My philosophy and basic principles were always as follows:

1.  Focus on the situation, issue, or behavior, not on the person.
2.  Maintain the self-confidence and self-esteem of others.
3. Maintain constructive relationships.
4. Take initiative to make things better.
5. Lead by example.
6. Think beyond the moment.

If you follow these six commitments, you will have a successful partnership and operation with your employees.

Your Blogging Friend  and Chef UlrichK

trying to hold on to my thoughts, knowing all too well that if I stall, I’ll lose my hold on the situation. What do I need to do again? Oh, yeah, “Nelson, I need a gin martini, straight up with a twist.”

“Do you know what kind of gin?”

“Nah, they didn’t specify.” I know if the boss heard me say that, she would get crazy concerned and upset. But, I also know that Nelson, the bartender, has it under control. I ring up a regular martini on the touch screen computer, knowing that it will cover the cost and profit of whatever concoction he makes. Send. Log out. What now? Oh, yeah. I stick my head in the food window, and the heat assaults my eyes. “Heinz, the guy on table 24 wants his Tilapia cut in half, and then blackened on one half and broiled on the other.”

He gives me a look of irritation instead of complaining & says,” Okay. Does he want anything else? Does he want me to eat it for him too? “no” “Okay.” “Thanks.”

Then Hugo, the busboy,

touches my arm and says, “Table eight wants their check.” “Alright. Thanks.” “Also, is table ten having anything else?” “I don’t know, but table one needs more water.” “I’m on it.” he speeds off before I even have a chance to say thanks.

What now? Oh, yeah, Table 31 needs to place a food order, and table four hasn’t even been set yet. “Leah!” calls Naz,( the boss,) ” Yes ma’am?”

“Are you ok?”

No. I want to scream and make a b-line for the front door, but my reply is automatic a defense against panic. “Yeah, I’m fine.” “Okay.” She replies to walk off, but I ask, “Actually, will you take table four’s drink order?” “Sure,”  She says, “Thanks.” I start to walk out to table 31 but hear, “Hey Leah! Where’s this martini going?” I check my notes. “The guy on table 24…position two.” Nelson speeds off. “My table needs a refill on their coffee,” says the new girl, “ Alright, just grab the pot and pour.” I wipe the sweat off my brow. What am I doing? Oh, yeah. Table 31 needs to place their food order. I walk out of the kitchen and suddenly remember table eight. I back up, go to computer one, and print out their check.

“Leah, your foods up,”

says Shan, the other boss, “Oh, crap.” I start to walk over and I hear Nelson say, “I got it.” Thank god! “Thanks, Nelson!” As I walk out of the kitchen to go to tables eight and 3, Naz walks in and orders the drinks for table four from Nelson. I look back and see he has my plates in his hands, looking at the ticket to figure out who’s having what. “Okay, I’ll do it in just a second. “ I make a mental note of the drink order, dropoff the check with a smile and a thanks to table eight, and got table 31 to take their food order. Thankfully, they are easygoing and order their food just the way it comes. As I walk to computer one, table 27 stops me, “Miss, Miss!”

“Yes Sir?”

“Can we get some extra dressing?”

“Sure.”

Crap.

I completely forgot about this table. Should I change them for the dressing? Yes. Uli would definitely mention it if I didn’t. Okay, to the computer one I go. Crap! The new girl’s on it with Shan. Thank god Shan’s training her instead of me.

As I speed off to computer two, I grab Hug, the busboy, and say, “This is too much for me to handle. I need you to go around and make sure that everyone has what they need.”

His stare turns into recognition, and he’s off again as I barely remember to say, “Thanks!”

I punch in the order for the dressing, and then the food order for table 31. Now what? I go to the kitchen, run the dressing, and got to table four. They haven’t even looked at their menus yet. “Could you give us another five minutes?” says one man.

“Sure.”
I stop by all my other tables and ask, “Is everything alright?” or “Can I get you anything else right now?”

Once again,

I thank God that everyone has pulled through and filled in all the gaps. Everything’s fine, and table eight doesn’t need any change. I go to get one of my smokes, grab Hugo’s attention, and show it to him. He nods and goes out with the other new girl to show her how to re-set a table for new guests and to keep an eye on my tables.

I slip out the back door, light my smoke, and sit down to ease the throbbing in my feet. Three minutes later, I’m back in the kitchen washing my hands. What now?

“Naz, I call-

“Yes?”

“What drinks are table four having?”

“Two white wines, one Cosmopolitan, and a Dewars on the rocks.”

I punch in the drinks, drain my water glass, and go back out onto the floor with a smile.

THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS SURELY IS A VERY UNIQUE TYPE OF BUSINESS!

story by Leah C. Walden-Hurtgen

.

