Restaurants...

[HeavyMetal Chef]

...are all of them the same or do you have to find one where you fit in? Here is my scenario, I left the Ritz pastry kitchen (which I was great at and felt I needed a better challenge) to go work for Michael Richards Citronelle. I worked there...for 8 days. I was ok the first 3 days but I was learning very little. Everytime I would ask about something I would get the response, "I don't know" or "we don't have time" from the people that were training me. So 1 day before I was alone on my station (which it was a change because I started working garde manger there to get "hot line" experience) I still didn't know these following things and i wasn't taught it by the end of the day:

how to make their tomato tartare, how to make their goat cheese roulade, what size to cut the blinis to (they were frozen), how to make the first dish in a 15 course tasting (had 3 in the time I was there), how to make the vischysoius (sp?), how to make the cauliflower foam, how to properly make the belugula eggs, where 2 different dishes and their props were (I asked 5 times...literally), how to make the tomato gelee, how to make the cucumber gelee, how to make the "scallop scramble".

It was like they were refusing to teach me. I would ask and wouldn't get the response I wanted (if any response). I was held accountable for things I didn't know how to do...HOW THE @*&# AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THINGS RIGHT IF I WASN'T TRAINED!?!?!?! And it didn't help that I had a sarcastic *&%hole commenting on things that I would ask. I left that kitchen that night and didn't go back...it was to the point that I thought of work before, during and after work and not in a good way. I was anxious all the time but had to keep my cool and my past depression problems started to come back. Are all fine dining restaurants like that and can anyone give me any constuctive criticism no matter how harsh you have to put it? I don't mean to whine about it but I have never felt so unconstructive and unwanted in a place like that one...usually I work the hardest and most logically out of my coworkers...btw I was rehired back at the ritz by my pastry chef.

[ldzpapa]

It seems to me that perhaps you were not prepared for a job like this, citronelle is a pretty advanced restaurant, and if they were unwilling to assist you, perhaps they expected you to take the initiative and come in early to familiarize yourself with you mise en place before the shift. At the same time I'm pretty amazed that at a place like that, they would even let someone who wasn't fully trained work the line. Either way, to answer your question, there are lots of truly great chefs out there who are willing to share their knowledge, they just take some seeking out. And remember, to me the chefs greatest enemies are ego and arrogance, so don't waste your time with people like that.

[Quinn01]

Im sorry but not matter how fancy this restaurant may be, they have to teach you things, they cant expect you to jump on the line and knock **** out. it doesnt work like that. There isnt a single person that can be shown things 1 time and rock it out like the chef does. If they dont show you or atleast anwser some of your questions, being that they didnt have the respect for you to even do that goes to show you that that place is run by stuck up pricks. Doesnt matter how good you are, mario batali couldnt walk in there with out being shown their dishes and rock it out. It takes many years to be able to look at a dish and copy it to the best of your ability.

Forget that place, if its starting to bring you down, its not the place for you. We all choose to be in this feild, its all a choice, and quite frankly i beleive we are all nuts for doing so, but its what makes us HAPPY. And if your not happy thats not where you should be. Itll bring you down just like it did.

So find a place that fits your personality, and there are places out there just look harder.

I hope i helped you out some what and helped you relax.

[chrose]

That could explain the hit or miss reviews that the restaurant gets. Wasn't Chef Michel ever there? I thought he was living there now.
Well now that you're gone and there are no repurcussions it might behoove you to send this thread or copy paste it into a word doc. and send it to Chef Michel. He may not even know this sort of thing goes on (assuming again, that he wasn't there) He didn't make his reputation by serving garbage and by the way some of those reviews I read go I would have to think he wasn't there for them. But hey I could be wrong. Well there's still plenty to learn at the Ritz!

[RAS1187]

Yea, if nobody is willing to train you, what good is it doing you as a cook seeking to learn as much as possible?

One of the problems where I work is they somewhat teach you, but you will not get a written recipe or even a demo. You will get a verbal explanation "Take some of this, do this to it, add this, add that, and plate", which ends up to each dish being prepared differently by each cook, looks different and tastes different.

[Chad Aaland]

You just have to keep searching and asking around for the best places to work. I used to work at a hotel and got lucky by finding a job working a line for the restaurant of a high profile chef, where the chef de cuisine and sous chefs prefer teaching the proper way rather than leading you to find out for yourself. Obviously, chefs prefer longevity, but it's a pretty normal thing in this business to have a high turnover of employees.

[rat]

Don't take this personally but maybe they did not like you.
It is not uncommon for that to happen, set you up to fail. Some of the things you mentioned are fairly basic and it has been my experience that when it is go time, I rarely have time to do my own work let alone hold someones hand. Didn't you watch Ratatouille?