Today was a very interesting day. I spent the bulk of the shift helping prep the hot line and get everything ready for service. Nothing that I had not done over the last few shifts. No tedious task was asked of me but everyone seamed a whole lot more serious than they had previously.
It turns out they were short a person for the shift and the chef was going to fill in at the garde manger position, everyone was moved around and I think tensions were a little high.
I also made a huge mistake during service that delayed the line. I felt very bad about it though and I hope they have forgotten about it. Unless of course they read this and it reminds them of it and they get mad all over again.
During service I was pulling tickets and calling out order like I had done the previous shift, when a ticket came out with no hot meat entrees on it, which happens often. Except this time there was a hot entree on it but it wasn't being cooked by the station I was working, it was a new menu item, and what I needed to do was hand the ticket across to the proper station. So the cook never got the order which put the table behind when it was fired.
When the ticket came out I saw the order and the item I had not seen before I was going to ask about it once the plates the chefs were working on went out. But then one of the other cooks needed the space I was working at to prep more of a dish he was working on so I moved out to give him more room and forgot about the order. By the time I got back it was too late.
So I made a stressful day that much more stressful. Unfortunately it caused me to end my time there on a bad note rather than an other wise positive experience. Mistakes are bound to happen. Though this is one that rarely happens in well run restaurant like this. Not actually being part of the kitchen staff will always put me at a disadvantage, I don't get to attend the meetings where they review new dishes, or have a chance to become very familiar with all the individually procedures that are different at every restaurant. But I knew that going in. I am always going to be an outsider, kept at some distance. And I'm alright with that.
Another issue was my boss and some friends of his came by and had dinner while I was working. They sent a waiter in to say hi to me which had an unfortunate affect of insulting the chef. Though I am not 100% sure how he actually felt about it. I felt his eye on me when the waiter came to tell me. I know I would be insulted, anyway. It is like throwing a party in your home and then having all the other guests thank the party crasher for the good time they had.
The chef said I should stop by some time soon and we can talk about everything, I am on vacation next week so I'll stop by then and get his take on my performance, which I will happily share, even if it's a particularly bad take.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Aziza* Day Three
Today, Rule number #1 was put to a little test. I actually expect every chef to at some point say to them selves, What task might be too menial, or too time consuming, or just too difficult that he won't wan to do it? Of course the answer is none!
I heard a story once about the head of Mitsubishi corporation. The first day of the month the CEO could be found cleaning the bathrooms of the main headquarters. When asked why the janitorial staff didn't do it he responded, that it kept him humble and in touch with the workings of the company making him a better leader. I've always found truth in that even if it might be a urban legend drummed up by some marketing department. It can be said as truth, that, if I ever make it to the top, I was not afraid to vacuum the floor. Because that is exactly what I did mid shift on day three at Aziza.
It was actually a great shift, the tedious task of the day was not as one might expect vacuuming the rugs. It was cleaning Pygmy Turnips. These food items are turnips too small to peel, turn or in any other way remove the outer skins with a mechanical device. The only way to clean them is with a towel and your thumb with the towel as an abrasive you rub off the outer skin slowly work it off like a molting crab removes it's old shell for a new one. The outside is this old wrinkled thing is brown and discolored and when the skin come off you are left with this pristine surface that actually looks like something you would want to eat.
Other tasks were more carrots to turn and compound butter to make. I also got to work on some of the sauces, an emulsified onion sauce and a fennel puree. Both sauces were for the Lamb dish on their menu. and Both sauces were very good.
For service I worked at the hot meat station again and had and opportunity to put some of the plates together. It was a busy night and I felt more useful than I had the previous nights. I helped call out orders and get the menu items ready for cooking.
The way it works is an order comes out of the printer. Written on it is everything the table has ordered in way of food. The guy pulling the tickets reads the computer shorthand and calls out the appropriate order to the stations responsible for each of the item on the ticket. Appetizers at prepared and sent out immediately. The entrees are on hold until the table is ready for them. This can be as little as a few minutes to about 1/2 hour depending on the table. I pulled the meats and got them ready for cooking by the chef.
