11.29.06
Posted in The Story, Recipes at 1:13 pm by Chef Matt
As if you would want to choose me as an item…
One of the wait staff came in yesterday and asked me how to spell my last name. I of course helped her out seeing as how I usually answer any questions asked of me - especially if I know the correct answer. This was a question I figured I could answer with reasonable accuracy, so I helped her out. She thanked me and left.
“Oh hey Matt, and can I get your Social Security number and bank account number too?…” |
Now, reflecting on this situation, this was actually rather odd. I mean, how often do your co-workers come up to you and say, “Hey, how do you spell your last name?” But there were about 20 roasted beets in front of me that needed to be peeled and sliced in time for dinner service which was only about 15 minutes away. Not to mention a tapenade that I needed to whip together, and I was still trying to find where my extra Manchego cheese had run off to over the course of the weekend. (It was in the walk-in I later found…). So in short, despite the odd nature of the question, I didn’t give it a second thought.
Fifteen minutes later, and the orders were coming in, and another member of the wait staff came in and said, “Well you’re officially here now. You’re on the menu.” I thought I knew what she meant but I was wrong. I thought she was referring to the dish I created for the menu (more about this soon…) that night, but she was in fact referring to the fact that my name is now printed on the menu inserts! That instantly explained why they needed to know how to spell my last name, at which time was graced by an “Ohhhhhhh….” kind of moment.
After two weeks there, I am guessing they figure I am worth keeping around - thanks so much everyone! - and so I am indeed part of the menu. Sure, my name is not first, and I am hardly able to re-write the menu myself, but it feels good to know I am a part of the team that gets mentioned to the public. And I am honored to be a part of such a good menu.
These are persimmons. I actually had never had one until about a month ago - they are sweet and delicious. |
But as for the other way in which I was on the menu, I had the first dish that I created there placed on the menu last night as well. We had some fresh smoked trout in stock, and we needed to create an hors d’oeuvre for it. We had some fennel that I was thinking of pairing with it, but that was claimed by another member of the kitchen staff. So instead I came up with leaves of Belgian endive filled with baby arugula leaves, smoked trout and small slices of orange. My boss changed the orange to pieces of fresh persimmon that we had in house which I agree was a better choice. I then came up with a plating that worked pretty well to surround a small bed of greens with a light vinaigrette with three of these trout-filled endive leaves radiating outward. I think it looked pretty darn good, and I was excited the public would be ordering a creation of mine on a menu that actually featured my name!
There was just one catch.
Nobody ordered it.
Sigh. I guess my moment in the sun will have to wait for another day. I am learning just how hard it is to break into this business. Even when you have a “free spot” on a menu, you still have to convince people to order what you come up with, and that is a lot harder than it looks!
At least I know there will be another chance forthcoming - heck they can’t just “erase” me off the menu. Right?… 
Matt
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11.27.06
Posted in The Story at 1:08 am by Chef Matt
We put oysters on the menu at Vero the other day, and this presented me with a new experience - how to shuck an oyster. I thought I remembered how to do it from when I saw some friends do it, but it was quickly apparent that I did not. It took a quick demo form my coworkers to remind me about the right way to do this, and it was soon just me, 4 dozen oysters and an oyster shucker. What a party.
A quick demo of how to shuck an oyster if you want to cut yourself very badly. |
They were good quality oysters, and they sold pretty well. But with the weekend coming, there was no way they were going to stay fresh (gotta make sure we serve only fresh oysters to the customers!), so at the end of the night, I shucked the remaining 11 oysters for the staff to enjoy.
Well, of course some more than others…
I myself love raw oysters. My first adventure with them was at a friend’s wedding in Pensacola, FL. He took us to his favorite bar in the area, and when we arrived, he announced that they had the best oysters in town, and promptly ordered a dozen. We were all prepared for a good afternoon’s drinking, but few were prepared for such a culinary adventure. I myself had always been wary of the concept of a raw oyster, but as I have mentioned before, I am an adventurous one when it comes to trying foods. The oysters that came were as big as saucers and looked like they needed to be cut into several pieces before swallowing. As I was still ogling the immense mollusks, my friend reached over, threw on some hot sauce and fired the slimy thing down his throat in no time flat.
