ottawa foodies

Had patio drinks in the market on Monday, at The Standard. I like it there because its not as busy as the more popular places, has a great beer list and a bit of an upscale pub menu that isn't too pricey.

It was half-price appetizers all day so we ordered some nachos to go with our pints. The waiter upfront told me that they were out of salsa and hinted that since they were half-price anyway hopefully this wasn't a big deal to us. Being in a pretty good mood and not wanting to bother I said no problem.

The nachos were fine without the salsa but it got me wondering how difficult would it have been to procure the missing ingredient, especially one that is key to the meal. In a restaurant-packed place like the market are the restaurants friendly enough that he could have borrowed a jar from next door? I realize the Loeb would have been about a 15 minute walk but surely there's a convenience store on Dalhousie where enough salsa could be bought to get them through the day.

As I said, the nachos were fine and we were warned upfront so no complaint there. I'm just dumbfounded that a restaurant runs out of an ingredient as common as salsa and doesn't think it's important enough to replace. Goes back to my pet peeve of standards (oh the irony) dropping everywhere. I just don't get it.

Anyone else have an experience like this?

I can't remember restaurants running out of basic things. But I've been to resto's where they run out of an entire dish.

Quite often I've seen kitchen staff, in their whites, running around the Byward Market picking up things to haul back to their kitchen's.

I had worked along side a baker a few times and he sent me out to get things that they had run out of.

Sometimes people, including cooks etc. can't or won't think for themselves. They are in their 'box' and are unable to think outside it.

The again I've seen chefs so autocratic that they don't want there staff to think for themselves. They run their kitchen like a army troop ... and like a bad sargent, they just bark out orders. Something like Gordon Ramsey.

Yes and also with a basic ingredient. Last summer I made a field trip to a restaurant on Dalhousie called "Les Soupières". The lunch was fabulous and the atmosphere and service were great. But when I asked for the vermicelli noodle salad they were out of - you guessed it! - vermicelli noodles. The rest of the meal consisted of stirfried beef and veggies which went nicely with rice - which they had - but I thought it was a little odd to run out of vermicelli noodles.

I am pretty sure that there has already been a forum discussion on this but I couldn't find it. I remember responding but maybe it wasn't on this site?? (Getting old ya know!)

Anyways - this is my pet peeve - I really find it tacky and as has been mentioned, how hard is it to run out and buy the missing ingredient and save the reputation of the restaurant? It makes me think they are either disorganised or cheap (or both!).

We ate at Al's Steakhouse on Elgin once and ordered the Apple pie à la mode for dessert. We were told they were all out of "à la mode" (ice cream). I was seriously not impressed. I mean HELLO? Boushey's is right across the street and Goldman's (at the time) is three blocks away. SEND THE BUSPERSON TO BUY SOME.

Sorry for the rant but it really bugs me......

From someone who has worked in the restaurant industry in most cases if they have no more of something it is generally not that they are cheap nor disorganized. Many things could have happened, here are some examples...

Sometimes many of the customers decide for some reason all to order similar things causing one item to be depleted. Happens all the time, we are like lemmings, you see someone else have/do something and you do/order the same.

Other times the supplier forgets to pack or is out something when the delivery comes in, you never find out until you unpack the order for some reason. The staff either do not have enough time before service starts to get to a grocery store to replace the missing item to then prepare it or the grocery store is out of the item. There have been many time we have driven to a few stores just to find out no one has any, very frustrating.

As for going to the store to buy more 'icecream' or 'salsa', hopefully the restaurant cares enough to make menu items themselves and does not use store bought crap.
If this is the case to make the base, cool it and freeze an icecream takes up to an hour, granted you have an extra set of hand in the kitchen when in most situations there is not. Unless you want the dishwasher making it:(
As for salsa, if you are out of the ingredients you can't really make more.

I feel as long as the staff tell you before you order that they are out of something in a dish I am happy. I can order something else on the menu if I don't like the changes or it with the missing ingredient. Though if they are creative enough to come up with a variation of the salsa all the better.

At my restaurant our menu evolved daily. On unexpected, (ie. nights when many people don't make reservations!!!) busy evenings our menu would sometimes change almost completely making the printed version obsolete. No one ever said they were upset, many actually were excited as they were getting something new and exciting, fresh off the press so to speak. Made it more of a pain for the service staff though as they would have to memorize a new menu and recite it over and over.

Rarely have I been to a spot that has run out of just an "ingredient" vs a dish (like the nightly special) which is sold-out or become not available for whatever reason.

What does make me sad though is when they run out of wine! It sucks to study the wine list, make a selection only to have the server return to say it is gone... especially so if the last bottle is open at the table next to you.

