Greek Food!

So...I've got an interview coming up at a greek restaurant. Unfortunately I know very very little about greek food. I think my one experience of "Authentic" Greek food was in Las Vegas. Basically that was seven different kinds of meets carved off spits at the table. Good, but not really in depth.

Anyone able to point me in the right direction as to where to read up? Maybe a book or two to look at?

Matt

<<But Matthew... Greek food is not chopped meat!!!>>

Yup, I knew my one experience surely didn't encompass much of greek food which is why I came here to ask.

I'll have to go to ye ole local book store and look for Diane Kochylas.

<<Also she has published a new FANTASTIC one under the title " The Glorious Foods of Greece" but this must be very sophisticated for a Greek restaurant in the states.>>

Welp, the place I'm interviewing at is (if this restaurant groups past work is any indication) top notch. The thing that I like most about their menu is they focus on "Family" style dining. Where you buy the whole fish etc. There is an italian place near where I live that also does that type of "family" dining. Personally I find that kind of stuff in a restaurant environment exciting and fun.

<<Good luck and come back again to tell what happened>>

Worse comes to worst I'll kill them with enthusiasm.

Matt

<<Matthew: if you have the time and money, go and eat at the restaurant before you have the interview. That way you can familiarize yourself with their menu, taste some dishes, and come up with some intelligent questions to ask them. And, you'll eat some terrific food!>>

Heh, that would be probably next to impossible this weekend. Not only is it Easter Weekend...but Atlanta is also hosting the NCAA Final Four. Downtown (and the trendy area this restaurant happens to be located at) will be a nasty nasty horrid mess most of this weekend. And the interview is monday.

<<Lots of cold vegetable salads (eggplant, roasted peppers, giant broadbeans).>>

Now that's something I could get into. I've been on a 'Vegetable Salad" tilt lately. Mushroom salads...cucumber salads...all good...especially this time of year.

I'll let you all know how it goes.

Matt

Welp...interview one down, I think it went pretty well. Now I just wait patiently by the phone. This may sound crazy but it was just great to sit down and talk about food with someone that shared the same passion for cooking/working in a kitchen as I do.

Matt
-With my fingers crossed of course

<<So...what did the owner asked you???>>

To be honest I can't remember any specific questions he asked me other than about any previous experience I had. Basically we just sat down and talked about the restaurant, how they like to prepare and present their food, and about the Culinary Institute of America. All in all a great conversation. One of the most amusing things to me was that I had thought to myself more than a few times that if I got the job I would spend as much time there as I could. Basically that they would have to tell me to go home to get me out of the kitchen. But, I didn't even mention it, instead he did. He said even though 40 hours a week was the law that spending as much time there learning as possible would be a good idea. I couldn't have agreed more.

<<Did he asked you about Greek Food???>>

Yup, and I told him up front that I knew next to nothing about Greek food, but that in and of itself was very exciting to me because I would learn so much about the food as well as about the ingredients that I had never experienced before. Ouzo for one, I really don't like the taste of anis to be honest with you, so learning about anis flavoring and using it will be a whole new world for me.

The more I think about it, the more I realize it's gonna suck if I don't get this job. It would really be a perfect environment to work and learn in.

Matt

Whoo hoo. Got the job. If anyone needs to reach me I'll be busy doing the "happy dance" for the next couple of hours.

Thanks for all the help and info everyone.

Matt

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone. My first night is past me and I have to say I'm more excited now than I was before going in to work, hopefully I'll be able to get to sleep.

The whole evening I felt like a wide eyed newborn, but I'm learning!

Matt

Welp, day three has come and gone, figure I'll share a few random thoughts and musings.

My first is that I realized tonight how much I'm really enjoying this. Even though I was standing there with a table full of grape leaves that I had to get rolled into Dolmadikia (if you can ever try one of these do, they are, simply amazing) while at the same time four fish had just come back to be scaled, gutted and scored, and my back and feet were killing me, I was still (in the back of my mind at least) having a blast.

If you have to scale and gut fish, wear gloves, I learned how beneficial this is after I had torn my hands to shreds.

Knives are a valuable commodity, guard yours with your life. Swinging around a fish scaler like a deadly weapon seems to work. Also, when you really really need a steel, it will mysteriously vanish, when you don't need it, it will always be in the way.

If you had told me a week ago that I would be LOVING fennel and leeks, I would have told you that you were crazy. Now, I do really love them both.

