A new guy and a new restaurant

So it has been some time since we lost half of our culinary team. They were both replaced with unqualified cooks which made us work harder to get the same amount of work done. Well an old employee has returned from the west coast and has been rehired. He is come with high praises from the owner and only left because the previous chef was a first-class douche bag. If this new guy gets back into the groove quickly then he could be my key to coming in at 1pm instead of 11am. BUT... He is a hardcore alcoholic and it shows. He has that Irish tan, red blotchy cheeks, that you only get from drinking mind-numbing amounts of booze everyday alone in a crappy motel that gives a break if you pay by the week. He has been working at another restaurant down the street and I have heard stories that he drinks 12 packs during Friday night service, yet never gets to wasted. Part of me is happy is there, and another part of me knows he will let us down at the worst possible time. He apparently is very abrasive and rude to everyone he works with. I wonder how long until he tells the House wife to shut the F-up? She was talking up a storm to him on Monday and I could see he was hungover and in no mood for her BS. And for the record his food looks beautiful.

His arrival has brought up another old discussion in the kitchen. The new place is set to open in less then 2 weeks and they are seriously lacking in the BOH. Good line cooks especially are hard to find right now. If I was a line cook I would not want to open a new place. All the extra headaches of finding places for things and putting systems in place is extra work which you will not be compensated for. So, either the Chef or myself will need to go up there for at least a month. I can't decide what I want to do. Surrounding myself with people smarter and more talented then me will make me better. What scares me is the work involved in opening a new restaurant. Actually it is not the work, but the amount of covers. I hear numbers like three-four hundred and that makes me nauseous. Those types of number are a months worth of covers at my place. Is working the line like riding a bike? Opening a new place is a pain too, it is like being the new guy along with a bunch of other new guys who can't find anything either. Everyone walks around like idiots backtracking and rechecking places looking for that one missing ingredient only to find it in the station next to you.

Another part of me wants to leave so the EC will be stuck with his boy Slingblade, 6 days a week. Fucking someone should never be a reason to do anything, but it is a nice little bonus to me leaving for a bit. Would it be weird for a EC to leave his restaurant for that long? he does live five minutes from the new place and he could easily go there. I could care less if he was there or not, more would get done in less time without him taking up space. I am overly confident in my ability to run our kitchen in his absence. But would I be shorting myself in the long run by not going to learn at the new place? The Chef there is a Jedi and is willing to share his knowledge with anyone who will listen.

those guys

   There's a huge commotion in the food world every day, but it seems like there's a lot going on these days and unprecedented amounts of energy going into what eventually winds up on the plates.  I'm so proud of (more like frighteningly awed by) the levels some people are taking their passion these days.  In particular, Shola Olunloyo and the young boys from Seattle seem to be changing the landscape and exponentially raising the bar with their experimentation and balls out redefinition of what the culinary world is probably going to start calling Modernist Cuisine.   It's out of my league (not to mention my pocketbook and restaurant cost structure), but I'm beyond f'ing intrigued and obviously quite proud of my fellow KC'ers who are taking new strides and never tire of throwing new food in the face of foodies.  I never liked the molecular gastronomy tag and it turned a lot of people off because of the assumed pretense.  Kind of like skiing makes little sense to even the best athletes from Little Rock.  
       In any case, this post is really to just to welcome a couple of new chefs to the fold.  I sincerely look forward to the next wave of insight and I would love to hear what's on some Spring menus.

