The Kim-Cheese

There are few things I treasured more growing up than bread and cheese. A golden toasted piece of sourdough and sharp cheddar were the remedy to all ails, a guaranteed good feeling. To combine the two into a crunchy, just-the-right-amount-oily, melty, cheesy sandwich (A Grilled Cheese) was to achieve nirvana. I perfected my technique to …

On Front-of-House Labor in Restaurants and Accidentally Participating in Sociological Phenomena

I worked at a restaurant for three months during a too-hot summer in Brooklyn. It was the summer after my first year of college, and I had returned home part-adult, part-child. I knew the restaurant and owner from growing up a block away, the staff knew my parent’s names and our orders without asking. The …