Goes great with oysters.
And Buffalo wings.
And guacamole.
And oxygen… |
It was put up or shut up time, so I did like he did, and even though I was scared of what something that looked that foul must taste like, I have to admit, it was love at first bite. For the uninitiated, they have a texture that has a firm strength on the outside, and a soft, yielding interior that flushes your mouth with the clean, smooth flavor of the ocean. A perfect compliment to the sauces that accompany them, and a great partner for many types of wine or as was the case on my first afternoon, a bucket of Coronas. I have been a passionate fan ever since.
Which brings us to yesterday. As I finished up the shucking of the remaining oysters for the staff, it was time for the staff to enjoy them. Those of us who liked them dug in, only having one or two each - not to be greedy of course. Those who didn’t like them kept their distance. (It’s OK not to like them, you just have to try them in my book…) Which brings us to the dishwashers. They are two high school kids who do a good job, and are a funny pair, but probably had not yet had the opportunity to try raw oysters.
And like me, they were similarly apprehensive at first. It took a lot of cajoling to get the first one to try an oyster. In fact, it had to be fed to him for him to even try it, and with him being about 6 foot 5, this was quite an adventure in itself. His reception of it was not all that great. He swallowed it fast, and was soon cursing the flavor while hopping on one foot. A reaction I had not seen before, but at least he knew beyond a reasonable doubt that he was not a fan. We were all proud of him.
“OK, we are going to put the oyster in now, and if you have to spit, we have this little sink here…” |
But now with the show he had put on, getting his friend to try one was going to be more difficult. We laid it out on a plate for him, as he requested since the shell seemed to skeeve him out, and handed him the hot sauce. He covered it in the hot sauce, and after several false starts (and several more applications of hot sauce) he finally got it into his mouth. But alas, it did not remain there for long. He was not a fan either - but that is putting it mildly. His oyster achieved “projectile status” upon leaving his mouth, and it gave us all a good laugh (and something to hunt for under the table…).
Again though, I am proud of him for trying one - I am just sorry he didn’t like them. Or maybe I am OK with that, I mean after all, that means more for me.
Matt
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11.24.06
Posted in The Story, Recipes at 2:55 pm by Chef Matt
So…. full….
I think I ate my weight in turkey last night. At least I must have tried. All I know is, I got something on the order of 12 hours of sleep last night after that meal. Thank God I had the day off yesterday. But I don’t today. One of the big trade-ins in working the restaurant business is that there is very little holiday time off - if any at all. Restaurants tend to be closed for the holidays themselves, but the day after, it is back to business as usual. While you all are enjoying a 4-day paid weekend, I have to be back at work in about an hour and a half from now.
How I got ready for the big dinner. |
Of course many people out there have been asking me “What did you cook for Thanksgiving this year?” Surprisingly enough, the answer is “not much”. With the change in jobs this week, and the uncertainty about my schedule that it brought about, I handed over the responsibility of cooking thanksgiving to my mom. She too is a very good cook, and she did a great job. Without further ado, the menu:
Soup Course:
Oysters Rockefeller Soup - Creamy, delicious and an all-around attractive dish. For those of you not familiar with Oysters Rockefeller, it is basically an oyster topped with spinach, cheese and béchamel sauce that is then broiled. To make it a soup, you make a real creamy base that you add oysters and spinach to. It was simply marvelous.
Pasta Course (We’re Italian, so we gotta have a separate course for the pasta!):
Penne alla Vodka - Italian being my specialty, I made this dish, and added prosciutto, asparagus and sun-dried tomatoes to the sauce. It was excellent, and many of us (unwisely) had seconds before the main course.
