A Full Night of Service at a 2-Michelin-Star Restaurant

[Allan] Three by two, three by two.

I'll take that five fish, five fish.

[Chef] Oui.

[Allan] I'll take broth three and two please right now.

[Chef] Oui.

Two more [indistinct]. Oui.

One or two tasting. Oui.

I need three Risotto here. Oui.

It's 7:30 p.m. on a Friday night in New York City.

And you're at the Modern.

The Modern's held two Michelin stars since 2016.

Right now, we've got about 75 guests in our dining room,

45 guests in our private space,

about 120 in our Bar Room.

And all of it's happening in real time.

Let's go, Farrell, let's go, Farrell.

[Chef] Oui. Lamb please.

My name is Thomas Allan.

I'm the executive chef.

I've been at the Modern for 12 years now.

You can put it right here.

These four, let's go.

Get involved.

We can't all run at the same time, right?

Look, behind me right here is three risotto and one...

And one turbo. Oui.

Oui. Let's go.

That's it.

Behind me is three risotto.

We ran out of space.

It's already up, it's already...

Wipe, wipe, wipe, wipe, wipe. Yes, chef.

When we're super busy,

I got a little soundtrack playing in my head.

It'll be busy, but we'll start to slow down in a second.

We've gotta get through the ebbs and flows, you know?

It's gonna feel really condensed like it does right now.

But once we can push out,

let's say the first three courses of all these big tickets,

we'll be in the clear and we can start to breathe again.

All right, pick up here please.

Pedro. Yes, chef.

Five, let's go. Oui.

Two, two go.

So, I just finished five caviar.

We just finished five caviar.

And now Pedro's gonna help us get it out

onto a tray, into the hands of the servers.

Take your time, take your time,

take your time, take your time.

For me, I always view it like I have a...

It's like a mental cue, right?

Where like, as soon as one thing is finished,

one thing is added onto the back.

And the queue never, you know,

the list never ends.

Even when we leave the building,

the next day's queue starts right back up,

and we have to keep going

and doing more things, like different events

and cooking for different people.

Basil, please, basil. Oui.

Pick up one more lobster. Oui.

So KT has walked.

Now I need six. Oui.

Four by two by one. Oui.

Behind that on the board all day, there's two more.

[Chefs] Oui.

We use words like on deck or backside.

All that means is, like, a shortened vernacular

to give the cooks a mental cue

of the things they have to do.

So I'll say we're picked up on four lobster,

which means right now.

Your backside, there's three more,

which means there's three more behind that.

Or on the end, which is typically

on the last part of the queue, there's two more.

So all day long,

we're shouting things like four by two by three,

or up next or on deck.

If you look over here to the left,

it's the Bar Room side of the kitchen.

So when you walk into our restaurant,

the first thing you see is the Bar Room,

which is the neighborhood restaurant.

It's where I would go nine times out of 10.

So that entire team on that side is working on the Bar Room,

which is its own menu, its own staff.

And then as you come towards this side of the kitchen,

we're cooking for the dining room,

we're cooking for the Kitchen Table,

and anybody else that wants to walk in

and have something to eat.

Over here is the garde manger.

Garde manger is the cold side of the kitchen.

So we consider anybody that works garde manger

to not have to cook during service.

It may have cooked prior to the service beginning,

but all their [foreign] is done

and either room temperature or cold.

Over here on the right side

is where the first couple bites come from.

These are venison tar-tar tartlets.

This is the galette with celery.

And this is served over ice.

And over here, Isaac's helping plate the lobster salad,

which is a little composition

with shiso, radish, and mandarin orange.

And that gets an anglaise on the plate

before it walks out to the guests.

There's no shelves.

There's nothing that really, like, restricts your vision,

which is great 'cause you can stand anywhere in this kitchen

and see where, you know, most help is required.

And typically it means where the most people are.

So right now, a couple of chefs from the Bar Room side

are over here helping Chef Nick and Chef Michelle.

Two more [indistinct]. Oui.

That's four duck and two riso.

[Chefs] Oui.

So nobody in this kitchen

except for the sous chefs on the pass,

both for the Bar Room and the Modern dining room,

have tickets.

A lot of kitchens even at, you know, this level,

they have their own printers.

But we really believe the less they have to deal with

outside of the cooking,

the better it is that they can focus on the food.

All the notes we make on the ticket

shows the timing of when the food is fired.

And what that means is,

is that there's a team out in the dining room

that are in control of their section and their tables,

and they let us know when they want us

to start preparing each course.

So all the numbers you see on the right

indicate the time on the minute

of when that course was fired.

And so if this is 27, right now, 34.

we are, you know- Oui.

Minutes away from getting this rice,

which is actually right behind us.

So seven minutes is a window that we wanna stay in.

