Yes, Chef.

Chef Jim (in white) with

colleagues from Maggiano's   

 

"Good morning, Chef," echoes throughout the empty dining room. It is 5:30 AM on a Friday morning. The sun is barely awake, peeking out behind the clouds, shining through the large windows that surround the freshly cleaned dining area. Two hands meet, clapping together. 

"Let's get this show on the road!" 

Positivity floods the restaurant as the executive chef, Jim, and his colleague, Mike, begin to set up different stations for their breakfast service. Only two men are working, yet they create the sound of an army. Clanking dishes, squeaky non-slip shoes, water running, stovetops igniting. The cacophony wakes the dining area up as the line chefs begin to file in. Good mornings are exchanged, fist bumps are given out, Redbull cans are cracked open. Breakfast service does not begin for another hour and a half, yet Jim sprints around the large kitchen as if his life depends on it. 

"Good morning, lil' girl," he jokes with another colleague, Sal. 

Sandwich station

"Get the hell out of my face, Birkbeck," he snaps, with a slight smile on his face. Sal is prepping the walk-in, taking count of what is needed for the day. Inventory is imperative in the restaurant business. Head chefs are required to do inventory every morning and night, calculating what needs to be ordered for every service that is provided. Although Sal manages the front of house, he assists Jim in the mornings by creating a list of ingredients needed. Jim skips by the walk-in, checking on every co-worker he passes. 

"Alkhayr sabah," he mutters to a young woman dressed in a chef's uniform with a black hijab wrapped around her head. She stares at him, confused and too tired to correct his butchered pronunciation.

"You said it backwards." 

"Shit, I did?" 

"It's sabah alkhayr. Try again tomorrow." She pats him on the back and walks away to her service station. Jim had been struggling to connect with his younger colleagues due to their differences in age. Instead of ignoring them, he had begun to ask questions about their religions after noticing that the majority of them practiced the Muslim faith. Bre was attempting to teach him Arabic once he had expressed interest in learning the language and faith. 

Jim had learned Spanish by working in the restaurant industry. Co-workers at his previous restaurant had taught him three Spanish words a day. Over time, the three words had amounted to him learning the entire language and having the capability of speaking it fluently. He had asked Bre to teach him at least one word in Arabic a day, hoping that he could eventually learn the language by the end of the year. Although there was little to no improvement, he persevered and continued to practice. Walking through the kitchen, he had begun to greet his Muslim line chefs with the correct pronunciation. 

Coffee station

The time was 6:15 AM. Jim had pranced back to his station,  wrapping kitchen towels around the bare handles of his pans. Searching through the drawers behind him, he found four metal spatulas. Turning around and dunking them into a slender metal vase full of hot water, he began to grease the pans. The stovetop had been on for forty-five minutes now, allowing the pans to begin heating up. Checking each of their temperatures, he bent down and reached into the mini refrigerator, pulling out chopped vegetables in small, wrapped containers. Taking the saran wrap off the containers, he placed them neatly to the side, away from the heated stovetop. The chef took a step back, double-checking his station proudly. He smiled and reached into his pocket, checking the time on his phone. 6:25 AM. Nearly an hour left before the doors opened. He glided to the left, making his way down the line of breakfast stations being prepped.

Each line chef was assigned to a small station that varied depending on the times of meal service. Although it was much different than a regular restaurant, Jim had found peace in not having to work in a tightly packed kitchen. His previous jobs consisted of working in large, corporate restaurants that, on average, served over six hundred people per night. Working in the restaurant industry was the last thing Jim had imagined for himself, as he originally went to art school before deciding to become a chef. 

Chef Jim with inventory paperwork

"I would have gone to the MLB," he begins, telling the story that the world has heard a million times. Skipping past the MLB portion, he explains his love for art and how it translated perfectly into becoming a chef. However, there was never a moment when culinary school was easy. The math, the intricacies, the entire experience was created to make an individual loathe the process; yet Jim loved it. Maggiano's was his longest and most memorable job, working there for nearly twenty years. Stories were told of his experience and the creativity he brought to the business. He loved his colleagues, the fast-paced environment, and most importantly, the guests. Holding back tears, he confessed an untold story of a young Make-A-Wish girl who dreamt of going to Disney World, but could not because of her medical condition. Maggiano's had contacted the girl's parents and worked to transform the entire restaurant into Magic Kingdom. Jim, in tears, elaborated that all of the staff members, including himself, dressed up as characters and worked together to make the little girl feel as if she was truly there. 

Jim with Mike & Sal

"She passed away three days later," he explained, fighting back tears. It was the most touching moment in his culinary history, as he often thought back to the night whenever he had a tough day. Standing behind a breakfast station, the chef takes a deep breath and continues to check that it is prepped correctly. This job is much different than working at Maggiano's. The restaurant is individualized; everyone works on their own until the meal service ends. It is set up like a school cafeteria where the guests stand in line and are served a variety of foods depending on the time. It was a nice change of pace for Chef Jim; a break from the intense chaos that plagues most kitchens.

Checking his phone, Jim does one final sweep of the cafeteria before heading back to his omelette station. The front door opens to their first customer of the day, beaming with happiness as he locks eyes with Jim. Kitchens are organized in a myriad of ways. Food service will always vary depending on the time. The kitchen staff will not always be amicable. However, the guest will remain the same. Chef Jim will forever pride himself on creating memorable experiences for his guests, no matter who they are. The art and beauty of the restaurant industry is the reason he stays and continues to do what he does best: cultivate relationships and experiences for everyone around him.