Ok, not a hard job. But come on! If this were just my third day in a kitchen ever, getting this far would be monumental, and for the purposes of this project it was my third day and it was monumental.
There was however one thing I could not get done that I was asked to do. I needed to shave some porcini mushroom as a garnish for one of the dishes. I tried and tired, but for some reason could not get the mandolin to cooperate with me and my mushroom shavings kept coming out too thick.
It will forever be known as "The great porcini disaster of 2010" - Oh the humanity!
I heard a story once about the head of Mitsubishi corporation. The first day of the month the CEO could be found cleaning the bathrooms of the main headquarters. When asked why the janitorial staff didn't do it he responded, that it kept him humble and in touch with the workings of the company making him a better leader. I've always found truth in that even if it might be a urban legend drummed up by some marketing department. It can be said as truth, that, if I ever make it to the top, I was not afraid to vacuum the floor. Because that is exactly what I did mid shift on day three at Aziza.
It was actually a great shift, the tedious task of the day was not as one might expect vacuuming the rugs. It was cleaning Pygmy Turnips. These food items are turnips too small to peel, turn or in any other way remove the outer skins with a mechanical device. The only way to clean them is with a towel and your thumb with the towel as an abrasive you rub off the outer skin slowly work it off like a molting crab removes it's old shell for a new one. The outside is this old wrinkled thing is brown and discolored and when the skin come off you are left with this pristine surface that actually looks like something you would want to eat.
Other tasks were more carrots to turn and compound butter to make. I also got to work on some of the sauces, an emulsified onion sauce and a fennel puree. Both sauces were for the Lamb dish on their menu. and Both sauces were very good.
For service I worked at the hot meat station again and had and opportunity to put some of the plates together. It was a busy night and I felt more useful than I had the previous nights. I helped call out orders and get the menu items ready for cooking.
The way it works is an order comes out of the printer. Written on it is everything the table has ordered in way of food. The guy pulling the tickets reads the computer shorthand and calls out the appropriate order to the stations responsible for each of the item on the ticket. Appetizers at prepared and sent out immediately. The entrees are on hold until the table is ready for them. This can be as little as a few minutes to about 1/2 hour depending on the table. I pulled the meats and got them ready for cooking by the chef.
Ok, not a hard job. But come on! If this were just my third day in a kitchen ever, getting this far would be monumental, and for the purposes of this project it was my third day and it was monumental.
There was however one thing I could not get done that I was asked to do. I needed to shave some porcini mushroom as a garnish for one of the dishes. I tried and tired, but for some reason could not get the mandolin to cooperate with me and my mushroom shavings kept coming out too thick.
It will forever be known as "The great porcini disaster of 2010" - Oh the humanity!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Aziza * Day Two
Today I worked the hot entree station. It reminded me of my cruise ship days, small enclosed space with absolutely no ventilation. needless to say, a fabulous time.
But first lets talk about the prep. I was assigned the task of turning carrots. Traditionally a turned vegetable is where you take a vegetable cut it into pieces and make each piece into a five sided shape, where every angle is equal. ultimately the shape you are looking for is reminiscent of a football. It also has a practical side, making all the pieces the same size so each piece ends up being cooked uniformly. Doing more than a couple will surly give you cramps or carpal tunnel, and I did a whole mess of them. This however wasn't the worst task I preformed. That distinction goes to the fresh horse radish. I peeled and grated eight very large roots - peeling wasn't that bad, but the moment you begin to grate it, let's just say you should have you affairs in order. Imagine your nose is stuffed up, to fix this you place a wet towel over your head and them place your head over a bath of steaming sulfuric acid. Bingo! that was my day. I should also mention something about kitchen hygienics.
