The past few weeks have been a battle to figure out where I want this culinary path to lead, but it's turning out to be a really fantastic one and it's all becoming a lot more clear. It's certainly not the easy path nor the one I ever thought I'd take. You all know I'm not that into this city but it has too many opportunities to let them pass by. I want it all and it's taken a few teachers, a few unforgettable days, and a lot of encouragement for me to start taking advantage of them.
Chef Pascal, my biggest cheerleader (if he knows I called him a cheerleader he'll kill me), invited a group of us to help him out at the James Beard Annual Holiday Gala Dinner and Auction. We were presenting a charcuterie course that our class had been toiling away at during the last half of class for a few weeks. The tasks included cleaning out pig rectum, six cases of it, with our hands and the back of a knife. I went to work smelling of literal pig rectum for a few days, but it was well worth it now in retrospect because nothing is cooler than watching the world's most bad ass french chefs cheers a glass of wine over your pig-rectum charcuterie. Before the event, Chef Rogers pawned me and Jane off as volunteers for Guy Savoy. I immediately dropped my knife and walked outside to call my dad who still claims his dinner at Guy Savoy in Paris was the best meal of his life. I didn't get ahold of him, and still haven't with only mere minutes in my day to send the fam unexplained email photos of me and Thomas Keller . I've gotten some strange responses such as, "Did you kidnap Thomas Keller??" Great, my family thinks I'm a culinary criminal.
So the Gala.
Imagine Alain Ducasse, Jean-George, Guy Savoy, and Joel Robuchon standing around a prep table shooting the shit, chumming it up over how long it's been since they've seen each other- I know, impossible to imagine. Probably the coolest, most bizarre sight I've ever witnessed.
During down time between courses, I chatted it up with the corporate chef of all the Jean-George spots. Really cool guy who offered me a ton of advice about my next steps, hearing me out about my debate between learning in a small, good restaurant or a great, massive restaurant.
Chef Pascal, my biggest cheerleader (if he knows I called him a cheerleader he'll kill me), invited a group of us to help him out at the James Beard Annual Holiday Gala Dinner and Auction. We were presenting a charcuterie course that our class had been toiling away at during the last half of class for a few weeks. The tasks included cleaning out pig rectum, six cases of it, with our hands and the back of a knife. I went to work smelling of literal pig rectum for a few days, but it was well worth it now in retrospect because nothing is cooler than watching the world's most bad ass french chefs cheers a glass of wine over your pig-rectum charcuterie. Before the event, Chef Rogers pawned me and Jane off as volunteers for Guy Savoy. I immediately dropped my knife and walked outside to call my dad who still claims his dinner at Guy Savoy in Paris was the best meal of his life. I didn't get ahold of him, and still haven't with only mere minutes in my day to send the fam unexplained email photos of me and Thomas Keller . I've gotten some strange responses such as, "Did you kidnap Thomas Keller??" Great, my family thinks I'm a culinary criminal.So the Gala.
Imagine Alain Ducasse, Jean-George, Guy Savoy, and Joel Robuchon standing around a prep table shooting the shit, chumming it up over how long it's been since they've seen each other- I know, impossible to imagine. Probably the coolest, most bizarre sight I've ever witnessed.
During down time between courses, I chatted it up with the corporate chef of all the Jean-George spots. Really cool guy who offered me a ton of advice about my next steps, hearing me out about my debate between learning in a small, good restaurant or a great, massive restaurant.The night carried on. I plated Ducasse's food, I gave butter, yes- big deal, to the Jean-George team, ate some fantastic chili glazed lamb they cooked up, slurped a flawless artichoke truffle soup from Guy Savoy flown in frozen from the restaurant in Vegas, and finally- was invited to the after party at Jean-George's ABC Kitchen.
