Why a Cook?

I grew up in the kitchen as a kid. My mom owned a catering company, she taught sushi making classes, and cooked amazing feasts at home. I was spoiled with food, But I don't realize that until now. With a desire for money, I started helping her with her catering jobs, doing mainly dishes, peeling potatoes, and easy tasks here and there. That went on and on for a couple years, and relied on that work for the few leisures I had as a 15 year old. Then I got a truck at 16 from my dad, now I needed more money, So I got a job at a sushi restaurant my sister worked at, as a busser I made pretty good tips, but I didn't really like it. What caught my eye was what was happing in the kitchen. I was just drawn to it. I ended up getting fired because I wasn't performing well enough for the busy restaurant. Shortly after, I applied for a dish washing job at a diner, and was hired as a cook, I started that night. It was great, everything felt right, I knew what all the ingredients were, and knew how to cook them. I even got to cook prime rib. But then one night, I was the only one who showed up. this place didn't have a chef, so all the cooks made the rules. But when their checks bounced they didn't show up to work. I did because I hadn't tried to cash my check yet. I called the manager of the restaurant and said hey Im the only one here, what do you want me to do? She said "thats fine, Ill come in and help cook". I said "ok cool", I started in on everything, and then looked at the time, it was an hour passed the time she said she would come in. So what did I do? I busted all that shit out on my own. Thats right, a 16 year old kid running a line by himself. Two weeks later I went to work for my shift and the doors were chained up. I got no call, nothing.

Meanwhile I was working with my mom still. I started getting more involved in her business, and started Really cooking some volume. I even did a couple of my own jobs were I was in control. It was really Good experience.

At 17 years old I started working at a brewery in the kitchen. I started at dishwasher, and worked up to a pizza/salad cook, then Fry cook, then grill cook, then Saute cook. I did it all, I worked there for a total of 3 years. It was a Crazy place, some good, some bad. But what made that place worth it was the guys I worked with. They were really crazy bastards, we really partied hard!  I give this place most of the credit for my experience. I had some insanely busy nights there. But what I got most out of it, was the way NOT to run a kitchen.

This Place is what inspired me to go to Culinary School, But there was no school in my area. So I figured I would give Portland A try. So Here I am in portland unloading my shit into my new apartment, that same day I had a job interview at a bar, they had a cooks position open, but they tried to hire me as a bouncer. I said "really do I look like a bouncer to you"? and walked out. Then the next morning I printed a stack of resumes off then headed down the street looking for restaurants. The first one I saw was an Italian Restaurant that looked pretty fancy. I walked in and asked to talk to the chef, Out walks the chef, she looked pretty intimidating. She went over my resume, asked me why I wanted to work in the kitchen. Then I said "because thats all I know". She said " Can you stage tonight? I jumped on it. I got the job, and here I am a year and a half later, and almost done with culinary school.

This Last year has gone by in the blink of an eye. I have learned so much. I love everything about it. So "WHY A COOK"? well like I said, Its all I know, and Im pretty good at it, So I might as well try to make something of it!

Dirty Fryers and a 30 top!