Chef Mil
Berkeley, CA
Female, 49
I have been working in restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years (two of the restaurants had been in the SF Chronicle's Top 100 Restaurants). I have cooked mostly Mediterranean food, but have some experience with Asian food. I went to cooking school, and worked my way up from being a prep cook (think--prepping 3 cases of artichokes, de-boning 100 quail, and juicing a case of lemons!) to being a chef at a well known restaurant in my area. And no, I am not the yelling type! :)
Hi Brooketown, I was just talking about this to someone! I tried to make this Spanish tripe dish with all this Spanish charcuterie, pig trotters, and pimenton. The tripe was slowly cooked for two hours which made it quite tender, and I thought all the add ons gave it such great flavor. Unfortunately, we have such a bias against tripe in this country that only 9 sold in the two weeks I had it on the menu. Even Alice Waters' ex-husband couldn't bring himself to eat tripe. He said he just couldn't stomach eating a stomach!!! :)
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Hi Myra, Definitely not. I've cooked with so many cooks that didn't, and they were damn good. It's all about the attitude and heart, I think. I worked with a lot of people who were products of cooking schools that sucked! They thought cooking would be glamorous and it ain't! A lot of these cooks learned on the job. Great question!
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Jason, I'm beginning to think that food critics matter less, especially since newspapers are getting less play. The food section in my area has gotten small; it used to have its own section every week. In a way, I think Yelp is more democratic and pretty accurate, although I know it does solicit money to give restaurants more coverage and to remove any bad ratings.
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Hi manamana, That is a very hard question to answer! :) I've had so many great restaurant meals. One that stands out is some very simple, but delicious steamed vegetables (yes, you read that right) at Michel Guerard's small place, not his three star, in France. I once had a meal at Chez Panisse where everything was just so out of this world. With some cook friends though, at a get together, everyone brought food. The food was excellent, yes. But something about that evening...we were eating outside someone's beautiful home, on their patio. It was a summer evening, and just everyone laughed so much, shared great stories; there was a camaraderie born of all the stars just lining up that night that made it so magical.
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Nurse Practitioner
As gender roles continue to evolve, are you seeing a rise in the % of male nurses?
Nail Technician
How sanitary are the pedicure basins really?
Chef
Has anyone ever found anything gross in their food on your watch?
Hi jason, Well, the main food critic here, not many people know what he looks like. They know that he hangs out with one certain cookbook writer, and sometimes her presence tips the restaurant off. We know when a high-end restaurant opens that he will be coming around, but otherwise, no I don't know. If I knew he was there, I would just make sure to serve up an awesome version of any dishes going to the table. He doesn't really like it when something off the menu is made for him.
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Hi Wannabe, I had to think about this...Of course all the ones we know Ferran Adria, Thomas Keller are great just for their innovation. But when it comes to chefs whose food I have eaten consistently, it would have to be David Tanis and Chris Lee who both used to work at Chez Panisse. They both make AMAZING food. I wonder how they do it. Who are your favorites?
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Hi singh_r, Sorry for the delay. I was in Europe. The sign is to remind employees. Here, the restaurants must have by law, a special hand-washing sink complete with soap and available hand wiping facilities. This sounds sort of gross, but many people are not in the habit of washing their hands even at home. I always wash my hands first thing when I get to work. Sometimes when I tell folks how stringent I am at home with the family, they think I'm mean. I also counter their protests with, "Oh, so you don't want a restaurant chef to think like this?" That usually quiets them!
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