Hi there

For years now, I have often wondered about the stories that I’ve collected in my head regarding my restaurant life, wondering if they would be worthy of the written word.  I had previously published a blog (www.rocketbrandy.blogspot.com) that detailed the adventures of my Dad with me as a witness to his life.  While it remained unread to all but a friendly few, I always felt from that writing experience that I could articulate my own adventures in the restaurant biz and was just looking for a reason to do so.

I’ve always felt that our industry is a hotbed (pun intended, as you’ll read much later) of stories if only for the sheer amount of personalities involved: servers, cooks, bartenders, guests, managers, vendors and owners all coalesce into this miasma of daily insane interaction…a carousel of energies that somehow all come together to create memorable, maddening or mystifying experiences that are discussed, blogged, shared (and Yelped).

The restaurant biz is unlike any other of which I’m aware.  It is absolutely dependent on a cast of characters who somehow flourish working long hours + late nights while pampering egos that either know everything or nothing about food/drink while working for owners who are equally inept or woefully ignorant (although some exceptions exist).  We chase our frustrations with booze and each other while trying to maintain a modicum of normal life:  bills, family, friends.

I hope to entertain, enlighten, educate and hopefully make you take a good, hard look at the person serving and cooking the food you eat outside of your home.  Some entries will be old stories of mine.  Some will be episodes from the night prior. Still others will be informative and educational.  As a whole, my goal is to keep it interesting while changing names to protect the innocent.

The following pages detail one man’s experiences in This Restaurant Life.