Chef Sizzle

Wow, it has been almost two years since this blog was updated. Time flies when you’re busy, I guess.

I am re-entering the field of foodservice after a much needed break. Keep track of my adventures rediscovering this passion right here.

In the meantime, my website has been updated.

Chef Ron has been at Navy Boot Camp for the past 2 weeks. It is a 9 week process. He should be home sometime around the Christmas holidays.

He has asked me (the wife) to do a few posts and fix his site up a bit while he is gone. I haven’t had much of a chance yet, but should be able to over the next few weeks. Please bear with me.

The family was out and about last week and we were looking for somewhere to grab a quick bite to eat. We kicked around some of our cheap and faithful standbys, then dabbled into our more expensive and faithful standbys, when we ran across Firehouse Subs in Woodstock, GA on 92. We decided to be adventurous, as we often are. Boy are we glad we did!

The restaurant is just your basic sandwich stand, much like a Subway or Blimpies. You go in and order from a variety of made-to-order sandwiches. Once the food is ready, they bring it to your table. We ordered two combos, one for me and one for the wife, and one kid’s meal for the munchkin. The total came to just shy of $20.00 and the food was excellent!

I ordered the New York Steamer®. With my favorite corned beef brisket and pastrami, this was an instant hit. Heated and melted with provolone and mayo, mustard and Italian dressing. The wife ordered the Firehouse Meatball™. With plenty of hot meatballs, marinara sauce and provolone, she was quite pleased. The munchkin got the Kid’s Grilled Cheese, his favorite when available. It came with a drink and a couple of Oreos®.

The wife and I shared our sandwiches. They were the medium size, 8″ subs, which were the perfect size. With the combo came a bag of chips and a 16 ounce drink. We threw in a chocolate chip cookie for good measure. Now, this was fast and fresh done right. Sure the chips were bagged, but when you go to a sandwich shop, that’s what you expect. I didn’t see anything I would change. There were multiple bottles of hot sauce available for those who so choose. I tried an Irish hot sauce which added an interesting fire to the sandwiches.

If you are in the mood for a sub and there is a Firehouse nearby, check them out. They are definitely worth it!

Unless you are either Simon from American Idol or Gordon Ramsey, you really shouldn’t place an ad like this (found on Craigslist):

Ladies and gentlemen, please read carefully the following requirements for the position offered.

You must have at least two years line cook experience, you must have your own reliable transportation ( no exceptions ), you must be able to handle high volume, you must be able to expedite and control the line, you must be able to take inventory, you must have ordering experience, you must have an excellent work history ( no job jumpers ), you must be clean and organized, you must have a good work ethic and attitude, you must work hard and keep busy all the time, you must obide by company policies, you must be creative, you must be able to deal with situations and come up with smart solutions when need be, you must cover certain shifts when need be i.e. if someone is sick etc. bla, bla, bla.
GET THE PICTURE !!!!! Good, if you feel that you are qualified to handle a high volume kitchen about the size of your closet then respond to this ad to set up an interview.

You will be responsible for daily operations, quality control, consistancy, controlling the line, delegating projects, creating preplists, assuring the prep is completed, folowing recipe guide, ordering, inventory, creating daily specials.

Limited space in this kitchen….. Bulk items are delivered and stored at one of our other locations close by. This is why you need your own car. You must pick up the items that you need to get you thru the lunch shift, so on and so forth. You must be extremely organized and efficient to handle this kitchen.

Your schedule is as follows but is not limited to:
Mon thru Wed-10am to 6pm
Thru- 10am to 10pm
Fri-10am to 6pm
Sat-Sun —- OFF —- thats right, weekends off

Let me say once again for those of you who didn’t catch on.
This position requires you to be extremely organized. You must be able to keep up with the volume and make sure that ticket times dont go over 8
( 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 )minutes. Thats 480 seconds.