Main Course:
Turkey and Cranberry sauce - Of course. I did the carving only because this is something they teach you over and over again in culinary school. I had half the bird carved and ready to serve in under 3 minutes. And just to think - 3 years ago, I didn’t have a clue how to do that…
Sausage in the stuffing. Nothing like stuffing meat with more meat. |
Cornbread stuffing with Andouille Sausage - My wife’s addition to the meal. A great recipe she just recently picked up, it was spicy and sweet and loaded with flavor - a really great stuffing that I think will be made again for future Thanksgivings!
Sautéed Beets and Carrots - Nice splash of color on the plate
Roasted Asian Green Beans - The trouble with Thanksgiving dinner is that usually the meal is entirely beige. That is the reason I think people serve cranberry sauce. It isn’t particularly good, it is just something that is not brown. My mom worked hard to figure something out that would actually be green to go on the plate. This was a nice addition of color, flavor and chlorophyll.
They may be pretty now, but these boys have a date with a heck of a lot of oil! |
Fried Asparagus - This is the tip of the hat to my grandmother who was always the matriarch of Thanksgiving. She was a master with pan-frying, and fried asparagus was one of her specialties, so I make it every year in memory of her. Yes, asparagus is green, but with the fried batter around it, it comes out kinda brown, so alas, this too is another “brown” dish usually. But damn it is good!
Cheese Course:
Stilton - OK, not much of a cheese course per se, in that we had only one cheese. But damn, a good stilton with the wine we were having was a nice touch at this point. Though it is about now I realized I was in trouble with how much I had eaten…
Dessert:
Pumpkin Pie - Usually I make a cheesecake for dessert for Thanksgiving - Pumpkin or Apple Pie cheesecake - but this year was my mom’s year to cook, so she made her mom’s pumpkin pie. It was, as always, fabulous.
Now it is time to work off the food I have in me. Fortunately, I have to go to work, which is always a workout in its own right - but I am not sure how busy it is going to be the day after Thanksgiving. Maybe I need to go for a run or something.
If anybody wants any recipes, let me know, I am happy to share!
And finally, a poll to see what you think is the best use for leftover turkey. Everyone has their favorite, so let me know what’s the best!
Matt
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11.22.06
Posted in The Story at 11:45 am by Chef Matt
My career at Tirolo is no more. My last day was yesterday, and I am headed off in search of greener pastures. Well that is, I am off to see what else is out there at my next job.
It’s almost like I am a recovering alcoholic… one job at a time, see what it brings, and head on to the next one.
I am sure you are all dying to know what it was like for the last day at Tirolo. I am sorry to disappoint you in saying that it was really much like any other day. I went through my usual morning set-up routines and handled the lunch crowd in much the same way that I always do. I think there was one major difference though. While I am usually also thinking ahead as to what I will need the next day, or checking up on stocks of supplies to make sure the levels were all where I needed them to be - that I just plain ignored. I couldn’t care less. That was the only thing that really felt different about how I did my job.
Well, there was that, and how the clock ticked about as slowly as I have ever seen it run during my last hour there. We were slammed for lunch, turning over about 100 customers in the meal, but in the final hour, things dried up. And so there I was, like a kid on the last day of school begging the clock to move faster so I could get out of there. It’s not that I hated the place, it’s just that it was time to move on, and here I was, cleaning my reach-in fridge for the 40th time that day waiting for the damn clock to give me the OK to roll on out of there.
Yeah, it’s THAT good… |
My last meal: a chicken parm sub. If you are ever at Tirolo, I highly recommend it - a damn good sandwich to be sure.
