The details involved in a running a restaurant are a never ending infinite loop, similar to feedback produced from pointing a microphone directly into an amplifier. They just keep getting louder and louder and LOUDER AND…There is always something to chop, mix, refine, season, wipe down, put away, sweep up, straighten, polish, dust, wash…and so on.

This is why I love and hate the kitchen.

I love it because there is always something to do. Unlike some jobs I’ve had where you have to stand around and look busy, the kitchen is never in want of a task to be completed. It doesn’t take long for the newbie to realize he should never tell me, “I don’t have anything to do.” My answer to that is, “go clean the grease trap.” It only takes once.

Who of us haven’t used the line, “If you got time to lean, you got time to clean!” As a bakery, I could probably hire someone just to dust flour off of everything in the place. But over time, as you build the culture, it becomes second nature to everyone and the values are passed across the staff rather than just coming from the top down.

But it’s the same never ending list of tasks to get done that can drive you to insanity in the professional kitchen. The average office worker gets to shut down the computer at 5pm, but for the kitchen crew, that tick of the clock is just a signal to get ready for more to do.

It is relentless. It is exhausting. The work can drain you dry. When I finally finished my work yesterday, as I arrived home I plopped down in the chair, jittery from the fatigue, and woke up 30 min later. I still had my coat on.

And I’m not complaining.

The work is exhausting, but it is also energizing. It’s both wearisome and worthwhile. It’s why the kitchen holds the mystic that it does. It is beautiful, seductive work. It is a sacred trust between kitchen and customer. It’s not just cooking. It’s the intimate act of preparing something for a person to absorb into his or her body, trusting you that it will be made well, seasoned well and worth the trip to sit at your table. Forget this central truth and it will only be a matter of time before your place becomes a statistic.