We carted ourselves over there expecting a few free cocktails, but when we sat down at the bar, Jean-George came up to us and said, "Aren't you girls going to grab a seat?" and nodded over to this massive stretched out table in the middle of ABC studded with Guy Savoy, Ducasse, Robuchon, all of their right hand men, and a good amount of the kitchen's line cooks. It's not like we were going to say no to Jean-George, so we awkwardly sat down at his table. The chef from Jean-George sat down on my left, the corporate chef across, and Ducasse's assistant to my right. The food came out in never ending waves. I just checked out the menu to list exactly what we had, but you might as well just go to the website and read the menu because we ate it all. The only thing not included on that menu was the 3-lb white truffle pizza. A server came over and went to town on a truffle over our pizza- TWICE.
Ducasse's assistant, Nicolas told me about the Robin Hood charity event taking place at their restaurant Adour the following night, and invited me along. I took his number and only half-jokingly sent him an email in the morning asking if they still needed an extra hand that night. When I got an "Of course, can you be here at 6?" response, I immediately told Chef Pascal who let me flee early from school to grab a few winks of sleep before the epic night. I knew Thomas Keller was going to be there and of course Ducasse but I didn't really have time to look into the even.
I walk in...Thomas Keller is perched up against the middle island of the kitchen with his signature blue apron, untied, handing around his neck. Where was everyone else? Why was the kitchen empty with Thomas Keller just hanging out in it? I was tempted to go poke the man himself to see if it was really him. Chef Didier, the Executive Chef at Adour led me to his office. I called my dad again...no answer. Moments like these you just want to tell your dad- THIS IS AWESOME!! I put on Chef Didier's apron, made for the 300 LB man he is, thought about how unprofessional I looked wearing a gown in front of TK, took a breath and walked out of the office. I step into the kitchen, which is gorgeous- the most wonderful french tops, so clean and pretty. I was the only random volunteer in a kitchen of giants.
The kitchen was relatively small, but so open. There were two little hot
islands, an one cold wall. Down at the first hot island was Daniel Bolud, two of his chefs from Cafe Bolud and Thomas Keller, two of his guys from Per Se. In the middle was Michael White and chef de cuisine and sous from Marea and then against the cold wall was me and the two guys from Adour's team. Now I was convinced this wasn't real. Instead of poking Thomas Keller, I shook his hand and said it was an honor to be sharing a kitchen with him tonight.
We plated our dish, which was a stunning scallop carpaccio with osetra caviar, watercress nage, and preserved lemon. The second we cleaned up, we headed over to help Daniels team get the next course out the door. Daniel and his team were making a celery root agnolotti with roasted chestnuts. It was unreal watching Daniel cook and work with his crew. Just the three of them making beautiful, untouchable angolotti. When he asked who could plate the chips- ME! 
I ran up to the pass with the little chips and Chef Didier stepped up next to me with a few massive truffles. I grabbed the first plate, handed it to the guy on
the other side of the pass...wait. I'm handing these plates to Thomas Keller. When the plating slows down, he comes around the pass to poke fun at Daniel Bolud and says, "Hey Daniel- Think you're going to put some food out some time soon?" to which Daniel responds- "You know Thomas, this isn't Per Se, we don't just push food out."
For the next course, Michael White's team from Marea served butter poached wild turbot, and was just as fantastic as the rest of the dishes. Finally, Thomas Keller served Calotte de Boeuf Grillee with a black truffle mille-feuille and the most perfect artichokes that ever landed on a plate. The level of organization in TK's team was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Each stack of plates was labeled with the quantity, where in the order of plating that stack belonged, each corresponded with a sous-vide bag of beef and it's corresponding copper pan of artichokes.
The night was awesome. It was such an insanely casual encounter in a kitchen for the level of formality I would expect when meeting Thomas Keller. I really just can't put in words how cool it was to watch these people that I've idolized for years, that everyone has idolized for years, cook their food in such a relaxed, intimate kitchen.
It was truly the most unforgettable night of my life. Ducasse consistantly attempted to hold a conversation with me with a series of "guesstures"- indicating that I was a hard worker via fist pump. Daniel came up to me and said, "Did I hear you are still in school?" And after I said yes, he called me "the lucky one" and glanced around the room at our company. I realized that the opportunities I've come across are irreplaceable and I need to be here to take advantage of them.
