January Update

So I guess I'm still on the one post a month fix. ha. Like always I havn't had much to write about. I've gotten the wheels moving on a few things so hope stuff will change

As far as school goes, its pretty much my last semester before being able to graduate with an associates in Culinary Management. Its been a hell of a journey that technically started in 2001. And it will be a holy shit moment when its over. I originally was going to take the final two classes I needed to also graduate with a degree in Baking and Pastry arts, but I changed my mind. (again). Currently I'm taking the class that I need to take in concordence with my co-op work requirement, then the second half of the semester I'm taking a lab on "Culinary Competitions" and then a lecture on being a Personal/Private Chef. The Personal/Private Chef class is self explanatory. Its a side of the industry that is sometimes over looked. Culinary Competitions is one I went back and forth on. In the grand scheme of things I'm not sure if I feel compelled to enter alot of competitions in the future, BUT in theory it will hopefully help with my speed and organization which in the long run will help. So hope I can get ahead that way.

The work situation has gone back and forth for a while. I ended up not getting the job at JW (The hotel I mentioned last entry). It sucked, I'm over it. blah blah blah. A few weeks ago I actually got a job at a breakfast/lunch place that my family goes to alot. But that fell through too. Not so much due to anything I did or didn't do. Mostly because the owner/kitchen manager wasn't sure if she could give me full time enough of a schedule. She also felt that it would be hard to give me one on one time and that as small as the restaurant was (both size wise and business wise), that I'd be in the way just doing prep. So I amicable quit (she gave me the option to if I wanted). Finally I (hopefully) hit the jackpot by landing an (unpaid) internship at a place called San Chez Bistro.

San Chez is a Spanish Tapas restaurant here in GR that is owned by one of my teachers. I had inquired about the possibility of interning before I got the job at the breakfast/lunch place. Then when it fell through my teacher said if I was still interested to email the Executive Chef. I did, we met, and then I walked out with an internship. That starts next Friday so it should be interesting.

Currently I have kinda crappy hours at The Square. I'm supposed to start getting more hours next week (the week of the 25th). I'm pushing for him to at least give me 24 b/c its the only way I can afford to stay in GR AND work an unpaid internship. So we'll see.

So thats a bit of a brief update on life. Nothing exciting. Hopefully the internship will give me a few interesting things to write about.

The obligatory month update?

Yeah, I rarely post, I suck. ha.

But my life hasn't been exciting lately. Theres only so much I can write about my less than exciting school life other than the fact that I'm essentiall done with all my required classes.

I only have to take one more class for the required 240 hrs Co-Op work experience required by the state of Michigan. Which was part of the reason why I was checking out NYC. Unfortunately THAT fell through due to the cost of living out there (even with living with my relatives it would've been crazy).

On that note I had an interview at what probably is the best place in Grand Rapids to work at. Like most places I worked that I mention in the blog it will stay unnamed. But it's pretty much the only 4 Diamond Hotel group in Grand Rapids. I had my first interview with the HR guy of the hotel group last week. And then tomorrow I have a second interview with the chef of the hotel the job is at. So thats exciting, yet also intimidating.

The more I crash and burn, the more I have a slight fear of failure. On the one hand I like it because it pushes me to work my hardest, yet I'd just like to be able to work and not worry that things are going FUBAR and they'll let me go. Just once I'd like to be able to have someone fully willing to push me to be the best I can.

Luckily its a pretty entry level job. I'd pretty much be one of the cooks who cook for the staff, and then help with banquets when needed. So on the one hand I don't think there'd be near as much pressure on me as if I was working in one of the restaurants, but I'm still going to be learning to cook the same quality stuff. And the HR guy said, that its also one of those things that if we get caught up and cleaned up that its very easy for me to get cross trained. So we'll see how that goes.

On another note: a few blog entries ago I talked about trying to eat/drink healthier. I'm slowly making progress. Trying to give up pop is harder than I thought. I'm kind of trying to take it in steps. First by cutting out Mountain Dew (again) then slowly cutting out the rest of the pop. So we'll see.

Eating wise is kind of harder. I don't have the inclination or need really to find out what's healthy. I spend so much of my life being a picky eater and now that I'm starting to like more foods I tend to eat/cook whatever I like and want. I'm too busy enjoying eating to care. ha. So we'll see.

Hope to have updates on the work situation soon

NYC or BUST!!

