A line cook named Darla almost burned the place down last Thursday

We were running a 40 cover patio rush and Darla tried to 'speed up' the flambe by pouring the cognac straight from the bottle, not the little ladle measure. It shot a fireball up into the vent hood and singed her ponytail, and the whole line just froze for a second before the sous grabbed the sheet pan to smother it. Has anyone else dealt with a cook who thinks more alcohol = more flavor when most of it just burns off anyway?

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mila_mitchell1mo ago

Last spring we had this guy Marcus on saute who thought the same thing. He was doing bananas foster for a table and dumped like a full cup of rum in the pan. The flame went up so high it actually caught the edge of the paper menu holder on the pass, and we had to throw a wet towel on it real quick. The worst part is he kept doing it after that, just a little less each time. I swear he wanted the big flames for the show, not the taste. I mean, the alcohol burns off anyway, so you're just paying for a fire hazard at that point. Darla's lucky it was just her ponytail and not the whole hood system.

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