You will be amazed at how things go in these hotels during the shutdown. All Covid regulations  (distance, masks for employees, at most four per table) are admirably consistently adhered to, also by the guests. The hosts are warm and always ready to go the extra mile for you. And they pretend to be cheerful, even if the financial worries naturally hit their minds!

As you know, the Swiss Covid regulations allow hotels to stay open and cater to their in-house guests.

The Chedi Hotel, Andermatt, Switzerland

The Firefly, Zermatt

Desperately wanted:  Good Chefs!

*The stressful job spoils the professionals and deters the young ones.

*Talents want to go high up and end up in a debt trap.

Joel Kraaz

TV Chef Joel Kraaz from Ottenbach ZH is not the only one who burned his fingers for his dream of independence and was in debt. Today, he says, “I can not handle money.” “Yes, I have over CHF 400,000 in debt,” Kraaz confirms.

The Schaffhauser Simon Adam was elected the Young Chef of the Year in 2007, founded a catering company, and went bankrupt last year.

Before that, even a world-famous super-pro like the Brit Jamie Oliver is not immune.

Simon Adam

Highly decorated and still in debt. He is said to have over CHF 91.5 million in debt with his restaurant chain. With fatal consequences: A year ago, Oliver had to close twelve of his 37 branches and lay off around 600 employees. Since then, the famous British TV star has had to cook on a much smaller flame.

THE OFFSPRING AT THE STOVE IS MISSING

Fewer and fewer teaching posts in gastronomy can be filled. A reason, GastroSuisse Union states, is the declining number of school attendees in Switzerland. This affects all industries. But: Gastronomy also fights against a bad image among learners. This is proven by a study of the Hotel & Gastro Union. Above all, the unattractive working hours and the salaries are reasons why young people shy away from a vocational apprenticeship.

A look at the readjustment barometer also shows that culinary professions are not among the most sought-after places for an apprenticeship. That is the reason why culinary apprenticeships sank 20% over the last 5 years. Additionally, 20% of the apprentices change their professional branch after completion of the apprenticeship.

EMERIL LAGASSE:  

Emeril Lagasse

Chef Emeril Lagasse shot to fame as the host of a popular Food Network show that encouraged amateur chefs to try their own hands in the kitchen. But despite being one of the most recognizable celebrity chefs in the country, Lagasse’s outlook on his future as a restaurateur — and the restaurant industry in general — is fairly grim. “I have nowhere to go, really — other than broke,” said Lagasse at a recent event promoting his upcoming TNT reality series On the Menu.

“It’s becoming a very challenging industry to become a very successful average restaurateur,” continued Lagasse. “I can’t charge $300 a person in my restaurant, or I would not be in business. Am I using any different ingredients? Not really. Am I using any caliber of service staff? I don’t think so. I think our service is as good or better than most places.”

“And then you add all the Obama nonsense!

to what it’s become in the last several years. I don’t have anything against Mr. Obama. I’m just saying the way that you know… the government should stay out of things. […] Pretty soon, they’re going to wipe out a lot of the middle restaurateurs and restaurant cooks. […] If it continues, then watch: you’re going to have high-end, and you’re going to have fast food, and you’re going to have chain restaurants.”

Lagasse went on to lament that the areas in which he operates restaurants — including New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania — have been hit particularly hard by the problems in the economy. “Somebody having a $12.99 meatball and pasta dish at my restaurant means a lot to them,” he said. “That’s like a special occasion.”

“The one thing that I can say is that I’m pretty connected to America — because I’m a good listener, and I think that’s what makes a great restaurateur, is that you’re a good listener,” he said. “I don’t have a solution. If I did, I could run for president. But I don’t have a solution. All I can tell you is that the balance of the economic cycle is out of whack.” by Scott Meslow, SEPTEMBER 2014

Conclusion: This confirms my comments on my blog from January 12th below

Ulrich in Cosmopolitan Magazine

Between 1976 and 2017, having reached the summit of culinary glory with 4 and 5-star awards and recognitions, Epicurean Award, Golden Spoon Award, Chaine des Rotisseur 5 Star Award, (The youngest member ever inducted) at Club 41 in Miami Beach, Cafe September’s, Bistro Mezzaluna, Hot Chocolates and Pa D’s in Fort Lauderdale, Truffles and Martini’s Bistro in Miami, Cafe Picasso, Modern Art Cafe in Mexico and the USA, as chef and Director of Food & Beverages in the DR, I experienced an epiphany

I served my last meals at Pa D’s in Lauderdale-by-the Sea, the USA in 2017, and retired from professional kitchens at the age of 66 in Switzerland, my native country.