Dear everyone who still checks this occasionally,

sorry I suck at updating this. With the lack of anything interesting to write about I'd been neglecting this. :(

On a happy note: I'M GOING TO NYC FOR THE WEEKEND!

Long story short, my online friend/culinary inspiration/psuedo-mentor Steve Mendoza (look him up on facbook/myspace) is the Executive Chef of a restaurant called Las Chicas Locas, a while back I inquired about the possibility of interning with him. He said he'd be open to it and discussion began. My parents being my parents, had the obvious concerns about me going out so they said they would be more open to it if I were to go out for a few days to work and what not.

So now here I go. I have relatives that live in North Haledon, NJ which is about 45 min away from the city. So I'm staying with them this weekend (and will also be staying with them for the internship). I'm flying out tomorrow. Thurs I'm just taking it easy and checking a few things out around their house and then Friday and Saturday I'm working.

Due to my recent past experiences with restaurant work I'm slightly nervous, but at the same time I'm excited. Steve is familar with crash and burn experiences and my general lack of experience so he knows what to expect.

Unfortunately I won't have time to hit up anything else in town. But I suppose that gives me something to look forward to when/if I do move out there.

Being healthier

So I have a new goal right now. To be a little bit more healthier in the way I eat/drink/whatever.

My parents keep getting on my case about being more healthier and excercising more; and since god knows I probably won't be going to work out on a regular basis anytime soon I figured I should work on my eating habits.

The first is to try and almost totally cut pop (or soda) out. As some people know I've managed to almost quell my desire for Mountain Dew. I gave in a few weeks ago, but thats mostly because I let one of my room mate Zigs' friends borrow Season 4 of Lost on DVD and she bought me a 6 pack as thanks. I figure if I can do it for Mountain Dew, then I can do it for the rest of the pop world. I rarely have pop at home anymore. All I have is Lemonade and Water (and being the typical upper 20 male: beer). School is the hard part. I've been bringing a water bottle to school (let me say that being a culinary student makes it easy to almost always have ice watter) but I still give in a bit. In the grand scheme of things, I think I'll still drink pop when I go out. But for the most part I want to cut it all out.

Eating is another story. I don't think I've been eating that healthy. Actually let me rephrase that. In terms of the fact that I don't eat alot of sweets I do okay. In terms of the fact that I havn't been eating the most balanced of diets in terms of getting all of my food groups I've been sucking. Lately my goal has been to eat more veggies which I've been doing a good job at. The last couple times I've gotten groceries I've stocked up. I even have given in and gotten canned peas.

Also I've been trying to eat three meals a day. My mom says something about how eventually that will help my metabolism. So I've been trying to have a semi-set schedule. I bought cereal and milk and have scarfing down a bowl or two before school. AT school is kind of up in the air. Thankfully Tues-Thurs I have Art and Bev's to go to (aka the cafe type setting that a class runs) and then Dinner I try to make something at home. So we'll see how that works out.

While I may not be running in a path that will cause me to lose alot of weight right off the bat, I would like to hope that I'm eating in a more healthy manner. And to at least get as much of this healthy manner in before I run full blast into working in the food industry and fuck it all up. heh.

So we'll see how it goes

Wow. Didn't see that coming

I have now lost two restaurant jobs because of my lack of experience. Long story short I went into work at Wildfire on Wednesday. Chef Ray pulled me aside and pretty much said he had to let me go. I guess they got a bit over zealous in hiring and due to my lack of experience they didn't want to always have to stop to instruct me. Ray actually said he tried to talk them into keeping me, but Chef Jim (Who's actually the executive chef, Ray was the Executive Sous Chef) told him to let me go.

Its a bummer. Especially since I didn't even have time to screw anything up this time. heh. Even though I didn't see it coming, I'm not fully surprised. There was actually a little voice in the back of my head telling me to look out for it. But I had hope this time would be different. IF anything I'm bummed at not getting the opportunity to work under some knowledgeable chefs.

But I'll live, I've worked in this business long enough to know you can't take things personally and that you just have to pick yourself up, wipe yourself off and then continue on. Everybody who I've talked to in depthly about this who's familiar with the business has said its happened to them. And Chef Dunn even went on to say that occasionally Chef's ego's get too inflated and they forget that once upon a time they were the guy with no experience needing someone to teach and mentor them.

