Once more into the breach OR I must be crazy for doing this again
The last couple of weeks have been surreal, I’m being propelled along at the speed of light by something really amazing.
So last year, at about this time, actually exactly this time, I was working to open up a restaurant in New Buffalo, the Happy Buddha Noodle Shop. It seems like almost a lifetime ago, and it was. The Buddha had a very short lifespan. It was born on 1 July and died by mid January, just 6 months later. So sad.
I’ve been generally very, very happy switching to food service 2 years ago, at 35, after working in IT and web design for 10 years. The Buddha’s downfall didn’t shake my faith in my career choice, it just took away a dream job: Making my favorite food in the world in an area bereft of Asian food, creating the menu, and running a kitchen. I’m tired of trying to analyze the situation or place blame. Given my inexperience in the field, I certainly accept some of it.
But without that painful experience (which was a lot like falling in love, working incredibly hard on the relationship, and then getting dumped), I wouldn’t have had my next opportunity, and definitely wouldn’t have had this new one.
Since leaving the Buddha in late December, I’ve been working at the Bentwood Tavern (yelp reviews), which is in the Marina Grand Resort (yelp reviews). It’s a great restaurant run by an incredible and generous chef, Jenny Drilon. The whole joint is classy, with a great staff, and I’ve really enjoyed working there.
So Jenny, and the amazing pastry chef, Patty, hired me to cover the weekend baking shift and cross train on the line (saute, grill, fryer) so I’d be ready to work lunches and maybe dinners when it got busy during the summer. And brother does it get busy. Again, my inexperience isn’t exactly an asset, and after a few months of training, I wasn’t ready for prime time. They’re probably doing more business than any other restaurant in the area, their staff is talented and experienced, and I just couldn’t hack it yet. At least not on the line. I could at least give Patty a couple nights off during the weekend so she could run her own business, the only taxi service in the area. Still, compared to Patty, my baking skills are very modest, she’s got education, experience, talent, is very fast, and loves the work.
So the baking gig was all of 9 hours a week. Hmmmm. Sitting at home for the other 159 hours a week was depressing and not very lucrative. Fortunately a position opened up on the front desk at the Marina Grand, and I went for it. And got it. Yay! It’s been an interesting job, with rarely a dull moment, Memorial Day to Labor Day is completely nuts, and like I said, the place is very classy and has a great staff. The more I work in any kind of customer service capacity, I think the key to selling anything, whether it’s widgets or hotel rooms, is having a great product to sell, knowing as much about it as possible, and knowing how to talk to people about it.
Despite the complex, ugly, and clunky computer system, I’ve been doing very well at the job. Since folks are paying a fair amount of money to stay at the resort, I’ve been working very hard to overcome my difficulties with multi-tasking by taking lots of notes and following up very quickly. Stakes are high!
Enough back story already! (There’s plenty more if you’d like, it’s been an interesting couple of years for me, both professionally and personally.)
The US Foods vendor for the Buddha, Mike Vite, a crazy guy who works his butt off, emailed me about this guy in St. Joe, MI, who has a restaurant, and wants to open up something kind of like the Buddha, and needed someone like me. So I contacted John, and we set up a meeting.
From the moment we started talking about the concept, we were completely on the same page, it was amazing. He’s opening a storefront, one room, partially divided, that has an international food market on one side and an Asian bistro on the other. I told him about the Buddha’s small menu with a variety of distinct flavors from around Asia (Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean), and he really liked that, and his crew, Tom Wady, his chef at the awesome Port 412 (who is another great mentor for me), and Brandon who runs the front of the house, are both awesome guys. We all went to see the space that the builders are working on and spread out the architectural drawings. It’s going to be a great place, a lot of fun to come and eat, shop, work, or all of the above! He wanted me to do a cooking demo for the three of them so I could show them that I was able to do what I said I could do. I had already finished my menu before I left them that evening.
I worked about 50 hours at the Marina Grand between baking and the front desk by the time the demo day rolled around, but I had already prepped all of my sauces, rolled my spring rolls, and chopped everything I could chop in advance. I was lucky to find Thai basil and a few other difficult-to-procure items at Saigon Market in South Bend (I usually try Mekong Oriental Market first, but they were closed the day I went shopping). Hopefully I can use one or both of them as vendors for some of that stuff instead of having to go all the way into Chicago.
The day of the demo, I got up early, did what I could do at my apartment, and then loaded up my little car with everything, checking it at least twice. I’m sure Santa forgets some things, but he isn’t auditioning for a job anymore, I am.
I made some space for myself in the basement, and because they were slow between lunch and dinner, the chef on duty, Tim, even helped me prep a little while we talked about our experiences in the business. There are so many reasons to love this business, and guys like Tim, who’s younger than I am, but has been cooking professionally for 15 years, is definitely one of them.
I started putting the dishes out at 2:30p and was finished with the 6th and last course at about 3:45p. I felt so much pressure, I had done everything except for Tim’s prepping contribution, and of course I haven’t been sleeping well (I’ve got a couple posts worth of sleep challenges), so I was wired and tired.
Everything was awesome, they were blown away, I was very happy. Oh, the menu? Sure, here it is:
- Southeast Asian-style shrimp and scallop ceviche with Thai basil
- Vietnamese crispy spring rolls served with table salad of lettuce, Thai basil, cilantro, mint and cucumber and a chili, garlic and lime dipping sauce
- Chinese dry-fried green beans
- Korean friend chicken wings
- Shrimp and tofu pad thai
- Vietnamese catfish in caramel sauce
- Thai green curry with chicken
That’s 7 courses! I’m sure all of it will go on the menu and sell very, very well.
Next step…waiting for the start date, which will be in mid-July!
You are not only an amazing cook, but an amazing writer. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. It makes you feel so closeby — down the street, around the corner! Yes, customer service has everything to do with doing everything in your power to help others get what they want/need while you love giving it. I had a boss once (only once, thank goodness) that thought it was just a good “acting” job. There really is no disguising your love to please when it comes to food! And you allow for so much variety that everyone is going to find something (if not everything!) to love in your menu.