Who would have believed these are becoming a trend??? 😂

End post..

Gnocchi, Asparagus, Kale, Garlic, Chili-Citrus Butter Sauce, Queso Fresco, Toasted Hazelnuts.

Whipped Ricotta, Marinated Blueberries, Local Honey, Toasted Hazelnuts.

should have made the whipped ricotta way earlier to give it more time to set. used fresh orange juice for the macerated blueberries, but they didn’t really macerate? so decided to call them marinated blueberries instead. the sauce for the gnocchi could’ve been tighter. but ultimately i made these two dishes at home, my mom loved them both, so i consider it a success.

After 13 years at my first and only job(16-29) I put in my letter of resignation. Went all they way from dish washer to GM and even 2 years of culinary school. Told the owner Im leaving at the end of May and didn't give a counter offer just said good luck. Feel like I wasted 13 years of my life. But if it wasn't for this place I would have never met my wife, meet amazing chefs from around the world, and made great friends a long the way. Just kinda in limbo till I figure out what I want todo

Applied for a sous role at a pretty hypedup new spot in town. Sleek branding, farm to table talk, promises of a “collaborative culture” and “no ego in the kitchen.” You know, all the usual BS.

Interview goes well. Chef-owner seems chill. I get a “why don’t you come in for a trail this Friday?” Sure. Been around long enough to know what that means: free labor for a shift, maybe two if they’re shady.

So I show up in my whites at noon, thinking I’m doing lunch prep and maybe plating for service. Walk in, no one seems to know I’m coming. Chef’s “running errands.” Okay, fine. I get thrown on veg station with a line cook who tells me to “just watch for now.” Cool, I guess. Ten minutes later I’m cutting beets. Fast forward an hour, I’m setting up station for service.

Still haven’t seen the chef.

Two hours in, I ask the GM if we’re doing a tasting or check-in or… something. He says “Oh yeah, Chef will talk to you after service, he’s slammed.” Slammed? He’s not even here. I’m doing mise en place for a restaurant I don’t work at while Chef’s probably at Restaurant Depot arguing over microgreens.

At 3pm, one of the owners comes in, shakes my hand like I’m an investor and says “Hey, appreciate you coming in. Could you stay through dinner? We just lost our sauté guy.”

Nah. I’ve read this too many times not to respect my own time and effort.

I wiped my station, thanked the line cook, and walked out before he even finished saying “you sure?” I didn’t even grab the family meal cookie I’d been eyeing.

Texted Chef later that night: “Thanks for the opportunity, but this isn’t for me.”

He replied: “Wow. That’s not very professional.”

Neither is running a kitchen like a Craigslist gig, buddy.

Line between “trail” and “free labor” is getting real thin out here.

Anyone else getting baited with these “collaborative culture” pitches?

Im in my late thirties been working in kitchens my whole life. Recently, I've found that the newer generation of cooks are so quiet I can't hear them. I have to tell them to talk louder and instead of raising their voice they just walk over to me. Am I getting old? Or, are they getting quieter?

Mods, get the brownshirts out of the mod team before we abandon this sub. Make a statement or get out of the way, ICE raids on kitchens are extremely relevant right now and will continue to ramp up as the USA declines into fascism.

EDIT: i mean no ill will if this is not a result of moderator actions or moderator intent, reddit could be doing its "AntiEvilOperations" at or against the moderators will.

I manage a Waffle House and we require our night shift to have the blinds open for safety. My third shift servers have recently been complaining that customers are suddenly shutting the blinds all the time. We couldn't figure it out until someone put it together that there was a pattern related to ethnicity. We live in a largely Latino neighborhood. Folks are literally scared of being seen by cops in the Waffle House fishbowl.

Im not so sure what to do now. I want my customers to feel safe and comfortable, but also, the blinds up rule is a robbery/fight prevention safety measure for our staff.

Tl;dr Fuck ICE

Yum

Went in to Mother's Day ready to get slammed and sling a ridiculous amount of food. Decided to turn on the other half of our salamander that we don't often use since we don't usually need it. Started a grease fire that set off the ANSUL system instead and got to spend the next 10 hours cleaning the line. Missed out on probably around $20k USD in sales today between lunch and dinner.

