Bigger Ain't Better..

On my way home last night around 6 O'clock, I realized 2 things.. I was hungry and I didn't have too many choices at my house... Then after I started thinking about food.. My hunger came to the front of the equation.. I was driving through Boston with my Girlfriend and we started talking about how we need to go shopping and all that.. When out of the blue came this thought about one of our favorite restaurants close by... Now this is the type of place that you are always glad you went to.. The Food is as good as anything you can get downtown.. but it is in a kinda shaky.. lets call it an "Improving" neighborhood.. One of the many things I like about this place is that there is always parking.. No valet, no parking garage, no train ride... Pull up and park.. So as I am getting closer to this place 2 things start to happen, I start thinking about past meals I have had there and I really get hungry, and I think why didnt I think of this before... Also, My driving skills go out the window!! That actually is 3 things that happened.. Haha.

Anyway, We get inside and I am reminded of just how small this place is.. It is the bottom floor of a 3 decker in a residential/ industrial area... They seat about 60 people and the Kitchen is TINY.. I mean tiny... If I had to guess, I would say it is 8 feet deep by 20 feet wide.. In that area they have the grill guy, the main chef, the salad, appetizer, dessert guys and the dishwasher... Only one person can move in the kitchen at a time... and the place fills up and and is packed in like 10 minutes of us sitting down.. It was crazy.. like a tourbus pulled up outside.

We were seated right next to the kitchen so we saw the whole thing up close at fullspeed.. The most incredible thing was that all the people working there were very calm and collected under this pressure and they seemed to "Get it".. there is 6 people at there stations working in the kitchen, plus the waitstaff and owner coming in and working... The first thing I noticed was that there was no computer screens and digital printouts.. there was paper and pencils... no yelling and loudness... it was really impressive...

But all that aside, I saw every plate getting put together and leaving the kitchen as it was like 2 feet from my head. Every single thing looked perfect... I saw the same dishes getting put together and they all looked exactly the same.. The way a Great Kettlebell can do the same thing under pressure...

I have been going to this place for about 12 years... they have not moved to a larger location, they have not franchised their obviously successful formula, they havent even changed the layout of the place to increase the size of the kitchen...
They have done the most important thing.. they have gotten BETTER.. not BIGGER...
With all the Big talk and empty promises we have in our world today.. it is absolutely extraordinary to see such efficiency in action... It doesn't matter what kind of job they are doing...