We have an open kitchen here at the bakery. When prepping or working on the line, my days are filled with happy greetings tossed from the front counter, familiar faces - customers and friends old and new - letting me know theyre happy were still in the neighborhood. Few months ago, a long-time customer exclaimed cant believe you still get onion duty!” I did have onion duty; two 50lbs.bag of onions in front of me, getting peeled, waiting for medium chop for stuffing, soups and mire poix. Onion duty is more suited for the lowest ranking grunt in the kitchen, right? Before opening the bakeries, before culinary school, before the first thought of opening a bakery entered our crazy heads, Steve and I walked into the just opened Summer Shack in Cambridge for a late lunch. Though unfamiliar with the Boston restaurant scene, I still recognized the tall man with a mop of white hair, Chef Jasper White, in his whites, methodically peeling big globes of white onions in the middle of the kitchen. My first thought was why is the boss, the famous chef, peeling onions?’ I still dont know the particulars of why Chef White was peeling onions that day, but after 8+ years running my own kitchen, there are surprisingly many reasons why Im still happy to get onion duty. Peeling and chopping onions is good for honing your knife skills. And sometimes, theres simply no one else to do it and it’s gotta get done. After good many years of peeling and chopping onions, the hands are on auto-pilot and the mind is set free. Occasionally, I let myself indulge in a brief day dreaming session about new food we can make, but more often than not, its focused on everything else that is happening in the bakery. From my vantage point, I can see if customers are taken care of, the water pitcher filled, the dining room cleaned and food from the line getting out expeditiously. And I get to chat and catch up with customers, the biggest luxury I allow myself as the boss. Onion duty is work, but any work is worth doing, in my kitchen or anywhere else. I glean joy from the work, grateful for the health and able-body that allows me to try to keep up with the 20-something year olds as the chef/owner. It places me solidly in the ever-shrinking category of the American middle-class, a first-generation immigrant and woman entrepreneur (with an ever-supportive husband/partner) with a growing small business that is able to provide jobs that support families and help pay off student loans. Onion duty allows me to be part of this organic, ever-evolving and ever-challenging thing we call Bread & Chocolate and I call my American dream. When lot of onions is in need, lot of food is being prepared; sign of a busy kitchen thus a healthy business. The longevity of Bread & Chocolate is attributed to an incomprehensible and immeasurable happy mélange of supportive friends and neighbors and hard work by the great team of young people on our team. And having seen too many eateries open and close, many of them by persons with more brain power, innate talent, industry experience and capital, there is a big dash of sheer-dumb-luck that we cant ignore. (Throwdown! with Bobby Flay, anyone?) As we leave 2014, my sincere gratitude goes out to everyone that have embraced Bread & Chocolate and fed the joy (and madness) of its continued vigor. I look forward to our chats in 2015 and a good share of onion duty. Happy New Year to you all!!!
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 01:40:18 +0000