JLoeats.com

Friday Night. Saturday night. Sunday Brunch.

These are very loaded words if you’ve ever worked in a restaurant on the line.

People in the industry say that if you walk into any busy restaurant on a Sat night between 6pm and 9pm to stage,
it can be pretty telling of what you can expect to be the craziest and most intense service you’ll experience for that kitchen.

and chances are, you are walking into a land mine knowingly
so you better be prepared right?

right.
well depending on what your role is also – as a guest? as an observer? as a cook? as a server? as a dishwasher? — but usually how well a restaurant does on a saturday night is pretty telling of how well a place is managed and what kind of business they handle.

the energy,
the buzz,
the insanely fast paced A game mentality
the peak of the week
everything counts.
and every little detail that could be thought of, to be done ahead of time to put you ahead should be completed to ensure a good service.

yes easier said than done.
and this past saturday was my most disapointing service to date.
i know i’m probably just being really hard on myself,
but i also like to push myself to grow every chance i get.
and my game was way off.
and i mean it happens right?
we all have bad days at work.
but shit,
there is no room for that in the kitchen.
and to me, it just showed that nothing can be taken for granted.
i learned my lesson good.
i was in the shits from 5:30pm – 9:30pm straight – playing catch up with myself.
i felt like i was chasing my own tail all night
“it’s ok jlo, finish what you started. it’s ok.”
- pick the mint, fill the sauce bottles, roll out the quiche dough,
-line the pans, bake off the quiche, bake off the bread,
-prep the tarts, prep the apple crumble
- chit, chit chit.
jlo bread jlo bread jlo BREAD!
oven, temperature
495 degrees?!
crap.
burnt.
happy birthday happy anniversary
“can i get that rushed please?!”
chocolate explosion.
great.
jlo bread!
no time.
veg peeler.
where is my veg peeler?
jlo fire the BREAD!
oven beeping
ice cream cups, need glasses.
cut the cakes,– carefully.
do it now,
jlo bread!
oh shit, the 13 pans of quiche dough
scrape off the burn, it’s still gooood…. pop it back into the oven!
jlo bread please!
dropped one –
omg.
time out.
I NEED A TIME OUT.
run downstairs to wrap up the shit that was cooling in the oven.
chit chit chit.
jlo too much bread!
(are you kidding me>?)
wtf?
umm.
ok.
yes chef.
chit chit chit.
damn,
i’m hungry.
chit chit chit.

this stupid new bread is taking me away from learning all the other stations
and i don’t like being pigeon holed into my position now -
i am currently the new “pastry girl”, well 6 weeks new since i jumped in right when the 4 week licious began.

i’m trained in savoury darn-it! hahahaha…
(i know chef kathryn would be so proud since all throughout culinary school she always introduced me to other collegues as janet “culinary-savoury-student -should-have-been-pastry” along with V when both of us kicked ass in mod 4 and she wanted us to switch over, but i never did because as much as that first lobster i killed made me cry, i wanted to learn more about food, and i wanted to learn all types of food, and learn to do it well.)

& honest to god, i really miss being on the line,
i miss cooking proteins and veg
sauteing with hot oil
and getting my ass kicked by a piece of meat.
i miss perfecting my quadriages on the grill
and i miss tasting something for salt,
rather than get a sugar rush everytime i lick a spoon

i’ve been learning the other garde manger positions lately since my ‘rush’ comes about half an hour after everyone else on the line, but during that time i’m prepping and cutting cakes and baking shit off. it’s constant. so i’ve learned to do it all really fast so i can learn and watch all the other stations go.
and we got hit hard on friday night, which was really exciting. i love the energy when a kitchen runs like a machine,
and when everyone is on par with each other, it’s pretty damn cool. and i felt left out, so i ran over to help N out with seafood and salad, practically shucking oysters and plating the smoked salmon special while running back and forth to plate cakes and ice cream.
and it was fun :)
i think i’ve mastered brulee-ing with the torch in my right hand, while grabbing another plate to draw a circle of sauce on it, or grabbing an ice cream cup and a napkin to set up another plate at the same time.

and chef just shouted at me when he saw me running back and forth — confused and surprised — “wow you are all over the place eh?”
“umm, yea!
- wait, huh?”
it’s as if he had forgotten that he put me on the veg station when i first started.
and now, all i do is pastry -
which is very respectable in the industry,
but now i know what everyone was talking about in terms of the differences and shifts in attitudes towards the pastry sectors of the industry while i was in culinary school.

it seems as though i’ve been pushed off to the side.
and i still do my thing,
i handle the station well, and i send out my sweet indulgences as an after dinner treat that goes with coffee and tea,
and mmmm, i can’t help but feel that it might be time to move on up soon,
to learn more about food
and how to feels to feed the masses first.

honestly though,
this has been training my endurance in the last 6 weeks. (omg, it’s only been 6 weeks!, it feels like forever)
since this resturant i’ve been at is a super high volume place — we can do up to 500 covers per service.
and i’m learning how to get myself out of the shits on a busy saturday night on my own
“why don’t you ask for help? don’t be a hero!”
“how? pull you off the hot line so you can help me bake off quiche at 9:30 pm? – it’s all good, just let me sulk in the fridge for one min, dust it all off and try again. thanks for the offer though, ;)”

and that’s exactly what i needed –
this kind of boot camp training that i’ve been getting in the last 6 weeks
which was something i opted out in doing as my externship whilst in culinary school that i’ve now completed,
to push me to my next step –

hmm,
so
now what? :)
T.B.A.

i got into the NYU M.A. Food Studies Program today (received the big envelope in the mail)
and i’m meeting with another well known Chef from T.O. to chat on thursday
so maybe this weekend was the start of something new,
yet again,
but this time,
i feel as though i’m more prepared for what’s in store for me in my near future
as in, what i can handle in terms of at least knowing what to expect, and what’s expected of me in this industry.

.. and like jumping into a busy kitchen on a saturday night,
i have to dive head first this time with the full confidence
that i can pull myself out through anything

happy eating*
xoxo J xoxox