TK asked me what I thought I'd do after school and I said "Working for one of you." But really, I meant it. Ducasse and Chef Didier tried relentlessly to get me to quit school and kept saying I start work Monday. What in god's name am I doing heading back to school for a circuit in freaking family meal? It's taking everything in me to schlup back into school on Monday.
We carted ourselves over there expecting a few free cocktails, but when we sat down at the bar, Jean-George came up to us and said, "Aren't you girls going to grab a seat?" and nodded over to this massive stretched out table in the middle of ABC studded with Guy Savoy, Ducasse, Robuchon, all of their right hand men, and a good amount of the kitchen's line cooks. It's not like we were going to say no to Jean-George, so we awkwardly sat down at his table. The chef from Jean-George sat down on my left, the corporate chef across, and Ducasse's assistant to my right. The food came out in never ending waves. I just checked out the menu to list exactly what we had, but you might as well just go to the website and read the menu because we ate it all. The only thing not included on that menu was the 3-lb white truffle pizza. A server came over and went to town on a truffle over our pizza- TWICE.
Ducasse's assistant, Nicolas told me about the Robin Hood charity event taking place at their restaurant Adour the following night, and invited me along. I took his number and only half-jokingly sent him an email in the morning asking if they still needed an extra hand that night. When I got an "Of course, can you be here at 6?" response, I immediately told Chef Pascal who let me flee early from school to grab a few winks of sleep before the epic night. I knew Thomas Keller was going to be there and of course Ducasse but I didn't really have time to look into the even.
I walk in...Thomas Keller is perched up against the middle island of the kitchen with his signature blue apron, untied, handing around his neck. Where was everyone else? Why was the kitchen empty with Thomas Keller just hanging out in it? I was tempted to go poke the man himself to see if it was really him. Chef Didier, the Executive Chef at Adour led me to his office. I called my dad again...no answer. Moments like these you just want to tell your dad- THIS IS AWESOME!! I put on Chef Didier's apron, made for the 300 LB man he is, thought about how unprofessional I looked wearing a gown in front of TK, took a breath and walked out of the office. I step into the kitchen, which is gorgeous- the most wonderful french tops, so clean and pretty. I was the only random volunteer in a kitchen of giants.
The kitchen was relatively small, but so open. There were two little hot islands, an one cold wall. Down at the first hot island was Daniel Bolud, two of his chefs from Cafe Bolud and Thomas Keller, two of his guys from Per Se. In the middle was Michael White and chef de cuisine and sous from Marea and then against the cold wall was me and the two guys from Adour's team. Now I was convinced this wasn't real. Instead of poking Thomas Keller, I shook his hand and said it was an honor to be sharing a kitchen with him tonight. We plated our dish, which was a stunning scallop carpaccio with osetra caviar, watercress nage, and preserved lemon. The second we cleaned up, we headed over to help Daniels team get the next course out the door. Daniel and his team were making a celery root agnolotti with roasted chestnuts. It was unreal watching Daniel cook and work with his crew. Just the three of them making beautiful, untouchable angolotti. When he asked who could plate the chips- ME! I ran up to the pass with the little chips and Chef Didier stepped up next to me with a few massive truffles. I grabbed the first plate, handed it to the guy on the other side of the pass...wait. I'm handing these plates to Thomas Keller. When the plating slows down, he comes around the pass to poke fun at Daniel Bolud and says, "Hey Daniel- Think you're going to put some food out some time soon?" to which Daniel responds- "You know Thomas, this isn't Per Se, we don't just push food out."For the next course, Michael White's team from Marea served butter poached wild turbot, and was just as fantastic as the rest of the dishes. Finally, Thomas Keller served Calotte de Boeuf Grillee with a black truffle mille-feuille and the most perfect artichokes that ever landed on a plate. The level of organization in TK's team was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Each stack of plates was labeled with the quantity, where in the order of plating that stack belonged, each corresponded with a sous-vide bag of beef and it's corresponding copper pan of artichokes.
