Sh*t Chefs Say: Kitchen Slang, Translated
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Your first night on the line, nobody stops to explain anything.
Somebody yells "86 salmon," somebody else yells "heard," a ticket prints, and the guy next to you says "all day four ribeye" like it's a full sentence. It is. You just don't speak it yet.
Kitchen language is short because there's no time for long. Every word does a job, and most of them keep people from getting burned, cut or buried. Here's the translation.
The ones that keep you alive
Behind: I'm behind you. Don't step back, don't turn around fast.
Corner: I'm coming around a blind corner. Slow down.
Hot: I'm carrying something that will burn you. Get out of the way.
Sharp: I'm carrying a knife. Same deal.
The ones that run service
Heard: I got it. Said back every time, so the caller knows the call landed.
86: We're out of it, or take it off the plate. "86 the salmon" means stop selling salmon.
Fire: Start cooking it now.
All day: The total count of an item across every open ticket. "Four ribeye all day" means four ribeyes on the board, period.
On the fly: Needed right now, usually because something went wrong.
Expo: The expediter, the person at the pass calling tickets and checking plates before they go out.
Hands: Somebody needs to run this food. Now.
Dying in the window: Food sitting under the heat lamp waiting on a runner. Nobody wants to be the reason.
The ones that describe the night
In the weeds: Buried. More tickets than you can cook. Everybody's been there.
Deuce / four-top: A table for two, a table for four.
Walk-in: The walk-in cooler. Label it, date it, rotate it. We made a poster about that.
Mise en place: Everything in its place before service starts. Less a term than a way of living. We wrote about it.
Family meal: The staff meal before service. Sometimes the best thing cooked all day.
Why it matters
None of this is gatekeeping. It's the opposite. Learn the language, and you're part of the crew faster than any handbook could make you. Every one of us learned it the same way: by getting it wrong once, loudly, in front of everybody.
Put it on the wall
We made the translation guide into a poster. Sh*t Chefs Say has twenty calls on it, for the new hire, the FOH lifer who still doesn't get it, and anybody who's never worked a Saturday double. Hang it by the pass, in the office, or in the dish pit where it'll do the most good.
Pair it with the Cheat Sheet conversion poster and you've trained half your staff before they clock in.
Kitchen slang: straight answers
What does 86 mean in a restaurant?
It means an item is out, or should be removed from a dish or the menu. "86 the fries" means no more fries.
Why do cooks say "heard"?
To confirm they got a call. Saying it back keeps the whole line on the same page during service.
What does "all day" mean in a kitchen?
The total number of an item across every open ticket. It tells the cook how many to have going at once.
What does "in the weeds" mean?
Overwhelmed and behind on orders.
What's the difference between "behind" and "corner"?
"Behind" means someone is directly behind you. "Corner" means someone is coming around a blind corner. Both are said so nobody collides.