So I’m pivoting away from tech, which makes money but I find incredibly soul sucking, into service. There’s a super delicious, slightly upscale ramen joint right next to my apartment building. I saw they posted something on poached looking for line cooks. I took in my resume and told the guy my story and he offered me a stage. I’m super excited, nervous, and scared, but in a good way.
I feel honored and humbled. He told me to wear black, wear restaurant shoes and bring my knife. I have a week. (Oh by the way i got laid off from EA).
So I intend on getting a victorinox knife and damn, figuring it out. (My current knife is really uncomfortable and i just moved in with my partner who’s a FOH manager at a local seafood place). I cook a lot and love it, love this place and specialize in asian cooking. I’ve worked in a kitchen before but it’s been 13 years.
Anyway a long story long, anyone have any advice?
Also mods, if this is the wrong place for this, please delete it. I looked but didn’t find another place.
Update: i got the job! They had me do lots of prep, green onions, white onions, arugula, trained me on the line. It was only 4 hours then the Chef offered me the job! Woohoo! He said my knife cuts were nice! Lol
Edit: i hate the job. I went down to 2 days and got a new job. The people i work with are unprofessional and think they are the shit. It’s annoying. Lol NEXT
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Be carful not to burn your self out, like, give it your all and do your best, but remember to keep a pace that you can maintain.
I have my partner to make sure that doesn’t happen. He’s pretty observant.
Also I’m grounding myself by visiting my sister in a few days. She’s my only living relative. It will be needed.
I have been glad for every stage I did, including times I didn’t get a job. Now I sometimes get to bring people in to stage, not as an application but on their request to experience the work, and they’re some of the most rewarding things I get to do.
The chef invited you because they want you there, they like the cut of your jib. Go in curious and enjoy it. Be honest about what you do and don’t know, any task you’re assigned they are obliged to teach you. The restaurant probably does some things differently from how you usually would, which means you will now know two (or more) ways to do that thing. By all means be respectful, but you don’t need to be overly deferential; a modern stage is reciprocal, you’re doing each other a favor. And you really are interviewing them, if you get bad vibes there are a lot of restaurants who will teach a cook who shows up to learn.
They may ask you to cook something of your choice, so think of a few things you might be able to make with ingredients they’re likely to have. Beyond the obvious you’ll have miso, soy, kombu, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, sake, and probably rice, panko, and tahini. I might do a pan fried noodle dish. Often they’ll give you a protein, usually a chicken breast, or might even ask you if you know how to cook a specific protein and give you that.
If you show up with a Fibrox everything will be fine, it’s still the best knife with a plastic handle. I doubt the chef expected you to buy a new knife, but if you want one anyway go for it. I can empathize, I still have the Zwilling paring knife I bought the day before a stage terrified of being caught unprepared. Surprisingly the chef didn’t rifle through my knives. I don’t use the paring knife much.
I will say at $45-50 the Fibrox chef knife has more than doubled in price in the past ten years. The Mac Chef series has been my recommendation for a long time. They’re more, $70 for a 7.25" (180mm) and $80 for the 8.5" (210mm), but for many cooks it’s worth the money. There are several other options (Tojiro, Fujiwara Kanefusa, maybe a local store if you live in the right metro) but I promised myself I would not badger people about knives anymore.
The shoes, though, buy. Even if they’re Walmart non-slip shoes, or Crocs, nobody wants you falling.
Good luck! It sounds fun! I have never staged at a ramen place, and I doubt I’d take a job at one, but I’d be interested in doing a day or five now.
I will also suggest, I know unsolicited and likely unnecessary, you keep your tech resume updated. A lot of cooks spend years and a lot of their disposable income to get the sorts of degrees and certifications you likely have. Maybe cooking full time works out, maybe a part time gig at the ramen place or somewhere else scratches the itch, maybe the hobby remains an untainted hobby. Nothing wrong with keeping your options open.
Holy shit thank you for this. I really appreciate it .
edit: i do intend on still doing tech as time allows. The information you’ve given me is invaluable. Thank you again.
One week should be enough to know whether you really want this. Don’t forget a stage will be as much a learning experience for them as it is for you. If you’re really keen, show them your enthusiasm, curiosity and dedication.
P.S. I can’t imagine what it’s like to work at EA but also realise that the service industry is also known as one of the most draining. It can be very rewarding but - as the other commenter said - you have to pace yourself.
Good luck!
Thank you! Fortunately my partner is in service. Funny i went to my favorite family owned French restaurant and they were like, kitchen? Hell no! (They were bartenders) lol I’m excited. It’s also a local place where I’m working. They are opening a second location.
As for EA. It depends on the studio or the group. I worked centrally and it sucked, but I also work for BioWare and that was great. I stayed on so long because the insurance is really really good.
I have no advice to offer, but just wanted to say good luck! My mindset would be to always be curious, humble and learning. Please share updates when you can! A stranger on the fediverse is rooting for you.
I will absolutely update you! I’m super excited! It was a very interesting interview. I told him i HATED tech. He was like, what do you want to do? And i said anything. He sighed and said “you can stage under me. I was there 10 years ago”.
Thank you for the kind encouragement.
I got the job! I updated my post. Thanks for the positive energy! :-)
Congrats!!!
that sounds like an exciting switch… from giving people digital stuff they inevitably removed about, to giving them a nice warm bowl of soup that generally cheers them up…
Thank you. I love having face to face interaction and zoom doesn’t give me that. Also i love to cook! I love providing a simple experience for a person that can change their day.
i really think you’re going to be a little blown away by all that immediacy… totally in a great way…
edit: in fact, i do have some personal advice for you now… be sure to schedule enough rest time for yourself…
I really- appreciate you guys, just fyi. I would have joined your sever but I’m good where I’m at. I’m glad i can post on yours.
For those who know nothing, what kind of knife will you bring?
A victorinox. It’s cheap but it’s rated one of the best knives by America’s test kitchen. They use it Tysons meatbprocessing plants because of it’s comfortability and it’s utility.