As I continue on with my career, this might be the last article regarding my journey for a very long time. Another chapter has recently closed and I’m ready to share my experience. I was contemplating for a long time whether I should start writing this part, for the timeline seems “still too fresh” in my opinion. But ironically, having fresh memories will allow me to expound on things clearly. There’s no hiding, just the truth.

When the world stopped back in 2020, I caught myself having a wonderful time being closer to nature. I didn’t let the pandemic stop me from going out to walk or jog and admire the city that I am living in. Miami is blessed with the perfect weather to enjoy the outdoors, and thanks to where we live, getting to the water didn’t take too long, even by foot. I would jog from Brickell all the way to cross the bridge of Key Biscayne while listening to my favorite 80’s hits or personal finance podcast, and then, I walk my way back home. If remember it correctly, going back and forth took at least six miles. I was not alone in this endeavor though, there were countless health-conscious individuals who did the same thing. It makes you inspired to push yourself, to not become lazy and get affected by the depressing news revolving around the world.

Covid Isolation at its best | Things you see in Miami | A floating Home

The mistake that most people did during that time was to confine and lock themselves up in their apartments like prisoners. For those who had an actual house with a backyard, you must have enjoyed having BBQ while drinking cold beer during the lockdown. I would kill to have my own single-detached home with a nice yard. I get that we all have our opinions regarding the matter, some people were really afraid of catching it and some just didn’t let it affect them. Well, for some reason, I just knew that I will not get it. I’ve seen people got ruined by it. It was so painful to see them inflict that type of mental fear to themselves, where the solution was just to bathe yourself under the sun, a very cheap remedy that didn’t require much. For those five or six solid months of total lockdown, I reflected on life, thanked myself for being financially prepared to support our lifestyle and kept myself busy by creating content. Hence, Thestandthemanshow Youtube channel was created.

During the height of the pandemic, we even traveled locally along with our Filipino neighbors whom we have become really good friends with. From Miami, we set off to St. Augustine and Savannah in Georgia, Gatlinburg in Tennessee and Pell City in Alabama, where my father-in-law comes from. It was a wonderful experience just being out on the road and not think about what has dawned to humanity.

Out of all the places that we went to, Gatlinburg was the most interesting. People stared at our group like we were the source of the virus. There was even a lady on the passenger seat of a car who was swaying her head left and right in dismay upon having eye contact with me, I’m serious! It was so funny because I was telling my FIL that I felt kind of uncomfortable by the way people stared at me and a minute later, that incident happened. To my surprise, Gatlinburg was one of those places where they didn’t give a single damn about Covid—no masks, no social distancing. I was excited to be there, didn’t really care about what I can get infected with. It felt like being in a state fare and I loved every minute of it.

Once we got to my F.I.L.’s home in Alabama, I felt at ease and had a sense of relief. The property had a pond, a shooting range and a patch of land for growing anything that you can think of. When the relatives (of my FIL) heard that we were coming, they all came down to pay a visit. Granny made her famous roast beef and the others pitched in with BBQ, salad and etc. One of the highlights of that trip was when we got so drunk and started singing karaoke. Our neighbor, Ed, started singing and dancing in a very humorous way that I can’t even explain-common in Filipinos when we get drunk, and from there, everybody just started enjoying.

Going Back to Reality, Joining A Famous Nightlife Restaurant

September had big news. Some states were starting to reopen. I had a call from Le Jardinier asking me if I am willing to go back with one condition, that we were all going to take a pay cut. At that time, the pay cut really threw me off, but I still said yes to the offer. N, my previous chef de cuisine at L’Atelier, reached out to offer me a sous chef position at this very famous Miami nightlife restaurant where its reputation precedes it in many ways. Some love it and some hate it. It is a highly profitable institution—that I give credit to them. When people are intoxicated and want to be seen, they don’t care how much money they spend. Celebrities, big or small, come here to dine. Most of the people in the industry who have worked there forsake the place for how chaotic and disappointing the place is. I didn’t know what I was getting into. I took the chance because they were paying more than what Le Jardinier offered.

