[From Homepage] The View from The Other Side: Chefs

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 By Kari Lloyd (apopquizkid)
[caption id="attachment_1935" align="aligncenter" width="333"] Photo "Chef flame" by JWolff-STL | CC BY 2.0[/caption]

Back in my youth, approximately another lifetime ago, working in restaurants was one of the many ways I earned my keep. I did everything from dishwashing to waitressing and working on the line in the kitchen. I also cooked in my own restaurant just outside of London, sharing the stove with a fair few entertaining individuals. Once restaurants are in your blood, getting out can feel a little like a betrayal. Or detox.

Years later, though I now make my living as a laugh-in-the-face-of-death freelance writer, a healthy portion of my friends are still in the trade. A favored post-work activity for restaurant lifers is the post-work bitch session, where they’re all too willing to share, in hilarious detail, the day’s problems, customers and the little complaints that irk them on a daily basis. Despite my time in the restaurant game, most of the stories still frankly amaze me.

While the customer-facing branch of this army, the servers, get a lot of coverage regarding the bothersome properties of the great dining public, the chefs don't. I began to wonder what diners do that might make a chef blind with rage  - or even just ever-so-slightly annoyed. Seeing as I’ve been out of the life for so long, I spoke to many chef pals and asked that question, and while everyone had their own stories and irritations, there were a few overriding themes that nearly all mentioned.

Great article, Kari. Truly a 'Kitchen Confidential' !

Jay

No offense Kari but chefs think worse about the people eating their food. They say anddo terrible things behind their cutspmer's backs.Thanks to websites like this, and twitter, etc, chefs are overblown self involved omg "rock stars" with twitter accounts & instagrams etc. But to us who work in their kitchens & dining rooms, they are ego fucking monsters with facial hair & tattoos. PLEASE stop glorifyng these skinny tattooed culinary school graduates. They are just nerds with cooking degrees that really don't mean shit. Calm the fuck down, it's just food, it's not a big deal. Why don't you write an article about how shitty "chefs" are to the people they work with?

apopquizkid wrote:This is an excerpt of an article from the homepage. Read Full Article
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 By Kari Lloyd (apopquizkid)

"Chef flame" by JWolff-STL | CC BY 2.0

Back in my youth, approximately another lifetime ago, working in restaurants was one of the many ways I earned my keep. I did everything from dishwashing to waitressing and working on the line in the kitchen. I also cooked in my own restaurant just outside of London, sharing the stove with a fair few entertaining individuals. Once restaurants are in your blood, getting out can feel a little like a betrayal. Or detox.

Years later, though I now make my living as a laugh-in-the-face-of-death freelance writer, a healthy portion of my friends are still in the trade. A favored post-work activity for restaurant lifers is the post-work bitch session, where they’re all too willing to share, in hilarious detail, the day’s problems, customers and the little complaints that irk them on a daily basis. Despite my time in the restaurant game, most of the stories still frankly amaze me.

While the customer-facing branch of this army, the servers, get a lot of coverage regarding the bothersome properties of the great dining public, the chefs don't. I began to wonder what diners do that might make a chef blind with rage  - or even just ever-so-slightly annoyed. Seeing as I’ve been out of the life for so long, I spoke to many chef pals and asked that question, and while everyone had their own stories and irritations, there were a few overriding themes that nearly all mentioned.

No offense taken, Sin. Opinions are like scrambled egg preferences -- everybody seems to have one. For me, even the most self-serving megalomaniacal chefs I've both known and worked with were, at the end of the day, pretty entertaining. The business of restaurants, and cooking in them, is hard. In the middle of a slammed service, tempers can run short on all sides. I guess I just never really took anything said in service too personally.

Calm the fuck down, it's just food? It's not a big deal? It is for me. I would imagine it is for you too, considering we're having this discussion on a foodie-based blog.

jnm123 wrote:Great article, Kari. Truly a 'Kitchen Confidential' !

Jay

Thanks, sugarpop! What a lovely compliment!

Great read Kari, I am definitely going to put some of these suggestions into practice!

irisarbor wrote:Great read Kari, I am definitely going to put some of these suggestions into practice!

Thanks very much! Be sure you let us know how it works out!