It is probably no coincidence that my two favorite activities both include self imposed suffering, Long distance cycling, and cooking. Doing either with another person only encourages one to up the anti and make it that much more difficult. Case in point. Megan, and I said I would name her for this, thought it would be amusing to create a breeze in my bowl of grated horse radish causing the radish fumes to intensify. The effect burned very nose hair I was trying to hold onto right out of my nostrils. It cleared the back kitchen for about five minutes, and all she could do was chuckle. I wish I could say I am a better person than that, but I''m not.
I once worked at this place where we played hot plate with the waiters. This is a game where you put a bread plate in a 500 degree oven then put it in the stack of bread plates. The waiter is supposed to grab the plate with a napkin, so they don't get fingerprints on the plates, but every now and again they would forget, and even rarer was when they would forget and that plate was smoking hot. When it happened, the kitchen would all laugh under their breath the waiter would curse and life would move on. Good times, good times.
The hot entree station is a difficult station to learn and even harder to master. You have got to have impeccable timing. communication with the other stations so that the entire table comes to the pass a the same time. I have seen many an experience chef fall apart on this station so when you see someone doing it very well it is a treat. Of source there is added pressure here because the Chef De Cuisine is working right next to you and if you make any mistakes it's going to get caught. But no mistakes tonight. The cook availed himself admirably.
One of the things the Michelin guide purports to critique about it's stared restaurants is consistency of cuisine. That includes not only flavor and texture but presentation. It is easy to learn how a plate should be put together, what goes with what. But it is very very difficult to make every plate look identical especially during a busy service. There are many factors a good chef has to work through. Monotony is one of them. I see this in my everyday work. "I just thought I would try it a little different than last time" That is fine when working through a recipe, but once it's served up to the public you need to be consistent with it. Aziza does that pretty well. Every beef cheek dish that went out looked and I'm sure tasted like the last. Most people will never see this, even if you visit a restaurant twice you are most likely not going to have the same dish, So how is anyone going to know it is different? Well that is the discipline of the top restaurants and why they stand out over all the rest. This is the first lesson I am taking away from my time at Aziza and it's a good start.
It is probably no coincidence that my two favorite activities both include self imposed suffering, Long distance cycling, and cooking. Doing either with another person only encourages one to up the anti and make it that much more difficult. Case in point. Megan, and I said I would name her for this, thought it would be amusing to create a breeze in my bowl of grated horse radish causing the radish fumes to intensify. The effect burned very nose hair I was trying to hold onto right out of my nostrils. It cleared the back kitchen for about five minutes, and all she could do was chuckle. I wish I could say I am a better person than that, but I''m not.
I once worked at this place where we played hot plate with the waiters. This is a game where you put a bread plate in a 500 degree oven then put it in the stack of bread plates. The waiter is supposed to grab the plate with a napkin, so they don't get fingerprints on the plates, but every now and again they would forget, and even rarer was when they would forget and that plate was smoking hot. When it happened, the kitchen would all laugh under their breath the waiter would curse and life would move on. Good times, good times.
The hot entree station is a difficult station to learn and even harder to master. You have got to have impeccable timing. communication with the other stations so that the entire table comes to the pass a the same time. I have seen many an experience chef fall apart on this station so when you see someone doing it very well it is a treat. Of source there is added pressure here because the Chef De Cuisine is working right next to you and if you make any mistakes it's going to get caught. But no mistakes tonight. The cook availed himself admirably.
One of the things the Michelin guide purports to critique about it's stared restaurants is consistency of cuisine. That includes not only flavor and texture but presentation. It is easy to learn how a plate should be put together, what goes with what. But it is very very difficult to make every plate look identical especially during a busy service. There are many factors a good chef has to work through. Monotony is one of them. I see this in my everyday work. "I just thought I would try it a little different than last time" That is fine when working through a recipe, but once it's served up to the public you need to be consistent with it. Aziza does that pretty well. Every beef cheek dish that went out looked and I'm sure tasted like the last. Most people will never see this, even if you visit a restaurant twice you are most likely not going to have the same dish, So how is anyone going to know it is different? Well that is the discipline of the top restaurants and why they stand out over all the rest. This is the first lesson I am taking away from my time at Aziza and it's a good start.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Aziza * - Day One
Did it go how you expected? This is the question posed to me after a 20 hour day. Of course who can think of a good answer under those conditions. Not me anyway.