I did my tasting and got in. I called Le Jardinier a week before meeting again saying that I no longer want to come back. So, I started working and there were a lot of revelations regarding the place. It wasn’t what I expected it to be. It was a jungle. Although, like every chef, you have all the intentions to change the place to improve it. I wasn’t able to do any of that. This is where I’ve seen the dirtiest and most disrespectful cooks in my entire life. The restaurant is so busy that you don’t even look at the food that gets to the pass, you just send them. At the end of every service, the floor looked like the team waged war or a coup against the company—towels, aprons, crumpled tickets, sauces, vegetables and other disgusting things lay dead on the floor. I stared at the kitchen once, when I was closing, and I told myself “Where did these people learn how to cook?”

There were really alarming events that happened during my tenure over there. The restaurant had a “hidden” bar lounge on the third floor. Since Covid was still part of our daily lives, clubs were still banned. Despite the law enforced, the company still decided to open the lounge and squeeze in as much people as they can. The lounge would make hundreds of thousands within a span of hours and there were two or three instances where the police came in, raided the place and had it shut down. Although, since the company had a lot of government connections, they were able stop the police visitations and continued running the business.

There were multiple times when the restaurant suddenly blacked out and we still had to sell food. They’ve been having issues with the electricity and hood system for a long time, had some complications fixing them, and it would just turn dark in the middle of a random service. I remember two or three instances wherein the smoke and heat were starting to accumulate from the kitchen to the dining area. We had to open all the windows; it was getting out of hand. I could see 20 or 30 of my line cooks suffocated in the back, their eyes red and had to cover their nose and mouth with wet towels. The funny thing is that the hostesses still sat people, the GM didn’t know what he was doing, and we were there for two-three hours waiting for instructions whether we will continue or not. Tickets were still printing; the servers didn’t know what was happening. At this point, inspectors could’ve just stormed in the restaurant and had us shutdown right away because it is obviously a health hazard to prepare food in a very undesirable working environment. Management didn’t care, it’s just the numbers, numbers, numbers.

Despite all the issues of the company, I did what I can do to help. I was able to gain the trust of the people who worked there. They loved me. Although, my bad temper slowly began to come back again. It’s difficult to stay calm in a kitchen where people just do what they want to do. You tell them good things and good intentions, but it feels like my words just don’t mean a thing to them. These cooks are so deep in their bad habits that they don’t understand what doing things right mean to them. As long as they can execute the task, they don’t care about anything else.

Not everything that happened in that restaurant was bad. Quite frankly, I was able to meet a very dear friend and eventually became my business partner for a short period of time. E was the sushi sous at that time, and I would always have a chat with him. He’s a very calm and kind-spirited individual who had the discipline of wanting to be the best. He wants his sushi to be the best in Miami, I admire that of him. This person is responsible, caring and very genuine. We would take about anything whenever I go to his turf. I even helped him prep some stuff when I had the time to do so.

A Chance of a Lifetime

Apparently, one of E’s sushi line cooks owns a long-standing family sushi and Thai restaurant. This kid planted a seed in E’s head saying that his dad is looking for help to flip their restaurant around, he needed managing partners. E was expressing his thoughts about leaving the nightlife restaurant to join the other place and see what he can make out of it. I actually said that it might also be a good idea for me. We had a meeting with the kid’s dad, and he mentioned that in April or May of that year, he will get big funding coming in that will be utilized for the renovation of the restaurant. The kitchen and the rest room were not in the best shape. In addition, the dining area can use some work and had a lot of potential. The owner advised us to create an LLC where he would pay us through. I took a huge pay cut for this in the hopes of making commission as “managing partners.” Without hesitation, we said goodbye to the nightlife restaurant and ventured west.

Cleaning up with my dear business partner

Let me ask you something. Have you ever been to a kitchen where you just took out everything and just started scrubbing, brushing, pressure-hosing every single nook and cranny, every tile, every pipe and every spot you can just lay your hands on? We did. My friend even borrowed a really strong pressure washer so we can remove all the oil build up, gunk, corrosion and whatever horrendous things that have been clinging on to the very surface of the kitchen facade for 8 years. Yes, 8 years of neglect, nobody thought of doing a heavy, general deep cleaning. I was crying and the same time life laughing, asking myself why we did such a thing. Was it really for the better to leave the nightlife restaurant?