I was told that not all chefs can reach the heights of my reputation (a reputation derived over many years of dedication, commitment, and sacrifices for this profession) or, indeed, realize such profound influence at a relatively young age, my weariness of critics was endemic in a business that mostly provides way too much credit to the opinions of the obtuse and the unqualified.

 Skilled critics and writers are one thing, however, these days,  self-proclaimed gourmands with questionable credentials and an online connection have the potential to make or break a restaurant supported by subjective, and on many occasions, inaccurate opinions, the increase of the amateur critic became – for skilled chefs, at least – the bitterest of pills to swallow.

Some, bless their well-meaning and ingenuous hearts, instinctively uphold the gushing exaggeration of gastronomic art that all of them, however, mistily comprehend. While others, with equal measures of evading and bias, harm reputations with libelous keystrokes typically bordering on the ridiculous.

Before we continue, let’s get one issue straight. Eating out is not a right. It’s a privilege.

Fun fact: the bulk of the world’s population, according to capitalists, live in poverty.

And it’s typically the folks cooking, serving, and laundry your dishes that are among the toughest laboring and also the lowest paid in our civilized society.

Sure, you’ll have the posh to treat the family to lunch or an evening out at an eating establishment and expect your plan of perfect preparation, but is it

okay to verbally abuse the trembling sixteen-year-old waiter apprentice as a result of you having to wait for a half-hour on a busy weekend night for your table?

Is it okay to terrorize the busy barman, of a brand new French bistro as a result of the operators, in their unacceptable excuse, neglecting to stock your favorite Bolivian wine?

Immediate and private insults aside, is it okay to then jump online, keyboard somebody’s fists flailing, and condemn a complete business, the living of many low-paid, hardworking staff as a result of you are feeling it your right to vent your petty grievances, one-sided tirades, and your personal, narrow-minded views?

Sorry, folks, however, a lot of these travel and support websites and any other online rating travesty, is a democracy for the reckless.

Gather a bunch of privileged, self-inflated amateur critics in a very international forum and you’re destined to finish up with no more than a bumbling, semi-literate slush pile of hyperbolic accusations, inaccurate representations, and ill-informed opinions.

How may I probably proclaim such a misanthropic, sweeping statement? Because I’m a chef. And chefs, I assure you, read customer reviews.

We scan client reviews and they can typically break our proud, self-loving hearts.

Despite the fervent opinions,

and delusive expectations of the many soi-disant foodies, actually, such terrible restaurants seldom exist.

Restaurant workers, I assure you, usually, DO NOT set out to rip you off, ruin your birthday/anniversary, insult your intelligence, appear rude or unwelcoming, or, indeed, serve up terrible food that will send you racing into the realms of space to vent your disappointments.

With today’s climate of fierce competition and even fiercer amateur criticism, an eating place peeing off a lot more guests than they please can inevitably shut close business quicker than the semi-literate “disgusted” reviewer takes to digest their “uneatable” main course.

Restaurants, after all, are run by human beings.

Mistakes will and always do happen.

Perhaps the front of the house is short-handed thanks to the recent contagious epidemic. Perhaps the sautee cook suffered third-degree burns jolting your stir fry and had to be hurried to the hospital for a patch-up. Perhaps one of the kitchen appliances interrupted the service in the middle of the weekend night rush and Maintenance, luxuriating in their tradie standing status, refused to work nights or weekends unless handsomely compensated for their specialized skills.

Perhaps your waiter’s girlfriend left him last night,

ripped off his Daewoo Lanos, and headed for a Mexican State to disappear with a Cuban circus artist named Lola. Perhaps the restaurant manager has cancer. Perhaps the pastry chef’s father died. Perhaps the sous chef hasn’t consumed any food for 3 days thanks to child support payments he couldn’t afford to pay. Or, rather less dramatically, perhaps the barista is simply tired of belligerent, condescending customers who think verbal abuse is okay because they’ve shelled out $5 for coffee and cake.

To repeat. Restaurant staff are human beings. They are students, singles, mums and dads, grandparents, widowers, divorcees, sons, and daughters. Some may be novices. Some may be seasoned professionals.

All, I assure you, sacrificing time with their worshipped ones to serve yours.

(While assumptions will typically prove baseless, I’ve always believed that a person’s character can be judged by how they treat their waiter.) Like everyone else, they are tackling the complexities of life and attempting to scrape along with a modest living in an unforgiving, often cutthroat industry.

Yes, eating establishment workers might serve for a living – work long and ungregarious hours for ludicrously low pay – however, they positively as shit ain’t servants.