It was sad to leave my friends there - especially my partner on the line Meryem. Knowing that they are there today, slaving over that stove and burning their arms on the pizza stove without me makes me feel like I have abandoned them on the one hand, and on the other hand, I am a bit jealous because they get to have all the fun without me now…
But at the same time, I am excited for my new job - I actually worked the dinner shift there right after finishing up at Tirolo. I am getting the swing of things there already (amazing how it only took one week there as compared to 2 months or so at Tirolo…), and for dinner last night, we were slammed once again. It was roughly triple the average customer load for a Tuesday night. We had reservations on the books for something like 25 people, and we guess that we had about 65-70 show up over the course of the dinner. Apparently they all said, “Well, it’s Tuesday, who needs a reservation?!” Anyway, we all worked hard, and even without a dishwasher, we all pitched in, and got the job done. I think I understand now why they make you wash so many dishes in culinary school. The simple fact of the matter is, no matter where you are in a kitchen, you will be washing things all the time. Just a part of doing business.
They threw this party after I left Tirolo, but I am guessing that was in recognition of all the good work I did there… right?… |
So Tirolo is done, and Vero begins. No fanfare, no parade. Just a new place to park my car, a new kitchen to run around in looking for random ingredients, and a new group of great guys to yell at when we find ourselves neck-deep in order tickets. Gotta love it.
Matt
PS And if I don’t write again before then, have a Happy Thanksgiving! I myself am thankful that people choose to eat out in the other 364 days of the year, because that’s what keeps me employed!
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11.21.06
Posted in The Story at 8:01 am by Chef Matt
Real quick post here, as it is late, and I want to get this thought down before I write on my last day at Tirolo, which is tomorrow!
Anyway, this past Saturday was my first ever Saturday dinner shift. I was expecting the worst - getting panic attacks and everything from the thought of having to handle fine dining at its most hectic, and only with 4 days of training. I was doing fine though, I was well prepped, and I have to admit, very well trained thanks to the great guys in the kitchen at Vero.
Orders were coming in at the pace I had become accustomed to, and they were going out with a regularity and quality level that seemed to be OK with all my superiors. At one point I found myself with three orders at the same time, and they were being handled just fine - pears were poaching, greens were being tossed, goat cheese was warming nicely - and then April came up behind me with a ticket.
“I got six desserts for ya, Matt!”
This is when I went “into the weeds”. Thankfully, Dave - my trainer - saw the predicament this put me in, and came to my rescue. But aside from this one moment, I really felt able to handle the rush, thanks to the high-volume training I had received at Tirolo. I was happy with where I was at the end of the night, and my boss seemed to be as well.
Let’s hope I can keep it up! More tomorrow on the all important “leaving of my first job”.
Matt
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11.16.06
Posted in The Story at 11:58 pm by Chef Matt
Another good question from a reader has prompted me to write a reply that is more of a post that just a direct reply. Avid reader, and aspiring chef, Robert has asked the following questions regarding my leaving Tirolo to work at Vero:
It seems that as a chef in the DC area, I am passing up a great opportunity by not working at all the great restaurants we have downtown, and indeed the great ones are pretty much all across the Potomac.
It is actually not a bias I have that has kept me out of DC so far - it is really just how things have worked out. I am not sure if my experiences have been wildly atypical of a chef just getting his “kitchen legs” as it were, or if this is how the industry works, but for the most part, these two jobs have just kind of fallen into my lap more than anything else. I would like to say that I looked long and hard for these jobs and beat out several other well-qualified applicants in the process, but that’s just not the case. I think I am so far just finding myself in the right place at the right time, and the jobs have resulted from my good fortune.
That being said, I am not a fan of going downtown. I really do loathe cities, and crossing over into DC when you don’t have to just never made much sense to me. So the fact that these jobs have been relatively local has been a real positive thing for me, though you are right Vero is not nearly as well known as some of the more established places. I think the main reason for this is that they have only been in business for about 7 months or so. They are still quite young, and awaiting more reviews (hopefully positive) to generate buzz.
But I think that is generally beside the point. The fact that they don’t have a huge reputation does not mean that I cannot learn a lot from the people that are there. And seeing as how I am still in my first year of working in the industry, it is all about learning as far as I am concerned. There is a lot that this new crowd of people can teach me, and I hope to absorb a lot of it while I am there, and when the time comes to move on, I hope to leave on good terms and go to the next place - wherever that may be.
