Knife's Edge - Restaurant Rants & Raves

Re-Ignition

Yesterday morning I noticed the sunlight has the beautiful look of fall. This particular season should be fun. It's my favorite time of year for cooking, our new sous has lots of good ideas and we're going to start working on the menu after we return from SF.

It's such a joy to have someone in the kitchen who wants to cook for a living, who is excited about cooking. Only our opening sous chef had any passion for cooking and that was drummed out of him by the CIA. The other kitchen people right now are good workers, and have on occasion shown some creative initiative, but being in the kitchen isn't what they really want to do.

So, the fires are burning and the mind is churning.

New sous

I've hired a new sous or perhaps chef de cuisine. He's young, easy-going, lots of ideas and has a girlfriend who is a chef also. So far he's very helpful with the staff giving encouragement, helping when they;re behind, telling the bussers they're doing a good job. All good.

The only thing thus far, is that when I was cutting a pork loin the other day, he was paying close attention. He'd never dealt with any sub-primal cuts, only had things come in that were portioned. So, we'll have to watch the butchery skills.

If he does well on ordering, and brings some new perspective to the kitchen I'll be happy. Plus, we've already seen an increase in the younger crowd because word is out he;s with us.