, it smells delicious,” Emma said and started getting plates and silverware from the kitchen. They filled their plates and poured the wine, then settled comfortably at Grams’ dining room table.
“So,” Mandy began, “Emma, tell us everything. How was your day? What was it like? Should I be nervous about tomorrow?”
“No, don’t be nervous. Gary is a doll. He’ll walk you through everything,” Emma assured her and told them all about her day, ending with the realization that they may have been visited by a food critic.
“Do you remember his name?” Mandy asked.
“Why, are you up on who the local food critics are?” Jill asked, and Emma chuckled. She’d been wondering the same thing.
“I may recognize the name.” She seemed serious, so Emma tried to recall the name. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
“I don’t remember his first name. Last name may have been Connor.”
“I don’t think he’s a food critic.” Mandy chewed her bottom lip for a moment, then continued.
“He may be a consultant that Cory hired. I just didn’t think he’d start so soon.”
“Start what? Why would Cory hire a consultant to eat a bunch of food at our restaurant?” Jill demanded, her tone a mix of annoyance at Cory’s interference and curiosity to know what he was up to.
Mandy helped herself to another slice of lasagna before settling back into her seat and beginning to fill them in on news that she knew they wouldn’t be happy about. “Well, you know how we brought the financials home to look through? I took the initial look and was concerned enough to ask Cory to review everything and advise us on what we should do.”
“What’s wrong?” Emma asked.
“Well, I was planning to tell you all this over dinner anyway, so here’s the scoop. Mimi’s Place is barely breaking even. For the past seven years, profits and overall revenues have been steadily decreasing from year to year and expenses have gone up. Not a good combination.”
“But nothing seems to have changed,” Jill said. “Every time I’ve been there it’s been busy.”
“Well, think about when we usually go there,” Mandy pointed out. “Almost always for a special occasion, which means a busy Saturday night, which is their best night.”
“You’re right.” Emma had a thoughtful look on her face. “It’s funny you mention that about nothing changing. It’s like time has stood still there. The menu hasn’t changed much over the years. I also noticed earlier today that while the room still has that cozy atmosphere, the carpet is looking a bit worn, and overall it just feels a little faded.”
“So, what did Cory suggest?” Jill asked as she reached for more salad.
“The Gordon Ramsay approach. You know that show of his? Not the chef competition, the other one where he evaluates and fixes restaurants that aren’t working?”
Emma smiled. “Kitchen Nightmares. It’s a great show. Peter and I used to love watching it.”
“That’s it! So Cory did something similar. He knows a great restaurant consultant, someone his old company used when they were thinking of investing in a restaurant chain. He hired him to make a series of visits, try the food, see how the place operates, and then put together a recovery plan. Ideas we can implement to turn things around.”
“That sounds expensive.” Emma’s voice had a note of worry. “Where will the money come from?”
�
�Well, as Cory says, you have to spend money to make money. This will be investing in the business.” Mandy could see the others were less enthused.
“Yes, but Emma has a good point, where does the money come from for this?” Jill asked.
“Cory is paying for the consultant. But he also discovered that Mimi’s Place has a line of credit that has barely been touched, and that’s what we can tap into for any money we need to put into the restaurant changes.”
“Oh good.” Emma seemed relieved.
“Do we have any idea what we’ve gotten ourselves into?” Jill said.
“Well, let’s look at it like an adventure.” Mandy smiled as she reached for her wine.
“You always did look on the bright side,” Emma commented as she topped off her wine glass and without asking, refilled Mandy’s and Jill’s as well. “I admit, I did enjoy today at the restaurant. I loved the energy and the overall atmosphere and of course, the food.”
“To an adventure.” Jill lifted her glass, and the other two girls joined her, tapping glasses lightly.
Mandy enjoyed working her lunch shift. Gary walked her through everything much as he did Emma the day before, and she was happy to see that it was fairly busy and stayed steady throughout the afternoon. Or at least that’s how it seemed to her. Gary apparently felt differently.
“Well, we were a little off again today. Lunches just haven’t been as busy as they used to be.”
“Really? Why is that do you think?”
“Hard to say. The restaurant business is fickle. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it. You can plan for a busy night and then be dead and vice versa. There’s more competition than there used to be, for one thing. Plus, I think a lot of the business crowd comes less frequently than they used to. They go for more casual lunches. Faster service so they can get in and out quickly and back to work. The days of the three-martini lunches are long gone.”
“That makes sense.” Mandy agreed. She pulled a menu from the stack at the front desk and browsed it for a moment. The selection was mouthwatering, as Mandy loved all things Italian, but as she looked over the dishes, there was a familiar sameness there. Nothing new or surprising.
The Restaurant Page 6