:-(

MMF - I enjoyed your perspective from behind the scene. Very informative. I can see where something can sell out, there really is that domino effect where what you see at another table looks so good you want some too.
(Reminds me of that Mott's Clamato Caesar commercial on tv).

"As for going to the store to buy more 'icecream' or 'salsa', hopefully the restaurant cares enough to make menu items themselves and does not use store bought crap."

I know it's a skewed sample set but the impression I get from TV shows like Restaurant Makeover and Kitchen Nightmares is that restaurants use a lot more store bought crap than I ever imagined.

I think it depends upon the place, and the general reasons that a customer would attend such a place. If the place's raison d'êtrè is to serve excellent, fresh, local grown, hand prepared food, then it would not be in their interest to buy prepared food at the last minute. If however the place is more of an 'entertainment' place ( say Montanna's, or Lone Star ), then it would make perfect sense to buy last minute food (for non marquee items) so that every customer who comes can enjoy the environment. For example, if Lone Star needed to run out to get milk, or ice cream, then they should. If they ran out of salsa, or chips (marquee items) they should bite the bullet and admit they have none. Also, as F&T mentions, I find it very genuine when a place runs out of a nightly special, (on the first or second night hopefully) as it indicates that you are getting freshly prepared food, and not something prepared earlier in the week, and they just couldn't sell it. Reminds me of the residence cafeteria at Carleton U. Sunday was roast beef night. Monday you would see sliced beef on sandwiches, and by mid week the 'leftover' roast beef from Sunday was now beef stew. I even caught them one time, serving for weekday lunch, grilled cheese sandwiches where the 'bread' was the 'french toast' from the previous weekend (breakfasts were ONLY served on weekends).

The only time it was a problem in my mind was at an upscale Sushi restaurant in Toronto. I believe it was called Blowfish. We went there on I believe on a Friday night and when we put in our first order they were out of 3 or 4 things that we ordered. We found it a bit comical they were out of so much.... but still, was not really mad just found it frustrating as it was not that late and they still had the Saturday rush coming.

cheers

medicinejar this reminds me of a trip I made to Booster Juice with a friend a couple of years ago. We went on an impromptu Sunday morning visit to the Lansdowne farmers market. I already had something to eat before we left but my friend did not so we swung by the Booster Juice store on Bank Street across from Lansdowne. Granted it was the day after Canada Day - and a Sunday none the less - so there were few ingredients on hand and no shipments until the following day. It was a hoot listening to the conversation between my friend and the server. When we entered the restaurant my friend went to the counter she said "I will have a carrot juice please". The server said "we are all out of carrots would you like something else?" My friend said "Okay how about a berry smoothie?" Waitress says "sorry we are all out of berries would you like something else?" The conversation continued in similar fashion with two or three other beverages and she finally said "Okay what do you have that you can make a shake with?" Anyway she finally got a Booster Juice surprise that day but listening to the conversation was quite comical.

Well this one's for you Pasta Lover and the Python fans! :

MOUSEBENDER:
Red Windsor?
WENSLEYDALE:
Normally, sir, yes. Today the van broke down.
MOUSEBENDER:
Ah. Stilton?
WENSLEYDALE:
Sorry.
MOUSEBENDER:
Emmental? Gruyère?
WENSLEYDALE:
No.
MOUSEBENDER:
Any Norwegian Jarlsberger, per chance?
WENSLEYDALE:
No.
MOUSEBENDER:
Liptauer?
WENSLEYDALE:
No.
MOUSEBENDER:
Lancashire?
WENSLEYDALE:
No.
MOUSEBENDER:
White Stilton?
WENSLEYDALE:
No.
MOUSEBENDER:
Danish Blue?
WENSLEYDALE:
No.
MOUSEBENDER:
Double Gloucester?
WENSLEYDALE:
..... No.
MOUSEBENDER:
Cheshire?
WENSLEYDALE:
No.
MOUSEBENDER:
Dorset Blue Vinney?
WENSLEYDALE:
No.
MOUSEBENDER:
Brie, Roquefort, Pont-l'Évêque, Port Salut, Savoyard, Saint-Paulin, Carre-de-L'Est, Bresse-Bleu, Boursin?
WENSLEYDALE:
No.
...
MOUSEBENDER:
Gouda?
WENSLEYDALE:
No.
MOUSEBENDER:
Edam?
WENSLEYDALE:
No.
MOUSEBENDER:
Caithness?
WENSLEYDALE:
No.
MOUSEBENDER:
Smoked Austrian?
WENSLEYDALE:
No.
...
WENSLEYDALE:
Of course, sir. It's a cheese shop, sir. We've got .....
MOUSEBENDER:
No, no, don't tell me. I'm keen to guess.
WENSLEYDALE:
Fair enough.
...
(MOUSEBENDER:
Er, Wensleydale?
WENSLEYDALE:
Yes?
MOUSEBENDER:
Ah, well, I'll have some of that.
WENSLEYDALE:
Oh, I thought you were talking to me, sir. Mr Wensleydale, that's my name.
...

