Under Fire: Another one down

Our former Cafe Society intern just decided to chuck college in favor of a real education: as a sous chef. In Under Fire, he chronicles his daily trials and tribulations in the kitchen.

Chef took off early last night, leaving the show to me — and miraculously, I did not fuck things up. In fact, I had another Top Five culinary moment when I came up with a special with Chef.

But if the special was a story, she did the outline and I filled in the sentences. We had a leek vinaigrette but no recipe; lo and behold, I’m gently melting leeks with butter and tarragon and ending up with a beautifully gentle green vin to go under my scallops.

When the first order for a special showed up on my ticket machine, I wanted to do a Tiger fist-pump up and down the line. It was such a gratifying feeling (way more gratifying than finishing a ten-page paper).

After two weeks, I have progressed to the point I wanted to reach in a month, Saute is not yet in my repertoire per se, but I am beginning to hold my own on the station during rushes.

And now that the two week milestone has been reached, I can also confidently say that I’ve made a good decision leaving school. I look at this as school, anyway (except with much longer hours and no piece of paper when I’m finished).

Today I can sit around and watch football while nursing sore feet and a burned hand, but also enjoying a real sense of accomplishment.