Jakea222

I can tell you of a couple studies close. I worked at a University Med center before cooking - We were tracking "staph" infections on stethescopes of nurses and docs. We had also discovered that people who for some odd reason had brought thoses small suitcases with wheels and dragging them - the wheels had tested positive for all kinds of nasty stuff. I was part of a saftey committe that was looking into both of these. We had implemented the policy of the sterilizations of itmes like stethescopes etc, but the suitcase thing was very troublesome. I did see a study that the most common area of "filth" was not a pay phone - but the floors in the airport lines! So that can wake me up with as many international people....oh well - as much food as people eat at the all you can eat buffets it is hard to understand how any of us is still alive....

I think it has something to do with putting up with people. Today for instance we had a slower day - but the special order function key (special request food) was 70% of the food. When server has to key all that crap in, the chef/cook in the back has to re read the order 10 times, ask the server what the heck it is that the person is wanting - it is a stress like no other. I used to be in the executive world or coat and tie. When I changed careers and went to culinary school the stress of first paying lots of money to cook - but then get graded was tremendous. In the restaraunt world you screw up and people don't come back - so trying to make people happy is very hard to do - as one chef told me at his place - his menu was only a guide - people could take ingredients from 10 different places and do what they wanted - he was on lots of meds - had a liquor stash - but he was making some money!

Thanks Ravelda - I was hoping to get some stories like this started instead meander dude there got a little more serious than I wanted. I did hear back from an exec chef at a club that has 35 yrs of experience in NY and Hollywood and he said to get the servers attention from talking to each other about the "acting" job they tried out for, he would throw things at them. Nothing to hurt them but chuck something right between the conversation and it would make them jump. He also said that food would be waiting for them to finish conversations - firing them was no use, the pool of servers were all the same - very few professional service staff - I thought that was interesting.

this was no real big deal other than a blow up over something stupid and I have gotten chastized for bing sick on the line. You guys don't get into many professional operations. Right now the exec chef is out, I am struggling to maintain. 2 line cooks down and a part time dishwasher down - that leaves me, one line cook and on part time to run the place. The issue was over a saute and did I feel bad about it - yep cause he is a nice guy and we are the 2 typically on the nights that are going to be slow that we get slammed, this was no more than him over riding MY decision after I had already questioned my line guy - the line guy showed me and I saw that they were fine. He conitinued on harassing me and I told him to get the f--- out of the kitchen if he thought he needed it better....the dish did not come back! So you guys that are clobbering me - chill out. I just wanted to know how many Ramsay Rants you guys have done. Many people do not feel bad about it - I did - sick or healthy....as far as me being sick on the line - i have had all of my shots Heps etc....most illegals carry lots of nasty little parasites from central america - I hope you think about that next time instead of the guy back in the back with 102 degree fever and JUST coughing......Ha look em up it is even scarier. I did and it still gives me the willies!

a kitchen does not stop because the chef is sick - if you think it does - I have news for you. Don't watch Gordon Ramsays kitchen nightmares. I wash very often, always cover my mouth and while I have no way of controlling fever - wear gloves for just about everything instead of just RTEs and the guests don't care as long as they get the food they ordered in 10 or under. As far as the saute was concerned - I ok'd them to go and to get second guessed by a server, should piss off all cooks. Last time I checked I had a degree and experience to know what is and isn't correct.

The waiter -the food order was only half up - I had 6 covers and 4 were in the window and finishing the sauce for the one and the steak - MED WELL needed 30 seconds more...he was just being an a-- - as usual

I did jus tell him to get the hell out of the kitchen - he did!

So the other night I had the terrible experience of working sick - 102 degree fever, coughing my head off and wondering if the clock could go any slower. The last reservation came in, only to find out they were not dressed improperly and were sent home to change (Country Club Rules) The order finally comes in and me and my line guy start banging it out. No real complication just 5 minutes of work for 2 guys like us. When the annoying FoH guy comes in and tells me the onions are not saute'd enough - now to back this up a minute - my line guy is learning english and doing very well, but I stopped as he was doing that plate and read the ticket again to make sure he heard or re-read the ticket. He even showed me the saute - I ok'd it - he plated it and it went into the window for the final 2 plates to go up. When the annoying idiot tells me they need to be cooked! - My tollerance for people is usually laid back - but it hit a nerve. I told him it met my qualification and he back talked me again - I told him if he didn't like the way the Exec Sous and the best line cook we have don't meet his need he could get his fat a-- back and do it - if not get the ---- out of my kitchen. How many Gordon Ramsays eppisodes have you ever had - this was my first - it felt good and bad all at the same time. My line guy was happy that I defended his cooking ability - but still bothers me some....- any good stories friends!

