Staging in Restaurants

[paulraphael]

Is it ever possible to stage part time? For people who work full time jobs and want to stage on weekends, or for dinner hours, or does this just conflict too much with the restaurant's actual schedule?

On a separate note, does anyone have advice on finding a restaurant to stage at? I have a friend who's interested. She'd rather do it at a solid restaurant where she'd have a lot of learning oportunities than reaching for an über-restaurant with a star chef who may not actually have time to show anything.

[Lactic Solar Dust]

Is it ever possible to stage part time? For people who work full time jobs and want to stage on weekends, or for dinner hours, or does this just conflict too much with the restaurant's actual schedule?

On a separate note, does anyone have advice on finding a restaurant to stage at? I have a friend who's interested. She'd rather do it at a solid restaurant where she'd have a lot of learning oportunities than reaching for an über-restaurant with a star chef who may not actually have time to show anything.

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I think it would be possible to find some chefs who would be willing to let your friend come in on the weekends to learn.

I always felt that working for a chef right before they become famous is the perfect situation. The chef has not become so famous that they are distracted from the operational aspect of the kitchen by interviews, events, etc... Yet, they have enough knowledge for you to absorb and they also have enough time to show you how they want tasks completed.

Edited January 23, 2007 by Lactic Solar Dust (log)

[NYC Mike]

While my wife was at school she worked weekends/dinner shift at a top nyc place. Free labor offer=accepted almost everytime.

[Michaeltheonion]

I stagged at a place in the summer part time. I worked there every monday for 4 months. This was on top of a full time 6 day a week job. It was pretty laid back the Chef there had been on tv a few years back and had attracted me to cooking with a strange deep friend foie gras. For me it was really more about picking his brain about food, and talking about strange experiments I was conducting in my home kitchen. the nature of my stage was that I came in at 2, did some minimal prep work, each day was devoted to a new technique. Sometimes carmalization, sometime sous vide. he always took time to explain in depth to me a certian concept. And before this stage Id never had anyone give me a really good break down of how to sharpen a knife properly. After the shift was over I got to order something off the menu for free and have a nice glass of wine to go with it. All in all a fun experience.

[paulraphael]

Michael, that sounds almost too good to be true. A bit of prep work for a private lesson and a free meal?

Sign me up! I hope you don't my asking where this was.

[Michaeltheonion]

Michael, that sounds almost too good to be true. A bit of prep work for a private lesson and a free meal?

Sign me up! I hope you don't my asking where this was.

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It was a place "on the fringe of the byward market," in ottawa ontario.

[Jonathan Kaplan]

I did something similar about a decade ago, just after finishing graduate school but before starting my post-doc. I got lucky finding the place -- a friend lived next to the restaurant, and got to know the chef, and introduced me, etc.

I did rather more "ordinary" prep than it sounds like Michael did -- I did learn some fancy stuff from hanging around, but mostly I learned to do simple things quickly and well.

The balancing act, I think, is that it is hard to be useful, part-time, and learn a lot. But it is possible -- by doing a lot of really dull prep, I think I earned my keep and the extra time that having me around during service, for example, probably cost the chef, etc.

So, I think the answer is -- yes, it is possible to stage part time at a good restaurant, but I wouldn't expect most experiences to be as fun as it sounds like Michael's was!

(I've often joked that except for the long hours, low pay, and appalling working conditions, professional cooking was the best work I ever did...)

best,

Jonathan