Time Flies

I don't want to make excuses - I've certainly been lazy about posting to the blog - but the last month has gone by so fast. In the last post I talked about taking a job at Perry St. I am now settled into my position there and I'm growing to love it more every day.



Restaurant cooking is like a sport where you practice the same motions until you get them down. Every day, my job is more fun as I learn to be more fluid and rhythmic. You are constantly organizing and re-organizing your station so that you can put a plate together in the least number of moves. When you're bogged down with a lot of tickets, you're thinking five steps ahead. You're also worried about timing with the other cooks: you don't want the asparagus to get cold while you're waiting for the other station to finish crab dumplings.

My days begin at 8 am. The first thing I do is grab every container I'm going to need for the day and set up my station: three full sheet pans, three half-sheets, eight 6-pans, seven 9-pans, mixing bowls, etc. Then I get a pot full of oil on the fire and start chopping up frozen snapper skin. When the snapper comes in, we roll up the skin and freeze it so that it can easily be sliced thin. The skin is fried and becomes a crunchy, salty garnish to red snapper sashimi.
***I can't give away all the secrets to our dishes or I might get fired

After doing the skin, I make whatever I need most. Glazes, vinaigrettes, roasted pistachios, sweet "crystallized" wasabi, grilled shitakes, asparagus, soft boiled eggs are all made daily. Some days go more smoothly than others. You get everything prepped and ready before service starts at noon and you have a few minutes to relax and eat lunch. Other days, for whatever reason, you're behind and going as fast as you can to get ready. Then, before you know it, your first orders start coming in and you just do your best to catch up on your prep.

For instance, the other day, I didn't slice enough tomatoes for the heirloom tomato salad. I got bombarded early with orders for tomato salad, so for 2 hours I was behind trying to slice tomatoes to order while worrying about other plates too. Pretty trivial, I guess. It's not like we're saving the world here, but it's interesting how stressful putting food on a plate can be.

Honestly, I have no idea what the atmosphere is like in the dining room during service. I've only peaked through the window a few times. As employess, we're not allowed to eat in the restaurant for the first six months after it opens to leave space open for the public. The restaurant critics from the Times and Daily News do a better job of describing the decor than I could ever do. Links to those reviews are below.

We're located in the far West Village (as far west as you can go), which is arguably the most charming neighborhood in NY. Every morning walking to work, I wonder if and when I'll ever be able to afford to live in one of those brownstones. Who knows, by then the West Village may be a bunch of run-down shanties because all the rich people decided to move to the Lower East Side. Really, though, if I'm ever doing that well financially, I'll take my money to another city.

Daily News Review

New York Times Review