“Order up!” The server yells out. You hear the ticket rip and there hand land in the basket, a top a few more tickets. I would grab them, but i don’t have any room at the moment.

“Edger! I need more browns and we need more whipped egg ” I passively shout to the back. Edger had been working here for a few years before i started. he is the prep mistro, loves his job, but refuses to cook. A really nice guy, in or out of the kitchen, but quick to lose temper and so forth. “Please !” I added with a smile, speaking over the clatter of the kitchen.

I thumb through the tickets in the basket; ‘I have seven browns, six polenta ,… ‘ immediately setting down orders and checking the ‘ready’ tickets. Its time to tell my lead what to start.

In a kitchen, everything is a stage, or a process. But a table is always served at once. In a five star, you would want all the plates of a table done at the same time and the floor staff would serve at once. The true test is when the rush hits, and it pushes and shoves you until your boiling over and losing control. This is a crucial point, and forever as long as this point lasts ( could be thirty minutes, could be the rest of the shift ), you don’t give in.

“I need four omelets , one is whites which goes with the onion, the others are the Florentine. On top, i need double sides  of two easy ” I calmly tell mike, my lead. On this line, we only have two cooks, which is typical, and in some restaurants , you only have one. One cook is ‘expediter’ and assigned usually to two or even three stations ( all with in arms reach, ideally ) . the other cook is assigned to the hot station, and usually shares cold station with me. I would call them the ‘lead’ for two reasons; to motivate, and because that’s usually where the more senior cook worked. No matter what or how many cooks are on the line, one is always the expediter and the rest are chef de partie ( or line-cook,… slave in layman terms)

After commanding the lead cook, i will have already begun setting plates. This process is a short one, and usually done in advance , but after you flip 100 covers in a hour, you start creating time to make it all come together.

As i am setting the last garnish, the lead starts setting down his omelets , i double check the tickets and simotainously place the proper side with each dish. “Service!” I say loudly towards the floor, and in a split second, the first two wait staff appear.

“Where are we going” The wait crew echo.

“Table 11, come back for three more” and by three more, i mean three more items. With in a few seconds, that table is served and eating there hot breakfast and we already onto the next items. At this point, or soon after i am happy to grab those now five tickets in the basket to add them to the clip-line.

With in the blur of shouting, popping grease,and pan-slamming mayhem , is an art. a dance. a acrobatic walk in the park only a select few hundred thousand are capable of. This is what we call ‘cooking’

In the ten years i spent on the line, i spent many evenings reading books and blogs about how it is done. Now that i have taken captains seat in the kitchen, i feel it is now time to share my story.