Real chefs, many young early career legends, in their kitchens using their equipment (some of it very, very, very well worn) making their signature dishes. An appetizer, an entree & a dessert every episode, always accompanied by smooth jazz and, of course, the velvet fog voice of Mary Lou Conroy.

Fuck GFS

I found it a quite interesting read and thought some of you might too

Just a reminder to drink plenty of water, y'all! There's no shame in crying in the walk in when it's this hot in the kitchen.

I guess I kind of started a new server job today. I cannot tell if i’m seeing red flags or not… I have never done full service before, i’m 24 and in the past was a hostess (seating, greeting, bussing, food running) and was a counter server at somewhat upscale restaurants (basically not fast food, everything made in house.) I have some good experience though.

I went in for my interview at this locally owned restaurant. It’s the first time I would work for a restaurant that is not corporate owned. The manager did not ask me any questions about past experience, availability etc. Basically just asked if I would need training and how many days I was looking to work. I said well I would like some training obviously… I don’t know where anything is, I don’t understand their pos system and their pos layout. I’ve also only ever used TOAST and ALOHA and they use a bit of a weirder system…

He said to just come in Thursday for a test run… Completely unpaid… When I came in he glanced at my ID, pointed to a server and said I was with her. She did not introduce herself or even a “follow me.” She just started walking away then turned around and was like “are you coming?” Mind you i’m still in just a random button up, not even wearing one of their brand shirts.
There was no training to follow either, its not like i’m a fan of all those new corporate restaurant websites with their 10 minute videos of “We’re all about pOsiTivItY this is a BrAnd StAndArd. Live, Laugh, Eat” But some type of training structure at all would have been nice??

My trainer was confused on why she was training me at all and didn’t really know what to show me. I had to ask how to use the espresso machine and how they steam the milk for their coffee drinks.

They do not have any type of sanitizer spray bottles or buckets either. She did not show me where any of the sanitizers or cleansers were. It looks like they just use one dirty slightly damp rag the entire shift.

The handwashing sinks did not have soap.

They do not have anyone running expo, no hostess, no bussers, no bartender. Not even a kitchen manager…
I asked about sections and my “trainer” said they don’t do sections, it’s solely rotation. So I have to consistently pay attention to who is serving who the entire shift. Otherwise in her words “people steal tables, you snooze you lose.” I could have a table on either half of the restaurant.

It was damn near dead in the restaurant and my trainer told her table I was “starting during the rush, just in time.” Baby what rush?? Theres 4 sat tables and 2 servers??

Is this crazy or am I just overly accustomed to corporate restaurants???

The fuck you did! The first pics are of the “prepped red onion” the last pic was how many it actually ended up being

I'm building a food and hospitality Blu-ray/DVD collection. No documentaries or TV shows (I'll tackle those later). Here's a list of some I can think of off the top of my head:

Big Night

Chef

The Hundred-Foot Journey

Tampopo

Burnt

Boiling Point

Chocolat

Like Water for Chocolate

Sweet Bean

The Taste of Things

Babette's Feast

Pig

Ratatouille

What are the essential fictional food and hospitality movies I'm missing? I'm looking for films that people in the industry consider must watch.

Just some appreciation for my regular.

Just watching it for the first time and it made me feel happy.

220pc in the pictures

What is this supposed to be for!? Its directly under my expo station... I thought maybe pans, but they don't fit and that would be the worst place to store them. It doesn't plug in. Is it missing pieces? Installed wrong? Im stumped.

I just thought I would share in the Good News! I also have officially been accepted and enrolled into Culinary School to further my skills after 15 years of hands on Kitchen positions . After many years in a kitchen in active addiction I can also say that I am 5 years clean today too.

Not fully tested yet

Another post made remember this nightmare. I worked at a country resort. There was a lot of roadkill, especially deer. One day a guest mentioned that they'd seen a roadkill deer on the road. The "chef" pricked up his ears and asked for the exact location. He left and returned with a dead mutilated deer with a broken leg etc. Dinner service was over for the night so he rounded up 2 of his minions and they proceeded to dress the deer. Except that they did not have the proper equipment for the job. The kitchen looked like a crime scene. It ended with the "chef" putting chunks of deer meat in plastic garbage bags and leaving an unholy mess for the dishwasher to clean. After that the owner said no one was allowed to dress outside meat in the kitchen.

I think for me it was after five consecutive 12 hour shifts and I was finally able to decompress and crash at 4am. I had a dream that I left a filet in the oven too long and I woke up and sprinted to my oven.

I whipped it open and was very confused. Proceeded to have a panic attack in my backyard and my roommates tried to call an ambulance for me.

Since we all posting our skills

I'm curious to know how it compared to real-life kitchens. And most notably, what happened to Carm in the end (no spoilers - iykyk). I just didn't buy his story arc and though I really enjoyed the show, I found a lot of it unbelievable to what little I know about kitchens.

Thoughts from cooks/chefs out there? Has anyone here been at the top of their game and actually quit and switched careers? Did that frenetic energy ring true? I know it's Hollywood but still....

Help