Yesterday, I took a moment to give thanks to a number of people in the Kansas City restaurant community I am incredibly grateful for. Today, I feel there is an issue in this community that I can no longer ignore. Last week we suffered a tremendous loss as a community when one of our brightest […]
Tag Archives | chef
Creating A Server Community
One of the coolest parts of spending over a decade in the restaurant business is that you know someone at most every restaurant. Last night, my girlfriend Ali (who complains about not getting mentioned enough on here) and I went to check out a new restaurant. We scrolled through a list of six people we […]
Food Allergies: A Responsible Approach
I have one hard and fast rule when it comes to waiting tables. No one dies on my watch. I have had several guests leave the restaurant in an ambulance, but none of them have died. It is a simple thing, but it helps me sleep better at night. I may not be changing the […]
Chef Nicolette: An Introduction
A few years ago I had the opportunity to work with a very talented and passionate pantry cook named Nicolette. She left not long after I started to attend culinary school. I advised against it. She has since graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and become an accomplished pastry chef. I asked her to […]
Recommended Reading 11/8
Saturday night we had a notable guest at the restaurant. I say notable guest rather than celebrity out of fear that many of my readers would only know her from Dancing with the Stars or Raising Hope. The older folks out there would then facepalm remembering all of the great work she did in our […]
About The Author
David Hayden was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. He took his first serving job in 1996. Since that time, he has worked for over a dozen different restaurant companies. He has held both hourly and salaried positions at independent and corporate restaurants. He has waited on over 100,000 guests and trained hundreds of servers. He has been named "Best Server in Kansas City" the last three years by the local weekly paper.