“A man is as young as the woman he feels.” |
So you asked me what was the driving force behind working here? I say, “Because they offered to hire me.” Groucho Marx once said that he wouldn’t want to be the member of any club that would have him as a member, and I always feel shades of that about the places that hire me (”Don’t they know I have no clue what I am doing?…”), but at the same time, I am so happy to have anyone take a chance on me in these “green times”, that I will take whatever I am offered so long as I think there is something to be gained from it.
And yes, there was a pay raise involved in this move for me, but that’s just common sense when you are making a move like this - I pretty much would have worked that angle anywhere I moved to next.
So Robert, the only advise I can give you is this:
- When you feel you have learned all you can from one place, move on to the next. Just so long as the next place is somewhere where you can learn even more.
- Come eat at Vero so you can learn more about it!
Matt
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11.15.06
Posted in The Story at 12:05 am by Chef Matt
OK, I am one dedicated blogger, seeing as how I just put in a 6.5 hour shift at Tirolo this AM and my first shift (another 6.5 hours) at Vero as my first day there. I am giving them this overlap time so I can learn the ropes for them as early as possible before we kick into super-high gear for the holidays. So yes, I am tired and a touch overwhelmed, but I still wanted to give you all a sense of the experience while it was fresh in my mind.
The thing that strikes me most about the new job is just how opposite it is from my current job. The kitchen is separate from the dining area, so it was more of a “traditional” kitchen - loud noises, music playing in the background (classic rock), the occasional foul word tossed around… At least this is how I always perceived “traditional” kitchens to be - what do I know?… Another major difference is that almost everyone in this kitchen is a native English speaker. In my previous post about language in the kitchen, I touched on the incredibly odd experiments in miscommunication that we undertook daily in the kitchen - here that seems to be much less of a problem.
But I think the real thing that strikes me right now about this kitchen is just how incredibly laid back the attitude is. Sure, it was a Tuesday night, so there was not a lot going on in the restaurant, but there were still orders to be filled and prep work for several catering gigs to be done. In short, we were busy, but all the while it was so incredibly relaxed I just could not believe it. Perhaps I am seeing them on a good day, or perhaps this is just the tip of the iceberg for what is coming later on - but the comfort level in this place was truly astounding. Right from the start I felt welcome and part of the team.
Let’s hope that keeps up, huh?
Making salads means I will be seeing a lot of these in my future… |
So my role in the restaurant will be the starting level task of salad creation and dessert plating. Gotta start somewhere, and I can already see how those who have been around are soon able to be more creative and helpful in other areas of the kitchen, so I guess that is just a matter of time.
All in all, a great first shift, and I am really happy with where things are going. Now I just have to make sure I survive this week of splitting my time between two jobs…
Matt
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11.13.06
Posted in Reviews, Greatest Hits at 7:26 pm by Chef Matt
Since many of you read this blog have an interest in food and food-related things, I like to do the occasional post on something weird or unique in the culinary world, to sort-of break up the monotony of my life in the kitchen and the various injuries I inflict upon myself while cooking.
And this time, I think the new, crazy product is a great idea! (Unlike the truly ridiculous Baker’s Edge I reviewed earlier.) Allow me to introduce to you “Season Shot“, the ammo with flavor.
Yes, I had to read this site multiple times myself to make sure these guys were serious, or that such a thing could even be done, but indeed, this is pellet shot for game birds that bring them down with seasoning.
Death by a shot of oregano to the gut - what a way to go.
This is for all those guys out there saying to themselves, “You know, I love the concept of Ron Popeil’s Solid Food Injector. I love shoving solid things right into slabs of meat. But gosh darn it, why can I only do it to dead animals? And what about explosions? Can’t we have some of those too?”
Poor dog, as if the bird wasn’t already too tasty to resist! |
Well gentlemen, it looks like our collective prayers for seasoning food in a destructive and dangerous way may have finally been answered. Not since making beer can chicken with a closed can of beer, or dumping a frozen turkey into a deep fryer has the cooking of birds been quite so dangerous.