There are, of course, real (and dare I say it, articulate) online reviews. There are, indeed, individuals out there providing thoughtful, courteous, and honest opinions. Kudos, dear friends.  You receive a gold star for not being a vindictive, egotistical asshole. You perceive I assume, that rating your experiences is all concerns realistic expectations. You perceive to know that you just get what you pay for, each in quality and quantity. You perceive to know that menus are established & set for a reason, such as food costs, supported demand, value, and seasonality. You perceive to know that you simply aren’t just paying for the steak or the sauteed scallops – you’re, in fact, conjointly paying for the plate, the linen, the cutlery, the glass, the table, the chair, the lighting, the gas, the electricity, the rent, the entertainment, the maintenance of equipment; not to mention the chef working a 12/14 hour day making and preparing all the menu compositions you didn’t obtain, the waiter taking your order and delivering/clearing your meal, the dishwasher cleaning pots/pans/plates and eliminating your leftovers, the cleaner scouring and brushing and deodorizing the filth you decided to leave behind within the restrooms, and therefore the numberless different wages and daily expenses necessary in running and maintaining a restaurant.

You perceive to know,

my friends, that the customer is NOT always right; that you – as a dentist, a tow-truck driver, a ventriloquist, a carpenter, or an accountant – may have fewer data and sensible expertise than the career cook, the wine waiter, the barista or the maître d’.

You perceive to know that an eating place could be an advanced system of incalculable moving elements, and if, say, you throw a proverbial wrench into the works by turning up late for a booking, ordering off the menu, making unreasonable requests based on real/imaginary dietary requirements, verbally abusing staff for minor discrepancies, or sending well-executed dishes back to the kitchen simply because you misread or didn’t take the time to read the menu, there’ll be service delays – for you, and as well everybody else within the whole place.

You perceive to know,

my friends, that the client should feel welcome. You understand that the customer must feel comfortable. You perceive to know that the client is paying for a product/service and expects a value.  You perceive to know, also, that if mistakes occur – and that they can – the client should be appeased with logical solutions. You perceive to know that an eating establishment, notwithstanding name, exclusivity, or quality of products, can never please everybody.

You perceive to know that within the event of a blunder – be it a minor temporal issue or a serious mood-killer, say, of an undercooked duck breast or a dry Swordfish steak – no employee has designedly started out to ruin your life.

No one has kicked your dog, abducted your grandparent, or, summoned a  plague on you and your kin.

You perceive to know, my friends, that hospitality may be a charade – a living theatre where the FHO are paid actors gritting their teeth behind practiced smiles; and also the cooks, precariously clinging by a pinky-nail to the deep cliffs of gourmet passion,  typically the antithesis of the clean-cut, effervescent and charming image most frequently depicted by primetime TV and also the unashamedly photo-shopped covers of the latest celebrity chef’s cookbook.

In reality, a lot of chefs in several kitchens are a pirate nation of foul-spoken illiterates; drug addicts, drunks, swindlers, liars, cheats, gamblers, sociopaths, and transients living the rock and roll lifestyle on a working-class budget.

Despite the reason, despite any recognizable law of nature, despite a prepared arsenal of blunt, heavy, and sharp objects, cooks somehow manage to deliver service over and over again, service in a very blisteringly hot and nerve-wracking atmosphere while not killing each other – or, most importantly, striding out to the restaurant floor and beating the inconsiderate diner over the top with a meat mallet for ordering a well-done cut of meat a couple of minutes before the end of the shift.

Like any inventive art, food preparation perfection is an unrealizable goal.

Sorry, again, to be the bearer of negative news, however, the golden age of gastronomy has long passed. And haute cuisine – all that pretentious shit regarding white tablecloths, silver service, amuse-bouche, and, like – is dead for the overwhelming majority of diners. Current economic science and the very fact that a nationwide shortage of chefs has hit crucial levels can merely not permit it. What remains nowadays is that of the involuntary reflexes of past glories, the last spasmodic jerks of a classical gourmet entity.

Let’s face it

Every establishment can’t be a Le Gavroche, Chez Vendome, a Le Bernadine. Nor is it possible or feasible for them to be elBulli,  Eleven Madison Park, a Fat Duck, a Noma, a Daniel, or an El Celler de Can Rocca. (Imagine tweezer food. Dots on plates. Think foams, washes, gels, and every other manner of molecular manipulation. Think unconscionable price tags afforded by those with expense accounts and/or meaty piles of disposable funds.)  The world’s prime restaurants will afford – for a minimum amount of time, at least – to source the perfect native and international ingredients for their seasonal menus.