The night was awesome. It was such an insanely casual encounter in a kitchen for the level of formality I would expect when meeting Thomas Keller. I really just can't put in words how cool it was to watch these people that I've idolized for years, that everyone has idolized for years, cook their food in such a relaxed, intimate kitchen.
It was truly the most unforgettable night of my life. Ducasse consistantly attempted to hold a conversation with me with a series of "guesstures"- indicating that I was a hard worker via fist pump. Daniel came up to me and said, "Did I hear you are still in school?" And after I said yes, he called me "the lucky one" and glanced around the room at our company. I realized that the opportunities I've come across are irreplaceable and I need to be here to take advantage of them.
TK asked me what I thought I'd do after school and I said "Working for one of you." But really, I meant it. Ducasse and Chef Didier tried relentlessly to get me to quit school and kept saying I start work Monday. What in god's name am I doing heading back to school for a circuit in freaking family meal? It's taking everything in me to schlup back into school on Monday.Watching the three teams work together made me admire the level of trust I saw between Thomas Keller and Eli Kaimeh and similarly Daniel Boulud and Gavin Kaysen. I have a different perspective and level of respect for those culinary gods than I ever imagined I'd have and I really admire the roles of Eli and Gavin. The amount of work that has led them to the spot they stand in now is unmeasurable, and one day- I want to stand in their spot. I didn't know that 6 months ago, hell, I didn't know that 2 weeks ago, but I know this now.
In the presence of culinary gods.
It's been a curious path, but this week stirred motivation I didn't know I had.
When school started, got an internship where I thought I wanted to be. But it turns out I was more in love with the concept of the restaurant than the food. I ate at both locations, and neither time was I blown away. It has a Michelin Star. I'm not dumb- I know the food is great, but for someone else. When I was trying to figure out what to do about my internship, someone said, if you don't want your bosses job, don't work there. It's hard to be motivated to learn about the food in the kitchen if you don't enjoy it as much as everyone else. I also never thought to aim my mark that high, I guess I never considered it. I never thought I'd have enough discipline or skill level necessary, but I'll change that. I learn the discipline and I'll get to whatever skill level I need to be at. I started thinking of the places I've eaten here where the food blew me away and I keep coming back to Michael White, but I never seriously considered it because I never thought I could be that serious of a cook. With the amount of encouragement I've gotten the past week, it's impossible to look away now. Chef Pascal told me he wont let me not be the best. He said he to see it through that I fulfill every last ounce of potential that I have.
So, if I am going to do this- I'm really goona do this. I'm going to push harder than anyone else in every kitchen I step in, I am going to learn more, stay longer, clean better, run a little faster, pay more attention, listen closer, take more notes, and think faster than my competition. I've never really been a competitive person, but when I stepped foot into The Four Seasons kitchen for the James Beard Gala and guys younger than me were wearing Robuchon jackets doting Sous Chef inscriptions, I couldn't help but think I could do that too, and I will. I'm not going to Roberta's where the food is great and homey. I'm not going to work for a private chef where I could learn some things about how to cook in my kitchen. I'm going to do something greater. I asked one of Michael White's Chef de Cuisine if I could come in and stage one day to check out their kitchen. He handed me his card and said to email him some time. I turned around to walk away and quickly made a u-turn, "How about tomorrow?"
