We lost a great man today

The first day I worked for Mike West I remember my immediate admiration. He was whisking a dressing in a large mixing bowl while doing business over his cell phone. He had the bowl in one hand, the whisk in the other and the cell phone held by his head and shoulder. He was talking casually while using a creative mix of profanity. As soon as he hung up he immediately came over and introduced himself. I could tell he was a down to earth cowboy with a true love for the restaurant industry. He shot straight from the hip. He was a solid mentor who smelled like hickory smoke.

I felt right at home on my first day in his kitchen. He treated his team like family. He told me, "Our first priority is to make sure every single person who walks through that door is satisfied. Our second priority is to have fun with it." He treated his cooks very well. He made sure we were happy and well fed. He went out of his way for us. One day he saw me at work bummed out cause I lost my wallet the night before. He offered me $50 out of his own pocket and told me to take the day off to deal with getting a new license and calling my credit cards. He had a lot of cooks at several restaurants and he was quick to do that for me. He was a very generous man.

The first day working for him was hallmarked by my first taste of his baby back ribs. They were fucking delicious. So good that we still to this day use his recipes when we make ribs and bbq sauce at our restaurant. Coincidentally, we have a catering tonight who requested those ribs and sauce. I was telling a cook about that recipe and Mike just yesterday. We are proud to carry on his legacy.

I caught wind that the big fella died this morning. My heart goes out to his family, especially his son, KC's own eatlocalfood. I am grateful to have known your father. I am also grateful to have worked for him. I met so many wonderful people while working for him. Still some of the most wonderful people I've met to this day. I'm sure every single one of them is torn up inside just as I am right now. I will never forget your father, his kindness, or his generosity. Thank you Mike. Thank you for everything.

New menu blues

It seems that we always have a problem when the menu changes. I cannot find a reason for this other then laziness. We are not a high volume restaurant, all of us could easily prep one extra item. I just don't understand why we can't start prepping for the new menu a week out. We have the menu a week before it changes. The prep list yesterday was a mile long and filled with items that wold actually have tasted better if they were made a few days out. It just blows my mind that this happens every month. I want/need to know what is going on at all times. Not because I am nosey, but so I can adjust my plan for the hour, day, week which will allow me to produce a better product and therefore make this restaurant better. I am over this running around like an asshole with a blindfold on just hoping to get first dinner service over with. It is hard to produce a attractive plate when you don't know all the components until you start plating. Where's this? Where's that? Well I didn't know it went with this dish. Needless to say after each course I said to myself that it will be better tomorrow.

Near the end of each menu we always say we are going to make a few of the new dishes as Amuse, that never happens. Well folks I am putting a plan into action. I will either make the next menu transition amazingly easy or I will be fired for being a total dick. An advice would be helpful.

Booze For Breakfast

You have to check this out. They have a few videos out now. Fucking smart to keep the haters out. We're about to get drunk from breakfast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZDv9pgHp8Q

New life for old drug parphernalia

Ice hash extracting bags used to filter a consomme. Cut our filtering time by a few hours. We would normally strain the consomme through a chinos, then chinos with cheesecloth, then a coffee filter. In total about 6 hours(mostly due to the size of the chinos). With this method we could pour all the consomme in at once and it could filter at its own rate. We still put it through a coffee filter, but that took less time due to the filter not needing to be changed more often. The coffee filter also takes all the grease off the top.

how is this guy not 86'd?

so, last wednesday, we were in the middle of party hour (.25 cent wings...and it's actually two hours), and this friggin douchebag comes back into the kitchen and throws his wing basket at us and declares "these are bullshit"

the reason we can sell the wings so cheap is that we aren't guaranteed how big or small they will be, nor what breakdown of wings/legs we get.  and we actually pay 30 cents a piece for them, so we lose money on every single wing we sell.  we hope to get it back in beer sales, and i think we do, but still...  that day they were kinda small.  i admit that.  but we usually toss a couple extra in the basket when we feel they're too small.  if you order 20, you'll probably get 23 or 24.

anyway, those of us in the kitchen really wanted to 86 the guy, and be outside when he got kicked out, and give him a gentle lesson on the cost of dental work and the difficulty of walking home with a broken kneecap.  he came back into our space, and yelled at us in a very aggressive manner.  this does not go over well.  the worst part is that apparently he's an ex-employee (i never worked with him), and by all rights should fucking know better.  actually, the real worst part was that all the servers were passing it off like it was no big deal, like "ah, you just don't know him.  it's okay."  they kept apologizing for his behavior but still acted like it was perfectly acceptable to come into the back and fling his fucking wings at us.  we actually confronted him in the dining room and basically his whole issue was that the wings were small.  he knew full well that we in the kitchen had absolutely no control over how big the wings were...i cook the product that's there for me to cook.  i don't order it, nor do we pick through the wings to make sure they're all big and pretty.

they're a fucking quarter.  deal with it.  they're not going to be huge all the time.  it's still a killer deal, and regardless of how big the wings are, they're good.  anyway, this guy came in on saturday for brunch, and our bar manager let him know that his doucheball antics were not welcome.  however, i don't think he got 86'd.  i'm not sure why not (possibly because ex-employees seem to be treated like royalty at my place, but i digress), and none of us cooks are happy about it.  i don't show up where he works and knock the cock out of his mouth just because it's small, ya know?

ahh...the lowly life of a scrub cook...how it fascinates and frustrates me...

10 things chefs wont tell you

Nothing new. Just a little funny.

http://www.chefgui.com/2009/06/05/10-things-chefs-wont-tell-you/

The Diminishing Birkenstock Profs

Back in 2000 I was turned onto what I thought was the best kitchen shoe ever. I was working at Buckley's Tavern when I got my first pair. This shoe was everything you needed it to be: slip resistant, easy to clean, and no gross laces. That first pair lasted me until 2003. The reason I had to replace them was because of a tear down the middle of the top part of the shoe.

I got my second pair thinking that I would not need to buy another kitchen shoe for another three years. WRONG! I went through at least 4 pairs over the next 3 years. They all tore just like that first pair. Fortunately the store where I purchased them is really cool. If the problem happened within 9 months, they would give me a new pair for free. If it happened after, then they would give me 50% off.

Recently I got a different model by Birkenstock. The shoe is more narrow and seems tougher. That was 9 months ago. They tore last week. Does anyone else use the Birkenstock kitchen shoes? If so, are you having the same issue?