Tag Archive for chefs

Third Wheel Syndrome

July 30, 2009 Widowism 5 comments

2009 07 18_VEGGI U_9088

After all their hard work at Veggi U, Chef Jonathon Sawyer & Chef Leann Wong have one ten celebratory cocktail(s)

Sometimes I think that I hurt the Chef more than help.  I feel like my presence alginates him from getting to know other chefs.   I sometimes feel like a third wheel after events when all the chef’s hang together, drinking scotch, & talking shop.

In the culinary world, chefs not only run restaurants but they also do many many events.  For the local folks you know that the Chef is usually doing an event in the Cleve about once a week.  It can get pretty hectic but we (the restaurant) really enjoy getting out there and mingling with people who love food.  After some of these events there tends to a gathering of chefs for an after party.  Being that I am the Chef’s Widow I have been to 8.7 million of these after parties.  I have hung out till the wee hours of the morning with some kick ass culinary masterminds.  It has only been lately that the thought of these after parties have begun to freak me out.

At the last after party I felt like a third wheel.  I felt like I was infringing on the Chef’s right to hang out with the people he admires most.  Of course this was totally all in my mind and he will tell you that he always prefers that I am with him.  He thinks I make him better.  But do I make him better?  Or do I alienate him from meeting his mentors, making connections, or just have some good ‘ole wife-free fun?  Most chefs that I have come in to contact with his age are not living the life we live.  They do not have kids nor are they married.  And if they are married with children they sure as hell leave their wives at home.  So I ask myself, do I really belong at these events by his side or I am doing him more harm than good?

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

***For all the locals, The Huffinton Post is asking for your favorite local restaurant, I know what mine is!  Let’s get Cleveland in the TOP TEN!!!!

Calling All Chef’s Wives

September 28, 2008 Widowism One comment

 
View my page on Chef’s Widow

Widows,

I have created a Chef’s Widow social network on Ning.  I thought it would be a good place to get to know each other, talk (and/or bitch) about our Chefs, promote chef events, chef restaurants, and chef food.

Please join me if you are a chef wife, chef girlfriend, chef boyfriend, chef husband, chef groupie, chef mother, chef kid, or chef father.  

Knives & Kisses,

Chef’s Widow

30 Hours Awake, 6 Hours Asleep, 8 Famous Women, 1 Iron Chef, My Chef, Big Knives, & Grady Sizemore

July 28, 2008 Widowism 16 comments

*******UPDATED BELOW*******

This weekend was a rager.  It kicked off with a fun little after hours @ Cento after working all night.  We were there till 6am.  We were celebrating something totally AWESOME, however you’ll have to wait a few more weeks to find out what.  Saturday morning, ca 9am, the kiddies came home and I was grumpy.  Chef’s Widow + No Sleep = Jerkface.  The chef headed into work early because he would later be leaving to accompany me to the Iron Chef’s house to party with some bad ass famous women chefs in town for the SOS dinner.  The kids & I had a princess party to attend.

I packed up the car and headed to the BFF’s house.  It was 90 freaking degrees and I wasn’t sweating out all the Cantillon I had been drinking just a few hours before.  Mom of the year award coming soon.

Party time w/ the widow kids

Catcher had a blast, in fact Lou had a blast too.  She was sampling all sorts of pasta salads and grass and she couldn’t be more content.  By the time we had to leave Catcher had met some older ladies who decided that his nails would look better painted pink.  And you know what?  They did.

I dropped the kids off at the in laws and headed downtown to pick up the chef.  I was running late, big surprise, and I almost missed eating the delicious food catered at Symon’s.  Luckily I’ve got an in and chef hooked me up with some pork & beans.   Our plan was stay until 12, head back to the restaurant, close, and head home.  Needless to say that did not happen.  We walked into a house full of super bad ass chick chefs that my chef has looked up to ever since he started in the industry.   He was in heaven.  Then things got even better when the Iron Chef asked my chef to host the after hours of the SOS Dinner at Bar Cento.  We closed up shop around 2am, headed home around 3am, and woke up at 9am to prepare for T-ball, family anniversary dinner party, and the big after hours for a bunch of fantastic female chefs.

Sunday was awesome.  It made my year.  It may have made the chef’s life.  We took the kids to Catcher’s T-ball game.  I think.  At that point sleep deprivation started to kick in.  Then we took the entire family down to Cento to celebrate the anniversary of the chef’s parents.  I had to work for the after hours but was able to sit down and eat some super yummy buckwheat pasta and clams with the fam.

Louisiana the Beautiful & Catcher the Great

By 4, the kids were loaded into the in laws car and the chef and I got ready for the big night.  We had no idea what we were in for.

By 10pm, 8 of the most accomplished women chefs in the country were sitting at the Chef’s bar eating his delicious food.

