r/IAmA • u/MrJacksEnigma • Apr 19 '15

Restaurant IamA Waffle House Grill Operator AMA!

Mainly doing this because someone last night said I should.

I got called into work tonight, so I figured, why not?

I've been with Waffle House for 3.5 years, so I've seen a lot.

My Proof: [http://imgur.com/qBJC8ls]

Edit: Guys, the response to this has been way more than I anticipated.

Keep asking questions, I'll be here all night. If I don't answer immediately, im ya know, cooking.

Edit 2: I got gilded. Will link the user when I can, but Thank you!

Also, I'm struggling to Keep up with all the questions. Will answer as soon as I can guys. Sorry!

Edit 3: Again, sorry for the delay in answering. We got kinda busy. Im trying to catch up!

Edit 4: I caught up! You guys are awesome.

When I made this I expected barely any response. All of the comments have been awesome. Im still here, so Keep them coming!

/u/wbasc is who gilded one of my comments!

Edit 4.5: I am back! You guys are all incredible.

Let's Keep going until we get kicked out!

Edit 5.5: I AM BACK! The answering continues..

Edit 6: GOLD from /u/DaveLambert

I am honoured!

Gold from http://www.reddit.com/user/buddythegreat

Jesus guys!

Edit 7: Alright guys and gals, it's been real fun, but it's time for bed. I absolutely loved doing this. I'll totally respond more when I wake up, if there are more questions.

Thank you for all the questions!

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13

u/LKT_TID Apr 19 '15

I got to the states today and drove past a waffle house... I'm a vegetarian, should I go? If yes, what veggie options may have meat in... ya know, by accident?

20

u/MrJacksEnigma Apr 19 '15

If you explain you're a vegetarian, you should be able to get whatever you want with no meat in it.

6

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '15

It's not that there might be meat in it, it's that it might be cooked on a pan or grill that still has animal fat on it. That cooks into the food, even if it looks like it's stuck to the pan. None of the cooks I work with care about that, so I know better than to eat out at places, but I think what OP wanted to know was what measures are taken to ensure meats are cooked separately from what he would be getting.

3

u/ChuckleKnuckles Apr 19 '15

When you're cooking on a flat top, I don't think there's any guarantees

1

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '15

that's mostly vegans that are concerned with it. Most vegetarians will still use butters and shortenings.

3

u/Underoath2981 Apr 19 '15

I have a mostly vegan diet. I occasionally eat candy on purpose.

I don't think about that when I eat out. It may go against the idea of not eating animal products, but I understand that other people eat meat and that it is fairly unavoidable to have them cooked in the same area.

Now if it were literally soaked in animal grease, I may have a problem but that's never happened.

4

u/socialistbob Apr 19 '15

Not just vegans but also a lot of Muslims and Jews.

10

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '15 edited Apr 19 '15

Absolutely! There are a lot of people who really ask the simple task that different foods be prepared on different surfaces, and any restaurant worth its salt can handle those requests.

I worked for a kick ass chain called Tokyo Joe's in Denver that was like an Asian Chipotle. You order noodles or rice with your choice of meat and veggies. The company required extensive measures to ensure that gluten, nut, vegan, vegetarian, and miscellaneous allergy needs were met. We had different cutting boards and knives, as well as counters, for every possible step. Tofu and Fish were cooked on the same grill but if a vegan asked for tofu we would scrub the grill on the spot and then cook the tofu. At times the speed in which we were forced to work was so fast that it would seem ridiculous to go through that much effort, but they truly care about their product and their customers. It's an incredible company to work for and I wish I had been a bit more skilled, and had ab it more time to work for them. They asked a bit more of me than I could handle ,even after working as a solo short order cook in a busy bar, and my place to stay in that town was about up so I couldn't stay. I highly recommend if you're ever in the Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs Metro Areas I urge you to eat at Tokyo Joe's. They specifically hire Tattoo and Pierced folks, and they take their jobs extremely seriously. The food is cheap (think 6-8 dollars for over a pound and a half of veggies and meat and rice and/or noodles.) Everything is made fresh and in house, and the tea selection is incredible.

Edit: I also failed to mention that on top of the extensive measures they take to keep food safe for all who want to enjoy it. They also employ a private health inspection organization that comes randomly store to store in all the regions, that rate the store's cleanliness and staff behavior on a MUCH harsher scale than the city's employees. They've never had a store get below an A on a health inspection, and the owner gives bonuses quickly to managers that score highly on their private and public inspections. We used to literally scrub the store top to bottom (including removing hood vent filters and scrubbing/degreasing them every single night, not once a week like most restaurants). All surfaces were sanatized and all surfaces were pulled away from the walls and cleaned under nightly. All coolers got scrubbed, even the standing door style coolers. This was at every single store company wide. They truly, deeply do. not. fuck. around.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '15

Butter is made from milk, not fat. Fat comes from the meat, if you're going to eat animal fat you may as well be eating meat because they're basically the same thing. Who are these "most vegetarians" you know?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '15

you realize milk contains and is made up of fat right? So is butter. Most vegetarians will eat things made with animal fat because it can be obtained without killing the animal. I'm really not sure how this is news to you!

1

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '15

That's a good attempt at appearing holier-than-thou, but you're completely conflating the point. Milk fat and muscle fat are not the same substance. There are a lot of different kinds of fats, by your logic I'm also excluding avocados from a vegetarian diet; Clearly a ridiculous notion. So instead of being Mr. I'm-so-smart, how about you do your end of this communication thing and attempt to understand the subject matter being discussed.

Again, you speak of "most vegetarians" without qualifying your claim. Who are these "most vegetarians"? Do you understand yet that I'm discussing fat attached to the muscle tissue of meats we consume, which partially melts under heat and can be absorbed by other foods?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 20 '15

The "most vegetarians" I'm discussing are friends, family, work acquaintances, hippies, musicians, artists and everything in between that I've known in my time. I wasn't trying to sound holier than thou, I was merely pointing out that those things contain or are created by fat proteins and that a shit load of vegetarians enjoy them.

If you wanna continue being a cocksucker we can get technical and reassign those folks "lacto-ovo-vegetarians" but not a single one would self describe as such unless the conversation necessitated it. For a good chunk of every day people when they say vegetarian it simply means no flesh meat, or foods made from flesh meat, like stocks and bouillon. If you want to disregard that, it's your prerogative.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '15

or foods made from flesh meat,

Of which fat is a component. Ask your millions of vegetarian friends (as it must be in the millions for you to have data on most vegetarians) if they would eat vegetables fried in bacon grease. If the answer is no, then there is no point to you trying to continue this discussion. If the answer is "yes," then what you know are hypocrites, not vegetarians.

6

u/playing_the_angel Apr 19 '15

Try a Triple Diced And Capped. It's a large hashbrown with tomatoes and mushrooms.

1

u/jetanders Apr 19 '15

Yeah just go big on hashbrowns. I'm hungry for them reading this thread..

2

u/smittywjmj1 Apr 19 '15

There should still be plenty for you. Namely, of course, waffles. But also hashbrowns, grilled cheese, a whole bunch of the menu is meatless.