How ‘The Menu’ got the horrors of high-end fine dining right
The idea behind “The Menu” was simple, it was simple because it was so simple that we believed it would work. But, it was so complicated that we were never quite sure we’d get it right.
When I first came to Toronto, I worked at a Toronto restaurant called “The Menu”. My first shift was the evening shift and was a very special night; the only night every couple of weeks that the kitchen had a good turnout.
Back then, our waiters were always a little shy around the kitchen staff. Back then, our chefs were all very young, so while my shift was a very special night, my co-workers were all very young. It was a very special night when my shift was a special night.
“I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to work in restaurants,” I remember saying back then.
At the time I worked, my co-workers were mostly men, and as I sat down my coworker asked, “Hey, man, what’s your name, anyways?”
“David.”
“Oh. Alright, that’s a good name. David. I’m David. Nice to meet you David.”
I sat back down and went back to work, happy that my co-workers were all so young. However, that night, I didn’t feel so good. I noticed that my stomach was starting to feel a little un-comfortable, and as I sat back down my co-worker’s eyes were darting back and forth between me and the kitchen staff and I knew that he thought we were being rude.
At the end of my shift an older, more mature co-worker, took my plate and asked for my name, and then proceeded to tell me that he thought we were disrespectful, but that it was his way of making sure I was being paid. We laughed about it, and I went back to work.
The following morning, I came into work, and was going through my daily duties. I sat in the restaurant, and decided to try and make myself as invisible as possible in case I had to get up from my workstation, because as soon as I sat down, my co-workers began yelling my name, and they would not look at me.
I looked up to find my co-workers standing over me, and I knew then that something was
