a day in the life, part 4

a slab of pork ribs
animal, co-owner/co-executive chef jon shook

The alarm clock would go off every Saturday and Sunday at 8:00am. The bus was never late and I had to make it to the stop by 8:21am in order to be at the restaurant in time to prep for the weekend brunch. By this time, I’d gotten a pretty good feel to my place at the restaurant and what I was capable of doing. I had developed a good rapport with the executive chef and he had taken me along on multiple food events on behalf of the restaurant. I would clock in around 8:50am and from that time till approximately 4pm, I was on my feet. I ran upstairs, still half asleep, and put on a chef’s jacket and an apron. I tucked my black Sharpie in my pen slot, put on my UCLA cap, and ran back downstairs into the kitchen. In the kitchen, I manned the pastry/dessert station. I had memorized almost every recipe we used frequently at the restaurant. Carrot cake, churros, fruit crisps, lemon poppy seed and blueberry muffins, pecan scones, citrus tuiles, multiple ice cream bases, and the list went on and on. When it came to desserts and pastries, I was your man.

For the weekend brunch, we offered a specialty appetizer, a bread basket; a maple glazed pecan scone, a blueberry and lemon poppy seed mini muffin, two slices of chocolate chip banana bread, and two slices of cinnamon toast. The first thing I did when I got to my station was set up my ‘meez.’ I set out a cutting board and placed a hotel pan full of water on a warmer for the hot chocolate dipping sauce (churros). I set out a half stick of butter and two small bowls of sugar and cinnamon for the toast. Then I pulled out the scones and muffin batter. I popped those into the oven and started working on the pancake batter. We offered German pancakes and traditional buttermilk pancakes. Each had to be made fresh prior to each brunch service and placed in an ice bath. By this time, the muffins and scones were ready and I placed those on the speed rack to cool down. In the meantime, I re-stocked my plates and checked to make sure that I had every side or garnish ready for service. This included candied pecans and walnuts, citrus tuiles, fresh berries, candied carrots, chopped pineapples, and so on. Afterwards, I topped each scone with maple glaze and generously sprinkled them chopped toasted pecans. By this time, we had about ten minutes till brunch service. Now came my favorite part of the day, staff meal. One staff member usually was assigned staff meal, meaning they had to whip something up using leftovers in the walk-in. Joel, one of the prep cooks, usually made this and he always made a delicious scramble and a tossed salad. Sometimes, he’d make classic Mexican dishes that were amazing. It was so good but none of us really had time to enjoy the meal because we had to rush right back in for the start of service.

I had a ticket machine at my station so any orders made at my station came directly to me. The only thing I did not make was the toast, which was made on the hot line by the exec chef, in the salamander (an open faced toaster oven). Every time a bread basket order came through, as soon as I’d assembled my part of the basket, he would rush back with two hot pieces of toast. I’d butter them, sprinkle them with sugar and cinnamon, and finish off my basket. I’d rush it to the runners and this was essentially what I did for the next 3-4 hours, but for different orders. When it got busy, the one thing that really pulled me through was getting into a rhythm. There were so many times when so many orders would come in that my mind would kind of freeze up. I’d have to take a second to gather my thoughts and think about what I needed to do first in order to successfully plate the orders. This was usually when the adrenaline kicked in. My body would just know what to do once I got into a groove.

Just to give you an idea, our brunch service attracted 60-75 covers on Saturdays and about 100 covers on Sundays. On my last day of work, Mother’s Day 2008, we did 272 covers. That means, from 11:00am to 2:30pm, we turned over 272 people’s orders. Considering our dining room only fit about 70 people, I’m amazed at how that was even possible. That was probably my busiest day of work but I don’t remember much because it just seemed like a blur. Everything went by so fast and I didn’t have any time to gather myself.

I learned a lot of things that helped me become more efficient in getting food out to the kitchen. For example, you never plated ice cream first in a multiple order. Ice cream and sorbets are ALWAYS plated last on dishes kept in the freezer. Also, you never walk around without at least one dishtowel on you. Towels saved my life in that kitchen. I went through at least 5-6 towels each shift and after awhile, I started carrying around two, for convenience. There were a bunch of little things I picked up that made my life easier at the restaurant but I will never forget the dead times, when business was slow and I had a chance to wander around. I would station myself at the end of the hot line, in view of the executive chef, and watch him make magic. To this day, I cannot grasp how he was able to juggle so many orders and get them all right. He would have multiple proteins on the grill and be plating three other entrees behind him and still remember which ones were at medium rare or medium. Most of what I know today about cooking comes from watching him work. I would see things he would do and they would get imprinted in my mind. Now, when I cook in my kitchen, I always have a visual of how he did it. I have nothing but respect, love, and admiration for him and I cannot say enough about how he has changed my life.