Which brings me to my next point. As a bit of a result of this I came to appreciate even more those people in the industry who I admire. No, not the Bourdain's and the Symon's of the world (who I still do admire). But the ones like Chef Dunn, and Chef Whitman, and my often mentioned online friend Chef Steve out in NYC. The ones who are there willing to give advice and will let me bounce thoughts of them. In an industry that is all about having a mentors and/or people to look up to, those are the type of people who you don't want to take for granted.

And on a brighter note with all this. I may have actually put the wheels in motion for a possibile internship after I graduate. But thats all i'm going to say about it until I get more of my ducks in a row and deal with all the odds and ends it would entail to get things figured out.

Revelation

So I think I know whats its like to have a job you love. Or maybe its just the fact that I don't really want to work in a retirement home anymore. (no offense to anyone from the Square who may see this, but it's always been my goal to get back to working in restaurants.)

Seriously, I'm bummed out that I don't get to work at the Grille again till Wednesday.

I sent an email to Chef Ray giving him my school schedule (and the one day a week i'm still working at the Square) so he would know my exact availability and more or less said I'm willing to come in whenever he needs me if I'm not at school or work.

While I am totally aware of the fact that I may not become the next big Rockstar chef, I'm totally at a point where I want to just learn as much as I can and just work as much as possible. Like I said the other day, I'm not trying to make too much a big of deal that I'm working for someone who used to work for Thomas Keller. It would be too easy for someone in a similar predicament to get a big head about it. But this is one of those moments I'm staying humble about and appreciating for the experience it brings.

I'm all for using opportunities like this and for knowing someone like my online-friend Steve Mendoza who is now the Executive Chef at Lac Chicas Locas to gain more opportunities in the future. Its also something that I can't take for granted. Once again I'm now thankful that I have a mentor/friend in Steve and will hopefully have a mentor in Chef Ray who are both humble and willing to help and give advice.

A far step up from previous places I've worked (*cough*Graydon's*cough*)

Holy Shit moment #1 + the new job

This past week I've had a couple Holy Shit moments. This covers the first one and since it has to do with the new job I can tie the two together.

Work at the Grille has been okay so far. I haven't really done much. I mean, we're not open yet so in retrospect there's not much prep work that needs to be done. Scratch that. This past Tuesday was a practice day for both servers and cooks so some food got cooked, Wednesday was "Friends and Family night" then we had VIP events Thursday and Friday. So yeah food did get cooked, but not in the quantities that they will get cooked once the Grille opens. So even though I did go in, there wasn't much to do by the time I got there. Which brings up a scary flashback to Graydon's of me exasperatedly standing around being told to find something to do and not knowing what.

The bright side of that is Chef Ray totally picked up that I have a bit of a deer in headlights complex with being there. I mean I made it clear I haven't worked in a restaurant in about 3 years. Likewise he also realized that for about 3 days he had me come in when there's been nothing to do and I think he did feel kind of bad. So he promises I'll get more hours when we get busier.

Otherwise the people I work with seem to be pretty nice. Ironically despite being a prep cook I've mostly worked nights and have started to get to know the night time guys. Although I think my normal hours are supposed to be mornings on the weekends and then one night a week. So its going to be a bummer not getting to work with them as much (although I'm sure the daytime crew is pretty cool too.) So yeah, that's that.

The holy shit moment came when we were having a little kitchen meeting before working on my first day. Both Chef Jim (the executive chef) and Chef Ray (who I thought was the Executive chef, but I guess isn't) were both talking about what places they worked and their history and what not. But anyway, Chef Jim has mostly done corporate chef jobs but has more prominently done work at the McCormick Place and the Sears Tower at Chicago. According to him, nothing beats doing a 3 banquets for like a million people in 24 hours. Chef Ray, has previously worked up at Tapawingo in the Northern part of Michigan. But here's the kicker, in the past he's also worked at Trio under Grant Achatz and at the French Laundry. Seriously, it can't get more epic than that. I mean despite what you think about the restaurants, those are like two of the most highly acclaimed chef's in the country. And my boss used to work for them.

At first I had a bit of a breakdown. I mean, here I am, a person who to all extents and purposes isn't very experienced. And I got a job at what if probably going to be Grand Rapids next best restaurant. But then it hit me something that was said at orientation. That we were hired just as much for our personalities as we were for our experience. So if Chef Ray saw potential in me, then who am I to doubt it. I have my chance, now I just have to work my ass off so I don't fuck it up.

Cheers to that.