Finally after about a year doing dishes I finally earned my way out of the "pit" and up to an assistant line cook roll. I became the grunt of the kitchen.. a step slightly above a dishewasher but I still got to be apart of the "action". I was so proud of being an assistant line cook, I got to steam vegetables, cook beef ribs, make scalloped potatoes, cook "roasties" (deep fried tater tot type potatoes about the size of a child's fist) and other small tasks not to mention being the Prime Rib Chef's personal cleaning machine. While I do have some nagging memories of him going through everything with a fine tooth comb and white cloth I can honestly say that I learned alot from his dedication to cleanliness in the kitchen and his eye for detail. Sammy's station and Alto Sham roasting ovens were so clean they looked brand new, if i missed even a spec of dirt he was all over me to do it again.
This position lasted for 6 months before I moved into a line cook position then a prep cook and eventually brunch supervisor. I had recieved a scholarship bursaries from the BC Chefs' Association and from Konning's Wholesale (now Sysco Foods) to apply to my training course I was enrolled in however my chef said I would learn more on the job and that I should not go to school. What he said made sense at the time because why would learning from a book be better than real life? In retro spec this was my first real mistake I made as I agreed with him and withdrew from school just 3 days before class was to begin. By the time I had forasken at school I now was doing ordering and helping with inventory, doing prep charts and generally doing every position in the kitchen being the team player that was the "Go-To" guy for any issues that came up. I had a chef who encouraged my learning and gave me more and more responsibility, I may not have always had the training I required to do the tasks I was given but I did absorb everything I could in the way of information and dealing with the tasks I was given. I felt like king of the world,
The learning eventually grew stagnant, a routine of daily activities developed and I was not feeling pushed to learn anymore so an opprotunity came to move on to a new place after three years at my first job. One of the chefs at my first job had moved to Milestones Restaurant and offered a position. At the time Milestones was a new concept company with 4 stores (now over 50) and it was a new experience that I was looking forward to, a new opprotunity to learn. I was king of the world in my eyes and could take on any task.. slap in the face and kick in the arse was about to come..
(This above photo is the actual Milestones Restaurant I worked at in Burnaby)
Milestones was the first restaurant I experienced "high volume" in an upscale casual setting. 200 to 300 lunches between 11:30 am and 2pm and dinner time was much the same and both with 7 minutes and 12 minutes timing standards respectively. I was hired as a prep guy to start, this was a prep list 5 times bigger than my previous workload and most of it was a daily prep, needless to say I struggled. I was moved to saute during the day time, AKA "eggs".
OH MY GOD.
What an intense ride that was. There is a saying in kitchens, sink or swim, I drowned. I could not keep up with the timing of the kitchen, I could not keep the memory of all the ingredients in the 10 different omelts, the 10 different scrambles and the 15 different bennies all in my head and produce a quality product to sell. If I had not already prooved myself to the chef at a different job I was sure to be fired, instead he sent me to the dish pit again. I took the time to right out the breakfast items on flash cards and forced myself to memorize them knowing that someday I would have an opprotunity to bounce back.
2 or 3 months later i had my chance. I was a changed person. I had a new fire and energy that first shift; it wasn't perfect but it was an improvement. From this experience I taught myself my biggest key to my future success: AFTER EVERY SHIFT MENTALLY REVIEW HOW THE NIGHT WENT AND THINK OF HOW I CAN MAKE THE SHIFT BETTER.
To be perfectly honest this was by far the biggest game changing thought that would follow me in life. I was now off to the races and determined to redeem myself and be the "Go-To" guy once again. This took time but four and a half years later I was in the situation again where I was growing stagnant and felt my career needed a new path.
The same chef I worked with at my first job once again called to me and offered me a sous chef position at a place in Kitsalano ("Kits"), a small suburb in Vancouver area close to the local University of BC.