(pause)
MOUSEBENDER:
Ah, how about Cheddar?
WENSLEYDALE:
Well, we don't get much call for it around here, sir.
MOUSEBENDER:
Not much ca- It's the single most popular cheese in the world!
WENSLEYDALE:
Not round here, sir.
MOUSEBENDER:
And what is the most popular cheese round here?
WENSLEYDALE:
Ilchester, sir.
MOUSEBENDER:
Is it.
WENSLEYDALE:
Oh yes, sir. It's staggeringly popular in this manor, squire.
MOUSEBENDER:
Is it.
WENSLEYDALE:
It's our number-one best seller, sir.
MOUSEBENDER:
I see. Ah, Ilchester, eh?
WENSLEYDALE:
Right, sir.
MOUSEBENDER:
All right. Okay. Have you got any, he asked expecting the answer no?
WENSLEYDALE:
I'll have a look, sir ..... nnnnnnooooooooo.
MOUSEBENDER:
It's not much of a cheese shop, is it?
WENSLEYDALE:
Finest in the district, sir.
MOUSEBENDER:
Explain the logic underlying that conclusion, please.
WENSLEYDALE:
Well, it's so clean, sir.
MOUSEBENDER:
It's certainly uncontaminated by cheese.
WENSLEYDALE:
You haven't asked me about Limberger, sir.
MOUSEBENDER:
Is it worth it?
WENSLEYDALE:
Could be.
MOUSEBENDER:
Have you- SHUT THAT BLOODY BOUZOUKI UP!
WENSLEYDALE:
(To dancers) Told you so.
MOUSEBENDER:
Have you got any Limburger?
WENSLEYDALE:
No.
MOUSEBENDER:
That figures. Predictable really, I suppose. It was an act of purest optimism to have posed the question in the first place. Tell me:
WENSLEYDALE:
Yes, sir?
MOUSEBENDER:
Have you in fact got any cheese here at all?
WENSLEYDALE:
Yes, sir.
MOUSEBENDER:
Really?
(pause)
WENSLEYDALE:
No. Not really, sir.
MOUSEBENDER:
You haven't.
WENSLEYDALE:
No, sir, not a scrap. I was deliberately wasting your time, sir.
MOUSEBENDER:
Well, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to shoot you.
WENSLEYDALE:
Right-O, sir.
MOUSEBENDER:
(Shoots him) What a senseless waste of human life.

medicinejar ROFL! Those Monty Python shows are perhaps the funniest shows that has ever been broadcast on tv!

In retrospect I regret not popping off to buy my own jar while we waited for our order. :)

I'm still curious though about the level of "sharing" between restaurants, if it even exists. Are restaurants sympathetic to one an another in this situation and likely to help out in a pinch?

Olie.... you're reminding me of a Heinz Ketchup commercial from the 70s or 80s in which a restaurant patron goes off to the supermarket to buy Heinz ketchup when the restaurant he is at has another brand....

Cheers

When I worked on the main strip in Niagara Falls, we all shared our live lobsters. The buggers would die after a few days and they weren't big sellers in the off season so we'd loan them if some one got a rush of orders.

I can remember rushing down the street with one in a Hellman's pail with the lid on and it was banging it's claws against the sides. Must of weirded out the tourists.

Oliver's Rock - Funny story!

MedicineJar - I remember that ad, that was a classic.

Ollie - Back in my youth I worked for a national chain, if one store ran short (or if an item wasn't on the truck when the order came in) they'd call around and try to "borrow" from another store in the chain. Sometimes they'd score what they needed sometimes not. Stores were usually reluctant to do a "transfer" because they didn't know when or if they'd get back the stuff they had ordered, received and paid for. OCCASIONALLY they'd have to go to the grocery store to pick up what they needed, but they hated to do that because it was usually more expensive than getting it thru their national supply network. Needless to say they were really really cheap. Sometimes the staff, like myself would complain, maybe not so much if an ingredient was missing (who cares if salad is missing a cucumber) but we'd get b!tchy if we thought it was a food safety issue (ie papertowels). They thought we should just use a stack of serviettes or go without (usually the latter... sure wipe your wet hands on your uniform), they'd finally give in after a shift or two, and go to the store and buy paper towel. Needless to say, I long ago gave up eating there.