SOS Dinner After Party @ Bar Cento

By 11pm, three of the women became Cento’s newest dj’s, spinning awesome vinyl for the duration of the night.

April Bloomfield, Celina Tio, Anita Lo, & the Chef’s Arm

By 12am, the Chef & the Iron Chef were having a competition.  Celina Tio taught them how to saber a bottle of bubbly with a giant knife.  She perfected it.

Symon got it (for the most part), ******UPDATE*****  Mike Symon just called to let me know that he DID in fact saber the bottle 100% perfectly and my Chef, well not so much:

Chef’s Neckless Bottle

By 2am, Mr. and Mrs. Symon decided to call it a night.  By 2.01am, the lady chef’s decided that even though they all had early flights they were going to stay and kick it.  The Chef was freaking ecstatic.  By 3am, Anita, Celina, & Karen had taken over the kitchen to make pizza.  It was pretty fucking cool.  I thought the chef was going to pass out.

April Bloomfield, Jonathon Sawyer, & Karen DeMasco

Seriously though, how many people go into a career and ever get to meet, let alone hang out with the people they admire, the people that inspire them.  Very few.  Especially in this industry.  I could NOT have been happier for the Chef.  Seeing these awesome women (in an industry full of men) come up on top and then having them be a part of the Chef and his restaurant was overwhelming.  Awe inspiring.

In the kitchen with Jonathon Sawyer, Karen DeMasco, Anita Lo, Celina Tio, & Skippy

By 4am kisses and hugs and business cards and chef love was spreading like wildfire.  Cabs were called, the chefs were squeezed into tiny cars, and my Chef was on cloud nine.  By 5am the Chef and I were at home.  I laid in bed and the chef came in.  I told him to get into bed and he told me he needed time to think about the night.  He sat on our porch for a half hour, drank a glass of red, came back into our room, woke me up (begrudgingly I did), and told me this:

” The best day of my life was when I married you.  The second best days of my life were the kids being born.  Tonight was the third.”

By 8am, I was wide awake thinking about his words, thinking about the night and how it would forever change his (and our) life.

By 10am, the kids were home and life was perfect.

And….

I almost forgot.  In the midst of all the famous people I got to meet Grady Sizemore.  And I never really thought he was that cute on TV.  But in real life…..WHOA, he’s a looker.

The Relationships of Chefs

May 15, 2008 Widowism 7 comments

Since being thrown into the restaurant industry five years ago I have made many observations about the insanity of chefs, the passion of their work & food, and an overall likeability of the majority.  I have always tried to stay away from petty bullshit because the chef & I couldn’t be bothered.  We firmly believe the best response is no response.

This is not a response.

It’s more of a summary of the nature of chefs in the town I now live in, Cleveland.

We moved back in May and the chef has done fairly well for himself.  He is a partner at a well known restaurant, he’s in the papers, he hangs out with famous dudes, and the man can cook like no one has ever seen in this town.  I have been to many events and hung out with many chefs in the industry.  Cleveland chefs are pretty laid back, and don’t seem to get swept into any kind of competitive battle.  The chef is probably the friendliest chef on the planet ( he did get that award) so it’s hard for anyone not to like him.

Until now.

Recently I have noticed in the Cleveland blog world that there is a commenter who posts negative remarks about my husband and his restaurant.  At first they were little jabs.  Now they are full on attacks.  Using my expertise blog knowledge (haha) I found out that the guy was a chef.  I told my chef and of course he didn’t give a damn.

{What has alway amazed me about the chef is the fact that he couldn’t care less if someone yanks a recipe, steals an idea, or talks shit.  He knows that he will always come up with a new recipe, a better idea, etc.  It’s a fantastic philosphy but very hard to live (at least for me).  I was born competetive and fiercly loyal and those are two traits that are hard to push to the sidelines.}

Anyways back to the negative nelly.  I am writing not because I give damn about what this guy is blabbin’ about.  I truly don’t.  I know that the chef will still cook amazing food and get the press he deserves.  I know he will still hang out with famous dudes and open kick ass environmentally friendly restaurants.

What I do care about is the city of Cleveland.

I live here now and I must embrace it as much as possible (although I still believe the RTA is ghetto).  The thing that constantly fucks Cleveland over is the lack of unity in the communities.  In the restaurant community there should be a solidarity amognst the chefs.  If one chef gets a TV show we should support him.  If another is on the cover of a magazine for his super yummy sandwiches we should congratulate him.  If chefs from our city are nominated for something they should all be promoted, not just a select few.  The majority of chefs do this however the few who don’t should know that the more press or attention one chef gets the more press our city gets.  The mopre press our city gets, the more people want to eat in our restaurants.  The more people eat in our restaurants, the more money our city & restaurant peeps take home.  Economy is boosted and  Cleveland ends up rocking all over again.

The End.

Plus commenting negatively on blogs just makes you look like a green ignoramus.