The French Pastry School/Ewald Notter School

[chiantiglace]

I agree with patrick. Richmond seems like a quaint little city with hostory and little problems but its actually the highest homicide ratio per capita. Las Vegas is just a party town and gambling has the same risks as drugs, alchohol and even (the worst i think) ciggarettes. If you dont get into it your fine.

And just like Neil said, there are a lot of different oppurtunities in Vegas, not just banquet large volume production. I looked into it.

[tan319]

Never doubt the power of the 'Gullet.

Received an email the other day from the FPS, then a couple of days later, received a whole package, very nice.

All unsolicited.

I've been watching a few of these "RealityTV" cooking shows, 'Cooking Under Fire", 'Hells Kitchen', (My Fave).

It DID spring to mind (listen up, any TV producers/agents, etc. out there) that a TV show, with no whisks to hang up (no elimination ceremony), just a documentary on "legendary" record producer pursuing a pastry career,goes back to school, the BEST pastry school in the country, to get his butt kicked by MOF French Pastry Hero's and go 'Mano A Mano' with young bucks of all kinds, with the payoff ( besides certificate) being his own dessert restaurant!!! Might be interesting.

I think it would have to be a co production with FOX & NBC, and A&E, Discovery or

Hmmmmm, maybe the Fine Dining Channel?

Sillier things have happened.

Neil, I really dug what you wrote, thank you once again for being cool.

My question for you is, you can go into your kitchen, light on chocolate and sugar experience, and still enter with a decent salary figure?

I've never considered what you're doing to be a "step down" or backwards even.

It is what it is.

You've assured me in the past that you're NEVER slamming stuff out, that what you do put out is of tip top quality ( there was never any doubt there) and I have to respect that.

The sous and chef talent you have there I'm sure I could learn PLENTY from, no doubt about that either, as long as everybody isn't moving SO fast that there's no time to learn anything new.

LOUISAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, of course I looked at the Hermes/Ferrandi School, that would be supercool, probably superexpensive ( that Euro hasn't come down any from when it was killing you during your stage, correct? )

But the PDF makes it look seriously great.

http://www.egf.ccip.fr/actualites.asp?tabl...alites#europain

About halfway down the page center click on Hermes blurb

Do they translate into English like the Valrhona school, I wonder?

Ditto Ducasse' school.

Especially if they were teaching Frederic Robert's stuff from his 'Grand Livre Desserts' book.

And simdelish, it would be fun to have someone to commiserate with.

It's that old spector money again though.

That would make an even more intense Reality show!

Crummy American not only undergoes full immersion at a Masters Pastry Course, He is immersed into a Foreign culture!!!

Liked your comments too, chefette, although, Re: addictions of ANY type, murder, etc..

It IS the restaurant business, between it and the music biz, I've seen just about every kind of addiction, personality defect known.

Including, sad to say, murder.

So, no worries there

I've always kept MY nose clean, for the most part.

I'm just looking to better my game financially and opportunity wise.

I've come to the realization that I'm good.

REAL good in my domain.

Considering some of the on the job frustrations I've encountered lately, with specials, I've even impressed myself.

When presented with a case of (DON'T LAUGH!!!) Sysco ( laugh: ) Angel Food Cakes, and queried with "what to do" with them, I first did a trifle, a tropical trifle, with coconut milk pastry cream mousseline, rum soaked angel food cake cubes, lime oiled mango cubes, bananas, and a few not so tropical fruits (raspberry coulis subbed for the jam, damn! Guava jam could have been boss, the strawberrys to line the 'rocks' glass I did them in.).

Tasted pretty good, sold pretty poorly.

Then, this last weekend, the chef asked me again what to do with it.

I was thinking a cross between an 'Ille Flotantte' (sp) and a salad, with toasted angel food cake croutons, on a decent amount of Creme Anglaise, with some balsamic soaked strawberries, or just macerated strawberries with a ribbon of Balsamic reduction, served in a bowl.

The chef thought this would be "too cute", in other words, "precious", so we arrived at a compromise, this being 'Toasted Angel Food Cake, with Blackberry "compote", Creme Anglaise, with Blood Orange Sorbet served on a Roasted Peach Half'.

This was served in a bowl, ladle of anglaise, two slices of the toasted angel food cake, kind of stacked up on each other on an offset, centerstage, nice spoonful of compote ( done Ducasse/Roberts style, IQF berries thawed to give their juice, I threw in some S&S vanilla beans, juice heated and sweetened then thickened slightly with some gelatine, the hot juice poured over the berries to slightly 'compote/confit' them.) right down the middle to show off the golden color of the toasted cake.

The peach half, roasted at 425, sprinkled with peach schnappes and raw sugar before cooking, was set at 1 'o' clock, topped with a quenelle of blood orange sorbet.

Sold 30 of them over Friday and Saturday.

This gave me some faith, believe it or not.

I'm kind of isolated right now. My chef, the guy I worked all of my food around, whose food inspired me to do stuff, is gone, in Florida at the moment.

My restaurant, my place is gone too.

I still get so pissed about it!

I either want to be around someone whose food is out of sight, inspires me to greater heights, or, I want to call my own shots by being my own person, in my own place.