So allow me to quote from the Season Shot website:
“Season Shot is made of tightly packed seasoning bound by a fully biodegradable food product. The seasoning is actually injected into the bird on impact seasoning the meat from the inside out. When the bird is cooked the seasoning pellets melt into the meat spreading the flavor to the entire bird. Forget worrying about shot breaking your teeth and start wondering about which flavor shot to use! “
It’s environmentally friendly AND delicious! This is almost too good to be true! And they’re not kidding, they do have a wide selection of flavors to choose from:
- Cajun
- Lemon Pepper
- Garlic
- Teriyaki
- Honey Mustard
“Hey Bill, what flavor you shootin’ today?”
“Lemon Pepper. You?”
“I’m a Teriyaki man myself.” |
So in the interest of full disclosure, allow me to state that I am not a hunter, nor do I have plans to become one anytime soon. But I think this is one of those ideas that ranks up there with, well, beer can chicken in terms of sheer brilliance. I love this idea, I love the product, and I would really love to try the results of a bird (I loves me some good duck!) brought down with one of these shots. Gee, now I am thinking about what flavors of bullets would go best with which birds…
“OK, so the one on the left is Cajun, while the one on the right is Garlic… oh wait, or is it the other way around?…” |
Odd flights of fantasy not withstanding, I would relish the opportunity to write more about this if anyone out there wants to field an expedition to actually use Season Shot in the field. Please note my aforementioned lack of anything resembling hunting experience, but I would be happy to come along AND do the cooking after the fact in exchange for such an adventure.
And one quick note to the good men behind this product (Brett Holm and David Felg): you really need to be thinking about some sort of marketing cross-promotion with “Bull’s-Eye Barbeque Sauce.” Some things are just too perfect to pass up.
Matt
P.S. Special thanks to Boutros of “Nookie Cookie” for finding this for me and letting me know about it. You are a true friend, and know me very well!
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11.12.06
Posted in Greatest Hits, Recipes, Other Fun at 2:53 pm by Chef Matt
I got a question on my previous post about cookware about how do you know if a pan is reactive. I started to write a reply there, but I just got so into it that I figured it was worth a whole post so everyone can see it. Here is the question I was posed:
“i have a sauce pan of unclear provenance ( I cant remember where it came from). It isn’t non stick. How can tell if it is “reactive”? is there a test?
thanks
mika”
Great question mika. The real “test” is to know what it is made out of.
Reactive pans are typically made of:
Copper
Aluminum
Cast Iron
Non-reactive pans are made of:
Glass
Clay
Stainless Steel
Anodized aluminum
Enamelware
But of course it is not nearly that simple. Copper pans are usually coated with tin which will make them less reactive as long as the tin is not scratched off. And similarly, enamelware is not reactive, but if it is scratched, the cast iron under it is reactive. Stainless steel is not reactive, but is such a bad heat conductor that it often has a core or bottom of copper or aluminum which is reactive. And while cast iron is reactive, if you have seasoned it well and keep it well seasoned, it can actually work pretty well as a non-reactive pan. Confused yet?…
Cast iron, or anodized aluminum?
Beats the crap out of me! |
So pretending that all of that made sense, how do you “test the pan” if it is not obvious what the pan is made of? A good first test is to stick a magnet to it. A magnet will stick to cast iron, but not anodized aluminum. However, a magnet will also stick to stainless steel, but I am thinking that it should be pretty obvious if the pan is stainless steel by its appearance (also for copper or glass…).
The other test is to cook tomato sauce in it. Tomatoes will react VERY poorly with a reactive pan, and one taste of the resulting sauce will let you know if you have a reactive pan. If it is reactive, you will think you are eating a tin can, if it is not, this should come out just fine. So here is a recipe to use for this test. It is a good sauce so that you have something worthwhile if it works, but not a too complex sauce, so that you haven’t wasted too much time/effort/money if you in fact have a bad pan. (I don’t know how big your pan is, so you can adjust volume as you need.)
