It was New Years Eve around 6:15pm. I was walking back through the kitchen after spending a few minutes in my office gathering thoughts and changing into new armor to face the night ahead wondering if the guests are first going to like the menu and second if we have the right formula and balance to execute the night successfully. About 700 plates were about to leave the kitchen so as you can imagine quite a bit of pressure. So everyone was focused, stations set, energy high – the kitchen was locked and loaded and the first ticket of the night hits the pass.
The General Manager, Theresa, checks on us to make sure we are ready and takes a look at some of the new dishes for that night. If we are not firing on all cylinders it will be her in the line of fire of unhappy guests. Theresa proposes a New Years resolution to me; she said “I want you to write a kitchen blog.” My initial thought was, you are out of your mind – like I have time to write a blog. I immediately turn to my right and my two sous chefs look away with a smirk on their faces. I said, “don’t know why to two are laughing – if I am getting dragged into this, you pair are too.”
The night was going well; we found our groove so I posed the question to them: “ok hypothetically if we have to write a blog, we better get used to the idea because who am I kidding with the current social media situation, it’s getting out of control. What are we going to put in this blog of ours?” Ideas thrown on the table included: upcoming seasons and the ingredients and recipes to go along with them, ideas and experiments – the ones that work and the ones that don’t - which leads to something good most of the time, highs and lows of the kitchen, funny stories and we have a fresh batch of interns on the way so there is the added humor value because what chef says, goes!
Working through the holiday period is always stressful for people in the hospitality industry, as restaurants are packed and people are in great spirits. Everyone tells me not to worry; once the holidays are over you will be able to have some time off, but actually no. I have to plan for our busy months, rewriting menus, working out the kinks from the previous year, all while trying to elevate standards. And now I have to add the kitchen blog on my list of things to do. The ball is rolling I can’t stop it!