Even for some of our favorite activities the first time is not necessarily the best time. Restaurants are no exception. Especially when you stop to think about how much there is to go wrong.
My Food for Thought pard, Seattle Times food writer Nancy Leson, knows. Having waitressed at more than a few she can tell you that at restaurant openings Murphy never sleeps. I'll never forget my own opening night restaurant disaster sometime in the early '60s.
I was bussing tables at a brand-new IHOP. We were just 20 minutes from closing when the whipped cream dispenser a waitress named Lynn and I were struggling with went off – all over the mink coat of the lady who had come over to see what was holding up her sundae. It was like a scene from a silent comedy and Lynn and I burst into hysterical laughter.
A moment later our good-sport customer was licking whipped cream from her collar and laughing as hard we were.
"Nothing goes perfectly – especially when you're opening a restaurant."
–Bobby Flay