Those numbers looked nice - I wish I could work for you. 150-200 1 sous 1 line and d/w, sometimes 1 cook

Holy Cow! Thanks a ton - I have already ordered it. I appreciate it - I spelled it wrong no wonder!

OK I know this is a funny request, but I am looking for this book that a looked through a dozen time and now that I am ready to buy it can't find it or remeber th title. The front cover has a chef that looks as is he is flying accross the front - I thought the title was Gastronaught - but have not had any luck in a search. It is a kind of history book that talks about recipes from long ago and dinners from kings etc....It is driving me crazy! Anybody have a clue! I know you are saying what a screw ball, but man it is driving me nuts...

I grew up fishing in Davis and the Canaan Valley - not much there. At the foot of the hill is a couple of places - can't remember the name - they have a lake/pond right beside the place and it is right on themain road heading towards the lodge - you can't miss it - as far as anything else - NOT Much.

I think we have gotten off topic - the question is more how do you treat the person you have that you hear is looking for a job - not interviewing candidates and what they tell you while you are talking to them - and I have to say I have the freedom to job jump and if someone is treating me like sh-- I hope I am not called a "liar" for looking for better circumstances - jeez I hop I never have to explain any holes in my career life to you. But the question still is - how do you treat someone you hear is looking to leave?

once again here we are. You can get a great education wherever you go - it is what you make of it. For some reason in this field the non grads flip off the grads which i don't get. I have a degree from culinary and ivy league - I guess that make me double bad. look culinary schools give you lots of basics and gives you and opportunity to screw up without getting yelled at too badly and not near as bad as you would on a line somewhere. They are for the most past designed to build up your skills from a foundation on. I went to the big bad cia - not because it was the best in the world - but I am an older student that really felt like I needed to hit the best for a resume build, but also for contacts. The CIA has been huge since I have been out. Even the couple of people that hate culinary schools have to say well a cia grad - yeah they think they know it all, a--holes, or whatever - me I am humble - had 2 jobs in3 years. Just about have the Exec Chef convinced I am doing right especailly since the members love me food. I am in it for the food, not to whine about he came up through the ranks - he went to JW or FCI - give me a break we all are passionate about food, low paid for the most part - long hot hours with people ordering stuff like a hot dog caesar salad - so anyway you lok at it schools are ver good - look into ways of getting ENDOWED scholarships - these monies are specifically for a group of people - specific meaning a female from Osh Kosh with blue eyes that wants to make wedding cakes....yep that stuff is there you just have to look for it --good luck

Oh yeah I support everyone - the last place I worked the Exec Chef told the dishwasher/stewart he would always be this and it really pissed me off. I had many conversations with him and told him to go to school and do anything he wanted - the exec chef was pissed at me - the guy ended up taking a class while I was still there amd when I left I heard he walked out one night and is graduating with a 4.0 - so I think it very imporant to "nudge" employees and hey getting them back would even be better....

I am with you - I work at a golf club and yes they all come in at one time - I still don't know how the guys that have assigned tee times at different times all come in at the same time to eat. Some days it will be a nice pace and then others you run out of plates! Most of the time you can't tell when it is even gonna happen to hire a swing shifter. I did read above about an expediter. Our GM is always on call for me. We have had 100 people at the same time for lunch where slowing it down is not really an option. We have nice food, but 10-15 minute turn arounds. He is a pro F/B guys so he knows what to look for. He can see through the pass what we have going on and to ask me -do you have a salmon down or a whatever - it has been a huge help. The other times I have been pushed is a late evening where nothing was scheduled and have 20 walk in at the same time. I just work as I can work - I am not slow but - we have a couple of plates that take extra effort and I have 86d them just to stay above drowning at that 15 minute and over mark. That particular time I was running the entire line and just saw no way to have anything come up together with that one dish....but bang away at it is all I can tell you - I do tell the servers to get the hell away from the pass and to talk about "the game" away from the line so my crew can concentrate. NEVER send anything out wrong. Take an extra 10 seconds - it could mean that plate is going to a person that knows everyone and can sink you...

