Restaurants and Institutions

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earth2table: A Real Job
August 25, 2006

Stu Stein

August 25, 2006
Hold on to various body parts--I actually started a full-time “job”! I am a full-time chef-instructor at the Western Culinary Institute, a Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School. It’s been several months since I left my previous position as executive chef of a local hotel, and it feels good to be cooking instead of writing, e-mailing and number crunching. I’ve taught before, at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco in the late 1990s, and I look forward to the interaction and the ability to learn from my students as much as I will teach them.

For those of you thinking about the independent-restaurateur route, don’t forget to think about the necessity of keeping an income coming in while you have an additional full-time job as a restaurant opener.

Wine, Beer, Spirits, Sake and the Like

One of the best parts of the project to date: lunch with a prospective, oh, let’s call him sommelier, beverage manager or simply wine geek. We met at a neighborhood restaurant in Portland’s Pearl District. First, about the restaurant experience. I actually enjoy going to lunch at a place that serves both lunch and dinner. This usually gives me an idea of what the chef and staff can do without making the ultimate commitment to a dinner. I have to admit that we didn’t get too involved in critiquing the restaurant, for good or bad, as we were a bit wrapped up in our conversation. Not too busy for a Friday lunch, but they did good job overall. Hard to tell when all you have is a glass of wine (not much by the glass was from the Pacific Northwest) and an entrée salad (didn’t know chickpeas grew locally).

One pet peeve. As I previously mentioned and you will see shortly, Terroir has an open-kitchen design. This is as much about space and number-of-seat considerations as it is about my enjoyment of working in an open kitchen. My pet peeve is restaurants with open kitchens that look and operate like someone either just tore down the kitchen wall or never put one up. I don’t really want to see a greasy spice rack, the dish staff cleaning my plates or look into the employee changing room.

I’m giving my prospective cohort time to digest my persuasive sale pitch. Helpful hint #32 from Uncle Stu: Have both a detailed and succinct business plan at the ready to use as a financing tool, sale pitch and PR document. They also make wonderful coasters for your morning coffee and fold nicely into origami swans.

Sustainability

My friend (not close, but a friend nevertheless), author Michael Ruhlman (see post 4, Read All About It) has been guest-blogging at a site called megnut.com for a few weeks. He happens to be one of the best writers about the food industry in general and about the role of chefs specifically. His commentary "It's a Wonderful Life" about the ethics of eating creatures that were once living, the agri-business “mafia,” Jeffery Steingarten and conviction-less Food Network Celebri-Chefs is hilarious, self-righteous, appropriately vulgar and inspired. Who else could compare himself and his hometown of Cleveland to a salmon going home to spawn while working commentary on the war in Iraq, Clarence the Angel and Rachael Ray’s ballooning weight all into a 700-word rant. Genius!

And the journey continues.

Cheers!

Stu

Posted by Stu Stein on August 25, 2006 | Comments (0)