So, I ran an appetizer special tonight at work and it worked out better than I expected.
What did I make, you ask? Well, let me tell you. The dish had, including the garnish, 4 components:
-slipper lobster ravioli
-cognac shellfish bisque sauce
-candied onion jus
-blue lump crab and chive
I made everything from scratch myself, which took me like 2 hours (which was about an hour longer than I thought it was going to take). Thankfully, we had an extra person on the line and he helped set up my station so I could work on the special.
I ended up making 48 pieces total, which made 16 portions (3 ravioli per order). Normally, a special on the weekend (this particular day was a 400 reservation Saturday) would get about 30 orders, but I didn't have enough product. Still, 16 is a decent number. Except for one thing: we sold out an hour after starting service. Now, while this does kind of make me look good because people ordered my dish, I also heard quite a few "you didn't make enough" comments throughout the night.
Either way, I heard that the guests reacted to the dish positively and I get to run the special again, so that's pretty rad. It's been over a year working there and while they've used my ideas on certain menu/dish components, I've never had a dish that was all me (line cooks don't really get to add anything to the menu; it's mostly the sous chefs).
What did I make, you ask? Well, let me tell you. The dish had, including the garnish, 4 components:
-slipper lobster ravioli
-cognac shellfish bisque sauce
-candied onion jus
-blue lump crab and chive
I made everything from scratch myself, which took me like 2 hours (which was about an hour longer than I thought it was going to take). Thankfully, we had an extra person on the line and he helped set up my station so I could work on the special.
I ended up making 48 pieces total, which made 16 portions (3 ravioli per order). Normally, a special on the weekend (this particular day was a 400 reservation Saturday) would get about 30 orders, but I didn't have enough product. Still, 16 is a decent number. Except for one thing: we sold out an hour after starting service. Now, while this does kind of make me look good because people ordered my dish, I also heard quite a few "you didn't make enough" comments throughout the night.
Either way, I heard that the guests reacted to the dish positively and I get to run the special again, so that's pretty rad. It's been over a year working there and while they've used my ideas on certain menu/dish components, I've never had a dish that was all me (line cooks don't really get to add anything to the menu; it's mostly the sous chefs).