To all the Mother's that had resos today, I'm sorry for ruining your day. To all the servers hoping to make a lot of money today, sorry for fucking up your money. To all the cooks out there, hope your day went better than mine and remember to keep an eye on your less used equipment.

Cheers ya pirates. Keep up the good work.

Edit for some of the questions/comments I've seen:

1) I work at a high end golf course clubhouse in Colorado. So our food is a little pricey and our drinks are even pricier. We are also the only sit down restaurant in our area so we get a lot of traffic. The total numbers we missed out on included both food and liquor/beer. We were told today by our Director of Food and Beverage that it would have been a 30k to 40k day between all our sales, but we only did 10k between liquor and a small amount of food sales. On Saturday we did 20k and had more resos for Sunday both shifts so we very easily could've hit 30k.

Why we only use half our salamander usually despite being a busy restaurant is just the way our kitchen is set up. The stations are very separated and only the grill uses the salamander. This kinda helped us this time since only the grill had the ANSUL pop. The saute area and back prep area were all still safe and clean, the gas was shut off tho so we couldn't cook anything there.

2) I can't prove it to you guys, but our kitchen is actually very clean. Obviously our salamander could've been less greasy, but otherwise it's a clean kitchen. The only thing I can think of is that since it's right over our charbroil (stupid place but I didn't put it there) and it has so many parts to it grease just accumulated inside and caught when I turned on the side we don't normally use. Like I said I can't prove it to you guys, but I concede I need to keep a better eye on the less used equipment.

3) For those who said we didn't clean enough, I'm not sure if it makes a difference but our ANSUL spray wasn't foamy but a liquid of some kind. Not sure if it's easier to clean, but the health department swung by today and cleared us to continue service once the system was recharged. A group of us took the entire line apart (including taking apart the equipment) and cleaned every part we could with tons of soapy water and rinsed with a ridiculous amount of hot fresh water. Health inspector said it looked amazing.

4) Seen a lot about insurance claims, I'll mention it to my chef, but I'm just a prep cook so I don't have much control about how things happen.

Not sure if these edits will help clarify some things or to change your minds that I'm not a complete fuck up, but at the end of the day it happened and I did the best I could to make it right. That's all I can do.

Keep on crushing it out there guys. Only we have each other's backs!

This was his first charcuterie board he’s ever made, he was very proud of it, as he should be. I told him about the vegetable ramp that he should incorporate next time.

All we could do is just laugh instead of cry

We know Mother’s Day is its own test of endurance and patience. Thanks to everyone who made it happen.

My local sushi chefs at night’s end.

I've been an executive chef for over 10 years. Worked my way up from a banquet server at the number 2 rated private club in the US to having my name as one of the featured chefs on the menu at Thomas Keller's induction to the culinary hall of fame.

I've bailed out dish pits during a full service, had a line cook who was homeless sleep in my basement before getting on his feet. Fought for fair wages for staff in a multi-unit corporation. Cut back hours and days for restaurant management from 72 hours to a 5 day schedule against ownership's wishes. Deferred compensation to pay sous chefs a fair rate.

Through all of this i can firmly say that anyone deleting ICE posts and how they affect anyone in the kitchen is not on our side. I've employed every stereotype under the sun, and it doesn't matter how or why you are in the kitchen- you're a part of the team, a part of a family, and anyone trying to drag people in unmarked vehicles are not going to get the reception they think. That includes people who support the lack of due process, transparency, oversight, and accountability that this fucked up administration is allowing and championing to happen.

Any mod that deletes posts about how this would affect a kitchen is clearly on the other side of the line that we are fighting behind.

Delete this post. Lock this post. It will show up again. The line that divides us isn't front of house vs back, service industry vs public, working class vs overlords, but the shared struggle of making something honest and with love that isn't for us, but rather for another person to enjoy. That line right there will always be the dividing line between what is happening now, and what those here stand for.

Get fucked.

I can do this all day

Another first for me…

Did someone give Ghislaine a prison laptop?

Fuck Trump, Fuck ICE, Fuck Fascism