San Francisco is by far one of the top five restaurant cities in America. There is a big movement of slow and delicious food. I got to spend a day in one of those kitchens and it was a treat. Not only was the kitchen kept clean throughout the entire day and the walk-in cooler was in pristine condition, the cooks cared about the food they were putting on a plate. This is something that you don't always find due to lack of discipline and heart, but it certainly was here.
In the beginning of the day, I came into the restaurant after a lovely tour of the Ferry building Farmers market. My very good friend Dave was kind enough to bring me onto his station and give me some prep items to crush. Starting with some sautéed shallots and chard going to a wild mushroom and spinach farce for a raviolo. Thats the ravioli that has a full, unbroken egg yolk on top of a chicken and mushroom farce that gets sandwiched by to thin sheets of pasta. Even though the plating of the food was not 3 michelin, I did my very best to prep as if i were at one. Constantly cleaning the station and cutting board, properly cooling and storing finished products and so on.
Once the ball got rolling and more cooks came into the kitchens, i branched out and started to help the other teammates complete their lists for the day. The cover count was around 76, so they figured the restaurant would sere a little over 100 for the evening. Anywhere from blanching halved baby fennel to making deviled eggs for a canapé party was handed to me with many thanks. Due to them being short staffed, i was a welcome pair of hands.
Service was a fun little section of the day. From an outsider point of view, the line does not look very well spread. It is a four man hot line plus the addition of a sous chef to help finish and plate dishes. From left to right, there Is a fish cook, meat cook, pasta/entremetier (vegetable cook) and a hot appetizer/amuse cook. For the most part, the fish and hot app cook worked in a beautiful symphony from opposite sides of the line. They didn't seem to have many things going on at once and were able to lend a hand to the meat cook and entremetier. The entremetier seemed to have the most amount of garnishes and proteins coming off his station from pork loin to seared foie gras. But it somehow worked.
While service was going hot, I was asked to run the canapé party. The little bites were very simple but tasty canapés. One was a chinese sausage en croute with whole grain mustard and tarragon, shrimp cocktail with basil and deviled eggs with smoked paprika, crisp bacon and chives; very simple yet delicious.
Once the canapé party was completed, the chef prepared a few dishes for me. There was a carrot/ginger carroloni with dungeness crab and an uni broth, Heirloom tomatoes with lavash, burrito and a basil nage, and their own personal take on a bouillabaisse with squid ink toast and a tomato rouille. delicious foods but way too complicated on the plate. I personally feel that if they want the flavors to shine through, they should simplify the plating and take away some unnecessary components. For example, on the rabbit terrine, there were four different types of mustard, carrots, radishes, puree, greens, pickles and a broken vin. There was too much going on at once and it was a bit over whelming. Even so, the food tasted delicious and i would recommend anyone to come and eat at this delicious restaurant.
After it was all said and done, everyone scrubbed and left the kitchen at the same time. They are a team from the beginning and this definitely shows. I want to challenge people inside and outside of the kitchen to work through their daily trials and tribulations more as a team than individually. Through this exercise, bonds are built, work becomes play and above all else, trust is given. Why hold back anything if you know it can benefit others in large and small ways? Just some food for thought.
