mirepoix

Via the prolific Jon Bonne comes this link to a rather interesting conversation starter on restaurant reviews in 140 characters or less. I was silently hoping someone would call them “micro reviews” so I could come back and yell at them, but I guess people are smarter than I hoped. Good example of smart? The [...]

Back in the good old days, before Top Chef and Throwdown with Bobby Flay, life was much less complicated. The front of the house consisted of bartenders, sommeliers, servers, captains, bussers, and a host and Maitre d’, the back contained dishwashers, prep- and line-cooks, chefs the partie, sous chef, and chef. And above all that [...]

Here you have it. The question most asked (after “how do I become a chef”). “What’s the worst thing about going to C-School?”.

Third Wind happens after the weeds. Things went crazily pear-shaped an hour ago, a screaming Chef, a flustered Sous, annoyed lines, and a shaking commis (who knows, darn well, that shit always rolls downhill), and hectic reconciliation of failures, mishaps, forgotten mise, broken tools, spoiled food, and angry servers and customers. Sweat is running, ovens [...]

If my own visitor tracking is correct, more people in the world are interested in becoming a Chef themselves than anything else on this site. Which is, let’s face it, exciting and scary at the same time. On one hand, there used to be a time when “I am a Chef” was answered with “my [...]

Recently I’ve spent some time working with an insanely intense and very, very, dedicated group of people with a goal. That goal, believe it or not, is to bring cattle trail, Western, inspired cooking into the Bay Area. A great, and commendable, effort – albeit it sounded easier than it turned out to be. We [...]