Springing forward - A preview to Summer

The Saturday rush went without a hitch, albeit the cart with four clean racks of margarita glasses that tipped over on the way to the bar. Pulverized. Forty eight glasses. In an instant. At 5 o’clock.

I got three requests throughout the evening to talk to a manger. Two of them were of a complimentary or congratulatory nature. It feels soooo good to get those. The last, a great conversation with one of our long-time regulars about a “CSE Paradox” (previous blog on 03/12/2010), which was both funny and enlightening.

Servers were on point, the kitchen looked like the scene in Fantasia with the mops and the buckets of water; perfect choreography. Our hostesses, who I call our air traffic controllers, ran the door like seasoned FEDEX sorters; accurate wait times, even distribution across the dining room sections. Happy customers, happy servers, happy me.

The River Lounge was also busy. It’s been getting more and more popular as our guests begin to realize that they no longer have to drive all the way to Downtown San Diego just to have a drink in a cool and relaxed space. March Madness on T.V., firepits blazing, the sand area and the casitas packed. It is so cool to see the restaurant full with people having a good time!

We had a few complaints about the shortage of margarita glasses. Remember the cart crash? Even Amy, one of our star bartenders, who is always, always smiling and cheerful, was annoyed from being on the receiving end of so many “what do you mean you don’t have glasses?” But we got through it. Both her and Christina (seasoned HdV pro and bar lead extraordinaire) rose to the challenge and started washing margarita glasses - by hand – in order to keep their customers happy.

Things started to slow down around 10:30pm. As tables started to get up one by one, servers and bussers began the daily chores of returning the chaos of a busy night to it’s organized, sparkling and Zen-like state of being. I asked the kitchen to wip-up a batch of pastor quesadillas (new item coming soon) for everyone to share. I like to get everyone together after a crazy night and share some food and a drink while chatting about the battle. We laughed and we drank.

Great night. Tough start but with our amazing staff, pfffft, no problem. It’s gonna be a great summer!

P.S.

I almost forgot… As I walked around turning off lights and making sure everything is secure, I remembered that I had turned on one of the heaters in the River Lounge for a group that was a little cold. I walk up towards the bridge that connects the bar with the lounge and notice the red glow of the heater peeking UNDER the edge of one of the palapas. “That’s weird” I thought , “maybe I shouldn’t have had that last drink”. Nope, it wasn’t my eyes that were deceiving me; the heater was three feet lower than when I turned it on! Someone must’ve hung from the bottom cross-bar and completely beheaded the three security bolts that hold it in place! The heater then slid inside the metal sleeve and was crimping the gas feed line! What it is with some people? I don’t get it. What if it would’ve ruptured?! I’m sure then the gracious customer with the monkey-complex would have sued ME for not having a sign that read: “Do not hang – May go boom boom”.