Restaurant Workers and Fair Pay

I recently read a story in Time discussing how the average restaurant worker makes just over nine dollars an hour which is below the national poverty level for a family of four. They point out that six of the ten lowest paying jobs in the country are restaurant jobs and quotes nearly the whole story from this guy Saru Jayaraman who just happens to run an organization (which I can only assume pays his salary) whose goal is to point out how awful the big mean restaurant industry is and how they should stop sucking. I wonder if Mr. Jayaraman has any employees who make less money than him…and why?) The thing that bothers me is that there were no alternate views or opinions offered, so here are a few of mine.

Let’s just go ahead and double or triple staff pay, I think we all know that cost isn’t going to be swallowed by the restaurant …it’s going to be placed on your tab. I know it’s easy to think well geez I’d be willing to pay a few extra bucks to know my wait staff was making a living wage but it’s never that simple or inexpensive. You won’t just be paying extra for your waiter, but also the prep cook, dishwasher, runner, porter, bartender, bar back and other assorted staff.

You choose your station in life, and nobody asked you work in a restaurant. If you chose to work in one, you may either need a check-up from the neck-up…or you may want to choose wisely.  You see you could work in a diner forever, but expect diner pay forever.  Conversely you can work your haggis off and start in the diner, work your way into the full serve restaurant and make your way up the food chain into a higher paying restaurant. It’s been done by folks who didn’t have two nickels to rub together, and it can be done again.

Also the poor wait staff…ask any line cook who’s worked a night with five to six hundred covers how bad the wait staff has it. Working a six or eight hour shift and walking out making more money than the people who cooked the food and worked double the hours…boo hoo poor you. When was the last time you went back and tossed the cooks a twenty spot for making you a few hundred bucks? I’m guessing Jesus was wearing short pants, because I can’t remember it either.

Averaging all restaurant workers wages is like averaging all stock brokers’ wages, some of them aren’t very good at what they do and some are but the bottom line is the shittiest stock broker is going to skew the numbers much lower than it actually is. That being said the restaurant industry with a better than 60% failure rates probably has more than its share of non-productive, unmotivated work force which skews the number far lower than it is. If you don’t believe me check out a local coffee shop and the barista sprawled out across the counter talking about the sweet blueberry kush he scored last night, and how beat it is that you have to pay for Phish tickets.

Now as far as Tom Colicchio being the industry champion and paying sick days and great wages I think that’s great.  I’m guessing when you charge a bare minimum of 45 bucks a head (that’s assuming the customers only order water and don’t tip) it makes it a bit easier. But just because you charge that much doesn’t mean people are going to eat there. I know restaurants serving delicious local, seasonal, sustainable food for big bucks and they’re going broke doing it. Why don’t we tell those chefs that they’re an overbearing slave master and they should pay their staff more, even though in a couple situations the chefs hadn’t paid themselves in months.

In the story Mr. Jayaraman talks about how women and minorities don’t have the opportunity to get the really sweet jobs in the industry. This is where I think Mr. Jayaraman is as crazy as a shithouse rat, because anybody in the industry will tell you you’re high when you ask “where are all the sweet jobs at?” In a goodly number of restaurants I’ve been in all over the country “non-minorities” are the minorities. Chefs/owners aren’t stupid, the faster, better and more efficient you work the better the position you get. This isn’t a union job where seniority makes the person, seniority here doesn’t mean shit.

I know it’s wonderful to think all things in life are fair, that everybody wins and there are only blue ribbons and marshmallow clouds… but we all know that’s bullshit. There is no such thing as fair. Sometimes the lion catches the zebra and sometimes it doesn’t. Life serves up a barrage of alternating kicks to the balls and shit sandwiches. Everyone gets a little of both , but some work more and get less…and some work less and get more. Raising the wage a hundred fold isn’t going to change a person’s motivation; it’s only going to raise the price of the cheeseburger.

Podcast with Chef Julie Cutting

Ok so I’m a moron… this will not come as a surprise to most… the “cookbook” I was trying to reference in the interview is by Nathan Myhrvold and the title is Modernist Cuisine http://www.amazon.com/Modernist-Cuisine-Art-Science-Cooking/dp/0982761007 

I had a great time with Chef Cutting and hopefully you will as well… we discuss how to wipe cow noses, what not to wear on your first day of culinary school and get down to the serious business of whether or not chef Cutting owns a banana peeler. Enjoy. 

http://k003.kiwi6.com/hotlink/8g6afdu909/chef_julie_cutting.mp3 

http://kiwi6.com/file/8g6afdu909

 

New Modern Mexican

When I was in junior high, or middle school, or whatever the hell they’re calling seventh grade now… I had my first taco. I wasn’t lucky enough to be born in a Texas border town so I had the misfortune of my first taco being served in one of those crunchy yellow taco shells, with what I am hoping was orange greasy hamburger. (If it was zebra/kangaroo I don’t want to know) This taco also had shredded lettuce, tomatoes, yellow cheddar, sour cream and of course taco sauce.