See how clean the pipes are? They were revolting before we did the deep clean.

Despite the time-consuming effort, we put our hearts into doing such a thing because cooking in a dirty kitchen for me feels very atrocious. It’s like you’re robbing people’s money because they expect that when they pay, they pay for the entire experience. What do I mean by that? People expect that first, the food comes out good and tasty. Second, they expect that whoever touched their food has good hygiene and that the ingredients were treated with utmost respect. Third, people expect that the tools and equipment that the restaurant uses to prepare their food are being maintained properly. Lastly, people expect that behind closed doors, the kitchen should actually be CLEAN. any sign of infestation, mineral and oil buildup and other vile things are ways how you rob a client without them knowing. I hope restaurant owners can read this.

I tell you, this is the only kitchen that I really, really gave my all when we cleaned it. I was drained after two days of just organizing and cleaning. The family had so much stuff that they’re not evening using just hanging around the kitchen. We had to bring some of their stuff to their own garage.

When we got our kitchen up to standards, we started “working.” Our first agenda was to update the menu and pricing. The menu was your usual multipage laminated booklet that’s been poorly maintained. It was oily and had a lot of fingerprints. Nobody took the time to wipe them down page by page. We opted for a large 10 x 17-inch specialty paper and printed a two-sided page menu that made it simpler for the guest to discern.

The pricing has not been updated for the past three or four years. Covid made everything more expensive. So we did what we could. We weren’t perfect, one server was complaining that we bumped up the pricing too much that it might scare people to come in. She was a pain in the ass but she was partially right. The owner also requested if we can review the pricing again, he said the same thing about not trying to scare people away. The extra one to five dollar update did good for the restaurant, they needed that pricing change.

E’s dish. Tuna tataki with Calamansi Tapioca Pearls and Shaved Fennel

Next, we wanted to come up with new dishes but all the chinaware seemed so outdated. We were able to convince the owner to spend a little bit of money to purchase some nice dishes. So from then on, I created dish after dish after dish to entice the people to try something new. E was a little bit not in the same page coming up with specials since sushi can get really busy and their rolls are quite complicated and highly repetitive. There were at least 25 maki rolls to choose from, and we even took out some off the menu already. Imagine that. Plus, to-go orders are popping here and there. They can get backed up at least 25-30 minutes for a single sushi roll during the busy nights.

Charred Lettuce with Green Sofrito, Kaffir Lime Dressing and Aromatics | This is a killer salad, completely vegan

Friday and Saturday nights were the killer nights. The restaurant gets packed and we really do get busy. I’ll be inside working the wok and the specials while E is over at his sushi bar and just operating like a robot, pumping maki after maki after maki. Along the way, we got introduced to the loyal guests of the restaurant. These people have been coming since the inception of the spot and are loyal to the brand. They are normally the ones who just say “Give me whatever special dish you have.” We got to know these people and developed very healthy relationships with them. We thought we were headed somewhere meaningful. The people liked the change that we were bringing and people can see that things are slowly improving.

Panang Tomato Dip with Tostones | A truly unique dish that I came up with

An Interesting Character

I met a special character that really amused me. Upon seeing that there are real chefs now working the kitchen, this Cuban guy who owns a chain of restaurants started to befriend us. We got to know him, he showed us his empire, told us his story, bragged about how much money he makes and his plans for the future and basically warned us to not sell any dishes that will be in direct competition to what he sells. He warned us not to sell any steaks and to just stick to fish and sushi. What a funny guy, so insecure about his products. Well, for the most part, when we visited him once, he gave us a piece of tomahawk to-go. It was burnt. I don’t know if he did that on purpose or not. “The moment I find out that you are selling what I’m selling, I’m going to crush your restaurant.” I’m not joking you, these words came out of his mouth. I wish he told that to the owner himself. Funny thing is that before he even became successful, he was asking the owner for tips and advice to fix his struggling business. There was an instance where he went to the restaurant and we suggested to give him a sizzling sirloin dish that was on the menu for years. When the food got to their table, he tasted it and liked it. He asked the server, “Amy, since when did you have this on the menu?” Amy said that it’s been there for a long time but they just didn’t ordered it before.