They can demand perfection from their suppliers; purchase state-of-the-art equipment; engage an army of adept and professional employees to cater to the Michelin standards; afford off-season closures to experiment with exotic products and leading-edge techniques; set precise and non-negotiable menus; absorb the establishment’s losses with the celebrity chef’s TV series and/or book deal; and, consequently, charge their fawning, cashed-up patrons for the privilege.

Sadly, most kitchens don’t have that luxury.

Most chefs in most kitchens deal with typically inferior and sometimes frozen or pre-prepared products to piece along with some straightforward menus that will appease the common, pennywise patron. Food percentages are tight. Wages are a continuous juggling act. Equipment is poor or non-functional.

Skilled and reliable employees are nearly impossible to seek out, let alone, retain. And, as an added insult, the industry is rife with dodgy owners underpaying staff, abusing liberties, and enforcing agendas with little or no practical hospitality experience beyond a profit/loss spreadsheet. Without question, the overwhelming majority of today’s diners merely are looking for good food and value at reasonable costs.

People need to eat,

sure, however, they don’t need to pay a great deal of cash. That is why pubs/clubs and casual feeding institutions (despite constant and typically unwarranted criticism for serving mediocre food) serve thousands of meals every week whereas the hard-working, privately-owned venue producing ingenious trendy food typically struggles to fill sixty seats on the weekend and beyond peak-season periods.

That is why, in ever-increasing numbers, classically-trained chefs with fine feeding expertise are abandoning their lofty posts as high-end slaves to open food vans, burger joints, Yankee BBQ shacks, and a google-map-chicken-pox of franchised Asian street food temples complete with low-cost mismatched pieces of furniture, jam jars for drinking vessels, and gloriously apathetic waiters.

But there is, of course, a downside.

How many low-cost burger joints will one community sustain?

How many BBQ shacks are needed to accomplish a perfect beef brisket?

How many Döners can survive in a small community?

The fact is, there are way too many restaurants and not enough experienced and knowledgeable chefs to man their kitchens.

As it stands, consumers are spoiled for choice.

Work in any establishment long enough (I’m talking years) and you’ll inevitably hear the old-dog lamentations of this place “used to rock and pump”.

Every eating place, guaranteed, can expertise the ebb and flow of patrons.

There will be times of boom and there’ll be times of bust. The trendy new restaurants booming these days can bust tomorrow. That isn’t to mention that chefs aren’t longer presenting quality food. It’s far more complicated than that. A restaurant’s success or failure is set by factors typically not in the control of the chef and his kitchen staff.  (Food trends. Rent hikes. Wage costs. Staff shortages. A scarcity of produce. Economic downturns. Increased competition.

The list goes on.) Even sufficiently staffed, well-run restaurants serving good food at reasonable prices will suffer at the hand’s culinary trends, geographical location, and economic climate.

In terms of online ratings and rankings, a seafood-eating place with an oceanfront location will always beat the one adjacent to a car park. An intimate, inner-city, forty-seat eating joint destination can trump the suburban 300+ seat food barn any day of the week. The chic, paddock-to-plate, organically sourced, celebrity-chef-certified farm kitchen can outpoint the genuinely rustic tavern-eating Bistro by unanimous votes time after time.

But again, what does all that really mean?

Doesn’t the residential area food court doner kabob serve a purpose, an occasion? As will the mid-town pate de foie gras on brioche with truffles?

Surely, it’s all about realistic expectations.

And surely, diners & reviewers should be accountable for their, attitudes and actions toward employees, and, ultimately, the internet criticisms they feel are their compulsive right to share with similarly minded souls the world over. Back in the late ’80s, well before the modern epidemic of amateur online criticism, a young Ulrich Koepf and his wife Nazarine conceived a direct and immediate method for dealing with rude or belligerent customers at Martini’s Bistro.

Called the Whoosh, it convoluted a troop of waiters swarming in on the offensive table mid-service and clearing away everything, together with half-filled wine glasses, during a seamlessly synchronized counterattack. The final bit was a theatrical whooshing of the table linen. The mortified guests weren’t asked to pay, however, their evening was over.

While Ulrich’s and Naz’s technique of jettisoning rude and objectionable customers is also the dream of perhaps anyone who has ever worked in the gastronomy/hospitality industry, the Whoosh technique has its limitations in today’s culinary climate. Times, indeed, have changed.

Due to a contemporary, modern saturation of the market, restaurants are no longer able, nor can they afford to choose their patrons.