School would be cool, stages would be GREAT, just need to make some money to do it/while I do it.

We'll see.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions.

[nightscotsman]

Neil, I really dug what you wrote, thank you once again for being cool.

My question for you is, you can go into your kitchen, light on chocolate and sugar experience, and still enter  with a decent salary figure?

I've never considered what you're doing to be a "step down" or backwards even.

It is what it is.

You've assured me in the past that you're NEVER slamming stuff out, that what you do put out is of tip top quality ( there was never any doubt there) and I have to respect that.

The sous and chef talent you have there I'm sure I could learn PLENTY from, no doubt about that either, as long as everybody isn't moving SO fast that there's no time to learn anything new.

Let me try to outline some of the pros and cons of the "Bellagio Options" (which might also apply to other large high end hotels)...

Pros:

- With a wide range of pastry products produced in-house, you get exposure to a lot of different processes and techniques, in both large and small batches. Lot's to learn.

- Almost everything is made from scratch using the best ingredients. Chefs are constantly telling us 'nothing goes out that isn't perfect'.

- Within our restaurant team there are several stations that we all rotate through during the week, so not only do we each learn all of the items, we don't get bored doing the same things every day.

- Good pay. Pastry cooks/bakers (entry level for anyone with any experience) make a little over $15 an hour, with time and a half for overtime, and double time for holidays. Wages are set by the union contract, so everyone at the same level makes the same money. Assistant pastry chefs and pastry chefs are on salary, so I don't know what they make.

- The standard work day is 8 hours with full two day weekends. We've been working quite a bit of overtime since we're still short handed, but once we get fully staffed, overtime will become rare again. Sometimes we do get loaned out to banquets or other teams that are slammed for some optional overtime.

- Great benefits. Full medical and dental, 401k, pension, job security, uniforms provided and maintained, free meals in employee dining room, plus miscelaneous perks.

- Employees are treated fairly and with respect. No yelling and screaming, and foul language is frowned upon.

- After 6 months, you have to option to transfer to other parts of the kitchen or anywhere else within the company, including other properties like MGM Grand, or Mirage.

Cons:

- Depending on which team you're on and you're shift, work shedules can be tough. Restaurant team currently works 3:00 am to 11:00 am. This can be especially hard if you have a family with kids you want to spend time with.

- While I don't think we approach the insanity of most restaurant kitchens, we do have a lot of product to get out every day and we have to work fast and clean.

- For the most part we have good equipment, but a big crew banging hard on this stuff every day takes it's toll. Mixer whisk attachements missing wires, dented and warped sheet pans, not enough bowls, burr mixers out for repairs, torches that won't stay lit, etc. They try to make sure we have to tools to get the job done, but it's not a perfect world.

- opportunities for advancement are limited since most chefs have multi-year contracts, though promotions do happen.

- If you are a pastry cook/baker, chances for personal creativity are rare to non-existant. The chefs develop all the desserts and recipes and we get to make them.

- While some of what we make for the pasty shop is very advanced and modern, most of what we do is not exactly cutting edge or adventurous flavor-wise. Also, since we don't do final assembly and plating for the restaurant desserts, the components have to be a little more sturdy and construction less fussy so the restaurant staff put them together quickly and have them look nice.

- Living in Las Vegas. This can either be a pro or con depending on your preferences and what type of community you're cofortable with. Outside of the Strip, Vegas is basically like a big California suburb. Lots of strip malls, you need a car to get anything done, no colorful/funky neighborhoods, not much in the way of culture. On the other hand, cost of living is still realatively low compared to other major cities (though housing prices are climbing fast), and if you like lots of sun, you'll get it (and temps over 100 for a least 3 months a year) along with very low humidity.

What I really recommend, if you're at all interested, is to fill out an online application, then call the pastry kitchen office to set up an interview. Once you see the operation and try some of our product, you'll have a better idea of what's going on here - and you certainly have no obligation to accept a position if one is offered.

[chiantiglace]

I have to add that Vegas is gorgeous and the apartments are to me, unbeleivably cheap for what you get with them. One 2 bedroom apartment good size for 650 a month gets you mantinence, swimming pool or two, hot tubs, community halls and lounges + spa/fitness centers, visitor parking, sometimes garages. Its far better living than here on the east coast. I mean the cheapest thing your going to find on the east coast would probably souther north carolina or south carolina with an apartment the same size for the same money or more but with maybe 1 benefit, like a pool and thats it. The cost for a 2 bedroom here with all those benefits would probably range 900-1200 dollars, ridiculous.

Also, the application is screwed up online. I told Escamilla about it and he said a lot of people have had trouble with it and they were going to try and re-due it. But since hes so busy as he tells me it probably won't happen for a while. What to expect is not to see a place to your background work or "resume" as you like. So be prepared to fax one immediately after filling it out, which is looong. You will also need full info from 3 or more references, which isnt hard but you just ahve to have all the info because if you dont return to the site, i think for 72 hours everthing you filled out will be erased. Also theres i good chance they will lose your application before it ever gets to pastry department, so keep calling and give them your application number.

See you in 31 months Neil.

Edited June 8, 2005 by chiantiglace (log)