Matt’s Simple Tomato Sauce
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 gloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup red wine (Italian of course preferable)
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
pinch sugar
S&P to taste
Heat up the oil, add the garlic and cook to fragrant, add the onions, cook till they start to get some color. Add the herbs, cook for about 30 seconds to get the aromas going, then add the wine and reduce it down till almost dried out. Add the can of tomatoes, and crush with a spoon while stirring. (If you prefer, you can seed and chop the tomatoes before adding them, but I am lazy like that, and I like my sauce chunky). Add the pinch of sugar. Bring to a boil, let simmer for about 1-2 hours to let the flavors come together. Taste and adjust for seasonings.
The long cooking time of this sauce really brings the flavors together and makes the tomatoes nice and soft. But even better, you will really know from the wine and tomatoes cooking in there if you have a reactive pan with no question.
I hope this all helps mika, and I hope you all enjoy the recipe!
Matt
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11.10.06
Posted in The Story at 12:11 am by Chef Matt
I know, this is probably quite a shock to you dear readers, but I couldn’t say anything to you all here. And it’s been killing me!
So yes, as of today, I have put in my notice at Cafe Tirolo, as I have a new job on the horizon - a cook at Restaurant Vero. This is a new restaurant that is the front for a major catering group here in the DC area. And the food is nothing short of fantastic. Add to this the fact that this new locale is fine dining (as compared to cafe food that I do now) and this is an all around fabulous opportunity.
OK, so I can see three main questions coming from you all, so here are the answers to them:
1. Why are you leaving Tirolo?
What did Johnny Paycheck want me to do with this job again? |
I am leaving because I feel I have learned all there is for me to learn there. As I mentioned before, one of my chef instructors once said to me “Once I could work a shift at any station in the restaurant and do a good job at it, that was the day I quit.” While I can’t work all the stations at Tirolo, I can work all of the ones that I need to know. Basically Sarah decided that I didn’t need to learn any more in my job. I would ask to learn more, but she didn’t want me to learn how to do other things. I decided then and there it was time to move on.
Before people think that I am angry at my boss, or I now hate her, please think again. It is her restaurant and her decision as to what her employees know. I don’t begrudge her at all for this. But at the same time, I don’t have to agree with it either - so to be true to my goals and my career, it is time to move on.
Also, with winter coming on, as I have mentioned before, there is a lot less business at Tirolo, so the hours are way too few for me to feed the old family. Again, I’m not angry that I couldn’t get the hours - you can’t pay your employees more when there is less work coming in… that is a surefire way to close your doors forever. But again, I don’t have to stick around and work too little for my financial needs. So it was time to move on.
2. How did you hear about this place/get this job?
This restaurant is a favorite of both my parents and my in-laws as well. They both independently told me about it, and suggested that I get a job there. In fact, my parents had mentioned that I was a culinary school student to the owners before, and they had said that I should swing by and talk to them. Of course, this happened right as I was starting off at Tirolo, so I sort-of ignored it.
But then things started to go the way of my needing a new job. I knew it was time to start looking for real. So I swung by Restaurant Vero for dinner, and my mom helped introduce me to the owners. The rest, as they say, is history. Well, actually it is yesterday, so I don’t know if that actually qualifies as “history” yet, but here we are.
3. What about the butternut squash soup?
Well, I guess I will have to wait for a dish of mine to be offered up to the public. I have lots of time, and I have one hell of a good recipe now. So I guess it’ll have to wait until I have my own place, huh?
But now it is time to start working some serious hours. Because Restaurant Vero has a major catering operation as well, this means there are hours to be worked. Lots of them. 60 hour work weeks may not be out of the norm.
So how will this affect the blog? I hope to keep it up to date as much as I do now, but there will be exhaustion to work through for sure. So don’t take any chances people - keep clicking those ads if you want to keep seeing me write for you all.
Matt
P.S. I am kidding, I will keep writing anyway, even if you don’t click the ads. But why wouldn’t you?…
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