After over a 2 year hiatus, I am back. The Chef has changed in many ways since my last entry and the person has too. Over the course of the next few months, I will be back tracking in my process of finding a new home, developing a restaurant staff, redifining culture in a kitchen, and show how the inspirations of a culinary journey apply to a real life daily routine.
My name is Anthony, I was once a young chef, eager and salivating for every ounce of knowledge I could gather. It is not that this thirst has been quenched, but rather, that same desire and passion has transformed...or matured one could say. I once had a need to get myself so pumped up, intense, and so focused that I could not have anyone speak to me 15 minutes prior to service; I would go into the bathroom, soak my face and drench my hair, slick it back, look in that mirror and tell myself that I was going to kick ass on the line tonight. This is what I needed, this is what gave me the internal combustion to push myself through the last hour of service, through the 100th dish that night, to listen to my sous chef asking me if I had quit in me....Fuck NO! No one was going to make me quit, no one would determine my path on my culinary journey....my focus would be the only thing that determined my reality. I would succeed that night, I would succeed that year, I would become a chef, I would have integrity, I would make people fall in love with my food....I knew I could, I knew I would....it turned out, it was a bit more difficult that it seemed. You see, cooking is not what you see on tv. It is not glamorous...I love food, but do I love cooking 42 steaks in 2 hours at all different temperatures? Not really....do I love pleasing my guests, yes...but do I curse that motherfucker who asks for medium rare and actually wants it well done. You better believe it. But in this wierd kind of way, the roller coaster, the love/hate, the sweet and bitter is what makes a chef's job so damn fun. I can cook in my kitchen curse the hell out of you for not knowing shit about food, serve you a dish I created and I am in love with, send it out to you, you fall in love with it, and I come out to see you having just cursed you a mere 30 minutes ago and you end up telling me how great I am....Now, maybe it's just me, but that's what I call fun!