I have now recovered and let me more fully answer that question. It was better than I had ever expected! I saw everything I was hoping to see. Ultimately the question I have to ask my self at the end of the day is, Can I do that, and Can I do it better? It is confidence that says, Yes I can do that, I can do that without fear of failure or self disappointment. But how do I answer the second part with out either being extremely arrogant, should I answer yes, or being utterly destroyed if I answer no? I will leave that question unanswered for the time.
The Night. ( a quick note for any readers out there, You're not going to get recipes, save maybe the mention of a unique ingredient or two. or the name of a dish you can just as easily read off the menu. I'm not out to give away the secrets of the restaurant and I know you'll never make these dishes anyway so the only way to enjoy them will be to visit the restaurant)
I arrived at the appointed time, ready to go. I was introduced to Megan who would be my mentor for the day. Basically she got to tell me what to do. After a quick tour that lasted under a minute I was shown exactly where everything is and expected to remember it all. which I'm happy to say I did.
My first task was cutting red peppers into very thin 1 1/2 inch strips. not particularly challenging. however; it is a skill hard learned. you need to slice all the meat off the pepper and leave the red skins with a little backing for structure. your knife needs to be very sharp and you need a steady hand not to slice your fingers off. The waste for this is task is huge. Imagine you will only use about 10% of the pepper and the rest is now unusable for anything. If you are a frugal person, best look away right now because it doesn't get any more economic than that.
Next I was asked to peel baby purple carrots. Of Course I could only use the best carrots of the bunch. Quality is king in fine Dinning. the easy part was determine the good from bad. a limp carrot = bad, Crisp carrots= good. any questionable ones = bad. The hard part is peeling a round carrot with a flat peeler and having the product come out round. Think of early digital animation you can get smaller and smaller pixels but the circle still is never quite round. I practiced this until you couldn't tell with the naked eye that I had even peeled at all and it took for ever, 2 1/2 hours for about 150 carrots.
Other tasks assigned to me were picking herbs. getting cheese, from the cooler. running for More prep during service. and did it with gusto and quickness i hope not usually seen in someone not getting paid to do it.
About and hour before service started the Executive Chef came in, Mourad Lahlou, We have not spoken except for one exchange, I was picking herbs and I had let a few leaves fall on the floor, he told me to pick them up. Before anyone thinks that's petty I'm going to tell you right now to STFU, it is not a trivial thing. Though I was doing my best to keep a clean station I did not do it well enough. And in my professional life I should begin to do the same. And I will. So any of my staff out there reading this, you have been warned.
During service my job as to just watch. It is very hard to do.The station I observed was the cold station. This is where the cold food items are prepared. Salads, and Appetizers. It was also a great place to be because I could see every entree and dessert coming through the pass. The "pass" is where food is passed over to the executive chef who puts his artistic stamp on them and make sure they are perfect before heading out to the customer. Megan's instruction were to just have me observe, and though I wanted to so desperately put a plate together I also didn't want to jeopardize Megan's position, I'm sure if I had asked she would have let me make one of the plates. But I did memorize every dish they put together and if asked could preform the duties of the station very well.
Why this place is great.