Well, they can, however chastising guests – be it at the table, or later, once responding to significantly harsh and unjust online reviews – is walking in dangerous waters. Competition is thus fierce, and therefore the custom of social media is so widespread and frenzied, that restaurants are probably more tempted to kiss the ass of the belligerent diner than they are of telling them to fuck off and don’t return. There was a time, not too far back, that the typical punter felt it a privilege to be able to dine out. They worked, saved their cash, and enjoyed a rare occasion with family, friends, and/or colleagues. Today, however, the typical punter expects and/or demands a personalized champagne experience on a larger beer budget on any given day of the week. Perhaps they’ve seen too many episodes of Master Chef, the faux-culinary apex of reality TV that continues to carry on contrived, fantasy fiction and glamour. Or, perhaps, they merely result in a misanthropic and egotistic contemporary world that thinks everyone seems to be out there to defraud them or challenge their position as a rare and unique gift to humanity.

Don’t get me wrong.

In no manner do I profess to be a culinary wizard or expert – a classical master, a leading-edge or revolutionary superstar.

And I’m not Thomas Keller, Heston Blumenthal, Ferran Adria, Massimo Bottura, Alain Ducasse, Jiro Ono, or Fredy Girardet.  Nor do I want to restrict the opinions of the general dining population. They are, after all, the explanation for the chef’s being.

But, as mentioned in earlier posts, I have had the privilege of operating, living, and traveling throughout much of the world throughout a 50+ year career.

Think Roesti in  Switzerland; Duck confit in France; Turtle steak in Bermuda; Truffle risotto in Milan; steamed mussels in Antibes; cassoulet in Paris; conch chowder in the Bahamas; steamed grouper in Cayman Island;  chicken mole in Guadalajara; great steaks in Edmonton, Canada; sancocho & mangu in the Dominican Republic; paella Valenciana in Spain; rabbit stew in Malta and Ensaimada in Mallorca; Florida snapper in South Florida. I’ve worked in some pretty decent kitchens with some inventive and capable international chefs and, of course, I’ve been a diner. Not every meal was always perfect. certainly, not every experience was outstanding. But I’m proud to mention that, as a guest, I’ve NEVER once sent a meal back to the kitchen, abused a waiter, refused to pay a bill, or, most significantly, manipulated social media to rip apart an establishment and its employees with fury and condemnation. I just never returned to the place!

Maybe I’ve been lucky.

Maybe I’ve tried not to be a jerk.

Or maybe, it’s just because I have a lengthy and affectionate understanding of the way food is made, cooked, and served in restaurant and hotel kitchens. I understand that mistakes will always occur. I perceive to know that my tastes are precisely that, my tastes. I perceive knowing that, in view that all of my adult life has been spent with food and hospitality, I still have plenty to grasp, learn, and appreciate even at my age. I also perceive to know that the folks preparing my meal – and sometimes those who serve it – are laboring physically much harder, longer, and for less pay than the typical 8-hour desk jockey enjoying their nights, weekends, public holidays, and month-long vacations. I know that some kitchens are the sanctuary or shelter of the desperate and some of the insane!

Quote by a famous chef and writer:

“If the snapper is good, they say nothing.

If it isn’t excellent, they complain like stuck guinea pigs.

It’s quite reassuring really.”

For a chef, those may be the truest words ever spoken.

Get used to it, I’m afraid. Or get out of the kitchen.                    

 The choice of the hotel of the year did not cause any headaches for the “Gault Millau” this year. The jury meeting was short-lived, said the renowned tour guide on Monday. The Bürgenstock resort was quickly chosen as the winner because it has “international class, charisma, and very authentic restaurants”.

Four of the resort’s restaurants

have been added to the “Gault Millau” guide: Bertrand Charles, head chef at the RitzCoffier, received 16 points. Chatsorn Pratoomma, who heads the “Spices Kitchen & Terrace” specializing in Asian cuisine, was awarded 15 points. Andreas Hasenloh at the heart of the “Oak Grill & Pool Patio” achieved 14 points, and Firas El-Borji as head of the “Sharq Oriental Restaurant” 13 points.

Not only the kitchen but also the rest of the hotel convinced the testers in Bürgenstock. The rooms of the five-star superior Bürgenstock Hotel & Alpine Spa are praised up to 678 square meters, equipped with a fireplace and lake view from the bathtub. A “masterpiece of loving restoration” is also 1903 built four-star superior Palace Hotel & Conferences, it says in the message. In this, even more, attractions of the hotel mountain above Lake Lucerne are listed, such as the “incredible Infinity Edge Pool”.

For 2018, the Gault Millau was named the Kulm Hotel in St. Moritz GR Hotel of the Year. In 2017 it was The Chedi in Andermatt UR, the year before The Dolder Grand in Zurich.

https://www.buergenstock.ch

EDMONTON, CANADA, MODERN ART CAFE & 32° BELOW

The second most challenging project that  I accomplished as Vice President of Food & Beverage Operations with the Florida-based Management Corporation was the opening of Modern Art Cafe in the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Canada, in 1996.

