At Work
A Big Bowl of Red – Grassfed Steak Chili
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to represent the restaurant at Chelsea Market’s NY Chilifest 2011. I along with representatives from our other two restaurants in our group, spent several hours ladling out some damn good chili and schmoozing away a Sunday afternoon. It was the first public cooking event I participated in [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )The Hulk has Left the Building
“You won’t like me when I’m angry.” I had only heard about him, this bad ass cook we had working at one of our sister restaurants. A legend in his own time, he could run a busy saute station like no one else. He owned that station – as he should, after working it for [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Call me Cookie
Mike*, one of our garde manger cooks just took a few days off to help his girlfriend move from Syracuse to Brooklyn. When Mike returned, Javier, the Spanish-speaking pastry cook greeted him with a loud and enthusiastic “Cookie! We missed you Cookie!” The sous-chef turned to me and asked, “Why do you guys call him [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Zen and the Art of Staff Meal
One of the most difficult tasks in a professional kitchen is the minimization of waste and the effective practice of kitchen economy. The french term garde manger literally means “keep to eat.” In a kitchen it is the station where a beginning cook usually starts, and is responsible for all the cold preparations, such as [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )T minus 16 Hours and Counting…
Well, I headed it off as long as I could, but I knew at some point I would have to work brunch. I’m not much of a morning person. OK, I am NOT a morning person. On a normal day, I barely manage to drag myself out of bed by 10 a.m. Then I putt [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Oh, for the Love of Pig!
So we have a new sous chef at work. He saw a video on You Tube of Chris Consentino making Porchetta di Testa, and wanted to try it at the restaurant. What is porchetta di testa? Well it is basically a pig’s head that is boned out, marinated, then rolled up, tied, and wrapped, then [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 4 so far )Does Age Matter?
I stumbled into a conversation at work recently between my chef and the pastry chef. They were speculating on how old Leon, one of our dishwashers is. The other dishwashers are basically kids – around 20 and 22 years old. But Leon’s clearly got some mileage on him and the years have not been kind. [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Bye Bye B.B.
Well, playtime is over and I am starting my first job as a line cook tomorrow. After my recent graduation from French Culinary Institute, I was offered garde manger positions at both Restaurant B.B.* where I did my stage, or externship, and at a smaller, lesser known restaurant. After struggling with the dilemma for a [...]
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