Situation - first off I come from the non food world first. I spent 12 yrs as a white collar exec before finding my passion for food. It was not uncommon for execs to look for jobs, but the minute it was known to the company 9 times out of 10 they went ahead and released you with 2 weeks pay --- My question is - If you have an employee like a Sous Chef looking for a job and you find out through the grape vine of exec chefs, how do you handle - do you work em until they give notice - let em go early - make them clean out the grease trap with a dixie cup --- what????

I picked up a Coastal Living Cookbook the other day. It is a magazine I guess - it was on a sale rack and I was a little taken aback by the recipes - they are really good and I have used 3 so far at the club - well - I tweaked them to meet my need but a good coastal cooking book. I also picked up a Europe's Master Chefs - it was also on sale but had some really good French recipes - the pics are amazing and the methods are very upscale chef level - not your home cook kind of book.

NY in any business is tough and yeah 8-14/hr is what I was looking at before my wife landed a job in the South and I follwed her. But Ny is crazy and I don't know how anyone affors to live and work - buddy of mine - sorry big man - a CIA grad is Exec Sous at Morimotos and he was is one of the sole guys left after the open and he started making 10/hr and now Exec Sous and sad to say I have not heard form him in a while but he was pulling 70-80hr weeks while that place got off the ground - he could be in the gutter now - but hey why do any of us do what we do - insanity or passion

Just take your time in you decision. I have jumped in a couiple of times now and can kick myself and chaulk it up to a learning experience - A little "green" to this world coming from the frontal assault world - chefs that you call boss are 10 times more likely to be threatend by new ideas or throw you under the bus in a heartbeat - so just be careful

Nice list - I would ask for any openings but I am a CIA trained current Exec Sous - Ha - know you hate alums = great work though and I do enjoy your information that you share...have a nice day

You said - A degree from Cornell is one of the most valuable lifetime assets one could have. A diploma from CIA means that one still doesn't know how to cook. Funny I can cook and cook pretty well - it is that jello thing I still wonder about - comparing 2 different programs - both are extremely valuable - a degree from anywhere is valuable. I have a degree from UNC Chapel Hill and a CIA degree - funny how I consider both to be lifetime assets and everywhere I have interviewed in the past or cooked for competition or a job I have done well. What is all of this hostility towards the CIA or really culinary schools? People that don't have a school diploma seem to pick on the ones that do and the ones that do seem to pick on CIA and JW - can't we all just get along - we are food people for crying out loud

They are ok - I am slowly getting these WS books that are rather large but talk more about the areas. France - Tuscany - US - Mexico - eyc - I am really getting into geographic cooking. I have been trying to speak some spanish ( I learned French long ago - no help now) with my lione cooks - El Salvadoran and Honduran and our dish washer is from Monterey MX so they have so interesting food bits - but the other hard bounds are pretty basic I got them at Sams long before CIA...

Those are so great - I enjoy this thread. I am chef at this private club and we have a former NFL footbal quaterback - I can't mention his name - but he comes in with a couple of his former team mates and this is the order Him - Half of an egg sandwich with strawberries (cut in quarters) and Banana cut in disc shapes in a bowl NOT touching his other food. Other Guy - Half of a Club Sandwich with a cup of soup and a sectioned orange the last guy - Burger WD no lid with extra pickles The NFL guys you gotta love them - bunch of nuts

I get a laugh everytime I come back and see what people are writing about the CIA v. Cornell. First off they are two different animals and slamming either one shows your ignorance to either one. I have a bachelors degree from a small school in NC, not an Ivy League, but I did ok and I graduated and I was sucessful and at the top of my game after 10 yrs when I decided culinary schools - yes the CIA. WHY - well I chose it for what was said above - name recognition and I am not young enough to work the lines to build my way up the ladder like most. BUT I also did not and still do not want to work the line. But you guys are comparing apples and oranges. Both schools are affiliated with each other - both are considered to be top notch. Now I am not slamming other culinary programs or colleges and universities anywhere - I think it is all what students make of the situation. I have met people in the real world that have no degree that are making tons of money because they are in the right place at the right time - I know cooks that are amazing that have no piece of paper from anywhere. But to say people should go to Cornell over the CIA becasue it is better - just is not right. They both offer unique programs that are not simalar in many respects. If I was just starting out again I would get a Associates from a program (CIA) or other wise and look into Hospitality Management programs - the one that fits my life goals...do chefs make lousy money to start YEP - do people right out of college make less money - yep and the people with a degree from somewhere end up moving up and up - so consider school - any school that fits your need!