J. R. gives you all of the inside information about dining in high-end restaurants

NEW YORK - Nov. 3, 2014 - PRLog -- Sunbury Press has released J. R. Hipsky's A Guide to Finer Dining. The author is a former waiter in New York City.

About the Book:
High-end Dining from the Pro Server’s Perspective
Working in the restaurant industry for almost two decades gave J R Hipsky more than enough material to produce a practical and honest, yet humorous guide created to improve the higher end of the industry for both consumers and employees alike. His passion to excel in ballroom dancing, with plans for opening his own studio in the future, led him to move to NYC and spend six years acquiring some of the best training the country had to offer. While in training, he used his many years of experience as a server  to acquire positions in fine dining locations, taking advantage of the industry’s flexible scheduling and high earning potential. He soon became equally as passionate towards trying to improve the high end restaurant industry, for he believed most of the problems that occur between consumers and employees stem simply from a lack of communication and misunderstandings. During his last two years as a professional server he created A Guide to Finer Dining, his attempt at bringing everyone to the same page so to speak. J,R. has recently retired completely from his career as a waiter, and now enjoys a successful career as a ballroom dance instructor.

A Guide to Finer Dining is a brutally honest, yet hilarious look into the high end restaurant industry. After spending nearly two decades of his life in a restaurant of some sort, J.R. Hipsky has pretty much seen it all. He used his real experiences and knowhow of the industry to create a book that attempts to improve the industry by bringing consumers and employees together towards a better mutual understanding, and also to provide a source for better communication. Though his book was designed primarily as a guide to help ensure consumers enjoy fantastic dining experiences, he also provides useful information and insight for those interested in a career in fine dining. Included is a behind-the-scenes look into the business of wine, a reference of restaurant jargon, a section on Restaurant Week, a taste of health inspections, and much more.

Excerpt:
(From the chapter on Wine) ... When we are ready to open your selection, there are specific ways suggested for us to cut the foil, keep the label facing the guest, placing the cork here or there, etc. You shouldn’t really do anything with the cork, unless you like to collect them. Look at it and put it down if its handed to you. I pull the cork and immediately pour a taste so that you can begin examining your wine while I twist the cork back off my wine key. I only hand it to you if you ask for it. You are to smell the wine, not the cork. I have heard so many dumb things said by guests about the corks pertaining to the wine. If the cork breaks, it’s usually because we are trying to open it too quickly and it snaps. We can still get it out, and this doesn’t mean anything is wrong with the wine necessarily.

Please, simply swirl, smell, and taste, then let me know to pour or not. I need to get moving. I’m really not concerned with what you smell in the beginning, or what you think of the tannins, or how it will be better when it opens up. Have that conversation with your guests. There is no reason for you to keep me around while you act as if you are at a blind tasting, trying to determine what you are drinking and from where it was grown. All the information you need is on the bottle for you.

I had a good friend ask me if it would be poor etiquette to ask his server to simply open and pour away, because he finds it a bit awkward to swirl and taste and such and really doesn’t care anyway. The answer is please do, because we don’t really care either. I can’t tell you how many times I have been the victim of some douche bag’s cold, hard stare as he swishes a taste through his mouth, only to give me a tough-guy nod when he approves.

How I hold a towel or hold the bottle really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that ladies are first, and the host or whomever ordered it is last, male or female. I have heard that it is proper to start with the oldest among the females of a party, but I have found anything dealing with women and age can lead to serious trouble, so I avoid this. After serving the ladies we then move counter clockwise around the table to the men. I suggest that everyone avoid forcing unnecessary comments about the wine due again to peer pressure and just enjoy it. Also we servers are not too often concerned with what fabulous wines you have at home in your cellar, in case you felt like filling us in.

A Guide to Finer Dining
Authored by J. R. Hipsky
List Price: $16.95
5.5" x 8.5" (13.97 x 21.59 cm)
Black & White on Cream paper
244 pages
Sunbury Press, Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-1620065020
ISBN-10: 1620065029
BISAC: Reference / Etiquette

Also available on Kindle.

For more information, please see:
http://www.sunburypressstore.com/A-Guide-to-Finer-Dining-...