Another instance was when I came up with a very nice triple-cooked grilled pork belly. This guy came in with his family and when he saw that we had pork belly on the special menu, he paused for a little bit and contemplated. Well, when he got the dish, he was so impressed by it and even said that it’s better than what they are selling.

So, whenever this guy comes to the restaurant, I just tell him what he wants to hear. He even invited me to do a cookout. He said to choose whatever dish we have to make, I boldly told him to do a steak, gravy and mashed potato challenge. He warned me that his speciality is steaks, fair enough. A thousand dollars to whoever wins the challenge. I remember him saying the words “Oh Stanley, I’m so happy that I can divert my attention from my business to this competition for a bit because I’m so stressed out with running a business.” I prepared for it, he didn’t push through.

Downhill

Aside from my management responsibilities to the restaurant, I became the main purchaser of goods. I took the responsibility from the owners in exchange for a reasonable fee of doing such a thing. Imagine, I would go to Restaurant Depot twice a week, purchase all the stuff that we need and fill my Camry with whatever I can fit in it. I’m surprised by how much my car can take in. I was just shoving and squeezing whatever I can in my Toyota. I took my wife with me once or twice and she saw how much effort I put in doing the grocery shopping, like a business owner. I would then take it to the restaurant and unload them with the help of my line cooks.

We started noticing that the owner’s kid, didn’t have a clear idea of what his role is for the restaurant. He left the nightlife restaurant as well because he told us that he would be there to help us. We were expecting that out everybody there, he would be putting the most effort to help save his family’s restaurant. Quite the contrary. This kid would ask his dad in the middle of a busy service if he can hang out and get stoned with his friends. Or sometimes, he would just leave for the day and not work the night shift anymore. E and I made the weekly schedule, but it’s not being followed. The kid will say, “But my dad told me that I don’t have to work tonight to cut labor.” We don’t know if it’s true or not because when we would talk to the owner, he would say something different. In addition, the closer we got to the big funding month, the more the owner grew quieter and quieter about his promises of purchasing stuff for the restaurant. Before we took this opportunity, he said, “You can change whatever you want to make the restaurant better.” But then, when we started, he said that he actually doesn’t want to change anything from the menu, he just wants us to maintain it. Slowly, we started to see the true colors coming into play. We had line cooks who are older and couldn’t take orders from somebody younger. They were painful to deal with. I was hot-headed, luckily, E was the diplomat between the two of us. He’s the one who can negotiate and convince our enemies to concede or cooperate.

My wife asked me, are you happy about this restaurant? I told her that it’s a lot of work but I feel satisfied about what I do. She was worried that the family was just exploiting us without keeping their end of the bargain. I didn’t listen to my wife. I had high hopes that the owner would keep his word. Unfortunately, the month came and we didn’t hear a thing about the funding. Weeks came after and still no sign of anything. For heaven’s sake, our men’s toilet is so messed up that one of the biggest VIP spenders there said “You know, I like this restaurant so much that I want to bring my friends here. But the problem is that I’m embarrassed to bring them because of the men’s toilet. I hope you guys can do something about it—really not presentable.” What can I do about this? I’m not the one holding the funds and yet this person opened up to me that made me feel so sorry for the family. He was completely right.

E and I have began to talk about leaving. We can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel and things were getting sour. I told E that he should front the conversation because I just can’t. I’m just in the background waiting to pounce just in case the owner started to point fingers towards us. Well, to my surprise, it was mutual. He actually said that “Yeah, it’s been two or three months now and I haven’t seen that much change.” Jeez, really!? If he kept his word regarding the funding, then we could have done things. We just let it go.

Nightlife Scene, Again

After the sushi thai gig, E decided that he will go back and work for the same nightlife hospitality company, they were opening a brand new concept and they asked him if he can help out. After some time, the exec chef of the nightlife spot reached out to me and asked if we can get a beer and talk. He offered me a position and salary that I couldn’t refuse and so I went back.