Prassopitakia taste much better after you have made 200.

If the pastry chef stops at your station for a few seconds and you ask him if you are scoring the fish properly, much laughing will ensue as the Pastry Chef walks off.

Having the cook at the Grill station say "Good Job on that fish" is amazingly gratifying.

Even though I'm just doing the repetitive grunt work right now, I'm still loving every minute of it. Every minute I spend in the Kitchen working I am reaffirmed in my belief that this is what I really want to do.

Working in a three star (hopefully four after our next review) restaurant is everything I've expected and more.

Matt

<<Hey Mat, do you serve dolmadakia with a lemon sauce??>>

I'm not sure how the Dolmadakia are plated. Hopefully if I can get all my prep work done early today I'll be able to hop over to the expo and watch some of the plates go out.

<<Tell me what else you serve?>>

Welp, the entrees are mostly fish, prepared simply with olive oil and lemon juice. Fagri, Tsipoura, Lavraki, Salachi etc. The Mezedes are Dolmadakia, Pressopitakia, Tzatzki, Taramosalata, Melintzanosalata, Htipiti, Kalamarakia Tiganta, Piperies Kai Antzouyies, Feta Epirou Psiti. Side dishes are things like Agriohorta, Melintzanes Domates, Patates Tiganities, Patzaria Me Skordalia.

<<BTW: what is/are prassopitakia?>>

Melted Leeks, Scallions, Feta Cheese and Dill wrapped in Country Filo Pastry and then Baked I believe (maybe fried, not sure).

Matt

<<Let me get this straight... you graduated from the CIA and can still admit you don't know everything? That's when the chef knew he'd found someone great!>>

Heh, I wish I had graduated from the CIA...not yet, though I do plan on attending in about a year or so. Though, I know that really won't change my prospective on everything.

I made a promise to myself a while ago that once I graduate from the CIA I won't take any job other than a line cook position at a good restaurant. Sure I'll probably get job offers to be a Sous Chef someplace or if I'm lucky even the executive Chef position...but honestly, doing those things that early would just be pretentious of me.

<<I think having someone come in who is excited to learn and full of energy is better than someone who has worked with Greek food before and thinks they know everything.>>

Heh, I don't think even after I have ten years of experience behind me in a certain type of food will I feel comfortable saying I know everything about the food. I may say "This is the way I like to do it so this is the way we will do it" but not "This is the only way to do it" or "This is the best way to do it."

Matt

Just thought I'd give an update of the goings on in the kitchen. Work is going good, I think I'm fitting in with the overall operation of the place and the line cooks and Chefs all are nice folks and seem to like me.

My hands are in shambles because the restaurant operates in a somewhat unique matter when it comes to the fish. Basically our main kind of entre is fish prepared in a classic greek style and sold by the pound. So, you could order your meal to be a 1 pound lavraki or a 1.5 pounder. Most of these fish are gutted, cleaned and scaled before service but they also have a display of fish near the entryway of the restaurant where customers can also say "I want that fish" and they will weigh it, bring it back to the Kitchen and that is where I come in cleaning the fish and preparing it to be cooked. The problem is I'm also doing other work as well while this is going on so I'm constantly having to take my hands from dry to wet then back to dry. I wear gloves when cleaning the fish but it still doesn't keep my hands from getting wet. Hopefully soon I'll devlop some good calouses and it won't bother me as much.

I recently bought a set of some Wusthof Grand Prix knives and I absolutely LOVE them. Great balance, a good handle and they keep their edge well. I also bought a pair of Wusthof kitchen shears for clipping of gills and fins. Unfortunately they weren't that well constructed and they broke tonight (the conection between the two blades spread about 1/4 an inch apart making them unusable. It was kind of funny because after service was done we had four line cooks gathered around this one set of shears trying to figure out how to fix them. But we could never figure them out so I'll have to take them back to the store tomorrow.

It's been really fun so far. Even though I'm stressed to the max trying to keep up with what I have to do every day.

I've been really impressed with the lengths the Chef has us go to to assure that everything that leaves the kitchen is as fresh as possible. The fish is very fun to work with and incredibly fresh. Crimson gills and clear eyes all around. My favorite fish to clean are the Dover Sole. It's really amusing how their skin can just be peeled off in one quick motion.

Welp, that's all for now, I gotta get some rest...Saturdays are (as everyone knows) incredibly busy and I have to be on top of my game.

Matt