I was having lunch last week in the middle of the afternoon, so the restaurant we were at was not very busy. They had two servers, one a young girl and the other an elderly lady. The servers were trying to get ready for the night shift and the younger server asked the older server, "what do you do with this?" She was holding some utensil up for the elderly server who was now walking away. The elderly servers reply was, "you need to put the thing in the thing!" And the younger server replied, "oh yeah, that's right."

It almost made me laugh out loud, because that is exactly how it is behind the scenes here. Sometimes you know what everyone is thinking, you just can't get the words out, but it doesn't matter because everyone else thinks the same thing. No matter the age difference, once inside the restaurant, our lingo is our lingo. I thought our readers might find some of these terms funny or interesting so here is some of "our" restaurant lingo.

All Day - the total amount. If table 12 orders two orders of salmon and table 19 orders four orders of salmon, that's "six salmon, all day".

In the Weeds - basically, "in the weeds" means that you are really, really busy. Probably behind and you are about ready to lose all of your composure.

Dragging - taking a long time, very backlogged. It can refer to a course, a drink, a person, or an entire production station. "the bar is dragging" "my entrees are dragging" "my busser is dragging" "dessert station is dragging" Dragging is usually the result of being "in the weeds".

Campers - customers that hang out at a table all night long and you only get to use the table one time all night.

Double - two shifts in a row. "I'm exhausted, I just pulled a double."

Double/Triple Sat - when more than one table is seated in a particular station at the same time.

Dupe - the ticket/information that gets submitted to the kitchen so the cooks can cook orders.  

This restaurant was "In the Weeds"

Dying - food that is nearly or totally unservable because the waitstaff is waiting for the rest of the order to come up. For example, 'My shrimp's dying in the window because I don't have a veg (accompanying vegetables) to go with it!"

Fire, Fire it - order given by the head line cook to the other cooks to begin preparation of certain orders, such as "fire table 22" or "fire those special pastas".

Hockey Puck - A well done hamburger. My personal favorite. I just heard this one the other day and it made me laugh out loud. "Looks like we need a hockey puck at 21."

Nuke it - to microwave. We need it hot or we need it now!

On the Rail or On the Fly - something needed quickly, like yesterday. Example: "I ordered a burger and I needed a chicken sandwich, can I get one on the rail?" Usually the cook relays to the other cooks that he needs a chicken sandwich, "like yesterday" or "on the rail." This means FAST!!!!!

Stiffed - a customer has left the restaurant without tipping the server.

Still Moving or Still Mooing - extra extra rare, "they want the tender (tenderloin) still mooing.

Stretch It - to make four orders of hollandaise sauce become seven or eight.

Window - a shelf, usually heated and connected to the kitchen, upon which the food is placed after preparation and awaiting delivery to the table

Our glass wine list offers 10 amazing wines from around the world. In putting together our list, we always offer 4 different whites, 4 different reds, a blush and a featured wine. The featured wine we offer is usually dependent on the season. We like to offer a red in the cooler months and a white when it starts to warm up. Also, when choosing our featured wine, we try to bring uncommon but interesting varietals to our customers. It may be something that is hot right now in the wine world, in season, or just a suggestion from one of our wine salesman. It is usually wines that we have tried during our semi-annual wine tastings that we thought are fantastic and need to bring in. So with the emergence of spring, we have now moved into the season of whites.