October is Dining Month on OnMilwaukee.com. All month, we're stuffed with restaurant reviews, special features, chef profiles and unique articles on everything food. Bon appetit!
Are we all familiar with the term "86" in restaurant lingo? In layman terms, 86 simply means there's none left. The exact origin of the term is hazy, although one explanation seems to be that the 86th item on Delmonico's menu in New York City was a commonly sought after steak and was frequently sold out. Hence, if an item is 86'd, it's unavailable.
And sometimes, either due to an ordering miscalculation or an extraordinarily busy night, restaurants have some items on their menus that are 86'd. Protocol in every restaurant I've worked in was that 86'd items were relayed to the waitstaff either in pre-service discussions or on a dry erase or chalkboard in the kitchen. If an item went 86 during the course of service, the cooks or expediters let the waitstaff and bartenders know so that they would stop selling the item t0.
I understand that mistakes happen, and items will occasionally become 86. So tell me!
There is little more frustrating than spending several minutes looking over a menu, setting your sights on exactly what you want to eat for lunch or dinner, and having your order received with an "Oh, we're out of that today." This seems to happen so frequently as of late, that I've adopted the response of very politely asking, "OK, well, are you out of anything else?"
Sometimes the answer is no, and that I somehow located the singular missing item on the menu as my choice for the day. Other times, I receive a long list of other items that are no longer available, and still other times, I am told no, but then when I order something else, I get the same, "Oh, we're out of that, too."
I don't particularly care for surprises when I'm dining out, and I for one, would prefer to know up front if the menu item that I'm pining for is unavailable, rather than playing a game of cat and mouse. Granted, if you're missing a lot of items on your menu, listing the 86'd items up front may be embarrassing, but I would venture to guess, for most diners, having the waitstaff come clean up front will save a lot of frustration during the ordering process.
Amy L. Schubert is a 15-year veteran of the hospitality industry and has worked in every aspect of bar and restaurant operations. A graduate of Marquette University (B.A.-Writing Intensive English, 1997) and UW-Milwaukee (M.A.-Rhetoric, Composition, and Professional Writing, 2001), Amy still occasionally moonlights as a guest bartender and she mixes a mean martini.
The restaurant business seems to be in Amy’s blood, and she prides herself in researching and experimenting with culinary combinations and cooking techniques in her own kitchen as well as in friends’ restaurants. Both she and her husband, Scott, are avid cooks and “wine heads,” and love to entertain friends, family and neighbors as frequently as possible.
Amy and Scott live with their boys, Alex and Nick, in Bay View, where they are all very active in the community. Amy finds great pleasure in sharing her knowledge and passions for food and writing in her contributions to OnMilwaukee.com.
