One event we have worked on for several years is a wine dinner fundraising gala. This gala is unique in that it's not your typical basic red and white wine options, 3-course fundraising dinner. This event is ALL about the food and the wine. And, more importantly, each showing off the other by having the right foods to complement the amazing wines.
(If you've never attended a dinner at a winery or restaurant where these pairings are done properly, add this to your bucket list - it will give you a whole new appreciation for the art of wine and food pairings!)
Our venue - and more particularly, the CHEF at our venue - took great pride each year in providing one or more courses (of 5 at this event) that were unique and stimulated all of the senses. This particular year, one course consisted of a large, hot rock on which a skewer of Wagyu beef would be sizzling (and cooking) as it was placed in front of each guest. And by hot, I mean over 400°F. For over 400 guests.
That's 400+ large, 400+°F rocks.
As we planned for service of this course, we discussed the need to have the emcee mention the intense heat to avoid any burns.
We also considered the potential for servers to drop one or more causing burns in the tablecloths, clothes, flooring and potentially guests or to themselves and took extra caution in preparing the staff for this course.
What we didn't even THINK to consider was this:
The ovens heating the stones were in the basement of the venue. When hot, they were loaded onto a cart and into the service elevator to get to the kitchens on the ballroom level.
The intense heat of 400+, 400°F stones in a small space set off the back-of-house fire alarms, shutting down all the elevators and alerting the fire department. The stones were trapped and the fire department descended upon the venue. And the previous course was ending.
The good news is that the guest floors and ballroom weren't on the same fire alarm circuit. And except for a small delay, no guest ever knew about the issue. You can think you are prepared for anything but then be surprised by something you could have never thought of. Murphy's Law in action.
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