Fast forward 18 years and I am going to eat for the first time in a real Mexican restaurant. Imagine my shock when my tacos arrived and someone had apparently forgotten my crunchy shell, lettuce, cheese, ground beef, chopped tomato, yellow cheese and what’s up with this soapy tasting green stuff? No Taco sauce? I thought this place served Mexican food!

Yep I was that gringo but not for long, on weekends I’d eat bowls of menudo when I was hung over, or was invited to a lunch or dinner with a Mexican friend, because he knew I was so far from my family and home. They were almost always simple meals, yet somehow amazingly complex in flavor. I was in Houston for 4 years and because of it am spoiled to the point of being a Tex-Mex snob.

Now back in New England I’m fortunate to be within twelve miles of a decent taco place that actually knows the difference between a flour and corn tortilla, and has lengua on the menu. The place is great if you want tacos but if you want something more substantial, there is nothing to be had for quite some distance.

I’m not looking for something you’d find in Oaxaca and I don’t need to have huitlacoche on the menu, but just don’t piss on my head and tell me it’s rain. I mean seriously one place in town charges twelve dollars for bagged tortilla chips and microwaved toppings, or 17 dollars for a frozen pepper stuffed frozen chicken & garbage from a can and authentic frozen margaritas with sour mix.

The Mexican food that I love is like most cultures, born out of poverty and availability.  It’s hard to get a sour mix tree to grow in Jalisco all they could get were stupid lime trees. Cheap meats cooked for a long time with simple fresh local ingredients for maximum calories and flavor. How do the people running these restaurants sleep at night? I’ll tell you, because people like us frequent these places because we’re not smart enough to say no thank you. It’s not just Mexican it’s most restaurants and we’re too stupid to notice or even worse, care.

We’ve been trained to think this way with things like precooked bacon, frozen egg squares, canned sauce, fake cheese, “scrod”, dinosaur chicken fingers, canned soup, black olives and fake feta on your nothing Greek about it salad.. Don’t you ever get tired of not knowing where your food is coming from, or of someone putting a steaming pile of rhino droppings on your plate and smiling when they put it in front of you?

I say all this because I saw where a “New Modern Mexican Restaurant” is coming to my town in the near future and have figured out New Modern Mexican is code for “Food Mexican’s Wouldn’t Eat.” As for me, I’m tired of seeing these places and the sheep that eat in them. I don’t mean you shouldn’t ever eat something bad, but at least make it real food.  90% of all restaurants in the United States are garbage and you know it. Think about that next time you’re tucking into a cool ranch taco.

Dear Pavlov, what can I eat in college?

This question came from a thoughtful young lad about to head off to his freshman year in college. Now as we all know there are many questions you need to stress out about with regard to college. Will I get laid? Will I be able to get ample amounts of adult beverages? Crabs aren’t permanent are they? These are all questions worth thinking about. But the following question is one you shouldn’t think about… until you’re about 60.

Pavlov, I’m a senior in High School and am a self-professed foodie. I enjoy eating well and I’m afraid college food will be everything it’s cracked up to be. Do you have any ideas or tricks for me, or should I just dream of future great meals.

Thanks, Animal

Dearest Animal,

College is a time you’re supposed to look back on and lament about all the awful food you ate, things you did, and parents money you wasted just to end up your first five years out of college as a barista trying to “find yourself.” Like your friends will probably tell you, “Hack your Ramen Brah.”  Back in the day we called it “cooking funk”, we didn’t know the joys of Sriracha, fish sauce or the word brah. The craziest thing you could get in the Asian “section” of the Asian food aisle in the grocery store in rural NH was La Choy chow mein in a can!

I personally have eaten everything from egg shells, a dead lobster, drank beer out of someone’s barn boot and even drank vodka from a plastic bottle. Were these all good experinces? No, no, no aaaaand no, (Wolfschmidt, you are one cruel son of a bitch!) but it’s preferable to telling my grandchildren about an excellent steak tartare I had as a Freshman.

You should instead be telling them stories out of earshot of “grandma” about pizza you had of questionable provinance you got from a convenience store at 3 am, before going home with a woman of even more questionable moral fiber. Then upon awaking a day and a half later, leaning on the mercy of your friends better nature to help you piece the events together. What was up with the goat, and where did the prosthetic eye come from?

Trust me you’ll get to know the good sausage joints and hell maybe even educate your fellow classmates on the virtues of good pizza. Of course good pizza and beer being what they are tend to come at a premium, so you’ll get to start using your education in real world situations. You will be learning about such things as “economies of scale” and the thought process will go thusly.

If we all chip in and get the good pizza and the good beer we will all get one slice of pizza and maybe 2 beers. If we all chip in and get the broke-assed pizza and the broke-assed beer…we will all have full stomachs plus breakfast. As an ancillary benefit to having plenty of beer, you will have stories to tell the grandkids about like “how I tried to fight all my dorm mates”, “I was a gentleman and held a girl’s hair while she took the toilet for a spin”, and how you “nearly got grandma’s best friend pregnant.”

Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to focus on great food… probably when your 60 after having paid off your student loans, your mortgage, cars, put 4 kids through that same damned college, Well 3-1/2 kids, because Junior thinks he’s a rock star and quit his junior year and off to CA, bought more throw pillows, throw rugs, picture frames, shelves, guest towels and window treatments (that’s the expensive way your wife will say shades) than you care to think about.

By then however, you’re just going to want some peace and quiet. You’ll be on your way to the grocery store across town because it’s 15 minutes of extra silence (read:less nagging). On the way there you’re going to see that sausage stand you used to eat at in college and smell those peppers and onions mixed with wonderfully spiced charred sausage and you’re going to realize…. you didn’t miss a damned thing. Sometimes food is as much about the experience and the company as it is about the actual food.

Enjoy your freshman year!

XXOO, Pav

Route 11 Potato Chips

A while back I wrote how Lay’s Sriracha flavored chips were as exciting as a bag of cat litter but not nearly as tasty. Why can’t a big potato chip company with a big R&D department and even bigger pockets create a spicy potato chip that can stand on it’s own?

I was lamenting to friends how I was disappointed with the Sriracha flavored chip falling short due to unnecessary cheese flavors, and a lack of faith in the spicy Sriracha condiment. One of my friends interrupted and asked me if I had tried Mama Zuma’s chips? I hadn’t, so I decided to check it out.  Turns out the name of the company is Route 11 Potato Chips based in Mount Jackson, VA.

I got in touch with them via FB and asked if I might get samples of the Mama Zuma’s Revenge chip. They not only sent me the flavor I wanted, they also sent some of each flavor they make. I’m sure it was quiet to the point of Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart in the room when I opened the box, but in my mind it was filled with a triumphant version of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus when I saw those beautiful bags.

The first chips I tasted were the Mama Zuma’s Revenge Habanero Chips.  I opened the bag, peered in and discovered happily these were Kettle cooked chips as are all the other flavors in the Route 11 line. I took a few chips and began to munch, and initially I was disappointed.

I noticed however, as I kept eating the flavor intensified and kept building. There was no unpleasant “off” tastes, no cheesy notes just the flavor of sweet heat and subtle notes of smoke, garlic and paprika in the background.  The heat and flavor these chips delivered was just right.

The modus operandi was the same for all the chips, subtle flavors that initially seemed light, then after a few handfuls just make sense. The best example of this is in their dill pickle flavored potato chips. Most dill pickle flavored chips start off as vinegary with a hint of dill and leave you feeling as though you’ve been sucking on dill flavored 9-volt batteries. Not so with Route 11 chips, the overwhelming flavor you get is of Dill and the vinegar builds to a pleasant level.

I found myself enjoying all the chips, the lightly salted were a great all around chip. The sour cream and chive weren’t overly flavored so as to leave you wanting more as opposed to wanting to lick the southbound end of a northbound skunk to get the excess “taste” out of your mouth.  The sweet potato chips were surprisingly good letting the taste of the sweet potato more or less speak for itself.

The BBQ chips were thoughtfully seasoned and delicious as were the Salt n Vinegar. The only chips in their line that I didn’t seem to get were the Chesapeake Crab chips. I understand the gist of these is to have a crab boil sort of flavor reminiscent of old bay. But while I was eating them I couldn’t help but wonder…what am I supposed to eat these with?! It’s a small point and not being from the Mid-Atlantic, maybe the Old Bay flavor was the whole point but it was lost on me.

There’s a lot to love about Route 11 Potato Chips, from the product itself to the company as a whole. I love that they have a sustainability mission and that they make their chips in small batches. The only thing I am somewhat disappointed in is their use of social media or lack thereof. They are on Facebook but postings are somewhat sporadic. They are not on Twitter as of yet but I have a feeling that will change in the near future.

So the next time you’re thinking of getting potato chips for a sandwich or even a large gathering, pick up a few bags of Route 11. They are great chips from a small company, and are dedicated to making the best possible product in an environmentally responsible way. Happy snacking!