Sugarella

When you say the kumquat is curious, is that a personification or just a general observation?

What do they look like?

Your breakfasts sounds delicious.... too bad your average customer didn't want them. Just out of curiosity, how many diners can your restaurant hold, and are you in a city with a high population and high disposable income? Just wondering if demographics has a lot to do with it.

I've noticed people over the years are reluctant to talk literal money, especially because many people use their real names here. Perhaps its time to designate a particular forum host, a trustworthy one, where we could pm to them and they then reply to the post verbatim, leaving one's name off, essentially rendering the answer anonymous. Just a thought, as I've been curious about salaries too.

The Owner's response now appears to have been edited: I really like this Nick.

Sounds like you're intelligent and they feel a career in a kitchen would be a waste of that intelligence, but not so, if you want to own your own place later. Nobody can tell you what to do, but seeing as how you're already working in a kitchen and have been given a fair amount of responsibility, that'll go farther on a resume than a diploma will. Not to every employer, mind you, but certainly to many. A diploma doesn't mean you can cook on a line. There have been quite a few discussions on eG regarding culinary school, and the pros and cons from people who've gone. Here is one and here is another. There are many more. You mentioned going to CIA but bear in mind that is an incredibly expensive school, and many students think a community college would have done them just as well, given their work history. I think (and this is just my personal opinion here) yo should go to the hotel school while continuing to work in kitchens, then finish up with a quick community college course (6 months? 8 months?) to give you any basics you missed and round out your resume. The best advice I can give you is to not let anyone stifle or downplay your need for creativity in your career. I did for a while there and just did whatever I was told, and I was certainly very miserable for it. You don't want to end up in your 30's or 40's and feel like your life has been stolen from you by other people who "had your best interests in mind." Welcome to eGullet, by the way.

I googled the breakers.... WOW! Nice dining rooms! Not too much info about the brunch itself though..... could you describe it in a little further detail?

Is that $7 per person supposed to include your profit and your travel expenses and/or rentals and special purchases like cutlery/plates/napkins too? I don't mean to pee in your cheerios but I think it's time you do some serious number crunching...... .....and I agree with everything Tri2cook said.... the only advertising you'll be doing at a wedding is to the guests that are there, and they'll just expect the same pricing if they ever come to you. If you work for free, they'll just expect you to continue to do so. Then all you'll have is customers lined up who want to underpay you. Or worse, make you actually LOSE money. Don't feel like you're obligated to take a job because if you can't make a buck, there's no sense putting your name out there. I do wedding cakes.... believe me, I know these things. Boy do I EVER know these things.

I think you've already settled it Hiroyuki! I think the fact that you were born there and lived there all your life gives you a little more authority over someone who may have visited once....

Nope.... I think the /cheesevinegar/ceasar mix is more disgusting. Jakea.... what kind of restaurant are you in that accomodates such a ridiculous order? How are chefs supposed to accomodate these requests with everything else they've got to do? And if the manager isn't in how are servers supposed to know how to cost that item? The most complicated request I'll ever make is if I don't like their dressing selection I'll just ask for olive oil & lemon.... but a server can get me that themselves.

Just noticed this..... if your chocolates have a moist centre and you shrink wrap them when they're chilled, condensation will form on the chocolates, or rather between the chocolates and the plastic. Just FYI.

....especially if he isn't a m'am, and those are just "beer boobs." I agree. I haven't come up with a universal item that could go with a sandwich as easily as a salad or soup. For example, you mention a bread - I don't think I would want a slice of bread served in addition to my sandwich. I was thinking fancy cracker, but maybe its more of a salad - potato, pasta, fruit...whatever, but seasoned to be my style. ← I always want a pickle, but for the anti-pickle crowd you could try other items marinated in lieu of one, like diakon, carrot, mushrooms, etc. You can make all kinds of yummy things, and customers can get the choice of which side they'd like. Or even a mammoth stuffed olive. Think antipasti. I have to say I do really like the idea of a side of potato salad, too, though. A cookie?

Speaking of jerky.... I've been meaning to try making some but need a jumping off point. (Sorry I know this is in the wrong spot but I tried a search and couldn't find anything.) I know you marinate and/or dry rub it then dehydrate, but any idea what'll be the best cut of meat to use?

What a great thread.... very informative, to say the least. I did once read a sushi etiquette book from the library (don't have it anymore and the title and author escapes me, sorry) which commented on eating sushi with hands versus eating with chopsticks. The author equated sushi with chicken legs or pizza or ribs as eaten in north america..... with the hands is perfectly acceptable, unless you're in a formal setting, then a knife and fork is required. So I guess it all depends on how pedestrian you consider yourself. I know construction workers and the like in Japan eat rice right out of their bento box by making a scoop with their index and middle finger. Depends on the company you're in, I guess. I think part of the reason eating it with the hands in north america is considered a taboo is, well, have you ever seen the average person do it??!!! They usually end up with a soy soaked, rice riddled tablecloth after the first bite. Some 2 year olds are tidier eaters for cripes sake. Just my 2 cents for what it's worth. Edited for clarity.

