Just a little note to all of you professional chefs and aspiring culinarians out there...
I'm in culinary school right now and we have a little African-American lady in our class. Being that she is 56 and has health problems, people told her she was down right crazy to aspire to become a chef. She was on disability for a while to get her feet off the ground from a surgery that went haywire and then she got a job as a clean up crew working until past midnight. All along she kept searching for a job in the culinary industry, but she had no job offers.
She rushed in to class today and shouted "HALLELUJAH! Praise the Lord!" Then she told us what happened. She went into a Hilton restaurant and was asking if they needed any help; possibly as a dishwasher or a prep cook. After the executive chef heard that she was in culinary school, he told her to get into the kitchen asap and show him her mise en place. She did and he was suprised! Then the chef went to go taste his soup of the day, potato soup, and he cringed his nose. He told my friend to make him a potato soup as he was walking out the door. She was all alone about to pass out (from shock and a tad bit of fear) in the kitchen, but she did it. He later came back and loved the soup (he had her write down the recipe also). Then he told her to stay for dinner service and he threw her into the kitchen. She held up to his amazement and did perfect!
At the end of the day the chef told her that she was hired and passed his test with flying colors. He said that the minute she walked in the door with her chef whites and a confident smile, that's when he hired her.
