I’ve been in and around restaurants since I was 12 years old and washing dishes at my parents resto on the south shore of Nova Scotia. I have worked in downtown Toronto, uptown Toronto, in PEI, Collingwood and now out west and I gotta say, no matter where you go some things never change and yet others are entirely different.
I have been blessed to have always worked in very busy and popular places and for the most part…no, I’d say every place, has had great owners and solid staff.
Here in my new gig on the west coast things are no different in terms of staff and such but for the first time I find myself without a chef running the kitchen. Our head cook is very keen to learn and try new things but as he’s moved up the ladder from dishwasher to head-guy in the twelve years he’s been here, he finds himself at the top with nobody to turn to for guidance. All of a sudden I’m the one giving the kitchen advice on dishes and recipes I’ve tried but I’m no chef……I love to cook at home and experiment with stuff all the time but I have no schooling and have only worked in a kitchen the odd time to fill-in.
This has definatly posed a new chalenge for me and I’m really eager to take it on. I look forward to inspiring our kitchen to greater things and moving ever so slowly out of the rut of producing the same specials night after night only becasue they have never know another way.