THE ENGINE BLOCK BLANKETS = ELECTRIC CARS!

 When I arrived in Canada with my assistant Bryan at this amazing Hotel, The Fantasyland Hotel in the West Edmonton Mall, at that time the largest mall in North America and Canada, (now the largest one is located in Minnesota, USA), it was 32° below, and I never forget as I was walking into the hotel parking garage I saw cables coming out of the hoods of all the parked cars, they were all plugged into electrical outlets along the walls, I said to myself “Wow, Canada has a lot of electric cars”! Later in the evening, I found out that it wasn’t electric cars at all, but heating blankets wrapped over the engine blocks under the hood to prevent the motor oil from freezing so engines would start up easier in the freezing temperatures.

The highlights and benefits of staying in the hotel at the mall were that we never had to go out into the 32° below climate, we enjoyed the huge indoor pool with its own sandy beach, huge water slides, and rides, all indoors! See the pictures below!

Each floor of this hotel had a completely different theme, from a Luxury Truck, to Hollywood, Western, Arabian, Polynesian, Igloo, African, OuterSpace, Canadian Cabin, and Roman-style!

MODERN ART CAFE ALIAS CAFE PICASSO

Chef Daniel and Ulrich

Most people reading this blog probably won’t know the story behind Modern Art Cafe; this concept started out originally as Cafe Pablo Picasso with the first unit in Guadalajara, Mexico (that experience/story in another blog)

The entire concept was based on an Homage to Pablo Picasso, the restaurant was like a museum dedicated to the famous Spanish painter, from the replicas of paintings on the walls, the ceramics on display, the clothing & jewelry in the gift shop, the art designs on the dinnerware to the Picasso signature stitched fabrics on the chairs and banquettes in the dining room, his name appeared everywhere.

Four weeks prior to the opening, a Canadian Federal Judge placed an Injunction against our company to prevent us from opening under the name of Picasso, due to a lawsuit by the Picasso estate, because of a disagreement with the royalty fee arrangement, but that is a whole other story itself!

RIGHT ON TIME!

Anyway, we managed to change, eliminate, and erase all Picasso names in the restaurant & boutique within 3 weeks before the opening. We opened on the planned target date as Modern Art Cafe, instead of Cafe Picasso! 

After hiring the crew, the training, trial cooking, and plating demos had to be established and implemented before the opening, which was a relatively easy process with the crew we had hired; they were great to work with. My son Alexander,13 years old at the time, joined me in helping set up the pizza station in the kitchen.

EDMONTON TO BANFF

After the opening, as the restaurant was running on its own, I took the time with my wife and Alex to see a part of Canada, driving from Edmonton to Banff to the Banff National Park, where we witnessed whole families of bears walking around freely and lots of Groundhogs everywhere.  Arriving at Lake Louise, we heard a familiar sound of music in the air, arriving by the hotel on the lake, we realized that it was a Canadian Swiss Club celebrating 1st of August, the Swiss national holiday, a Swiss folkloric band plays “Ländlers,” the traditional Swiss music, I felt like I was back home in Switzerland for a minute.

The two Amigos

On the way, we stopped somewhere around Banff. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant, but we had Champagne Belgian waffles with fresh berries and whipped cream! We are still talking about those today! The second memory I will never forget was when I opened the curtains in my hotel room one morning, it was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, and overlooking a residential part of Edmonton I saw thousands of snow-white, cotton-looking strings coming out of thousands of chimneys all over town, it was an unbelievable sight that just got stuck in my mind! It was the steam produced by the heating systems of the homes being almost congealed in the 32° below temperature outside!

Well, for a guy living in South Florida for 20 years at that time, this was a very unusual sight.

My Canadian stay came to an end after being there for two months on and off. It was back to Miami to work on the next opening of Modern Art Cafe in Coconut Grove, Florida.

I had a great time in Canada; the staff was very efficient, helpful, and professional to work with. I wonder where they all are these days??

Your Blogging Friend Ulrich Koepf

Links:  ° West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Canada

           °Fantasyland Hotel, 1770087 AVE NW

            Edmonton, AB TST 4V4, Canada

          °Banff National Park

°City of Edmonton, Canada

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Being a Chef is not always as glamorous as it seems to most people!