that guy

That guy has foresight. When he's around, shit gets done even if he's not the one doing it. Unfortunately, when he's not around, very little gets accomplished and any "getting ahead" is unheard of. He may be the owner, the Exec, the CdC or the Sous, but when he's not there, things don't happen for some reason.  When he (Jah forbid) takes two days off in a row, he comes back to a huge prep list and all the "getting ahead" in the kitchen's savings account has been depleted.  Items that take three days to order, receive, possibly thaw, prep, chill, vacuum seal, whatever and complete are just beginning the journey on that slow road. Most kitchen staff, especially the lazy ones (even if they're the boss), tend to have it in for that guy.  They can't really explain why, just something to do with the fact that he keeps them on their toes and never lets them slack like their human nature wants.  They don't even realize they're not slacking when he's there, but don't try explaining this.  It takes less than ten minutes to start to-morrow's prep list, scribble out the beginning's of the next orders and do a rudimentary freezer pull.  You can even do it after you change your clothes, check Foobooz and you can even do it with a cocktail already on ice.  That guy drives a train that you can't and helps the professional kitchen by making sure that dozens of components mesh somehow and it really is easier if you just listen to him and let him run his show.  Even if you're the boss.  (Rumor has it that some kitchens have more than that guy ("those guys?"), but I don't buy it.)

you might be a shoemaker.....

We've all done it, but some hack chefs actually brag about it. (The less time it takes to make sauce X or stuffed Y, the more cigarettes you can smoke by the dumpster.)

....if you think the only way to make hollandaise is in a blender.
....if fruit salsa means chopping a cup of canned pineapple and mixing it with pico de gallo (tomato's a fruit, right?)
....if you've ever put green beans and baby carrots on a veggie pizza.
....if combining garlic powder and mayonnaise magically equals aioli.
....if the difference between medium rare and medium is just a little more pressure on the spatula
....if buying demi-glace in a bag, box, packet or tub doesn't bother you
....if you think baked custards turn out just fine without a water bath
....if heating things up in a steam table is SOP

more cookbooks

My favorite cookbook right now. The biggest discussion at work is how to pronounce the name.

my two cents

some of my faves as well...lately my thing has been finding old cookbooks at garage sales.  that copy of joy of cooking is from 1964 and has notes scribbled on almost every page.  obviously i've never made anything from the french laundry cookbook, but it's nice to look at.  the butte heritage cookbook is a collection of ethnic recipes from one of the most badass towns in american history, and virtually all of my childhood favorites came out of it.  i also have a rachel ray book that my wife likes and a ton of shitty books i got at tjmaxx for two bucks apiece.

Some of my favorites

Pants on Fire

It really bothers me when people blatantly lie on their resume. We live in a small town. We know every chef in town. A little fudge of the truth can most of the time be "interpretive." A recent resume we got was outrageous.

The little fucker used to work here. He was our weakest link and was on the chopping block after I later found out he lied about graduating culinary school. He knew his time was coming so he put in his notice and quit. Good riddance.

I put an ad out for a cook and the dip shit sent me his resume. When describing his job here it said things like: "managed the kitchen while the executive chef was away," "had full creative control over the menu," and "managed the pantry, saute, grill, and catering staff." First off the little bag of dicks only worked the pantry and struggled horribly with it. He was nowhere near ready to even get a shift on the grill, saute, or catering let alone "manage" those appointments.

What was most disturbing was the claim that he was number two after our executive chef. That really bothered our executive chef. So much that he wrote to the fuck wad and gave him his strong professional opinion about his resume, his cooking ability, and his future as a cook. Out of respect to my chef I will not repeat what he said on this blog. It was wonderfully harsh, but honest. Here is the the cock hole's response:

"I'm competing with hundreds of other cooks every time I apply. I had only just built the new resume, so I lied my ass off in hopes to at least just find any position."

He then said some things to Chef that almost warranted an ass kicking by our staff. Our staff would surely fuck somebody up for Chef. Without surprise Chef found what he said to be hilarious. He is still laughing about it. I myself am still a little pissed off by it. Several times I've received resumes and calls about resumes to find out that someone who used to work here is claiming they were the "Sous Chef." It never bothered me before. This one kind of does.

In retaliation I'm going to contact every fine dining chef in town and black ball that little mother fucker. Then I'm going to do the same to the cafe and institutional chefs that I know in town. He's been unemployed since he quit here in early January. He can't seem to find a job. It is about to get a lot worse for him.

Essential part of success

Integrity:

is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes.

-it means doing the right thing when no one is looking.

-remaking a product when you know the outcome is not up to YOUR standards.

-when just "getting it done" is not good enough for you.

Happy March Chefs!