You don't get a Michelin star without earning it. Which why I don't need to review the places on the list, but what is it about the chef that make it star worthy? At Aziza it was clear from the first plate, the food is spectacular. The flavors, spices, presentation. All unique not in any other restaurant are you going to get anything like this. It won't be long before they have another star. At which point I'll need to come back when I'm working through the two star restaurants. The detail put into just one of the dishes unbelievable, take the dish called avocado on the menu. It take one person 8 minutes to put the dish together. and that does not count the hours before hand making the individual components of this dish. Laying, by hand, each small piece of this Mosaic of food. When they had multiple orders of this dish lined up it required complete dedication of a single chef to put them out in any timely manner. Is this food labor intensive, Uhh Yea. Would lesser restaurants have gone under with such constraints, most certainly.
At the end of the evening Chef Louis did say I can return next Friday. And I will, ready for more.
I have now recovered and let me more fully answer that question. It was better than I had ever expected! I saw everything I was hoping to see. Ultimately the question I have to ask my self at the end of the day is, Can I do that, and Can I do it better? It is confidence that says, Yes I can do that, I can do that without fear of failure or self disappointment. But how do I answer the second part with out either being extremely arrogant, should I answer yes, or being utterly destroyed if I answer no? I will leave that question unanswered for the time.
The Night. ( a quick note for any readers out there, You're not going to get recipes, save maybe the mention of a unique ingredient or two. or the name of a dish you can just as easily read off the menu. I'm not out to give away the secrets of the restaurant and I know you'll never make these dishes anyway so the only way to enjoy them will be to visit the restaurant)
I arrived at the appointed time, ready to go. I was introduced to Megan who would be my mentor for the day. Basically she got to tell me what to do. After a quick tour that lasted under a minute I was shown exactly where everything is and expected to remember it all. which I'm happy to say I did.
My first task was cutting red peppers into very thin 1 1/2 inch strips. not particularly challenging. however; it is a skill hard learned. you need to slice all the meat off the pepper and leave the red skins with a little backing for structure. your knife needs to be very sharp and you need a steady hand not to slice your fingers off. The waste for this is task is huge. Imagine you will only use about 10% of the pepper and the rest is now unusable for anything. If you are a frugal person, best look away right now because it doesn't get any more economic than that.
Next I was asked to peel baby purple carrots. Of Course I could only use the best carrots of the bunch. Quality is king in fine Dinning. the easy part was determine the good from bad. a limp carrot = bad, Crisp carrots= good. any questionable ones = bad. The hard part is peeling a round carrot with a flat peeler and having the product come out round. Think of early digital animation you can get smaller and smaller pixels but the circle still is never quite round. I practiced this until you couldn't tell with the naked eye that I had even peeled at all and it took for ever, 2 1/2 hours for about 150 carrots.
Other tasks assigned to me were picking herbs. getting cheese, from the cooler. running for More prep during service. and did it with gusto and quickness i hope not usually seen in someone not getting paid to do it.
About and hour before service started the Executive Chef came in, Mourad Lahlou, We have not spoken except for one exchange, I was picking herbs and I had let a few leaves fall on the floor, he told me to pick them up. Before anyone thinks that's petty I'm going to tell you right now to STFU, it is not a trivial thing. Though I was doing my best to keep a clean station I did not do it well enough. And in my professional life I should begin to do the same. And I will. So any of my staff out there reading this, you have been warned.
During service my job as to just watch. It is very hard to do.The station I observed was the cold station. This is where the cold food items are prepared. Salads, and Appetizers. It was also a great place to be because I could see every entree and dessert coming through the pass. The "pass" is where food is passed over to the executive chef who puts his artistic stamp on them and make sure they are perfect before heading out to the customer. Megan's instruction were to just have me observe, and though I wanted to so desperately put a plate together I also didn't want to jeopardize Megan's position, I'm sure if I had asked she would have let me make one of the plates. But I did memorize every dish they put together and if asked could preform the duties of the station very well.
Why this place is great.
