job hunting

Exciting times. As being without job was less fun that I had thought, I put my CV on a specialized Web site for hotel and restaurant recrutement, right after my return from Deauville on Wednesday

My "ideal" criteria for the next restaurant are
- small team
- experienced chef, with Michelin star experience
- modern bistrot cuisine
- 30-40 covers

On the same web site there were two ads that I was interested in. Four days later this is where I stand : I got three phone calls with offers, two of which I turned down, because they were for restaurants that seated 150 poeple, and were actually more bar/lounge type of places, in one case not even mentioning the menu on their website.

Reactions and decisions are made rather fast in Paris, so I was late for one very interesting ad of a French chef who has spent 10 years cooking for the stars in Hollywood, and now cooks French / Californian style in an upscale restaurant near the Champs-Elysees (www.citrusetoile.fr). Replied two days after the ad, and all positions were taken.

For one restaurant with an extremely interesting menu and type of cuisine, I have passed an initial interview with success (I am good at talking and getting my motivation accross), and was invited for a trial this coming Tuesday evening. The cuisine is very creative while accessible, and I would love to learn how to prepare their dishes and get insiprations. The negative point : The kitchen is on two levels, on the restaurant level the chef, preparing the main courses. On the basement level : The chef de partie for starters and desserts (which would be me), with a dishwasher, and the only contact to the outside world an "elevator" for the plates to send upstairs. I would not see a customer, a waiter, nor the chef. Hm.

Then there was this call Thursday. A lady asked if I was available the next day to start as a commis, she would open a restaurant on Saturday, and needed someone urgently. No real chef, except her husband designing the menu, two other commis, and a dishwasher. Rather traditional French cuisine. My mind was on the other modern restaurant, and I was telling her that I was not really interested. She kept begging, if I couldn't at least come for a paid trial on Friday to help her with the mise en place for the opening. As I was impatient to work with my knifes again, I ended up giving in, but without any real enthusiasm.

The next morning I arrived at the restaurant which resembled rather a construction site. I didn't look like a restaurant that could open within one day. But : a complete new kitchen, all equipment new, a rather nice team for the kitchen, cute waiters, a reasonnable owner, terrace with view on Notre Dame. This and complete anarchy and chaos. The menu idea turned out to be more interesting than I thought. To make a long story short, I have been involved now since two days in getting the restaurant up and running, the owner saw me chopping shallots, and then said : "I watched you working, you are not a commis ! I will offer you a higher position and help you to develop, you have a great potential." How the world has changed  ! I remember two years ago, I was chopping shallots and Chef Sebastien yelling through the kitchen "Ulla you are falling asleep" and then throwing my badly sliced shallots away "Poubelle !" and I remember one year ago the owner of the last restaurant said after my trial day : "I watched you working, but you are not a chef de partie. I can only offer you the job of commis, and you will get the SMIC (minimum legal salary in France)". Now yesterday my new potential boss offered me a salary that would be a 60% increase compared to my last job as a commis. He also wants to work on team schedule that allows rather continuous hours, instead of coming in twice a day. Also he wants his team to contribute to the specials of the day, and so this could be a playground for me to try my "creations" without any financial risk, before I realize my own project.

I told the owner that I will decide once I have done the trial in the other restaurant, but I am 98% sure, that I am going to sign with him. It would be a big compromise on my criteria, no chef I could learn from, instead I would rather be the driving force in the kitchen, no modern, creative cuisine, but I could try whatever I want, and the owner would buy the ingredients. A salary that would be finally superior to my rent (it's Paris !), and so avoid that I continue to touch my savings. I nice social environment promising fun at work, colleagues that beg me already to stay with them after two days. And the opportunity to live the adventure of a restaurant startup from Zero.

It is Sunday, and of course the opening could not happen yesterday, because many items in the kitchen and in the restaurant were not finished. Today we will start working at 3 p.m. and hopefully be ready for the first dinner service tonight. To be continued...

Comments

[Syd]

Wowza! From asleep to in the lead - that's quite an accomplishment over just 2 years. Congratulations on taking charge of your destiny.