What could be better than combining good food with good companionship?
Some of my favorite family memories involve cooking. Everyone sitting around the table rolling gnocchi before boiling it. Running the mixer to bake my first cake. Helping my baby brother put his hot dogs and buns in the electric hot dog maker so he could cook dinner. Trying new recipes is a hobby I share with my mom every day.
So food has to be a part of my ideal job. I quickly ruled out many options. Working in a restaurant kitchen is hot, hard work. Going out to eat is fun, but doing it often enough to be a food critic would be tiresome. I discarded several other ideas before hitting on the perfect job. I will run a combination cooking school/restaurant. My restaurant will be small – seating maybe a dozen people tops, all of whom buy a year’s long subscription. With the same people coming every month, we would get to know each other and become comfortable together.
The question then became what ethnic culture I would pick. Since I like a lot of different foods, I decided to vary the culture each month. This is a fantasy so taste rules – no worries about too much fat or sugar. What about ambience and chef selection? I’ve eaten at restaurants ranging from neighborhood dives to four-star restaurants. I’ve gathered recipes from friends, family, the NY Times, food cable shows, online websites, and cookbooks galore. What it came down to was my favorite cooking quote from a long-forgotten source - ‘I don’t want to learn how to make fried chicken from the NY Times, I want to learn how to make fried chicken from an old fat Southern grandmother.’ So that is what I’m hiring. One month, I’m flying in that southern grandmother for fried chicken and other southern cooking, the next I’m borrowing the Hispanic immigrant that cooks in my favorite Mexican restaurant – and I’ll bring along her son to translate. Instead of flying in a French or Indian chef, I’ll hire an immigrant who has learned to adapt their native dishes to ingredients available locally. I will scour the area looking for good home cooks to come teach us their cuisine.
On the appointed day, we will go to the market with our chef so we can discover the local ethnic grocery store or learn how to pick the freshest ingredients. Then it’s to the restaurant to begin our meal prep. Cold beverages will be made before we start cooking so they can chill. Then we’ll all go to our little food stations where we follow the chef in measuring, slicing, dicing, frying, broiling, baking, whatever. Finally, it’s time to eat.
Everyone, including the chef, will sit at the same round table. Whether the food is beautifully plated or passed around family style will depend on both the course and the cuisine. But everyone can have seconds or even thirds. After dinner, an employee whisks away the dishes and cleans up so we can just chat for a while sipping our after-dinner beverage before calling it a night. We leave not only full of good food and companionship but also armed with recipes so we can duplicate the meal if not the company. Bon Appetit!
