Back when Le Pigeon's space was still Colleen's, it was pretty enjoyable to chat with Colleen while she made dinner. Just her and one server. Now, Le Pigeon's a lot busier than Colleen's ever was, but they're still pretty friendly.

My own kitchen experiences? Oh yeah people routinely lose their shit. I've not seen it in an open kitchen yet, but frankly why shouldn't it? It's their workplace; they're entitled to their emotions.

Original Hotcake House on Powell wouldn't exist without it, I imagine.

@humanclock: beautiful.

I worked for a couple years at a place with an open kitchen. One day, our cook came in after a night-long cocaine binge. She was combative, and didn't really feel like cooking food. This turned out to be an incredibly busy day, too.

So I actually dispatched someone to go get some vodka for her. Hell; we all had some. She was howling about how all these worthless fucks (who were mere feet from where she stood) weren't getting any fucking food out of her, and...Nonetheless she kept cooking until the lunch rush was almost over.

Ultimately, I finally suggested meekly that perhaps she could be just...maybe...a little quieter. She responded by taking down her pants and showing me her ass for a good long while before she left, never to return.

And for any of you at Cafe Lena that particular day, I hope you enjoyed the show.

Le Pigeon? Totally Awkward.

The best/worst "open kitchen experience" I've ever had was when I found a Kleenex in my salad at Le Pigeon. Wadded up amongst the greens.

First, for the record, I've been to Le Pigeon at least 20 times. Love fois gras. (sorry) Love interesting meats. (TWSS)

But Kleenex? Not so interesting. And here's where the open kitchen experience comes in.

I asked our server to come over where I discretely directed her to the Kleenex. She immediately apologized, grabbed the plate, explained they use tissues to dry the lettuce, and comped my meal.

All good. No big. Still hungry since no replacement was brought. I guess we can get a whiffies instead.

But about 60 seconds later, I saw Gabriel Rucker and the other chefs looking over at my wife and me. With sour looks on their faces. They just kinda stared. All gap-jawed yokel-like.

Then they whispered amongst themselves while looking right at us. I raised my eyebrows in a friendly manner to say, "Hi. Hey. How are you? Yeah, it's an open kitchen. We're right here. We can see you. All's good, dude."

And instead of saying sorry or even, "Hey, how'd you enjoy my snot rag?" They whispered/stared.

Awkward...

Maybe they thought we were trying to scam a meal? Or perhaps they were overcome with joy that I found Le Pigeon's missing Hep-C Kleenex? Dunno.

So my wife and I went back to chatting, paid for her meal, and left.

Got a killer wiffies that night. Haven't been back to Le Pigeon since.

My Le Pigeon experience was walking in one day to a nearly empty restaurant and asking for a table. They said we needed a reservation, the earliest being 2 hours from then. That was my Le Pigeon experience. Haven't been back, probably won't.

I find it strange that they would use tissues, which will clot up on wet surfaces and leave behind residue.