Where in Toronto are they cooking with horse fat?

Black truffles, foie gras..... and spumante! Yeah, totally makes sense. A couple of suggestions for the salt as a finish: Make a pizza from leftover pulled coq au vin, sauteed mushrooms, and asiago cheese, finished with a drizzle of warmed yogurt as it comes out of the oven. A warm baby spinach and scallop salad, dressed with the scallop liquor. (Butter, a smidge of pork fat, and deglazed with white wine.)

I'd be too hungry to shop. I'd probably just cook the first person I see. .... With a ton of good red wine.

In addition to what the others have said about working from home, you also need to consider that a lot of reception venues won't even allow you to deliver a cake these days without health dept. certification in hand. They could lose their insurance over that. Having said that, I've participated in discussions over many years on other boards regarding this same issue, and while I've never accepted referrals from vendors who expect to be paid for the referral, the general consensus among many others that do was that 15% is the absolute maximum commission that's reasonable for that sort of thing. Then there are other variables.... will the customer be meeting directly with you or will you just be given the order to deliver to the shop, who will then deal with delivery? How will you be paid and who will pay you? You have to factor in your administrative time in dealing with these things as part of your overall cost. The general consensus, as I remember, was that the whole thing is generally a bad deal overall. Too time consuming, poor communication, too much stress... At the end of the day, IF you do it, you should charge your regular price to the shop, then the shop marks up the cake price to the customer, in this case with my above example, 15%. If they mark the cakes up too high then they can't sell them, so they'll have to lower their markup. Don't lower your own price..... wholesale one item at a time and you'll soon go broke. Hope that helps.

Is outside in NM going to be room temp? What time of year is the wedding? How long will the reception be? What are the local health requirements regarding keeping standing foods hot or cold? If you don't have the facilities to do either for hours on end, I think your best bet is to go with preserved/cured proteins to be on the safe side, like chorizo, etc. But even potato salad, like she wants, wouldn't be safe for a long time in the heat. Do you know anyone locally that could lend you the equipment you need? Whatever you do, hesitate to quote a price after you talk to her and let her know you'll get back to her. Because it's your first time, you're likely to forget to factor in costs like bags and bags of ice or gas costs or and rentals you might need, or a million other little things that'll come up and eat away at your profits. By the way.... yesterday you were looking for a sign.... I think you just got whacked upside the head with one. Way to go.... hope the orders keep pouring in.

I think they're obsessed and consumed by their own creativity, they're original thinkers, they're "big thinkers", and they have the courage to go for it. That is just adorable, Jim.

Best of luck. I think you should blog your first year for us, if you don't mind.....

I have to disagree strongly on this point. Not having what it takes and being realistic are two different things. If you're daydreaming about being a chef then you're in love with it, and that passion is what it takes. I'm not a chef, I'm a pastry chef/confections artist and I've been doing it part time for a decade, completely self taught. I'm very good at it, but still unable to do it fully for a living at this point. I do crappy day jobs I seriously hate just to keep myself financially afloat, and I'm still always broke because my small side business usually ends up costing me money. But I knew my own personality well enough back when I started to know I could not handle working for someone else, especially not in a kitchen (done it in brief stints before) and I also knew the business well enough to know you have to be very high up on the totem pole if you don't want your creativity stifled, at least with what I do. I also knew that pastry school then working in pastry would have had me spending the next 10 or 20 years likely in debt. If I had to do it all over again, I'd have gone to school for something interesting enough that I could stand doing, worked this past decade making a decent living, building a nestegg and buying a home, etc. and setting myself up financially, all the while pursuing pastry as a side thing the way I have been, and then at this point have likely been able to take the leap and do it full time. At this point I'm stuck and frustrated, because I still have to work these crappy jobs. If you have the opportunity for financial stability through something else for a time, believe me, it's worth more than you think. Money isn't about buying stuff, it's about buying yourself leverage, it's about buying yourself less stress. And believe me as well, this passion you have for food is NOT going to go away, so don't worry that you'll lose it if you don't jump right in. You'll probably get a hundred different responses from folks here about what you should do, and likely none of them will be exactly the right fit for you. But I hope with some advice and lots of "Gee I wish I'd done it this way" you can piece together what'll be right for you. Best of luck.

^^ Thanks.

Ok.... I've got one..... When eating Ebi, where is the correct place to discard of the tail, onto your platter or onto the side of your soy plate?

Are there more drawers underneath that drawer? See if you can remove those and get under there, reach in behind the stuck drawer (there's usually a little bit of space) and see if you can possibly maneuver something long and flexible into the drawer to push the handle down. (I'm thinking crumpled up metal coathanger, flyswatter...) Good luck.