'Where is it? Where's the passion, the individuality?!'
Colette frowned, only deepening as she finished reading through the menu and found that none of the dishes were original creations, 'This is what people are waiting in line for? He's able to open his own restaurant with this basic shit!?'
A surge of indignant anger nearly made Colette stand up and storm out of the restaurant, but before she could make up her mind, a waiter was suddenly standing next to her.
"Thank you for choosing to dine at Ramon's Grillhouse. My name is Jackie, and I'll be your server for today. Can I get you started on any drinks or starters for today?"
Colette took a moment to gather herself before responding, "I'll take a glass of the cider, seeing as it's the only thing you offer besides water, and I guess I'll have the salad."
"Excellent choice. Do you need more time to decide an entrée? Also, before I forget to mention, tonight's special is a slow-braised short rib gumbo served with bamboo-infused jade rice."
Colette couldn't help but feel a twinge of interest, "No time needed, I'll have the special and do make sure that my cider arrives between my appetizer and entrée. I'll need to cleanse my palate."
"Make sure the cider arrives after appetizer…got it," Jackie muttered as she jotted the note down on her ticket pad, just barely managing to keep the sarcastic tone from her voice, "If that's all I can take your menu now, I'll be back with your appetizer in just a second."
"I would hope so, a Caesar salad of all things shouldn't be a challenge," Colette commented, snidely making Jackie practice her poker face for the hundredth time that night.
After taking the menu, Jackie quickly walked away and reminded herself of the fat stack of cash that was awaiting her at the end of this grueling shift.
Walking down the stairs and through the maze of tables, Jackie eventually reached the kitchen and was reminded that even with uppity, self-absorbed customers, she still wasn't the worst off.
"Another order, one salad, one cider, one special!" Jackie called out as she pinned the ticket.
"One salad, one cider, one special!" Ramon called out over his shoulder as he tilted the skillet in his left hand, pooling the foaming butter at the bottom that he then basted onto the thick steaks sizzling away on the stainless steel, "How you feeling, Jackie?"
"A little dead inside and missing a bit of my faith in humanity," Jackie muttered as she gladly took a moment to rest on her feet.
"Customers getting to you?" Tiana asked as she tended to the massive pot of gumbo that had steadily been drained throughout the night.
"It's like the moment I say I'm their server, people stop seeing me as a person," Jackie stressed, finally able to vent her frustrations, "I nearly lost it for this last one, she had an attitude right from the beginning, then she makes all these snooty comments about having a palate cleanser, and not having a drink menu all in that annoying as fuck french accent.'
Ramon paused for a split second before quickly resuming his basting, "French accent huh? Did this woman have short black hair as well?"
Jackie chewed her lip as she hesitated, "I actually can't remember. I was just focused on keeping myself from cursing her out. Why do you know her?"
"You don't think?" Tiana asked as she glanced at Ramon, who shrugged, "It's possible, and it certainly sounds like her."
"Thinks she's here to start shit?" Tiana asked, with a glint in her eye that reminded Jackie that the cook had been ready to bash Star over the head with a cast iron skillet
Ramon shrugged, "So far all she's done is be rude while placing her order, which, while a shitty thing to do, isn't exclusive to just her. Besides, I don't have time to worry about her right now when there's a line out the door."
"Sorry, just who is the woman and why does she matter?" Jackie asked, feeling like she was missing a critical level of context.
"Her name is Colette, she is the reason we're here dealing with this mess, and she doesn't matter," Ramon muttered as he took the skillet off the stove and slid the steaks off onto two separate plates that were already stacked with mashed potatoes, "Treat her like any other customer, but know if she keeps acting up you'll have my full support when it comes to dealing with her, now this need to go out to table thirty."
Ramon slid the two plates across the counter, and Jackie knew her brief break was over as she grabbed them. "Table thirty, got it."
"Thank you, Jackie couldn't do it without you," Ramon said encouragingly before quickly turning back to the stove.
---
"Here you are Ma'am, your salad."
"Hmm," Colette stared at the salad with a critical eye, "Bring me some pepper, fresh, not already ground in some shaker."
"Right, I'll be right back with some freshly cracked pepper."
Colette didn't pay the waitress any more mind, having already forgotten her name, and instead picked up her fork, 'The lettuce seems fresh at least, and they weren't heavy-handed on the dressing. And they used an actual baguette for the croutons.'
Seeing no glaring flaws, Colette stabbed a piece of lettuce with her fork, raised the leaf to her mouth, and took a tiny bite.
Colette's eyes widened a fraction as from that single an almost overwhelming amount of flavor spread across her tongue. 'What is this?'
Trying again, Colette took an even smaller bite only for her tongue to pick up every single note of flavor. The clean, refreshing crisp of the lettuce, the slightly sweet note of the croutons, the sharpness of the grated parmesan, and the tang of the dressing.
'I didn't even put the whole piece of lettuce in my mouth, how can I possibly be tasting every ingredient?' Colette thought as she quickly took a real bite and couldn't help but marvel.
"Your pepper, Ma'am. Just say when."
Colette blinked as she was broken out of her stupor, "T-that's enough, I don't want my salad drowned in pepper."
The waitress's only response was to smile before walking away, leaving Colette to continue her inspection, 'I must get to the bottom of this. Did he use some kind of molecular gastronomy to enhance the flavors? No it's just a simple salad…but yet.'
Colette couldn't help but take bite after bite, finishing her salad faster than she intended, without even taking a moment to savor the appetizer, 'Why am I even hungrier than I was before eating? This makes no sense."
"Your cider."
Just as Colette put down her fork, a glass of caramel cider was placed on the table in front of her, and with a small amount of hesitance, she picked up the flute and brought it up to her nose.
Notes of apple, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice washed over Colette, and before she knew it, the glass was resting against her lips that parted as the amber liquid flowed across her tongue.
'Impossible,' Colette moved the glass away from her face just to glare at it like it owed her money, 'I've tasted some of the finest champagnes in the world, yet this random cider somehow outclasses them all?!'
Colette's suspicions were at an all-time high as she continued to contemplate and sip away at the nectar. Not only was Colette clueless about how Ramon managed to produce such flavors in his food, but she was also forced to admit a rather shameful truth.
'He should have won the competition.'
The admission burned away at Colette's pride, but she couldn't ignore it, 'He should have won, but he didn't. Did he hold back? Was he not working at his best?'
Colette quickly dismissed such excuses as she remembered seeing the look of concentration on Ramon's face during the competition. That look was of a man pouring his heart and soul into his craft.
'That really was the best he could do at the time, which means either the judges don't know what food is to begin with, or he's managed to improve drastically in only three days.'
With the last sip of her cider, Colette's mind felt both crystal clear and a chaotic mess as she tried to rationalize everything that had happened to her, but one thing was clear 'I must know he's secret,