Being a Swiss-trained Chef,  I have been in restaurant and hotel kitchens since the age of 16, so when I hear about famous chefs committing suicide such as Anthony Bourdain just a few days ago, Benoit Violier in 2016, Homaro Cantu in 2015, Bernard Loiseau in 2003 and a few years ago a Swiss Chef Alfred Luescher who worked for me as a Sous-Chef in Santo Domingo, I know very well what they went through to bring themselves to an end their own lives. I had my taste of the stress and pressure this profession can cause, however, I was lucky enough not to get into too many depression modes over the years, my wife told me, coming home after a stressful day, “It’s only a job it’s not worth killing yourself over it”, well that was always easier said than done!

To Be The Best

I always tried and pushed myself to be the best at what I was doing, I kept telling myself if I was going to pursue this profession I might as well be the best I could be. I wasn’t interested in working in a mass production facility, a large hotel, or a food service company, I tried all of that and to me, it was just a job with not too much pride in pumping out meals, I always preferred to work in a smaller establishment where I could create and offer the type of food that I would enjoy eating myself when I take my wife out for dinner.

Creating, Cooking, and observing the Customers

I loved going into the walk-in refrigerator with a notepad and creating my specials right inside the walk-in ref. for that same evening with products that were just delivered! At Cafe Septembers in Fort Lauderdale, a 40-seat restaurant, the menu was created on daily specials, that is also where I introduced Nouvelle Cuisine to South Florida after a two-month journey to Europe. I came back to South Florida with my head full of ideas and innovations, ready to go!

Cafe September – Fort Lauderdale

Steve, the owner, came to me in the beginning, before we opened, and handed me the cookbook from the International Culinary Competition during which the American Team won, and said he wanted that to be the menu for this restaurant! I looked at him with my mouth open in disbelieve that he would even consider that to be a possibility; it takes months to establish which dishes to consider to enter into a competition and then hours to prepare those dishes, just as I had to do in the Dominican Republic, were together with my crew, won the first prize of the culinary competition three consecutive years; not feasible for this restaurant with one assistant in that small Kitchen, actually smaller than the household kitchen! it didn’t take me long to talk him out of it! Besides the specials and the a la carte menu, the waiters always came up with their menus, and special requests from the customers, there was absolutely nothing I refused to cook upon request by the waiter or the customer in that restaurant if the product was on hand of course, which added to the pressure and self-inflicted stress.😀

That was the beginning of the pressure!

After a few weeks we started to receive accolades and recognition in local publications, I was on local cooking shows, featured in the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, etc., and rated as one of the best restaurants in the USA, according to the Chaine des Rotisseurs.  What added to the pressure at Cafe September (and Hot Chocolates) was the fact that the kitchen was open to the dining room and customers sat only a few feet away from the open kitchen, therefore there was a lot of personal interaction with the dining customers and pressure to do your very best since you are looking at the paying customer eating your food in front of you; folks like Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach, George Benson, and  Robert Vaughn just to mention a few. During the 5 1/2 years at Cafe September, I was admitted once to Holy Cross Hospital for what seemed like a nervous breakdown, the doctors didn’t find anything wrong with me, but I remember my stomach felt like there were a thousand snakes inside of me fighting with each other! I still feel the pain today! It was a busy nite and the waiters drove me crazy with special requests one after the other, and since I am not a screaming, yelling maniac in the kitchen (especially in an open kitchen) I kept the rage and anger inside of me which caused the snakes in my stomach to go crazy. Another possible cause for my admittance to the hospital was the lack of proper nutrition; starting the working shift at 1 pm, leaving my house to drive to Fort Lauderdale, arriving at the restaurant at around 1:45 pm, then diving right into the prepping, getting ready for 17:30 service, there was little time to have a proper dinner before service, it was always a snack, or a fast bite to eat standing up!

Hot Chocolates – Fort Lauderdale

Hot Chocolates also had a wide-open, long cooking line exposed to the dining room creating interaction with the customers. I was always a hands-on Executive Chef, working on the line with my guys controlling the orders, and cooking at the same time, here it happened on a busy Saturday nite, stressed out to serve the food properly and on time to a full dining room with my crew of 6, I was hot, sweating and exhausted and I felt like I was going to faint, my partners, Richard and Steve, called the ambulance to get me to a hospital, but after checking me out again, they couldn’t find anything wrong! I guess it was another stress attack!

The conclusion is if you are thinking of getting into this Profession always remember these 5 points:

1. Take care of your body by eating the right food
2. Stay away from alcohol and smoking as much as possible
3. Spend as much time as possible outdoors ie. jogging, walking, going to the beach, etc.
4. Exercise a lot!
5. If you spent as much time in the walk-ins as I did, always wear the proper clothes, and protect your neck & shoulder by wearing a chef scarf – otherwise, when you reach a certain age you will feel the pain!

If you are experiencing mental health issues or suicidal feelings contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or BeyondBlue 1300 224 636. If it is an emergency please call 000. 

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