26 Aug Gassing Up the Weedwhacker
Last night Park Place’s traffic was (thankfully) somewhat subdued, so we were able to do a “dress rehearsal” and get used to the new menu. Of course, this also gave me ample time to ask a million questions, and Chef Erik was wonderfully accommodating in replying to every last one. If I tried to do that on a busy night, he’d likely wrap me in duct tape and stick me in the cooler.
Erik’s food has a beautiful simplicity, and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about his approach to creating dishes. He prefers to use a smaller number of ingredients whose flavors are enabled to shine through, rather than convoluting his dishes with too many bells and whistles. And the combinations are the kind that set the tastebuds to dancing; his lime and maple glaze was so intensely satisfying, I had to leave with the recipe.
Tonight the energy dynamic in the kitchen will be quite different: We shall head straight into the weeds, as Fridays are a combination of walk-ins and reservations, and after a three-week hiatus, diners are eager to return to Park Place’s dining room. Thankfully I will be moved to the salad/dessert station, so I am less likely to (a) wreak havoc and (b) leave with that rosy oven glow like I did last night. Since I was standing directly in front of the broiler, I noticed that if I stood with my right side toward the heat, my ear suddenly took on the feel of a steak being grilled to perfection.
I do love the weeds, though. There is an adrenaline rush that comes from knowing the dishes must get out, they must be perfect, and you must maintain your sanity in achieving those two goals. The mental process of a restaurant cook is one that has always fascinated me — it is a delicate balance of controlled chaos. In anticipation of this, I had a stress-dream last night that I was in the kitchen at Le Bernardin, and Eric Ripert was yelling at me. Now, I have been in said kitchen, but never saw Chef Ripert yell once (much like Park Place’s Chef Erik), but the mind has an interesting way of expressing its concerns. And transposing Eriks. Hopefully it will remain a bad dream.