An externship blog
Wow, I've thought about this moment for almost 15 weeks now and still, I do not know how to put all I'm feeling and need to say into words even as im writing this… externship is over! I'm super happy, yet sad… but my biggest thing that I'm contemplating is is this "goodbye" or "until next time"... As I see some of these people for what potentially might be the last time, that's the only thought that goes through my head.
The Research
Most people have asked me "how the hell did you reach out to EMP?". Sometimes the best things in life come from simple research and being persistent. In searching for my externship site I knew I had to do a couple things first, before even looking into a site I wanted to trail at and go to… I had to know myself! I had to ask myself questions that always seem easy on the surface but have deep meaning and control over my future path as a culinarian. What was I looking for? What type of restaurant; fast casual, fine dining/fast casual, farm to table, a small mom and pop shop… #1 restaurant in the world ??? Once I decided that I wanted to stay in the range of fine dining I next had to decide how far up the ladder I wanted to go. I decided I wouldn't settle for anything that wasn't a Michelin star (1 to 3 stars), James beard awarded, or New York Times rated (3-4 star) restaurant. What type of team was I looking to be apart of? Could I grow professionally and personally while working there? If it wasn't an externship could I spend 2-3, even 5 years learning and growing at that restaurant? Could I add to the value of the team with my skill set? Of course I'm on externship and it is apart of my studies at the Culinary Institute of America, but if I work there would my skill set be enough and would it possibly strengthen the team?
My start
I've been in the industry professionally for 4 years,7 unprofessionally... In this Industry... 4-7 years. And yet I acknowledge at every moment there is always more to learn, more to absorb and another challenge waiting for you to tackle it head on.
The trail
Trailing at Eleven Madison Park (or EMP for short) was the first place I have ever felt nervous before getting the job, everywhere else I walked into knowing I could grow so much that I wasn't scared. Coming here was a leap of faith, a test of my skills, timing, passion, ability to adjust and deal with stress, you hear about all the negative and neglected cases of people who work in the food Industry and just hope that those things never happen to you... It's a matter of integrity, respect and honor at hand when people on externship experience bad things/ treatment and I'm soooo glad and relieved to say this was not the case.
From the start the head chef assured me that having an ego (which is really an ID) was not what they were about, and furthermore not what they were looking for in their new employees. They were looking for people who were, mature in experience, comfortable with team work and willing and open to learning… Going into this externship that was all I needed to hear to say "chef this is an amazing opportunity, and I would love to be apart of the team to which the chef responded " awesome! We would love to have you and welcome to the team, you're hired!". I wish that last sentence was how it went completely, but it didn't... yes I was offered the job word for word as the previous sentences read, but it was a mental challenge for me to reconcile with myself that this was an opportunity I couldn't let pass. The truth is EMP was at the top of my list for externship sites, the truth is, I never thought I'd get a response so fast from them. And the truth is, there were many amazing places that followed behind EMP on my list of externship sites, I wanted to trail at the other sites before making a final say of yes to anywhere, but was given a reality check. I could take the externship at EMP right then and there, or I could wait two or three days pack my schedule with trails at those other places and potentially lose the chance of my culinary career thus far… how do you choose, in that very moment. what do you think about and consider ? This is what I was faced with, but I decided EMP was what I had wanted as an externship since I started looking into sites, it would allow both professional and personal growth, look amazing on my updated resume and most importantly get me out of my comfort zone so I didn't become complaints in my skills, so much so that I would have to choice but to do well. This is how I ended up externing at one of the world's best restaurants The last chapter…?
My experience
(This is from my perspective and not to say anyone would have the exact same results, this is me reflecting on things that happened, and the entirety of my experience in the kitchen, it is in no way to say I didn't like and appreciate most of the great cooks and some chefs that work at EMP)
My training was a good and yet a somewhat rocky one. The interpersonal skills within the kitchen is a level that makes it comfortable to work in while getting everything done still, regarding tasks. The transition from school to a three star Michelin kitchen is a bold one and I choice EMP because I was looking for a challenge, something to push my previous boundaries I set for myself while working at cafe Boulud and while attending CIA. There are some co-workers that remind me of my playful little brother who is twelve but that person also has that switch that's always amazing to see, meaning work is work and downtime is downtime. In school that humorous person would be my bench partner, the relationship of how me and that person's work is similar to the structure of class, we have a similar task or task that has to be planned around each others. The main difference so far is EMP is like if you took the course Individual Pastry Production and tripled the intensity and speed.