In life, we learn through mistakes or when we experience something twice. I should’ve reminded myself why I even left in the first place. Because when I came back, I just turned into somebody who I didn’t like. Don’t get me wrong, I became better and better as time passed. I was able to expo for 1200 covers, easily. I struggled at first but it was a gradual transition. The company appreciated what I contributed to the restaurant, thanks to a very effective mentor. Until this day, I am thankful for learning from one of the best chefs that I’ve worked with. I’ve worked with chefs with more experience and “macho image” but none compares to this guy’s intuition. J, who’s the executive chef of the spot, is not by any means a chef of techniques and knowledge or even Michelin calibre, he was even honest about it, but his way of managing people and running a huge restaurant is what I admire about him. I’ve learned more from him than other chefs that I’ve previously worked with. Literally, I respect this guy for having sound and swift decisions in the kitchen. He can command everybody to follow him to war if there was one. There were plans of opening the same concept in Dallas. He mentioned to me that when the time comes, he will leave the restaurant to me and I will have to run it. “Keep it simple, as long as you got the 5 main things under control, then you should be fine.”

Those were:

1) Quality of the food

2) Keep labor cost low

3) Maintain the food cost

4) Maintain the kitchen and the team

5) Keep upper management engaged by creating new dishes

The rest that follows is just noise. Simple, yet it encompasses everything that a chef stands for. I have kept this mantra ever since I left that place. I am forever thankful of the guy.

Moving forward, my temper began to pump up again. I hated having to repeat myself five or six times because the line cooks don’t listen. I will get so frustrated that sometimes I catch myself banging the pass while yelling “Where the fuck is my Gyoza for the fucking fifth time!?” People get surprised whenever I do that, and I do that often. Yes, I turn into Gordon Ramsay sometimes. Well, can you blame me? If you have thirty or forty tickets in front of you and another fifty on back, on a Friday or Saturday night with 900-1200 covers, shouldn’t your line cooks have laser-focus and not just roam around the kitchen or gossip? I was trained to listen and not even look at tickets. Everything is organized in my head, and I know exactly the order of things. Oui chef! On the other hand, the line cooks nowadays are so spoiled that a little bit of inconvenience will make them say “This is too much work, I quit.” or “You don’t have to yell at me if you want something.” Are you kidding me? Where are the real soldiers who just put their heads down and just get things done with efficiency and skill? My cooks were just dropping things in the fryer or pan-searing gyozas on the Plancha and placing steam baskets on the steamer and yet, they act like they own the restaurant. On top of that, they get paid top dollar!? For what and how?

I got more and more frustrated with the people as the days passed. R, a good friend of mine who is now a corporate chef of the company, got so worried that I will quit. I got pissed off one night and I told them that I’m going outside to get some air. We talked. Since he’s been working for the company for a long time, he knew how bad the restaurant is. Well, we can’t do much but to do our jobs. One day, while running service, I was telling the runners to run some dishes that were on the pass. One of the floor managers came behind me, chatting and dancing with the runners. I repeated a couple of times telling the people to take something, but nobody was paying attention. I got so fed up that I turned around and started yelling “Hey, we’re not fucking done yet and here you are chatting, the food’s getting cold.” and the floor manager answered, “Ok, but you don’t have to yell.”

I told her, “Oh yeah!? Why don’t you run the fucking pass then!?” I gave her the sharpie, grabbed my bag and bolted out of the restaurant with my executive chef just standing on the side, wondering what happened. That’s the end of my time there. I didn’t even bother apologizing to my chef. But after a while, I reached out to him and we’re in good terms.

Moving on, I tried to get into a fancy Italian restaurant somewhere south. I got in through a friend as an executive sous chef, but I didn’t last long. I made it look like one of their sous chefs who’s a young kid was affecting and harassing me, but in reality, I was getting a better offer somewhere and Italian food really didn’t speak to me. Two weeks in and I was out.

European Trip

After this unfortunate event, I took a vacation with my family. It was my first time setting foot in Europe and I didn’t regret it. I will not outline every detail of my trip since I’ve been wanting to write an article about it. I loved and admired everything European—their way of life and the food, the food was to die for. I had the best meal of my life in Barcelona back in 2021 before it was topped by our most recent trip to France. The best steak that I had was in Florence where the Bistecca Fiorentina felt like tuna, light and tasty. There were a lot of things to be thankful for and I enjoyed every minute of my time away from the kitchen. This is when my wife and I started to appreciate Italian food, good Italian food. The spots that got recommended to us by a dear friend were phenomenal. I can’t forget about how simple yet so tasty our meals were. I can still dream about them.

Back To Work, Less Stress

My vacation went by so fast and when I came back, a friend reached out to me saying that they needed a sous chef. I did my tasting and got in. I found myself in a volume restaurant again, but this time, it’s half of what I was used too. Easier life for me. I got settled in and did what I know best. A month later, my friend quit, he found a better paying job. For a month or two, I was offered the executive sous position, but I didn’t take it. I told the chef that I didn’t see myself being here for too long. It’s another one of those Nobu-style food that you can pretty much get everywhere here in Miami.

Through this restaurant, I built myself to become a stronger manager and less of a chef. To start, I took charge of ordering the high-priced items such as proteins, seafood and specialty items. I only ordered what I needed and kept everything at a minimum except for days when a holiday will affect our ordering. This skill helped me keep my inventory cost low. of course, I’m not perfect, sometimes I would order things that I didn’t even intend to order in the first place. Next, I was able to build my relationships with my purveyors up to the point where they would actually approach me to voice out some concerns rather than to the chef. It made him jealous, he would make jokes about it but you could feel that they’re half meant. I would engage in these long conversations or phone calls with them and I just make them laugh, they like that. Third, I was able to train one or two cooks who came from nothing and were able to execute things well. That was the most rewarding thing I’ve done in this place. When people say that Chef Stanley is a good mentor, then you feel fulfilled. I have this very nurturing approach towards teaching, especially when the person I am teaching has full of potential and is willing to sacrifice time and effort. I want my students to get frustrated at some point, that’s when you see that they do really care. I wasn’t able to teach everyone, but I made sure the people that I did teach, learned something from me. Finally, I made sure to be strict with labor hours. I tried to cut so much that even before I became the exec sous, I had an altercation with one of the cooks, he was old and got easily sensitive about his hours. Well, he had poor performance, but he was reliable. One time, I sent him home and he got so upset and he started yelling at me and I don’t let people do that to me. I went straight to his face, as close as I can and just started saying things about his performance and my responsibilities. I didn’t care, I don’t like people disrespecting me. He blurted out “You’re not number 1 (he means the boss), you’re not number 2 or 3, you’re number 4. And I said, “I don’t care, I’m just doing my job.” After a couple of months, I became number 2 and we never had the same issue again.

Another major incident that I had was when a notorious for being an ill-tempered runner yelled at me in the middle of service. This guy was the best runner that we had, but then, he played too much Call of Duty that it affected his job. He would whisper words once a lesser runner will leave the pass. Or he would murmur things for me to hear it about somebody not doing their job properly. We got into an argument before, and I spoke to him after that. I told him that he’s the best that we got but his temper needs some work. He agreed to it, and I thought that that was the end of it. But turns out, one night, I was running the past smoothly and out of nowhere a server came by and said, “I fucked up on the ribs, can you change it to no nuts.” And luckily, I had an order of ribs with no nuts coming my way, but it was meant for another table. Although, the server who had an issue had his ribs fired first. So, what I was thinking is to give him the ribs so the wait will not be too long for the guests. It was already in my hand and I was about to give it to him, but the runner started yelling at me and he was saying the table number for the ticket that had the original order or the ribs without the nuts and I got so fed up that I yelled at him “Shut up, I’m trying to fix an issue here.” and he continued by saying “I’m telling you the table number for that ribs!” And I told him “I know, but this guy needs it first.” and from there, we spiraled down. All I can remember is I grabbed him by the arms and threw him on the expo spot and yelled “Why don’t you fucking run the pass then!?” I left and was on my to the office while he yelled “I’m better than you.”

I opened the office where my chef and another CDC for a new opening restaurant were killing time. I yelled at everybody to get out of my way. I grabbed my knife bag and left. One of the FOH managers was chasing me asking if I can explain what happened and I just told him to go back to the restaurant. I called my wife who was at Design District at that time, and I asked her if she want to go eat some ramen. I drove to her, and we had dinner. I didn’t feel like working for the next two days until the chef started asking if I’m actually coming back. I came back and kept my job. When I came back, they had the runner strictly run drinks for a good whole week and I told the FOH team about what happened. After a couple of weeks, he got fired because of writing some anti semitism stuff on my pass and a Jewish FOH manager saw it.

Our kitchen will get flooded every once in a while, and there was a time when my chef and I just squeegeed the floor the whole night while the managing partner of the restaurant came by to dine and he saw us doing what we were doing. Nothing happened, he pretended to not see us and just got drunk with his date. If a health inspector came by that time, they could have shut us down. Imagine the whole kitchen getting flooded, all of the cooks’ shoes were wet and we had to go on.

Funny thing is that I made a very costly mistake. One busy night, our restaurant just blacked out-another electrical issue. Turns out that the construction company who had a project on the second floor touched the wrong circuit breaker and just messed up our service. Since I’ve been in this situation before, I immediately told the FOH manager to open all the doors because the grill is still running but the hoods stopped. I didn’t panic, although I was trying to figure out how to fix the situation by bringing the electricity back. I opened a couple of electrical panels that were located in the kitchen but to no avail. And then, I was curious enough to press the “emergency button” in the kitchen. When I did, the sprinkler system at our pastry area activated and just ruined some prep. After that happened, we had everybody come out of the kitchen. The chef came in, he was not on duty that time, we didn’t know what he was doing or if he was really sick or not. He had us all managers instruct the cooks to leave and stay outside for the meantime while we figure things out. In short, we had to comp every table and tell them that service is done for the night, we lost revenue, big time. That evening, after everybody was gone, the hood system company who takes care of the sprinklers came by to check. The guy assessed that somebody pressed the wrong button and that caused all the issue. I immediately told my chef that I was the one who did that. He urged me to not say a word. Well, I was honest and was ready to lose my job. But he insisted to speak for me. I even sat with the GM and Restaurant Manager after that incident at the bar while having a glass of whiskey. The next day, the GM checked the cameras and saw that it was me. The chef spoke to management about it but I really felt guilty of what I did. I told him, I want to come clean and if I lose my job, then so be it. To cut the chase, I didn’t get fired and the managing partner actually said “I think he pressed the button so he can get an extra day off.” What a guy. But the sad part about it is that I made myself look like a liar.

The season came and we were able to execute New Year’s Eve properly. The servers were saying that it’s the first time that they’ve ever experienced a smooth service. Well, I’m not going to take the entire credit for it but I did something that made our lives so much easier. And at the same time, I’m used to expo-ing 1200 covers, what is 200 people, even for a 4-5 course set menu?

Mother’s Day was smooth, I made sure that despite Mother’s Day falling on a Sunday, I came to work and expo. I wanted the challenge, I wanted to be busy. I’m always looking for that adrenaline rush and when you triumph after, it felt good. When I wasn’t there on Father’s Day, I heard crazy things happen during the service and It wasn’t even as busy as Mother’s Day. There’s an art to expo-ing. You’re not just reading tickets and waiting for the fire ticket to come in. You need intuition to run the kitchen smoothly. You need to tell your cooks when to pump out more food than what is intended, especially if the brunch menu is unlimited. Not just with brunch, even for parties, I find ways on how to not have the kitchen fall behind. That’s what a chef should be doing, always three or four steps ahead of the show. At the same time, I give my cooks “All day counts” multiple times. I don’t care if they get annoyed by me as long as I know that they have what I am looking for. Some chefs just start to freak out and can’t control the tickets once it gets busy. Once the cooks smell that you’re getting behind, the whole entire kitchen gets behind. Good old days.

Summer came and we really felt the drastic change. From doing 300-700 covers, we slowly trickled down to 100-300 covers. Some nights, we barely even hit 100. I started to get offers for an executive chef position here and there and I turned them down since I haven’t finished my year yet. I did some tastings for different companies just to see what I can get out of it. At the same time, I was telling my wife that once we get back from our European trip in October, I will start looking for a brand-new challenge. I’ve been wanting to be an executive chef. I really feel that I can lead a team and I don’t want to answer to a supervisor anymore. It gets frustrating when you and your chef decide on something and the next thing you know, he does something else. Well, it is what it is. On top of that, I really felt that I was just coming to work to joke around and get paid to order and expo. It starts from management. I believe that if you show your team that you want a laid back and relax life, then the people under you will imitate you. Monkey see, monkey do. But if you set strict standards, then people will follow those standards. It’s one thing to be so good with words and not practice what you preach and it’s another thing to just not say anything at all, but people can see what you’re trying to accomplish. That’s all there is to it. Yes, we had a good life, we get paid well and we take it easy. Yes, if I were retired, then I would go back to this place and enjoy the easy life. But since I am still young, I want to get away from my comfort zone and challenge myself and see what I can make out of my willingness to grow. If I fail, then by all means, I move on and learn from it. But if I hit it big, then there’s no turning back. I always seek for a sense of purpose, a goal to work on and reach. When we got back from our trip, something happened that just made me decide that it’s time to go.

Ice Cream To-go, Anyone?

One night, a server came up to me asking if we can sell the ice cream that we put on top of our hot chocolate truffle dessert-by the tub. I told the server that we cannot do it since we portion them out into tiny 2.5L x 1H x 0.5W inch rectangles. We don’t store them by the tub. He asked for the second time, “Are you sure? Because this lady really wants it and loves it.” I said no. After 5 minutes, he came back asking again, “If we don’t sell it by the tub, can we sell those individual portions?” I said no. He said that the lady knows the owner (people always do this). I said for the fourth time, NO. After a couple of minutes, this guy comes back with a manager, asking the same thing. Then the manager pointed out that we can just sell the individual portions and put them in a to-go container. GUESS HOW LONG THE ICE CREAM CAN STAY OUT BEFORE IT STARTS TO MELT? PLEASE CHECK THE DIMENSIONS AGAIN ON TOP. Logically, I said no. Well, since it’s Miami, people don’t care. We will get paid anyways. I said no. He started grabbing a to-go container and I told him “J, what am I here for, as an executive sous, if you will just do whatever you want to do after I refused for 6 times to not sell that?” He was telling me that “It’s fine, the guest wants it, we’ll give it to her.” and I told him “If you sell that, then I’m leaving, I’ll let you run the kitchen.” and He insisted on doing what he wanted to do and I grabbed my knife bag and left.

The next day, before I came in, I had my notice printed out. When I got in, I had to wait for the chef because he was in a meeting with the owners, they were probably talking about the incident last night. After a couple of minutes, he came up to me and I asked if we can talk in the office. I gave him my notice and told him that I stand my ground and I’m ready to leave. He said that it was already too late for that since the owners already found out about it. The owner came in the office and asked if he can talk to me. So, I got to the table, the managing partner and owner in front of me and they began telling the story of what happened last night. I agreed to everything except for the fact that J twisted the story saying that initially, I wanted to sell the ice cream to the guest and when they asked me again about it, “I took my word back and decided not sell it anymore.” Hail Mary. God bless that guy’s soul. I told the managing partner that I was not proud of what I did-walking out for the second time, but I stand my ground of not selling the ice cream. He told me that it doesn’t matter what the guest wanted, we could just have sold it and let her worry about what happens next. That idea didn’t sit well with me. They tried to offer me something, they said that they don’t want to lose me as a talent. I denied it because it entailed undermining the chef. I told him “Thank you, I’ve done my year here and it’s about time I face a brand-new challenge. I will be another company’s asset.”

From there, I ended another chapter of my career. I took a break for a month and taught a friend how to cook. It was memorable, rewarding and worth it. Now, I got what I wanted, I am an executive chef of a small, charming restaurant that has a lot of potential. I am aiming for a Michelin Star or Bib Gourmand. I don’t want to cook mediocre food anymore and would only like to produce the best. I will get it. I know I can. I will come back to this article after a year or two.

My Story Part 5-Miami Part 2

My Dream Life And How I Will Spend The Rest Of My Years

Teaching A Friend How To Cook