We don't really want to go above 10.

And there's a really small window

where the food is acceptable to send to the guests,

which is a right about now.

Pick up two turbo. Oui.

Behind that, let's get ready

on three turbo and one rav. Oui.

We're finishing two lobster. Oui.

Behind two lobster,

we're gonna go right into six more.

[Chefs] Oui.

Michelle, pull the plates please.

Pull the plate,

that way you know we have to do it, right?

It's your way of saying,

I have six lobster to do after these two.

If we don't pull the plate immediately,

we're gonna forget, okay?

So there's rarely a moment where a chef will say,

Hey chef, remind me what I'm supposed to do again.

Ideally, everybody's listening,

and everybody's paying attention

and retaining the information.

So a way that we can kind of negate falling behind

or negate forgetting what we have to do

is we pull a plate and put it on our pass.

And that shows us that, hey, you know,

if this plate's out and it's spread and it's wiped,

probably in the next four minutes,

I'm putting food on it.

And that way, we don't forget that, you know,

we have to plate two by six lobster.

So these are extra, Brian?

We put on 71 and 62.

Ordering two tasting. Oui.

So right now, we're picking up one

of the mid courses in our PDR.

It's a private dining room.

Roasted lobster, maitake mushrooms,

and an emulsion made with pimenton,

which is kind of like a smoked paprika aioli.

The organization here is assembly line style.

One person does one job.

All the food is cooked in advance

before the course is fired.

Everything is hot, everything is seasoned,

everything is delicious.

And we're gonna do our best to get it on every single plate

as fast as possible, same orientation.

Tonight we're plating for 40 guests,

a tasting menu of eight courses, nine courses.

Difference here is that everybody's eating at the same time,

so there's no way we can pick up 40 of anything

off this side of the kitchen

because there's just not enough space or not enough people

to put up that much food

and serve it at one time.

So we have our own...

We have our own team dedicated just for the PDR,

our own sous chefs, our own chef de parties,

our own maitre d's, our own food runners,

our own managers over there.

The event space can be up to 64 people at one time seated.

Once we start, we can't delay for the next table

or the third table or fourth table.

It has to start,

and once we start, it doesn't stop.

We just go until it's done.

And hopefully by two, two and a half minutes,

it's all out of the kitchen.

This is Chef Brendan Durst.

He's in charge of the PDR.

This guy runs this mini kitchen back here,

which does as much revenue as a small restaurant

in the West Village.

Push, push, push, push, push.

Isaac, go [indistinct].

Rice ready?

[Chef] Oui.

Chef, two by two.

When we say push, it means

go a little faster than you were before.

Rice, please, ready? Oui.

There's a saying in this kitchen.

If you find yourself falling behind, just go faster.

So this is our signature dish.

This is called eggs on eggs on eggs.

And anybody who gets the long version of the tasting menu

is gonna start with this after a couple of small bites.

At the bottom of the bowl is a fried egg sauce.

And it's broken with a dill oil with a second egg.

It's a poached egg yolk.

We actually poach [indistinct] eggs in a saline solution

just so they're warmed through,

not so they're, you know, thicker or custard-y.

We want the yolk to spill into the sauce.

But it's really tricky because we don't want there

to be too much yolk.

So we have to actually work with farmers

to get really small eggs,

which drives you crazy

because the farmers are like, Why don't you want big eggs?

And we're like, Because we want

the littlest ones you have.

Chef, toast to go, right? Oui.

We finish this dish with pickled shallots

and more fresh dill for acidity and freshness.

And then we're gonna drop a huge spoonful

of caviar right on top.

Seven [indistinct]. Oui.

You notice this plate looks a little bit different.

It's because this dish is a vegetarian

or has an allergy or has an aversion.

And this allows us to notate that position one on this table

should not be getting any fish.

And again, it's just another layer of security that we have

to keep people safe and to give them what we want.

All right, let's go.

Toast, toast, toast, toast, toast.

Two more [indistinct]. Oui.

73P4, she goes, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you,

but I actually don't eat red meat.

She doesn't eat red meat.

On 74?

73P4. 73P4?

Emad, pick up one pork tasting.

[Chefs] Oui.

[Emad] What's going on, chef?

So a guest just let us know as her food was being dropped

that she doesn't eat red meat.

And we had prepared her lamb, which sometimes happens.

So we're gonna make a pork as fast as we possibly can now.

Tasting, one slice.

Because I don't have anything ready for the guests,

I'm gonna rely on my team in the Bar Room

'cause they have a completely different menu.

And then we have a beautiful Iberian pork chop.

So we're gonna give her pork instead of lamb

'cause she doesn't eat red meat.

So hopefully she likes the pork

because, otherwise, we have to wait 20 minutes

to cook her a new piece of meat.

