“It’s been great, we’ve talked for years about opening our own place and running it together. And to be honest I was always unsure we could do it.”
Since we hired an Assistant Kitchen Manager it has freed me up to be able to focus on creativity in the kitchen again. It helps that the AKM is one of my oldest, and most trusted friends. It also helps that he’s been pushing me to be better, and encouraging of the creativity that was lacking before we promoted him. We have been collaborating on specials for a couple of months now. They’ve become better, tighter, and more refined by the week.
It’s been great, we’ve talked for years about opening our own place and running it together. And to be honest I was always unsure we could do it. Our relationship is, well, let’s just call it codependent high functioning alcoholics. We tend to bring our the worst, and simultaneously the best in one another. I was curious how my “quitting drinking” dynamic was going to play out with us.
Honestly he’s been wildly more supportive than I expected. I’m actually kind of upset with myself that would even come as a surprise to me. He’s stood behind every decision I’ve made, right, wrong, or indifferent for the last fifteen years. And to be fair, he’s always spoken up when I’ve crossed a line.
This week we really out did our previous levels fancy. We made home made Canadian bacon, with a coffee stout maple glaze. This was part of an Eggs Benedict special. We also did a smoke salmon dish with dill cream cheese, minced shallot, capers, and tobiko. Both were delicious. Both were wildly unexpected choices for a brewery.
L to R: a play on Bagels and Lox, Eggs Benedict with house smoked Canadian bacon, and session IPA hollandaise, and the house smoked Canadian bacon being sliced
We then got, really cocky and decided to order a pasta roller. We did this knowing full well neither of us had EVER made pasta, let alone ravioli. It was an experience to say the least.
“Finally, no matter what Amazon suggests, do NOT buy a die mold that ‘makes and cuts twelve perfect ravioli.’ It doesn’t. It sucks.”
First, I don’t care what anyone says, making the dough is a difficult process, especially if you have never done it. Rolling the pasta was complicated, especially since the dough was too wet, and not flowered anywhere near as well as it should have been. Finally, no matter what Amazon suggests, do NOT buy a die mold that “makes and cuts twelve perfect ravioli.”
It doesn’t. It sucks. And it was thankfully, only $14.
In spite of everything we had going against us, the ravioli turned out half way decent. The pasta was a little too thick, but the texture was good, they held together, and cooked easily. Erring on the side of caution however, we decided to push the ravioli special back a week or two (at least) until we could get some practice, and ensure cranking out a couple hundred of them wouldn’t be a nightmare.
Most importantly, my boss, and the ownership have been thrilled with the quality, and sophistication of not only the specials, but food in general. Thankfully, we have a solid crew that can execute these crazy specials, while not missing a beat on their other day to day duties.
However, that crew has seen some change. And barring a successful full court press allowing me to convince him otherwise, I’m probably going to lose my number one line cook. Im not going to lie, it would be absolutely devastating.
We’re sitting down tomorrow, and hopefully we can reach an agreement. Otherwise someone is going to have to step up in a big way. And I’m going to need to find a unicorn employee.
I’m not going to lie, it’s going to suck. The guy is a rockstar, he can run the line by himself, and doesn’t miss a beat. I’m praying I can convince him to stay.
At the end of the day though, if it’s his time to move on, then I don’t want to force him into staying. He’ll wind up resenting me, and the business, and wind up leaving anyways. I guess I’ll know tomorrow.
The Reluctant Chef 