The Girls in the Kitchen

By: Fiona Malcarney

My father is a restaurant owner. We’ve been restaurant kids since as long as I can remember. We would wander back in the kitchen’s of restaurant’s we didn’t own because that’s what home was. Home was through the swinging door, feeling the heat of the blaring stoves and ovens, home was right through the employees only door.

We bought our second business venture in 2008. Our first restaurant had been started from the ground up, Rory’s was supposed to be an easy buy that just brought in money. We ended up selling our original restaurant, Blue Lemon, in 2016. Rory’s had been our sole business until recently.

Wall Street Tavern was set to open months ago, but COVID-19 delayed it’s opening. I’ve been spending time there a lot recently, I’ve been learning about how to manage a business, how to open one, how to staff, and how not to do even more.

The experience I have of just being my father’s daughters is insane. I have waited tables and served the public since I have been able to properly communicate. I have been scared by the way the customers have talked to me, I have formed connections with the rich guys who walk into our Darien bar. I have been humbled by my part in the world, my role in the restaurant, how I can be so knowledgeable and have so much seniority and still be so insignificant to the day to day of the business?

I am my father’s daughter, I take charge. I’m not in charge of the restaurant, I’m not even old enough to serve alcohol, let alone run a whole bar. Restaurants are a thing of beauty, they provide food for everyone. People from all walks of life walk in through those doors, you learn something from every customer, whether it be how not to take their order or how a special piece of jewelry pertains to their native culture.