How To Provide
A Table Service

In our classic column, we continue on the technical aspects of fine dining service. Please note that these procedures are not only universal, but have been scientifically experimented and proven to be some of the best methods of food service delivery. It is advisable that each establishment spend money and time inculcating these standards into their staff and service culture. This edition will continue on clearing the table of used crockery and the finer aspects of table service.

Clearing glassware
Before clearing glassware from a table, make sure that the customer has finished with the glass.

Be careful of white spirits or small amounts of drink still left in the bottom of the glass.

Always handle glasses by the stem or towards the bottom never touch the drinking surface.

As you clear glasses from a table, make a mental note of what drinks were served so that you can double check that all drinks were put on the table's account.

History of Salt:
Salt Institute

most people probably think of salt as simply that white granular food seasoning found in a salt shaker on virtually every dining table.

It is that, surely, but it is far more. It is an essential element in the diet of not only humans but of animals, and even of many plants. It is one of the most effective and most widely used of all food preservatives (and used to preserve Egyptian mummies as well). Pre-civilization "salt men" represent a significant contemporary archeological research source. And the oldest as well. Its industrial and other uses are almost without number. In fact, salt has great current as well as historical interest, and is even the subject of humorous cartoons, music, "art" and poetry.

Sometimes, however, we need to separate the salt to get the history. And there's a lot of history to get. There's even a 2002 book by Mark Kurlansky, Salt: A World History.

The fact is that throughout history, salt--called sodium chloride by chemists--has been such an important element of life that it has been the subject of many stories,