Pre-Shift

"How many on the books tonight?"

"Four."

"Four?"

"Yeah, full house."

"Ok, dietary restrictions and special requests?"

"Eleanor at table one prefers not to eat anything green unless it's candy or broccoli, and if it's broccoli, then only the crispy, caramalized brown bits. She also requests that all sauces be on the side and she maintaines the right change her mind and preferences without notice."

"..."

"Gabriel, also at table one, will eat literally anything. Dirt, pine needles, paper, leaves... nothing is off the table. However, all of his food needs to be cut very small so he doesn't choke, and he kindly asks that you blow on his food to ensure it is not too hot."

"Ok, I'll do my best to accommodate, but only because they're regulars."

If you've never worked in a restuarant before, "pre-shift" is a short meeting right before you open for service.

It's when the chef and the front of house get together to talk about the reservations, menu changes, and any other business pertaining to the shift ahead. 

I don't actually hold a preshift meeting before dinner at home, it's just one of the many restaurant routines that I am happy to be free of but often miss at the same time.

And if you were wondering, Eleanor and Gabriel are my two kids, and they could care less that I used to cook in a Michelin starred kitchen. I'm just biding my time until they know just how good they've got it (no, I'm not vain at all).

When you do something at a high level for a long time, you build habits that can be hard to break. For me, that was cooking in professional kitchens for an absurd number of hours everyweek, and then, well, not.

In 2020, I, let's call it "pivoted" to being a full-time stay at home dad to one little girl (and now a little boy too).

The hours are decidedly better, but the clientele, just as picky.

I cook 90% of our food every day, and I'm still struggling to understand that the food standards of a toddlar are much different than those paying hundreds of dollars for a nice meal out.

My wife constantly tells me to make it easy on myself. And to stop using every pan and mixing bowl for every meal. But how am I supposed to properly store all of my mise en place before I start cooking? And you wouldn't expect me to use the same pan for the protien as I do for our side of glazed veg? Flawless logic.

Running your kitchen at home in the same way as a restaurant does'nt always make sense, regardless, I do it as much as a can.

Anyway, that's enough about me for now. Maybe I'll go down a rabbit hole of why I ever became a cook in the first place, but I'll save those nuggets for content down the road.    

The whole point of Hey Willy! (that's me, by the way), is to take my deep knowledge and love for food and bring it home. Cooking in a restaurant and cooking at home are not all at similar. However, there are a ton of techniques and systems from the pro kitchen that can make anyone a much better cook at home.

There will be stories, recipes, tips, and tricks that I hope will be useful and entertaining to any readers that stumble my way. And if you ever have a question, food related or not, just say "Hey Willy!".