For the record here are some of the breakfast items I still remember off the top of my head:
Ensenada Frittata : Sour cream, Guacamole, Salsa, Muchrooms, Cheddar, jack cheese, Green Onions,
Green Eggs and Ham: Pesto, ham, tomatos, onions topped with feta
Spin/Fet/Mush Omlet: Spinach feta Mushrooms (Spin/Fet/Mush Scram is same thing)
3 Cheese Omlet: Cheddar, Mozza, Parmesan and green onions
Greek Omlet: Tomato, olives, onions, feta
Breakfast Burrito: scrambled eggs and salsa in a whole wheat tortilla with sour cream, black bean puree and cheddar.
Huevos Rancheros: scrambled eggs and salsa served with a black bean and cheese quesadilla
Eggs Espresso: Scrambled eggs with hot water
Eggs Romero: benny with tomato and caviar
Eggs Neptune: cream cheese avocado, shrimp and crab
Eggs Milestones: Avocado and tomato
Basic Benny: Ham
Blackstone Benny; Tomato and ham
Not too shabby for a restaurant I worked at 20 years ago!
(This above photo is the actual Milestones Restaurant I worked at in Burnaby)
Milestones was the first restaurant I experienced "high volume" in an upscale casual setting. 200 to 300 lunches between 11:30 am and 2pm and dinner time was much the same and both with 7 minutes and 12 minutes timing standards respectively. I was hired as a prep guy to start, this was a prep list 5 times bigger than my previous workload and most of it was a daily prep, needless to say I struggled. I was moved to saute during the day time, AKA "eggs".
OH MY GOD.
What an intense ride that was. There is a saying in kitchens, sink or swim, I drowned. I could not keep up with the timing of the kitchen, I could not keep the memory of all the ingredients in the 10 different omelts, the 10 different scrambles and the 15 different bennies all in my head and produce a quality product to sell. If I had not already prooved myself to the chef at a different job I was sure to be fired, instead he sent me to the dish pit again. I took the time to right out the breakfast items on flash cards and forced myself to memorize them knowing that someday I would have an opprotunity to bounce back.
2 or 3 months later i had my chance. I was a changed person. I had a new fire and energy that first shift; it wasn't perfect but it was an improvement. From this experience I taught myself my biggest key to my future success: AFTER EVERY SHIFT MENTALLY REVIEW HOW THE NIGHT WENT AND THINK OF HOW I CAN MAKE THE SHIFT BETTER.
To be perfectly honest this was by far the biggest game changing thought that would follow me in life. I was now off to the races and determined to redeem myself and be the "Go-To" guy once again. This took time but four and a half years later I was in the situation again where I was growing stagnant and felt my career needed a new path.
The same chef I worked with at my first job once again called to me and offered me a sous chef position at a place in Kitsalano ("Kits"), a small suburb in Vancouver area close to the local University of BC.
For the record here are some of the breakfast items I still remember off the top of my head:
Ensenada Frittata : Sour cream, Guacamole, Salsa, Muchrooms, Cheddar, jack cheese, Green Onions,
Green Eggs and Ham: Pesto, ham, tomatos, onions topped with feta
Spin/Fet/Mush Omlet: Spinach feta Mushrooms (Spin/Fet/Mush Scram is same thing)
3 Cheese Omlet: Cheddar, Mozza, Parmesan and green onions
Greek Omlet: Tomato, olives, onions, feta
Breakfast Burrito: scrambled eggs and salsa in a whole wheat tortilla with sour cream, black bean puree and cheddar.
Huevos Rancheros: scrambled eggs and salsa served with a black bean and cheese quesadilla
Eggs Espresso: Scrambled eggs with hot water
Eggs Romero: benny with tomato and caviar
Eggs Neptune: cream cheese avocado, shrimp and crab
Eggs Milestones: Avocado and tomato
Basic Benny: Ham
Blackstone Benny; Tomato and ham
Not too shabby for a restaurant I worked at 20 years ago!
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