Best 24-Hour Pizza Joint

According to this article, the best pizza place open 24 hours is right here in Ohio!  It's Hound Dog's 3 Degree Pizza in Columbus!

I used to like the Flying Tomato in Columbus, but next time I get a chance I will be checking out Hound Dog's!

Restaurant News

Here is a Cleveland Plain Dealer article about how the economic troubles are affecting restaurant business.

Good Friday - Not Quite Grant

I drove tonight from 6-close, 7 hours on the road. This is the longest shift I've worked in a few months! It started off pretty slow, of my first 8 deliveries I only had 1 tip of $3 or more.

But then overe the final 9 deliveries, I had 5 tips of $4 or more! And it was raining more during the first half of the night!

My only stiff of the night was on a delivery to the McDonald's restaurant right across the street!

All together I took 17 deliveries, drove just 51 miles (most of the time listening to the Indians rain delay), and made $48 in tips. I was really hoping to get to $50 (Ulysses S Grant) but I didn't quite make it.

Maybe tomorrow. (Yes, I close again on Saturday night).

How Restaurants (and Diners) Are Reacting to the Struggling Economy

By Charlie Byrne

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

"If you really want to be sure of that 7:30 p.m. table, ask for it with a French, Spanish, or Italian accent. It will brand you as a potentially bigger spender, the kind helping restaurants outlast a weak dollar and a wobbly Dow."

This advice comes from Frank Bruni of The New York Times, reporting on how restaurants are reacting to the recession.

One noticeable trend: Americans are spending less (tap water instead of bottled water, dining at bars and counters vs. formal settings, no high-end steak and lobster), while splurging foreigners rush to take advantage of favorable exchange rates.

Result? All things being equal, restaurateurs would rather seat a table of Europeans than locals. "I mean, they're just spending. It's Monopoly money to them," said one NYC general manager.

Other notable changes:

• Dinner rush used to occur around 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. But outside the U.S., it's is a later-evening event, so now the peak is moving to 8:30 or 9:00 p.m.
• Less expensive ingredients lower the cost of food. For instance, using regular crabmeat instead of jumbo lump. Shiitake instead of morel mushrooms. More starches to fill out the plate.
• Menus are featuring more single-digit appetizers and "small plates."

And restaurateurs are offering more mid-range than high-end wines. "All of our wine directors are starting to play this game more aggressively," said Paul Bolles-Beaven of the Danny Meyer group. "People are spending less on wine right now, and they're not spending to impress."

Unless, that is, they're European, adds Bruni.

Another One Bites The Dust

Another local restaurant is closing. This time it is T.G.I. Friday's. This is disappointing, both because it is another sign that the crummy economy is not improving, but also because my wife and I liked to eat there.

Slow Friday

I drove for 5 1/2 hours tonight and only took 9 deliveries (including a rerun). I average over 2 deliveries per hour on weeknights, when I work on a weekend night I expect alot more.

I drove 34 miles and made $24 in tips.

My first delivery was out of our area, a 9-mile round trip. My 2nd delivery was to the local Mr. Hero. I guess they get tired of sandwiches.

I'm off the rest of the weekend and will drive again on Monday.

Slow Sunday Plus Moving

Tonight was pretty slow for a Sunday night. I drove for 5.5 hours and only took 8 deliveries. I drove 34 miles. I had 3 stiffs and 2 $5 tips and got $18 total in tips.

Once again the new computer system caused a few delays, once in particular when I needed to find a manager to reprint a credit-card slip and also to reassign a couple runs, one that was assigned to the wrong driver (out of order) and one that should have been a double in the first place.

Meanwhile, the back of the shop was being prepared to be remodeled. The walk-in freezers will be moved, I'm not sure exactly what the new layout will be. But the freezers were emptied tonight, into a couple of freezer-semis that are parked out back.

Unfortunately, nobody thought to pull the frozen dough for the nightly prep before moving it to the trucks, so a couple of the drivers had to go back out into the semis and bring the frozen dough back in. At least one of the drivers is a truck-driver in his day job, and was able to use the lift on the back of the truck to make the unloading easier.

Another Restaurant Opens

in my town . . . here is the story.

Restaurant Struggles

Here's another newspaper article about the ongoing struggles in the restaurant business.

A Diner's Bill Of Rights

(from the book Service Included)

1. The right to have your reservation honored.

2. The right to water.

3. The right to the food you ordered at the temperature the chef intended.

4. The right to a clean, working bathroom.

5. The right to clean flatware, glassware, china, linen, tables, and napkins.

6. The right to enough light to read your menu.

7. The right to hear your dining companions when they speak.

8. the right to be served until the restaurant's advertised closing time.

9. The right to stay at your table as long as you like.

10. The right to salt and pepper.

Service Included - Book Review

I recently read the book Service Included by Phoebe Damrosch. The subtitle is Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter. As someone who works in the restaurant business, I was intrigued.

Well the book is by this girl who got a job at a fancy restaurant in New York City called Per Se. The book started out interesting, talking about her early days as a waitress and how she got the job at Per Se, and some of the training she went through.

It then jumps around, spending several chapters discussing her love life and relationships with her coworkers.

My favorite part was the discussion about how they prepared for and served Frank Bruni, the restaurant critic from the newspaper.

Per Se is a very fancy restaurant where they offer a "tasting menu" for $275 per plate. I'm a picky eater so I would probably hate it. And it really has nothing in common with the pizzeria where I work.

Still, if you want to see how the "other side" lives (or rather, eats), check out this book!

Worst Pizza?

In the fitness center where I work out, there recently was a display on the bulletin board about the 20 worst foods in America. I told my wife about it, I didn't remember them all but I did remember that the Aussie Cheese Fries from Outback were the #1 worst.

Obviously this list is health-wise not taste-wise because those fries are delicious!

Anyways, my wife then found the list online. It was done by Mens Health magazine. She suggested I post about it, as it lists Pizzeria Uno Deep Dish Pizza as the worst pizza (and #5 worst food overall).