With all the decor, music and equipment improvements recently at Rick's there've also been improvements in service and reception. Tough measures finally had to be taken in a couple of instances and two who were part of Rick's original team are no longer with us. Service has noticably improved. I sat down to lunch yesterday feeling quite pleased with how the year was starting out. Since fresh fish was just being delivered after the week break over the Aid I decided to try one of my favorite dishes, Lotte Asiatique. It's actually a Japanese plate called Ni-i Sakana, or drunken fish. The base of the sauce is Mirin cooking wine, soy sauce and grated ginger. As I tasted the first morsel I remarked how delicious it was and how the kitchen had slightly modified my strict Japanese recipe to suit the local palates...it was great. But then I noticed something creeping out from under the fish...a strand of hair! Egads! I called over the Maitre d'hotel, showed him the plate and he was horrified. He went back to the kitchen, said the chef was furious, and brought out a new serving - hairless - immediately. Last night, however, the Maitre d' told me when they were preparing the second plate they found more hair in the sauce. When I heard this my mind could only think of one thing - remember I've lived here for 8 years - that someone was planting potions to bring bad luck to either me or the restaurant. I take this seriously, especially after hearing a friend's story. He was hired by a large publishing group with a morning newspaper to start an afternoon paper with a new look and aimed for a younger audience. The old guard didn't like this idea and used various measures of intimidation...including leaving a dead chicken (feathers an all) on the desk of one of his staffers. So this morning I asked our operations manager Houssein to ask the chef if he thought the hair was part of a potion bearing evil spirits. He took the question seriously, but fortunately had a more positive response. Houssein entered my office with a plate that had soy sauce with STRANDS OF GINGER - the soy sauce had, of course, colored the strands so they looked like hair. I was relieved, a bit embarrassed, but they all said no need to be embarrassed it was a resonable suspicion! I cautioned the sauce chef to cut the ginger on the bias next time. I bet Rick never had issues like this! |
