I always had a love affair with food that went back to my earliest memories as a child, standing next to my mother and grandmother as they made magic over their 1970's era, Avocado Green stoves. The smells were heavenly, the taste divine. Their food brought love to the table where our families came together to re-hash the day's events. I learned the value of a good meal at their side, and it has stood by me through my years. I sat mesmerized by Julia Childs on PBS, followed by "The Frugal Gourmet" instead of watching the cartoons my friends clamored about. For birthdays, a new tool for the kitchen was almost always on my list, and at times I wondered if my dad "wondered" about my preoccupation with cooking.

We had always gone to "The Club" when I was a youngster. Here they had a pool big enough to drown your troubles and a buffet line that kept your body fueled for those long summer days. Little did I know that place would start me on my way.
16 years old, and I had no clue "what I want to be when I grow up". But my father told me he could maybe get me a job at "The Club", I applied and next thing I knew I was a "Fry Cook extrordinaire". From my vantage point in the snack bar that summer I could see the excitement and choreography of a real kitchen, and it pulled at me deep down inside. Flipping burgers lasted 1 whole summer, next year, I was going to get a job in "There". Two summers passed as I worked my way from the pantry to the line, and then to saucier, and I marveled at the dance that went on just outside the doors to the kitchen. I was hooked.

I was 20 years old, freshly dropped out of college, and I didn't know what the heck I was going to do next. I lived in a podunk town of a few thousand and there wasn't much in the way of "jobs" available other than construction or road crew or stock boy at the local supermarket. But a sign soon went up proclaiming a new restaurant coming to town, a REAL restaurant, not some hole in the wall ( though I would come to know that most of the best places to get a meal, were those holes in the walls ). I jumped at the chance to get a job. Looking back at that first day as a line cook at a steak house, I can't help but laugh at how cool I thought it was. I mastered every station and soon became kitchen manager, and over about 18 months I took over the restaurant as GM.

Over the next 10 years I moved from establishment to establishment as many in the industry do. It is known for it's ability to suck in eager young employees, work them to death and move on to the next eager young employee. But there is no feeling like being in a restaurant when all the cylinders are firing; the waitstaff seems to glide, the battle in the kitchen is fought by an army as tightly knit as if they really were at war ( anyone who has worked Mother's Day in a display kitchen will certainly nod their head in acknowledgement to that fact). I have been from the Front of the house to the Back, and everywhere in between, managing kitchens,bars,service, doing menu design and R&D, and don't regret a single minute.

I have now been outside of the Industry going on 8 or 9 years. I have my job sitting in front of a computer screen, and I often reflect on those memories. At dinner recently, after telling my wife some odd thing about how the waitstaff could have done something differently, or how the plate should have had a bit more "...", she looked at me and said" You should blog about this.", or was it "Sheesh, can't you just enjoy the dinner?" Being somewhat skeptical of my skills in that arena, I had to take some time to think about it, so here it is.