In my quest for reasonable entertainment via Netflix on demand I’ve discovered Hotel Babylon. Initial impression that the show was a dramady tilted toward humor gave way to realisation that I was wrapped up in night-time soap. But any experiences, especially ones that lend us new impressions, are good. And this ridiculous write off by the tourism industry, has amidst the persistent low-flame romances and chintsy morality tales leant some perspective to me on certain service industry credos.
While I like the actor who plays the F&B manager in this show, even cringing through the winging in the takeover episode (S2E8) I find that the way the character is written overall might leave the viewers a negative impression of restaurants behind-the-scenes. People want a tell-all, and things may be worse than described at the hands of Bourdain the chef than Bourdain the writer, but that doesn’t mean everyone lurking about in galley hallways are morally corrupt and physically dissipated. We may be our own worst victims, but we still have choices. I’ve experienced personally some of the best representations on the plate of reputations on the rise and I believe that our life experience can be elevated by restaurant food in an akin to spiritual, real way.
Here’s how it is: while one may subtly up-sell you from H20 ‘tap’ to ‘still’ (believe me, ‘folks,’ it can be done without making me wince), one can still be possessed by integrity enough while negotiating the financial realities of serving great food, and still send asses to seats with regularity. How does one avoid the pitfalls of a rubric that contains elements i.e. inconsistent ethics and inconsistent presentation? Does one, at all?
Let’s begin by hiring good people. Really, I know, it’s practically an illusory ideal. The chef/patron and people reader, prospect’s c.v. in hand, has to be seasoned enough. So, maybe they’ve aged prematurely or they’re a little soft around the middle from experience. Yet I expect those people to hire correctly and keep sharp eyes—or else, fools like me will bring into glaring relief the fallacy of trying and not doing in the workplace. I’ve worked with too many fucktards who aced the interview and proceeded to display, within a scheduled work day or two, la mierdra trabaja.
It’s worth maintaining excellence, at every (what might be perceived as) level of the industry. What follows is self-respect, the quality of your staff, and customer satisfaction. I’m not saying there aren’t things best left unsaid, but secrets needn’t be trade nor dirty little.
The kids are really interested in food. A dozen years of media saturation can lead to that; just as alt-rock is now at the top of the charts, so food is finally being equated with art in a real way in popular culture. Kids, there are no shortcuts and I know you’re not gonna take any while making the mother sauces because your own culinary upbringing had an idealistic cast to it. This may just be the objectivity speaking but I think ideals are only so tempered by reality and can in the long run be unbreakable qualities of great characters. Those characters need not fictional or the subjects populating the flood of articles in the “memoir” genre.
The wise matriarch or patriarch of the kitchen peopled by skilled and trustworthy workers will lead to a continuation in quality. We may be plunging into the sea, 2012-wise, but we’ll do it without ersatz ingredients comprising the fine-dining experience even as the world burns around us. For no other reason than we could, should and would do so. Sayeth Portale (via Chris Lee), ‘the restaurant is] a business first,’ but you won’t take the aesthete out of this slobbering dog.