One slice, one slice, brown butter brush.

One slice.

Super tight, super tight. Yes, chef.

Allegra.

We can't tell the guests, Oh,

because you didn't tell us

that you don't eat red meat earlier,

now your experience is gonna be sacrificed.

We want to make their experiences as seamless as possible.

So we're lucky we can utilize our other spaces

and give us a little headstart

and give us, like, a way out of this

'cause her other guests are actually

eating the food already.

So we have to kind of prepare

for all those scenarios, all the time.

I think the mindset needs to be that

everything that we do is gonna, you know,

is out of our control in reality.

All we can do is kind of be prepared

and react to situations as they come in.

All right, can I slice please?

Can I slice?

Tonight's fish course is turbo.

These come from Spain and Portugal.

We cure the fish, let it dry for a full day,

and then we roast it with pretty aggressive heat.

Cooks for about an hour,

then we rest it in an emulsified butter

that we call beurre monte,

just so it doesn't dry out

and allows us to almost slice the fish like sashimi.

And you see a really beautiful,

almost rainbow effect to the fish.

Chef Grace, here's the next two, okay?

And then to finish it, it's a little bit of oil.

Thank you, chef. Thank you.

So this is the turbo garnish.

So this is a little ragu of turnips,

garbanzo beans, which are fresh green chickpeas,

the whole thing's been glazed in olive oil,

and a little bit of pepper oil, which is the green.

And then our fish

goes right on top

just like that.

[Chef] On deck one, deck one riso.

[Allan] Pick up three turbo and one ravioli.

[Chefs] Oui.

[Allan] Pick up two caviar.

[Chefs] Oui.

[Allan] We gotta go this four lobster next, right?

Chef Nick, I need two more now, right?

Oui, working.

For anybody that has to give direction in the kitchen,

the only way we know you've heard the message

is by responding.

So we've unified the response.

Instead of saying, Yes, chef,

or, Got you, chef, or just nothing,

we all say oui, as in, Oui, chef,

for any direction that's been given

to the greater group of people.

We all respond 'cause it's respectful.

But just to show that we actually hear the direction

and we're gonna get the job done.

Chef Grace. Yes, chef.

Three, three turbo fired. Oui.

10 on the board. Oui.

Followed by another 15. Oui.

All right? Oui.

Watch the length on the rest.

It can't over rest, okay? Oui.

So the communication goes beyond just saying,

Ordering two tasting.

I'm constantly giving the chefs

a sneak peek into what's coming down the road

so they can be prepared.

Again, not because I'm gonna start cooking turbo

for a guest who just got here,

but if she doesn't know it's on the board,

or if she's not refreshed on her quantities,

then when I actually want it, it could not exist,

which is gonna be a pretty big deal.

Ordering four tasting. Oui.

Rush table, KT. Oui.

I just called the Kitchen Table's order in.

We just say KT for short.

Kitchen Table is the table in the corner of our kitchen.

When we redesigned the kitchen in 2016,

we discovered that we had this obscure little space.

And so we decided to put a table in there.

We like to nail the timing on the Kitchen Table

'cause it's the only table we can see.

So when they start to finish up their course,

we can start to get ready on the next one.

So I love that. [laughs]

So we're slicing some beef for this course.

When you slice the meat,

you don't put pressure on the protein,

whether it's beef or duck or anything, right?

Because when you press down on the meat

and then release, it flexes.

So your perfect, straight slice all of a sudden bows out,

which is why you see that concave right there.

So you want to have minimal contact

with the protein.

I'm not touching it, I'm just kind of containing it

so it can't go anywhere, right?

I'm just holding it in place so it can't go anywhere.

Now both of our slices are even, right?

Cool. That's the trim.

Thank you. Yeah, put it on the tray.

All right, brush.

Pepper.

Give it five seconds right there.

Get the board wiped down, then pass it up.

Nice cook.

This is Wagyu strip cooked on Japanese charcoal.

We make this with a sauce

that we make with red cabbage juice.

Instead of like a reduced chicken stock

or a reduced meat sauce,

we use vegetable juice, potatoes, and radicchio tardivo

that's been compressed in a pickle liquid

for a little acidity.

The meat's super rich, super highly marbled,

really just belly-warming and delicious.

Ordering four tasting. Oui.

Listen up, we're all in. Oui.

So that's the last order of the night.

70 guests tonight in the restaurant,

which is about 75% capacity.

On the Bar Room side, we finished at about 170.

And we all talked, we all know about the PDR.

So overall, this is a generally full night

in the Modern kitchen.

As you can see, there's people everywhere.

We are tapering off of our busy service.

We're gonna get the whole kitchen broken down,

polished, and looking shiny.

And we're gonna come back tomorrow morning

and restart the whole thing.