“Chef, I need Bail!” (File under Words that all Chefs hear at least once in their careers for 2000 please Alex)

So last Thursday I went into work to discover that we were a few men down at a time that we certainly could not afford to be a few men down. At first I thought that it was just a joke so I continued along my day. The first joke was on me as I ended up showing up for work three hours early. Though it ended up being a good thing.

As I walked in the door and went to get my coffee M was working the pans at our sister restaurant. I thought this is kind of strange and when he started telling me his tale I thought that it was a joke.

I then walked through the kitchen and asked what the hell was going on. Though I was hours early I was told that I should get into my whites and we would talk about what was going on. I was seriously concerned at this point that something was going on. Chef J pulled me outside and explained as best he could what was happening. He again told me to get into my whites.

Now my mind is racing as to what could possibly be going on. It would seem that J, R, W, A and Chef B were arrested on Wednesday night because they were drunk and disorderly. I thought to myself that it makes a little sense that cooks would be drunk. It also makes a little sense that cooks might be disorderly every once and a while. I mean we need to blow off steam too, right?

Well the plot thickened when I found out that they had been setting off some fireworks and this got an enormous police response as the fireworks sounded like gunshots. So, sure enough, J, R, W, A and Chef B found themselves in police custody. Chef B called Head Chef to explain what was going on and as I got to work Executive Chef was already at court trying to get his cooks out.

Naturally we all made little jokes to ourselves. Perhaps L could make a cake bomb and spring them. Perhaps the pastry Chef could make a cake with a file in it. Of course the humour was a way of masking both our concern for the work that had to get done and for the welfare of our cooks. We wondered about the food and whether they were bitching about it. Which one of them was going to become Bubba’s new wife. All in good nature of course.

Anyone that is familiar with my blog and some of the tales of say, I don’t know, Anthony Bourdain, among others, would know that every once and a while cooks can get a little rowdy. Naturally, it is a busy time of year for the courts, so it took another day to get our cooks out. But they did finally show up and we got to work on what was going to be a Herculean struggle to complete 23,000 canapés for the next day as we had an enormous function for charity that was taking over the whole site.

The clock was running and so were we…

A good omen was that the party for 81 people that we plated Thursday night was the absolute best party that we plated all year. It was fast and furious and with no mistakes. It truly made me proud to see us all step up to the plate and knock it out of the park. It was a sign of things to come.

In “Kitchen Confidential” Anthony Bourdain writes; “In mot kitchens, one’s freakish proclivities matter little if at all. Can you keep up? Are you ready for service? Can I count on you to show up for work tomorrow, to not let the side down? That’s what counts.”

Are you dreaming big and inspired?

A la prochaine

SDM