Two Months Later

Dear Dabdyputs,

It has been two whole damn months since my last rant. A shitload of things both wonderful and terrible have happened. For starts, I called it quit at Tabla, and did so like a crazy person, walking out over spilled chaat masala. Thems the breaks, I say with new found confidence. Twasn't the place for me, and after I decided that (weeks before I left) I began to see that it was just a machine for pleasing, but in a contrived way. And what the people paying twenty five dollars for eight ounces of mahi don't see or care about is that the people taking care of them aren't having the fun they look like they're having, in their cute little hats and coats, soaked through and green with sweat, and overworked and drastically underpaid. I am happy for everyone who has the stamina to keep up with that and enjoy it: the unplanned three hours of extra work, the suprise come in earlies, the sudden ego-based changes in procedure. I threw in my towel and left when a sous chef jumped on top of me the moment I walked in the door the day after a shitty painful root canal. I realized that there is no crying in foodservice, for sure, and will not make excuses for what I did, but I would do it again today. And if they convinced me to come back, I would have done it again still eventually. I bid you so long, Danny Meyerland Corp. That's all I'll say about that.

So, in moving out, I'm moving off into the territory I belong. I am joining Jordan and the boys at Hearth to sling fresh pasta and hatlessly make people groan when they taste the rabbit pappardelle. It is SO freaking good, damn it. There's no way around it. And what I love most is the lack of boiling point in the air, the windows, the open kitchen, and the five hours of prep time before a four hour service. There are two walkin fridges and a walkin freezer, that's all, and they don't do three hundred and seventy seven thousand covers on Tuesday night, either. Just a few scant hours of picture perfect service with enough staff, enough food, and enough sixth pans for everyone.

I am going to Buffalo armed with a cooler, so I will be bringing back homestyle treats to share. Bison French Onion dip, perhaps a chicken finger sub from Jim's Steakout. All kinds of things to eat on the disco fueled trips there and back.

So I am looking forward to my trip and my August 6th start date at Hearth. They have a sweet thing that's like a fryer but with boiling water. I'm sure I'll burn the crap outta my hands and arms by the tenth.

Love and kisses and mondongo
jp