Romanticizing Restaurant Life (Lumpia Recipe)
Lumpia made with ground chicken served with sweet and sour sauce and white rice (recipe at the bottom!)
Entering the Workforce
I don’t really like the term “real job” because for the most part, all jobs are real. I had a few jobs in high school that were extremely part time, I worked one or maybe two days a week. I was a cashier at a grocery store, I worked at a Dip n’ Dots in my local mall, and a dish washer at a Panera Bread. While Panera is restaurant industry adjacent (I consider it more fast food or fast casual), I didn’t find my first workplace home until my senior year of high school and I started bussing tables at an Olive Garden. Suddenly I was working for tips instead of minimum wage which was a little over $5 an hour at the time. I couldn’t believe how much more money I was making in a fraction of the time and I was hooked.
I held on to my job at Olive Garden for about a year before I got hired as a server at a Carrabba’s down the road. I was attending my local community college and waiting tables four or five times a week. Going to a four-year university was still up in the air for me and I was having the time of my life playing music in a few local bands and partying with the Carraba’s crew almost every weekend. The amount of money I was able to make waiting tables was enough for me to move into a rented house with some friends (who also all worked at Carrabba’s), pay for community college, and still have leftover funds for going out.
Thick Skin
I never considered myself an overly sensitive person growing up but I definitely wasn’t the toughest kid in the neighborhood either. I played contact football for one year growing up and left almost every practice with tears in my eyes. Imagine the shock I felt when during my first week waiting tables an elderly woman loudly and openly berated me because her soup came out slightly warm instead of hot. I had never been yelled at by a stranger before and had no idea how to handle it. Adding to the injury is that almost all corporate restaurants adopt the policy of “The customer is always right” to such an extreme that it could be rewritten as “The customer is omnipotent and you should feel honored to bow before them.”
I powered through my first week and then the week after that. Slowly but surely I learned how to handle angry guests and let criticism roll off of me while putting on a smile for the table right next to them. My skin got thicker and I my threshold for keeping composed under stress got higher. Four years of waiting tables taught me how to approach and speak to strangers, handle people at emotional extremes (customers and co-workers!), and on the fly problem solving. While I learned a lot during my time waiting tables as well as built one of the most important social networks of my young adult life, I have to remind myself it wasn’t always as fun as the way I like to remember it.
Rose Colored Glasses
When I’m out at a bar or restaurant I get tempted to wax poetic about my time waiting tables and romanticize the idea of bar tending or serving again. I have so many fond memories of goofing off in the back of house and waiting at the bar next door for my friends and coworkers to get off work so we could finally hang out. There are also memories of long exhausting shifts, working dead lunches and not making any money, and the difficulty of having any personal time to get things done in your day to day life. I remember the pressure put on everyone from management when you’d attempt to call in sick; “Are you really that sick? Can’t you at least come in for the dinner rush?”
People in the service industry have some of the most difficult and demanding jobs there are. Dealing with people isn’t always easy, especially when they’re hungry! While I wouldn’t trade the time I spent waiting tables for anything, I’ve also accepted that time in my life is in the past. When I go out to eat I always try to be as pleasant and easy going to the staff as possible, I remember what it like to be on the other side and how sometimes you just need a little kindness to keep you going through your shift.
Lumpia
Ingredients
1 lb ground chicken (or pork - which ever you prefer!)
1/2 yellow onion
1 tablespoon ginger - peeled
4 cloves garlic
2 carrots - peeled
1/4 head of red cabbage
2 tablespoons soy sauce (more or less to taste)
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 eggs
lumpia wrappers
Canola oil
Start by finely dicing the onion, ginger, garlic, carrots, and cabbage. Throw everything into a large mixing bowl.
Mix the ground chicken and 1 egg into the mixing bowl with the diced ingredients. Once things are evenly mixed add the soy sauce and black pepper and then continue mixing until everything is incorporated.
Crack the other egg into a separate small bowl and scramble. Get comfortable because this next step is the most time consuming! Start peeling your lumpia wrappers apart very carefully. They are extremely thin and can tear easily. Place a small spoonful of the meat mixture onto the bottom 1/4 of the peeled lumpia wrapper. Shape into a thin line and then roll the meat into the wrapper (kind of like a burrito). Watch the video to see how I did it! Just before the wrapper is fully rolled, dip your finger into the scrambled egg and use it to wet the edge of the wrapper. This acts kind of like “glue” to hold the lumpia closed. Continue this process until you’ve used all of the meat mixture.
In a pan, heat the canola oil over medium heat. You want the oil to be fully heated but not too hot when you drop the lumpia in. The outside cooks really fast so it’s important to use medium heat, that way the outside doesn’t burn before the inside is fully cooked. Fry the lumpia in the oil until they are a crispy golden brown color. Let them cool a bit and then enjoy!
NOTES:
I added measurements for the ingredients but they aren’t exact. As you can see in the video I mostly eye balled everything, that’s how I watched my mom do it and that’s how I’ve figured out how to do it. The amounts are estimations but feel free to experiment and try different flavors! Traditionally Lumpia is made with ground pork, I used ground chicken here because that was what the grocery had left in stock when I went!