The dogs are barking

Working on your feet all day is a painful endeavor. Restaurant slaves (or any long-houred, no-sitting staff) must be prepared for throbbing knees, pulsating heels, and an overwhelming desire to pop a squat at your table.

I have therefore recently gone on the hunt for the perfect pair of work shoes. Let me tell you, if you don't already know, shoes are either comfortable or good-looking. The combination of the two are literally non-existent.

I used to endure the agony of a double in cute little ballerina flats but the time has come and I'm going to make the leap towards the "hideous but comfortable" look. After some extensive research and interviewing, I've come to realize that in the "ugly is cool" department, three schools of thought exist:

1- Crocs are comfy... but little else. You can often find a collection of crocs in the kitchen because they are anti-slip, extremely difficult to get dirty and uber light. But the front-of-house-staff-crocs-look is really not my thing.

(trailjournals.com)

for servers/bussers/runners I suggest something that looks a little more like these, although I'm not sure if they are as reliable as the ones above:

(kaboodle.com)

2- Merrells are Crocs' classier cousin. But their grandparents are the same... so Merrell's are not that much cuter. Here are the ones I just bought myself but am very likely to return. Let me first point out that they are ridiculously comfortable. On the other hand, they refuse to abide by any of the laws of fashion.

(merrell.com)

3- And finally, the "made-for" school which includes all companies that make shoes specifically for restaurant staff, the most famous being restaurantshoes.com or shoesforcrews.com. (NB: I'm not going to pain you with more photos of the monstrosities presented there, if you are curious, you can certainly check them out for yourself.)

For now, I'm going to do a little more testing of each style and I'll get back to you on my final decision!

Restau-rooms.

Here's a little piece of advice for all you diners out there: check out the restrooms BEFORE you put in your order. You can tell a lot about a restaurant by the cleanliness of its water closets.

As top chef Anthony Bourdain puts it "I won't eat in a restaurant with filthy bathrooms. This isn't a hard call. They let you see the bathrooms. If the restaurant can't be bothered to replace the puck in the urinal or keep the toilets and floors clean, then just imagine what their refrigeration and work spaces look like." (Kitchen Confidential, 2000)

On the other hand, the loo can also be a haven for restauranteurs and staff alike. Some restrooms are beautiful, artistic and fun. Check out these interesting restau-room finds.

Let's be real here for a second. What's the best part of a restroom and what makes up 50% of the reason we're going there in the middle of dinner?... the mirror. Women (and men!) around the world thrive in the presence of floor to ceiling mirrors. Big mirrors mean a confident, happy clientele. The lavatory at The Modern Restaurant in midtown Manhattan allows you to check on your rouge and make sure the straps of your stilettos are still locked and loaded in one fell swoop of the eye thanks to these massive mirrors and flattering light tubes.

On a less classy but equally awesome note, I present to you the Rolling Stones of restrooms located at R-bar in Brighton, England. Pretty cheeky, indeed:

(canpages.ca)

Here's a more classic looking restroom with some nice bright colors contrasting the sleek masculine tiles at Chat Thai restaurant in Sydney, Australia.

(stilgherrian.com)

Most bowl sinks have a way of making a WC look elegant and refined much like this one at Buddha Bar in downtown Manhattan:


And sometimes you don't even need to make the trek to the back of the restaurant in order to get the restroom feel. The restaurant "Modern Toilet" in Taiwan literally has its diners sitting on toilets and the dishes are served in mini toilet bowls. It's not quite my thing... but hey, we're talking restrooms here, this couldn't be left out:

(thebuilderblog.wordpress.com)

And if you're not completely grossed out yet... here's a video of a pretty interesting toilet concept in a cafe in Akashi, Japan: