The end of another week and another food-related screed on Foodie Fun Friday. We were out to dinner last evening at a Venezuelan beach food place I’ve written about before. We happened to be seated in a place (it’s tiny) where I had an unobstructed view of the kitchen. The space was minute and 4 cooks and a dishwasher were all scurrying around. The occasional visit by a server would add to the clutter. And it was hot – the air conditioning didn’t make it back to the kitchen – you could tell when you went to the register (near the kitchen) to pay. The conditions weren’t great although the food was. And that, of course, got me thinking about business.It’s easy to blame the conditions for poor performance. There’s always something – an uncomfortable chair, air that’s too hot or too cold, someone in the next cube that has mother/boyfriend/gambling issues – that is a convenient excuse for your work being substandard. Not every kitchen is like Per Se’s in NYC (and not all food is like Keller’s, but that’s another piece) but many chefs produce high-quality meals nevertheless.
On a larger scale, entire enterprises can take on the “my kitchen is too small” mentality and let it sink them. There’s not enough revenue to raise the budgets we need to do great things. We’ll just get by on paying less to people who may not be as good as others but they’re good enough. Besides being self-destructive, those become self-fulling prophecies – if the kitchen is bad then it’s OK for the food to be bad. No, it’s not!
You probably have friends who crank out great meals from typical crappy home appliances. While they may not have the skill set of a professional, they’re utilizing all the skill they have and not letting the kitchen get in their way. They find a way, and that’s what we all should be thinking about, no excuses. Let’s cook, not whine about the kitchen (hey – food and whine – I made a joke!).
You with me?
Consult Keith 