Sharpening knives

How does everyone sharpening their knives? stones? or machine? If you use stones what grits do you use?

Confession

I went out to brunch and...... Liked it.

Am I an Asshole?

Besides the obvious answer this has to do with a work related topic. I write everything down and save it in my little book. I would even print typed recipes for each menu and keep a copy on the clipboard, which was there for anyone and thrown out by one of these coworkers at the start of each new menu. Having changed the menu every few weeks I have a lot of information saved up. Now the last two guys a worked with made fun of me for taking so many notes, BUT text me often for recipes and questions about former menu items. I always share, because I think that is what keeps our profession growing, but I have to confess it is starting to irritate me a lot. Sharing should go both ways. I will never say NO, but I will sometimes ignore them for a few days then the phone calls start and I just text whatever recipe is needed. I offered countless jokes before that I saved everything before but NOW you need it? How about a Thank you or even better... I wished I saved everything too.

Should I stop sharing(with them)? I am kind of at the fuck you point with the whole thing.

Hope everyone had a good holiday

Interview

I have an EC job interview on Tuesday. I am ready to lead and carry the kitchen on my shoulders. Wish me luck.

Food Posioning

This idiot i used to work with, not at a restaurant, went to Hibachi for his birthday last week. i only know because he posted it on facebook. Everyday since then he has posted something about how he pissed off the chef and so the chef posioned his food. "raped by a cactus" "don't piss of the chef"

A lot of people piss me off...daily. I generally only like a handful of people, but I would never do anything to fuck with someones food. It could be my worst enemy and I still would give them a quality meal. I wonder how many other idiots think the way this guy does. I am going to write a every well written and polite "fuck you" from all restaurant workers on his next post.

i pull my turkeys @ 162

Happy Holiday, Chefs.  I really hope it is a holiday for all of you.  I know a lot of chefs that work harder in the days leading up to and often including Thursday.  I call bullshit.  In any case, I hope you have a great one.  I'm fortunate enough to have the whole day off and, boy, did I need it.

Over the Hump(?)

Week Six... I am finally starting to get over the hump at work. I am slowly becoming more comfortable and getting a head on prep. I switched stations last week which really fucked with me a bit. This station is the complete opposite of the previous one. The prep is much more manageable but the service is harder. I get NO tickets and must listen and remember everything. I have never had to do this before and it confused the shit out of me last weekend. I was running my hands through my hair in frustration and since they were not clean they left shit in my hair all night. I have been watching the protein station more this week and that way if I miss a ticket I can see what they have pulled out and catch up. Hopefully it will only get better as I go along. I will keep everyone posted.

I also dont have enough time to proof read or run spell check and I really dont give a fuck.

Update on New Place

I am finishing up my third week. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel but it is still a long ways. Te best jobs I have ever had always took 3 months to get settled into, hopefully this one will take less. I am still working two stations everyday and they have told me I am moving to the veg station next week. That is great except that I will not be trained by anyone on the Veg station either. The guy working that station has quit and is not willing to stay a few extra days to help out. I truly feel like I am being setup to fail. i mean what the fuck. I also found out I will have only two days off between now and November 14th. This restaurant cannot not keep staff because it is in the burbs and no good worker will drive out from the city or put up with the BS. I am in the weeds from 1030am-11pm everyday. Running around like an asshole just to get setup. I am embressed by the way I have to work. I think this job may have been a mistake. I have lost my family, my freedom(yes and those who know me will understand), and not to mention a pay cut to work 10+ hours a week. I have major anxiety 24/7. Even my day off is stressful because I know nothing extra is getting done for me. Is this what it takes to have an awesome resume? Somehow I doubt anyone is working in these conditions at The French Laundry. Good luck with brunch tomorrow guys.

New jobby job

I am in week two of two new job. Not to sound like a whiney bitch, BUT I am fucking exhausted. On my first day the person who has worked the Salad/dessert station for the past 18 months broke her toe. This stoner kid who would just need a dog named scooby if he wanted to be Shagy for halloween trained me, kind of. Anyway he was fired at around 930 my first night. So I had to breakdown and write a prep list myself. On day two I was trained by a girl who, besides having a bigger cock then me, was leaving in a few days. Her work ethic was not exactly strong and she spent more time hitting on servers then anything else. A few days rolled by and on Saturday night the other new guy, we both started on Tuesday, quit at 5pm. He said he was tired and left. Are you kidding me?? Because of that I had to work another 6 day, 12+ hour week. My biggest mistake was not taking a week off in between jobs. I will never do that again.

The work is intense all the time. We have no prep cooks or even a dishwasher until 5pm, so you are on your own. I run/walk all day just to almost be ready by 530. I scrape by with just enough of everything and start all over the next day. I hate working like that, it is a fools way of working.

Everything must be done neat and well organized. This is our walk-in. Tape can NEVER be torn and must always be cut. Once this is setup it doesn't take much time to maintain but it takes dedication from everyone.

I am feeling very depressed about my decision to work here. I know I will be much better for working at this place, but right now I hate it. I hate the commute, the prep, and the pressure. I am impressed with the finesse my co-workers possess and the speed at which they put out high quality food. A few days off might really help and hopefully they are coming soon. At least they don't have brunch.

THe devil you know vs. The devil you don't

A few months ago I was bitching about my boss and is lack of moving forward. My friend said something very important and I did not realize it at the time, " It could be worse". I couldn't imagine work being any worse with a new Chef. Boy Did I learn a lesson.