You don't get a Michelin star without earning it. Which why I don't need to review the places on the list, but what is it about the chef that make it star worthy? At Aziza it was clear from the first plate, the food is spectacular. The flavors, spices, presentation. All unique not in any other restaurant are you going to get anything like this. It won't be long before they have another star. At which point I'll need to come back when I'm working through the two star restaurants. The detail put into just one of the dishes unbelievable, take the dish called avocado on the menu. It take one person 8 minutes to put the dish together. and that does not count the hours before hand making the individual components of this dish. Laying, by hand, each small piece of this Mosaic of food. When they had multiple orders of this dish lined up it required complete dedication of a single chef to put them out in any timely manner. Is this food labor intensive, Uhh Yea. Would lesser restaurants have gone under with such constraints, most certainly.
At the end of the evening Chef Louis did say I can return next Friday. And I will, ready for more.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
The village Pub *
I met with the chefs at the village pub yesterday and it was pretty positive I think they will let me come in, though they had some concerns I had not even considered would be a concern.
The chef mentioned something about YELP food reviews, and how they were written by people who barely know how to eat much less write and review restaurants; in other words, anyone with a computer and web access. (These are my words not his, he was nice about it). So I looked up the reviews to see what was going on.
There is currently only one bad review of the village pub, actually it is a review by a person that never actually mentions the food in any of their restaurant reviews. Odd! Check it out it's by Aim M. as far as I can tell the only food this person ever ate at any of the places they reviewed was a burger at some bar. I bet they're really skinny. Aim should stay away from fine dinning where it is all about the food, they will be much happier. Aim lists their last food on earth as Thai Food. Never realizing that Thai as a cuisine is pretty varied. Or maybe Aim wants one of every dish in the complete Thai lexicon, finally able to fatten their self up after a life time of worry about how big their thighs are and unable to ever really enjoy a great meal with out visiting the vomitorium later.
Aim, maybe the reason they gave a table to everyone but you was they could tell you really didn't care and they didn't want your drunk college style birthday party to interfere with everyone else who was having to great meal.
I can see why chefs are gun shy about letting me come in. Everyone seams to have an agenda, and actually coming into the kitchen is without a doubt an invasion and an intimate encounter a lot of people would not want revealed. I was talking about this to a friend and she said, "if all the reviews in the world were good how would you know the truth". I have been thinking about that all day. Knowing if someone else liked it or not isn't enough and it's too much at the same time. Take Aim, what is this person saying, nothing. Just it took them longer than they wanted to get seated. but what was the context. Did Aim make the reservation weeks before hand, did they just walk in, was it peak time on Saturday night, did they have 80 people or two. I have nothing to go on to judge weather their concerns are valid. I would love to be able to review the reviews on yelp and ask these questions, though I suspect I would not receive any honest answers. In fact Aim's final comment makes my point that it's not about the food for Aim, "If you are looking for a "grey hair" place, with food and decor right out of the 70s, this place is for you. But if you are looking for a modern, chic place, stay away". Aim is style over substance, the food really didn't matter, it is a place everyone goes, so they went, never realizing people are going for the food.
I can tell you there is nothing about this food that is retro, and that is all I can say at the moment. I promised not to post anything directly about the restaurant without their consent, and though I have flirted with that line here I'm not going to Cross it. Ultimately this blog is about me and not the places I work. It is the chronicling of my journey
The chef mentioned something about YELP food reviews, and how they were written by people who barely know how to eat much less write and review restaurants; in other words, anyone with a computer and web access. (These are my words not his, he was nice about it). So I looked up the reviews to see what was going on.
There is currently only one bad review of the village pub, actually it is a review by a person that never actually mentions the food in any of their restaurant reviews. Odd! Check it out it's by Aim M. as far as I can tell the only food this person ever ate at any of the places they reviewed was a burger at some bar. I bet they're really skinny. Aim should stay away from fine dinning where it is all about the food, they will be much happier. Aim lists their last food on earth as Thai Food. Never realizing that Thai as a cuisine is pretty varied. Or maybe Aim wants one of every dish in the complete Thai lexicon, finally able to fatten their self up after a life time of worry about how big their thighs are and unable to ever really enjoy a great meal with out visiting the vomitorium later.