I got in there, worked faster and harder than I knew I could. I severely burnt my hand doing something stupid which I wont elaborate on, and within seconds was told to go juice 4 quarts of lemon juice. With my hand almost literally on fire, I ran downstairs and juiced a case of lemons in a machine where you must use your hands to force lemons onto a wildly spinning metal nub- only threatening the life of my wounded hand more. But I just kept thinking- the faster I do this, the more I get to see back upstairs. So I sprinted back up, ignored my blistered and throbbing hand and ate hoards of hand made pasta, some of the prettiest raw fish I've ever encountered, got instructions on how they salt bake their branzino, snacked on some apps, and truly kept thinking- I love this food. One of the line cooks was working on a pasta he wants to put on the menu. He cooked it off in the middle of service, handed it to chef and then chef gave him honest feedback, and a few suggestions so they could put it on the menu tomorrow. This is where I want to work. The learning, the support, the food, the people...the potential. They just picked up their second Michelin Star last month. In a kitchen, you are only as good as your teachers and when they are all ex-Eleven-Madison-Parkers, you're probably in good hands. I truly believe there's a reason why Michael White was cooking in the kitchen with Ducasse, TK, and Daniel. Even though his food hasn't been around as long as theirs, hasn't made as much of an impact as theirs- it will and I want to be a part of it.
What an epic week.
In the presence of culinary gods.
It's been a curious path, but this week stirred motivation I didn't know I had.
When school started, got an internship where I thought I wanted to be. But it turns out I was more in love with the concept of the restaurant than the food. I ate at both locations, and neither time was I blown away. It has a Michelin Star. I'm not dumb- I know the food is great, but for someone else. When I was trying to figure out what to do about my internship, someone said, if you don't want your bosses job, don't work there. It's hard to be motivated to learn about the food in the kitchen if you don't enjoy it as much as everyone else. I also never thought to aim my mark that high, I guess I never considered it. I never thought I'd have enough discipline or skill level necessary, but I'll change that. I learn the discipline and I'll get to whatever skill level I need to be at. I started thinking of the places I've eaten here where the food blew me away and I keep coming back to Michael White, but I never seriously considered it because I never thought I could be that serious of a cook. With the amount of encouragement I've gotten the past week, it's impossible to look away now. Chef Pascal told me he wont let me not be the best. He said he to see it through that I fulfill every last ounce of potential that I have.
So, if I am going to do this- I'm really goona do this. I'm going to push harder than anyone else in every kitchen I step in, I am going to learn more, stay longer, clean better, run a little faster, pay more attention, listen closer, take more notes, and think faster than my competition. I've never really been a competitive person, but when I stepped foot into The Four Seasons kitchen for the James Beard Gala and guys younger than me were wearing Robuchon jackets doting Sous Chef inscriptions, I couldn't help but think I could do that too, and I will. I'm not going to Roberta's where the food is great and homey. I'm not going to work for a private chef where I could learn some things about how to cook in my kitchen. I'm going to do something greater. I asked one of Michael White's Chef de Cuisine if I could come in and stage one day to check out their kitchen. He handed me his card and said to email him some time. I turned around to walk away and quickly made a u-turn, "How about tomorrow?"
I got in there, worked faster and harder than I knew I could. I severely burnt my hand doing something stupid which I wont elaborate on, and within seconds was told to go juice 4 quarts of lemon juice. With my hand almost literally on fire, I ran downstairs and juiced a case of lemons in a machine where you must use your hands to force lemons onto a wildly spinning metal nub- only threatening the life of my wounded hand more. But I just kept thinking- the faster I do this, the more I get to see back upstairs. So I sprinted back up, ignored my blistered and throbbing hand and ate hoards of hand made pasta, some of the prettiest raw fish I've ever encountered, got instructions on how they salt bake their branzino, snacked on some apps, and truly kept thinking- I love this food. One of the line cooks was working on a pasta he wants to put on the menu. He cooked it off in the middle of service, handed it to chef and then chef gave him honest feedback, and a few suggestions so they could put it on the menu tomorrow. This is where I want to work. The learning, the support, the food, the people...the potential. They just picked up their second Michelin Star last month. In a kitchen, you are only as good as your teachers and when they are all ex-Eleven-Madison-Parkers, you're probably in good hands. I truly believe there's a reason why Michael White was cooking in the kitchen with Ducasse, TK, and Daniel. Even though his food hasn't been around as long as theirs, hasn't made as much of an impact as theirs- it will and I want to be a part of it.
What an epic week.
2 comments:
awesome post. continue with that new attitude and you wont be stopped
Awesome
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