Week 1: Adaptations in a Volatile Environment

To give this reflection justice, I first want to discuss the trite dynamic of a kitchen and what the holistic restaurant chef experience looks like from my point of view. Although I haven’t referenced it before, I was a pantry chef at the number one rated restaurant where I live: Garvan’s Gastropub. The chef hired me on the terms that I had a three week trial period where he would try to infuse his culinary philosophies into me and make me a talented enough line cook to make the cut. Fortunately for me, at the beginning of the July of 2018, I made the cut. I worked in a hostile environment where no matter how quick you moved, criticism was on the horizon. Although the head chef never openly criticized me because he appreciated my work ethic, there was a serious power struggle between him and the sous chef, making the power dynamic tense, to say the least. The sous chef and others higher on the line than me, would treat me like garbage considering my lack of experience. I became a puppet to throw around and take stress out upon. Although my experience was relatively rough, as I entered at a higher level without much experience, I had it really well-off compared to some. In the restaurant industry, hostility and adrenaline are king and if you succumb, you fail, but if you fight it, you lose. Unfortunately cocaine and methamphetamine have become rampant in the restaurant industry, as a device to keep the rush going and get through all of the covers. Again, I am extremely lucky that I never endured that experience. I only suffered the duress of caffeine induced mayhem. The moral of the story is that people always find a way to adapt and unfortunately in the restaurant industry, it often ends up in illicit substance use and misguided anger.

This is certainly not the case in the Proctor Kitchen and that was put on display for me this Saturday specifically. My mentor Nate had a bit of curveball thrown his way when an employee found themself needing to go home due to illness, and another significantly under the weather. This left Nate scrambling to have enough dishes to whip up in a little bit over three hours. Although plenty of chefs would have allowed that to manifest as anger, Nate did not. He remained calm, powered through, motivated the team and succeeded while keeping everybody happy.

Although I did learn how to improve my culinary abilities leaps and bounds, the more important lesson taught by mentor is that even though we may work in a volatile environment, it is key to know how to adapt appropriately because that is how you succeed not only in a kitchen, but in life. Also, Spencer, I need to find you and check-in.