Kitchen Laws--originally posted 8/26/10

Many of you may already have a basic understanding of the way a professional kitchen functions thanks to the rising celebrity chef phenomenon and programming like Top Chef and the entire Food Network. The Rendezvous kitchen also makes use of the traditional French hierarchy. We are a small kitchen. We have Kim, the Executive Chef and owner, the Sous Chef (that's me! Hello, I'm Lindsey), and we have a dishwasher/ prep cook- Willie. Those of you that have dined with us will also be familiar with Mark, our intrepid front of the house representative. ;-P

Kim is very humble and does not request that we address him, "Chef", and in my time here I have had the privilege of working in a collaborative environment when it comes to creating wine dinner menus, regular and tasting menu contributions, and even in marketing the restaurant (i.e. a blog!).

There ARE, however, some inescapable, hard and fast, laws by which no man can deny. My personal ruling hand? Gravity. You name it and I have probably dropped it! Tongs clattering to the floor? The sound of muffled (possibly expletives) as someone falls in the background? My apologies. It was probably me testing my bond with the Law of Gravity. Let me tell you, Gravity wins every time. Kim has a much more genial relationship with this force and has been known to catch, with cat-like reflexes, as many things as I have dropped. This is not to mention his deadly accuracy when tossing a bit of wadded paper towel!

The other Primary Statute? Well, that one stems from a man named Murphy... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_Law). Murphy's Law- also known as the fourth law of thermodynamics- states that anything that can go wrong will. In kitchen terms there are many nuances by which this law expresses its power. Those curd pastries from the prep list that got pushed down the priority scale? You are going to be baking them on the fly because you are going to run out. That beautiful salmon that was just portioned this afternoon? The lamb will be ordered instead and at an alarming pace. Being AWARE of these event further complicates our understanding of Murphy's Law. If I know we have one order of short ribs to begin and evening and therefore call into account my prior experiences with Murphy and make a point to prepare more I am, in fact, provoking Murphy to change his strategy. Now I will either run short on the accompaniments for the short ribs or the short ribs will be a blind spot on the menu for our guests that evening. The more we endeavor to understand and predict how this law will play out the more bewildering its fallout. =) All in all Murphy's law is the greatest force in our kitchen. It keeps us on our toes. We have learned to prepare to the best of our ability and to never stop cooking even during service. As a result the food is fresh, rich, and our skills remain sharp. Of course, becoming quick and confident in this aspect probably means that we will use up all of our saute pans before the end of the first turn... ;-P We can only laugh (and do, often!) and enjoy the pursuit of those perfect nights of service. Still- sometimes- you just HAVE to provoke Murphy!

You too can be witness to this ongoing negotiation by joining us for dinner. Ask us about our Chef's table and join in the fun. We look forward to seeing you soon!
Posted by J&LDreamboard