A year in Hell

As I stated in an earlier blog entry, the next year after these events was pure hell. I had a total of twenty years in the restaurant business that can be divided up neatly like so: ten years at O'connell's, one year in hell, six years at the Art Museum Cafe and four years at the Ninth Street Abbey. During that one year, I worked at at least four different places. All of them crappy. The big difference was I learned that I really wasn't cut out for "front of the house" management. I was much happier in the kitchen. So the end of the year in hell found me working two cooking jobs. I had started at a burger chain called Fudrucker's just to put some food on the table. I didn't know what I was doing or where I was going. I kept my eyes open for opportunities though, and one day I say a opening for a cook at the Art Museum Cafe. I was hired right away. I became friends with the Chef there and he started teaching me the basics of fine dining. It was a very nice enviornment, and my years there as second cook remain to this day some of the best years of my work life. After about three years there, I was up for Sous Chef. (Assistant Chef). I was a little gun shy from my year in hell still, but I decided to take it. It would mean I'd be on salary and have the benefits my family needed. But! At the last minute, the Chef, my friend...gave the job to someone else. A mutual friend of us both. I was crushed and a bit humiliated. I was offered a Chef job at a small Mexican place that another guy from the Cafe was opening and I took it. More hell. This time though, I didn't care what anyone thought of me. I quit! You guys are all idiots! And your Mom too! (She ran the kitchen). I went back to the Museum Cafe where they were glad to have me. Within a couple of months, the Chef was fired, the guy who took my job the first time became Chef and I was finally Sous Chef. These are what I call the Seinfeld Years.