Lets review: Reliable car for inventory and pick ups, professional attitude and work ethic, ability to handle high volume, creative and organized, punctual
( this means that you come to work on time) ,ability to control the line, weekends off. If you have any questions concering pay, hours or duties then you need not apply for this job. Everything has been explained.

One candidate will be chosen by Wed. February 13th to start training immediately.

Go to XXXXXXXXXXX near XXXXXXXXX, fill out an application and leave your resume. I will pick up all applications and resumes Tuesday afternoon and review them. If you have a stable work history and work relevant experience I will contact you.

If you can’t figure out how to get to XXXXXXXXXXX then don’t apply for this position.

We are a well established and very fast growing restaurant group looking for people who have the skills and who want to grow with us.

No posers.

• Location: XXXXXXXXXXX
• Compensation: $10-$12 an hour depending on experience
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don’t contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

All company names and location points have been removed to protect the not so innocent.

We recently visited the newly opened Canyons Burgers establishment in downtown Woodstock, GA. After anticipating a new restaurant in the area, we were quite disappointed. When you enter you feel as if you were at a McDonald’s on steroids. You follow down the inside wall of the building, much like an elementary school cafeteria. When you reach the registers, a pleasant person takes your order. Behind the cashiers is a window where you can see the cooks working away on orders. I didn’t think this was really something I needed to see, so I’m not sure if this was a feature of the restaurant or just how it was designed. 

Unless you order a chicken tender plate or a “lil’ campers” meal, everything is a la carte at this restaurant. There are 9 different burger choices with 21 toppings you can choose from. You also have 8 “sides” with only 4 options actually qualifying as a true side dish. Drinks are also ordered separately, with a surprising option of “Ice Cold Beer.”

The family (myself, the wife, and our 10 year old munchkin) placed our order: Cheese Burger with Fries and Soft Drink (me), Swisshroom Burger with Split Fries (regular and sweet potato) and Soft Drink (wife), Soft Drink (munchkin). The cost came to $21 and change. WOW, expensive!!! We’re given a number and some cups and told to help ourselves to the drinks and sit anywhere, our food will be out shortly. We get our drinks from the self-serve (I like to call them “hydration stations”), get our condiments and find a table.

While we are waiting (and waiting) we notice there are 5 big screen plasma tvs on the walls. They must be for your visual enjoyment, because there was no sound. All of them were tuned to some kind of sport or outdoor show. Seemed like a waste as they don’t really fit the concept of a burger joint. But now I understand why food for 2 is so expensive.

When the food itself finally found us, we were again disappointed. For the money we expected much more. The burgers may have been fresh and 100% Black Angus, but the toppings, buns and fries dragged the whole experience down. For advertising that everything is fresh, the french fries were most decidedly “oven ready” and were undercooked as well. The wife said the sweet potato fries were good.

At the end of the meal, another pleasant young person came by the table and removed our dishes and cheerily said, “Make sure you take your souvenir cups with you!” So that’s why it’s so expensive!

Unfortunately, for the price, the atmosphere and the food, Canyons only gets a C- from me. We won’t be going back any time soon.

Watch for my upcoming review of Five Brothers Burgers.

For a while, actually. You can see me at iMi Drinks. Follow the links to the Winter 2007 magazine. The article, Carving His Way To The Top is all about me. The Cooking With Spirits article features a recipe by me as well as the ceviche and the lamb dish cooked by me for the magazine photo shoot.

“Just graduated high school and have already done 4am Dunkin’ Donuts for about a year and a half. Not really knowing I’d be in this profession for the rest of my life. But I’m glad it happened. From making donuts to what I do today is very gratifying.”

Sort of… Two weeks ago I had a photo shoot for a magazine article. A couple of articles, actually. One is recipes using alcoholic beverages, “Cooking with Spirit”. The other article is all about me, “A Cut Above”.

It was quite an experience. Completely different from cooking or presenting from a dining point of view. There was a lot of waiting, fussing, angles, etc. I’ll go into more detail and post some images as well as a link to the magazine.