The chefs and cooks have great interpersonal skills all around, although most of them take a while to warm up to new people sometimes. Most of the kitchen staff who you work with are super funny, kind and very “real” or transparent about what it’s like working at EMP and the culture of the restaurant. In my personal experience some of the sous chef’s of the kitchen can be more distant in nature and it was very hard to get to know them on a more cook to chef or even person to person level. Some of the sous chefs seem to have a defensive approach to welcoming new people, almost as if they have something to prove, even though they truthfully had my respect from the start, I already looked up to them before working with them. I generally believe that one of the most important parts of building a strong team is knowing everyone’s stories, or at least the most important parts of their stories. To me when you know someone’s story it allows you to be more trusting, empathetic, sympathetic, and open to learning from them. My biggest struggle over externship was the disconnection between my sous chefs and head Pastry chef, specifically I wish I got to know more about their path, how they gained skills and had more conversations with them as cook to mentor. Although this changed at the end of externship, it contributed to my nervousness in the start/midway even. In most cases the sous chef gets to show the new person the way of the restaurant, how daily production runs, and so on. Yet in my case I was only shown my daily duties by someone who was leaving the restaurant meaning I had a week to absorb all of what I could from someone who wasn’t around for more than a week and two days. I was tasked with getting the most I could from the person training me which was hard because the reason something things he showed me worked was because of some things he knew and noted mentally, meaning he would show me some things and often forget parts of what made his method work because it had become second nature to him already. Getting to know the sous chefs and earning their respect was overall one of the hardest things I was tasked with while adjusting to the atmosphere that was EMP.
EMP had many ways of doing things that were different from the CIA. one thing that was different was the way teamwork was handled, within their AM and PM team teamwork was handled very differently. PM production was more of a bunch of solo acts that only interacted at the very end when things needed to come together. For the PM team everyone was more focused on getting their own work done and just that, it was less common that if someone needed help another person could or would help them and more of a “just get it done” additude. AM was a more of a supportive team, we were all still tasked with our own work but were able to trade task that would play to our strengths if needed or help each other in the midst of doing our own task.
In terms of methods, EMP used many different methods of troubleshooting, and overall production than at the CIA.
Career planning at EMP seems to have two main determining factors; what positions they have available at your start date and the level of work the head (pastry) chef (or chef de cuisine if you’re on the savory side) feels you can handle. Most people from what I’ve seen move up fastest because of the restaurants turnover rate, the need to fill a position means that someone has the opportunity to move up, or learn a new station. Station rotation on the savory side seems to be more frequent than in the pastry department, especially because they have more stations to learn. From my conversations that I’ve had with the head pastry chef, most people do about a month at each station of production before they can work the line/ service. From who I have spoken to that work stations in the pastry department they were able to move to the line fast because people had quit around their start date and some of them only spent a week on production. As for how soon someone can become a sous chef at Emp the standard seems to be around six years or more. The steps to becoming a sous there are to go through all their stations and have about four years or more of fine dining experience in a leadership position.
As a whole, the restaurant is amazing but nowhere close to perfect, the training process could be a lot better, the interaction of supervisors, cooks and head chefs could be stronger and the amount of stations that an extern gets to see could be better. Even if the externs do not work the line or station besides production, it would still be very useful if we were able to shadow the other station during our last week or our last few days, to get a greater understanding of how everything operates at EMP. If the head pastry chef worked more closely with the extern it would strengthen that person's ability to work with the team and get the task done. If I were to be frank, in working at EMP I learned that the pursuit of perfection for most people is too stressful, add long hours and you have a mix that can become very discouraging to an employee and especially a student who is looking for a place to learn, but even with that said it is that type of place that will lead workers to have no choice but to be faster, work smarter, and harder. If I was asked by a peer whether or not EMP is a great externship site, I would say yes without a doubt, but it’s not for everyone.
Working at EMP was a blessing and a curse, here you are in the million dollar kitchen with people will are truly at the top of their game some at the height of their career but the stress you take on daily can easily get you sick, and you start to live for the job, you wake up for work and go to sleep to get ready for work, the stress is abundant and felt in every second of a minute in every day. Somehow it was exactly what I was looking for crazy, but the kind of crazy you either get crushed in or rise from… this is my EMP love letter?
The End
When it comes to EMP the level of product quality and finished products is at the highest level I’ve seen to date. One of the major things you can learn is the true meaning to the pursuit of perfection, the difference between a dish going out to a customer or not can be as much as a small scratch on a glazed item to the misplacement of a garnish, both of which will likely result in your replating entirely or at the very least replacing that specific item. Quality control is a super important part of production at EMP, items go from the cook to the sous chef and finally cleared by the chef before it is even allowed onto a dish and the pass. All major components, such as mousses, sauces, bases, etc get checked directly by the sous chefs before being labeled and put away and sometimes items are double checked at the request of the chef. Out of all the places I've worked at it is the one with the strongest, strictest rules and as an aspiring chef the level of quality in food and produce is inspiring!
Although it was the most intense place I've worked at thus far I couldn't ask for a better place to grow and extern!