Aim, maybe the reason they gave a table to everyone but you was they could tell you really didn't care and they didn't want your drunk college style birthday party to interfere with everyone else who was having to great meal.
I can see why chefs are gun shy about letting me come in. Everyone seams to have an agenda, and actually coming into the kitchen is without a doubt an invasion and an intimate encounter a lot of people would not want revealed. I was talking about this to a friend and she said, "if all the reviews in the world were good how would you know the truth". I have been thinking about that all day. Knowing if someone else liked it or not isn't enough and it's too much at the same time. Take Aim, what is this person saying, nothing. Just it took them longer than they wanted to get seated. but what was the context. Did Aim make the reservation weeks before hand, did they just walk in, was it peak time on Saturday night, did they have 80 people or two. I have nothing to go on to judge weather their concerns are valid. I would love to be able to review the reviews on yelp and ask these questions, though I suspect I would not receive any honest answers. In fact Aim's final comment makes my point that it's not about the food for Aim, "If you are looking for a "grey hair" place, with food and decor right out of the 70s, this place is for you. But if you are looking for a modern, chic place, stay away". Aim is style over substance, the food really didn't matter, it is a place everyone goes, so they went, never realizing people are going for the food.
I can tell you there is nothing about this food that is retro, and that is all I can say at the moment. I promised not to post anything directly about the restaurant without their consent, and though I have flirted with that line here I'm not going to Cross it. Ultimately this blog is about me and not the places I work. It is the chronicling of my journey
Monday, June 7, 2010
Boulevard *
Today I couldn't make it to Village Pub like I had planned. I wasn't anywhere near Woodside so I opted for a place called Boulevard in S.F. It is a great location. If you get there around 3:00 All the business people are heading home there is plenty of parking on the street out side the restaurant. get a table on the east side of the restaurant and look over the bay and bay bridge. Do some people watching while you wait for your appetizers. I'm told once the food come everything else doesn't seam to matter anymore and that is all you can focus on.
I spoke to one of the Chefs there but she said her name so quickly I couldn't grab it. we had a quick talk about this project and I suspect if it were entirely up to her she would let me come in. Of course I'm assuming she is going to read this and will be flattered at the perceived professionalism I felt she exuded, and will want nothing more than to help me on my quest.
Al right back to reality! I suspected Mondays were not going to be a good day to track down the decision makers - the chefs that can put me on their schedules. I've always told people not to go out and eat on Mondays It's not that the food is any different, especially in quality restaurants. It's that the staff is coming off a busy weekend, energy is down, usually a lot of prep work to get through and it takes a couple of days to get back into the flow when everyone's timing is in sync and it becomes effortless.
I also Visited, what is becoming my Nemesis, Murry Circle. Is it a bad thing that the staff recognize me when I walk in? But there was progress, I spoke to the Sous Chef, Tim, who is the brother of the chef. He seamed to think that the chef would not have a problem assistning in my effots, and it was going to be their H.R. Department that would put the kibosh on anything. I told him to hire me for a day and hand me my walking papers after the shift was over. I got a laugh out of him. As long at H.R. gets their paperwork we should be golden. Though getting paid does go against my rules...... I need a loop hole. Ok! what I will do, is if any location absolutely has to pay me I will give that money over to charity. I'll find a good one - something food related- open hand or some type of food kitchen.
I'll have to look into that.
I spoke to one of the Chefs there but she said her name so quickly I couldn't grab it. we had a quick talk about this project and I suspect if it were entirely up to her she would let me come in. Of course I'm assuming she is going to read this and will be flattered at the perceived professionalism I felt she exuded, and will want nothing more than to help me on my quest.