The owner hired this kid with a great resume. First off a resume should get you a interview, not a job. I have a huge problem with resume Chefs. They all think they dont have to work since they washed dishes at some 3 star European bistro. Fuck them. Anyway this kid thinks he is Hot shit and is not afraid to tell you. That would not be so bad if he had the ability to teach others, mange his time, even order properly. He likes to sit in the office and wait until 430 to start dinner prep, he over orders to the point that boxes are stacked so high they block the light and you must use you cell phone as a flashlight to see anything in the walk-in.

My biggest problem is he is unreliable. He will tell you he will do something and then never do it. WTF? If you say you will stop at the produce stand, well then stop there because I am not. If you say you will be in at 10am, be there at 9:59. If you say you are going to change the schedule, then change it. We have ran out of bacon twice this month even after he said he would order it... all he has to do is say pork belly in the phone and that is it. Someone else takes care of it.

Before he started I spent a few days writing a "101" for my restaurant. He read none of it. He has asked me questions about how things get done, all of which were in the 101. I now tell him to refer back to the booklet. I am being a dick, but every time he opens it he will hopefully see something else he should be doing. Allot of time was spent writing down the little things to look for, he is did not read a page of it. (If anyone wants it I will be happy to email to them.)

A few weeks ago I started getting the phone calls and emails about this kid and his fucking attitude from former employees. Funny how you can go from restaurant to restaurant and make only enemies. I will never understand that. Most of you I know from working together, a few of you for over 10 years.

He also likes to lie to me and thinks I don't pick up on it. We got a "fresh" truffle in and I put it in some rice. he told me that he likes to order a whole bunch and then cryo and freeze them. I explained that we get an order twice a week and serve less then 50 people a night, so why buy $300 worth of truffle to put in the freezer? He ordered it anyway and told me that one of the top reps in the country fucked up the order. He also made a statement about "empty space" on the produce shelves. As you all know we now have produce from floor to ceiling and throw out half cases at a time due to them rotting.

He spent an entire week doing nothing but prep for the new menu and when the day came to change it he had nothing ready and as soon as the owner left he ran out front to talk with the servers about God knows what. The other Sous flipped out and almost walked, luckily the pastry chef was there and calmed him down. When dinner finally came around he wasn't even close to being prepared.... I flipped out told him off and walked out at 815. The first course had just left, should have went out at 730, and he still did not have the second course ready. I couldn't take it anymore. My speech went something like this:

"You little egotistical asshole, you walked around here all week pretending to be working on this menu and you were really doing nothing. You have let this entire restaurant family down because your giant ego and laziness. The difference between a Man and a boy is that a Man's ego is smaller then his cock, think how far you have to go to shrink your ego that small..BOY. This restaurant is already 4 bells, only an idiot could fuck that up."

I have never done anything like that before and I am not proud of it in the least. I only hope it knocked some sense into him.

He has a few positives, he can write great menus(although execution is a problem) and he has made the entire kitchen staff work as one unit, excluding him. And the fact that the sheltered 24 year old, who lives at home, cuts the crust off his sandwiches and drinks chocolate milk out of a coffee cup to fit in with the rest of us, has bad things to say should sum it up for everyone. I have never heard him say anything mean about anyone before. Actually I did not think he knew how to say anything but nice things.

The Good(?) news.. I have found another job at a great restaurant and a talented chef. It is sad to leave my home of two years, I love working there so much. The freedom there is like no other and I will miss it. I also hate that a little douche bag has made me quit. Well he really has not, if I stay I will run him out of there and that will not go over well with the owner. I would rather leave now on good terms then bad terms later. I would like to think I would go back someday, but I think what is so hard is that I doubt I will.

In summary- I will take a lazy EC anyday. At least I will know what will get done on my days off and expect it. The EC that says he will do something and does not.... he is a douche bag and will constantly be looking for another job.

Thank you all for reading this, I feel so much better venting it all out. Have a great week Chefs

bad juju

I seem to have a special gift of bringing out the worst in some employees.  (I think I can also bring out the best, but that never makes the news.)  The workers in question can usually be safely categorized as "lazy," but smart lazy, the kind of guys that explore every possible angle to do what they want when they want and just as much work as necessary for their personal gain.  I'm sure you've all experienced this at some point, but my special institution seems to thrive on this ghetto mentality.  I have butted heads with one person in particular since day one and the culinary gods really broke the mold when they shit this guy out.  He is the last of the "old guard" at my establishment and he should have been fired immediately, but I realize how much he does for the company and I've done everything possible to reign him in and avoid rocking the boat.  Well, he rocked all of our boats on Sunday when he posted this on Facebook: "have u ever work with a crackhead that feel they better than u always talking shit when u not around and when they saw u they smile like nothing happened go fuck yourself" Even more awesome, I also heard from the Pastry Chef that he mentioned how much he would like to punch me.  I'm of the opinion that I work a little too hard (and long) to have this additional stress added to my plate, so I guess the next step is obvious.  I had hoped that he would just quit of his own volition, preferably without giving notice so he comes off as the asshole that he truly is, but why would a glorified prep cook with no responsibilities give up the best schedule in town?  I would appreciate any of your thoughts or words of advice.  To-day is going to be another long, shitty day.