Relishing the opportunity to cook on New Year’s Eve
Like so many of us in the hospitality world, I spent New Year’s Eve doing my best to entertain revellers in our restaurant.
Over the years, people have said to me how sad they feel that I can’t enjoy the new year celebration.
On the contrary; I love cooking on New Year’s Eve. Think of it this way, the last meal guests have before they begin a new year, rife with resolution to reconstruct, reinvigorate and recreate themselves, is at my hand. If their resolve is to lighten up on the fat, then I will be sure to have decadent dishes for their choice on the eve. If the resolution involves cutting back on the vino, I will be sure to suggest the most succulent of wines.
Of course, the other upside to working on the eve is that I am not alone. Something special happens to the whole of a kitchen brigade on these special nights and it is truly a pleasure to be a part of it. On these nights the kitchen feels most like family. Maybe it is the full realization of why we all got into this crazy business to begin with, but New Year’s Eve always conjures some magic under the hood.
This year’s New Years Eve we said goodbye to a longtime cook on our brigade.
Wooyoung Jo has worked in our kitchen for four years, after having completed his culinary degree at Niagara College, and has only one year left on his visa from Korea to experience another kitchen. Another brigade. Blessed with a wry and perfect sense of timing, he chose New Year’s Eve to be his last service with us. My resolve for him? Be as diligent and contentious and dedicated as these past years and he will be golden. And like most cooks, Jo has the good sense not to make resolutions that float around denying oneself the very luxuries we love, so I knew the glass of bubbly we raised in his honour would not have the stinging anti-climax of being ‘the last’. In fact, I think I witnessed him take two from the tray; I know I did.
We had a good service. There were the usual pulses, but no panics. From my vantage point on the pass, the food was flowing smoothly and flawlessly. Not one item needed my attention or suggestion. Nothing had to be hotter. Nothing needed more seasoning. I imagined I was witnessing a brigade that had made their resolutions prior to this very night, rarely had every moment of service over the year resounded like this. When the last dessert order was sent up the lift, two plates of decadent French chocolate torte, we looked from face to face and knew we had done something special together.
As we scrubbed the surfaces and filled mop buckets for the floors I asked aloud if anyone had any resolutions. “Not really, Chef,” the common reply. “I hope to get a little faster on sauce,” “I want to learn more pastry,” “I’m resolved to keeping my knives sharper.”
I couldn’t have been happier. This already clicking brigade only want to get better, not by resolving to deny themselves the things they love but by loving more things. Looks like 2018 is going to be a great year, indeed. Happy new year.
— Ross Midgley moved from P.E.I. to Niagara in 1999. Since then he has held the lead position in several of the region’s top kitchens He can be reached at chefrmidgley1968@gmail.com.