Al right back to reality! I suspected Mondays were not going to be a good day to track down the decision makers - the chefs that can put me on their schedules. I've always told people not to go out and eat on Mondays It's not that the food is any different, especially in quality restaurants. It's that the staff is coming off a busy weekend, energy is down, usually a lot of prep work to get through and it takes a couple of days to get back into the flow when everyone's timing is in sync and it becomes effortless.
I also Visited, what is becoming my Nemesis, Murry Circle. Is it a bad thing that the staff recognize me when I walk in? But there was progress, I spoke to the Sous Chef, Tim, who is the brother of the chef. He seamed to think that the chef would not have a problem assistning in my effots, and it was going to be their H.R. Department that would put the kibosh on anything. I told him to hire me for a day and hand me my walking papers after the shift was over. I got a laugh out of him. As long at H.R. gets their paperwork we should be golden. Though getting paid does go against my rules...... I need a loop hole. Ok! what I will do, is if any location absolutely has to pay me I will give that money over to charity. I'll find a good one - something food related- open hand or some type of food kitchen.
I'll have to look into that.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Where are the ingredients?
Let me just start by saying, I know I am not the first to say this. But.....
I went to a New Mega Whole foods opening this afternoon. In the parking lot many of the vendors had their wares on display. That is except for the companies I would have thought were supplying a whole foods, you know the ones selling WHOLE FOOD. Everyone except for a few cheese vendors were selling pre-packaged pre-made processed foods. Cookies, Cakes, Ice cream, energy bars. A few Food organizations were represented, like Marin Organics. and a local winery. But other than that they were missing out.
The food tasted good and it's touted as locally produced. I would like to see a whole foods one day that just had ingredients flours, meats, vegetable and fruits All raw ingredients. and the only packaged items would be bags filled nuts, and maybe pasta - but come on- how hard is pasta to make - really. Flour eggs salt and a little water. knead for a few minutes roll out and cook. There enjoy! Oh, the proportions! Just guess try a little of each ingredient and see how it comes out. If you don't like it next time try something different. That is how our grandmothers and other ancestors figured it out, and why there are about a million different types of pasta. And trust me we can always uses one million and one more.
You know what whole foods does really well, they have great displays of food. but as far as products and ingredients go, It isn't any better than any random market, maybe just more expensive, but not always.
Monday, I will be stopping by the village pub to see if I can get in there. It is a one star in Woodside, side CA. I'll let you know how it goes. My wife is also dropping hints about cooking vegetarian. None of the restaurants on my list are vegetarian so if anyone knows a really good one please forward it along and I'll add it to the list.
I went to a New Mega Whole foods opening this afternoon. In the parking lot many of the vendors had their wares on display. That is except for the companies I would have thought were supplying a whole foods, you know the ones selling WHOLE FOOD. Everyone except for a few cheese vendors were selling pre-packaged pre-made processed foods. Cookies, Cakes, Ice cream, energy bars. A few Food organizations were represented, like Marin Organics. and a local winery. But other than that they were missing out.
The food tasted good and it's touted as locally produced. I would like to see a whole foods one day that just had ingredients flours, meats, vegetable and fruits All raw ingredients. and the only packaged items would be bags filled nuts, and maybe pasta - but come on- how hard is pasta to make - really. Flour eggs salt and a little water. knead for a few minutes roll out and cook. There enjoy! Oh, the proportions! Just guess try a little of each ingredient and see how it comes out. If you don't like it next time try something different. That is how our grandmothers and other ancestors figured it out, and why there are about a million different types of pasta. And trust me we can always uses one million and one more.
You know what whole foods does really well, they have great displays of food. but as far as products and ingredients go, It isn't any better than any random market, maybe just more expensive, but not always.
Monday, I will be stopping by the village pub to see if I can get in there. It is a one star in Woodside, side CA. I'll let you know how it goes. My wife is also dropping hints about cooking vegetarian. None of the restaurants on my list are vegetarian so if anyone knows a really good one please forward it along and I'll add it to the list.
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