From working as a chef to programming can appear as a wide stretch. True, professional cooking is arguably as low tech as it can be. Playing with fire, sharp knives, butchering, all the activity happening in a pro kitchen is basically a lot of manual work. Despite the manual labor intensive side, the skill set a chef needs to master is surprisingly close to what is needed as a developer. This is an illustration through a typical day at a restaurant in Tribeca where I was Executive Chef.

It is about 4pm, I have started my day at 9:30am. My sous-chef is off today which means double shift for me. First there was a quick peek at the reservation numbers (67, a few large tables at the beginning of the rush around 7pm), then checking the morning deliveries with the stewart, while discussing with the butcher for the night preparation and the 25 person party scheduled for the next day. After changing in my whites, I went through the different stations with the morning crew, planning with each cook the day workload for preparation.

Lunches are usually light compared to the dinner service, so the morning shift is heavier on prep. At the same time, the work starts on the special for tonight, which I costed and got approved by the Corporate Chef and the Chief Purchaser a couple of days ago. It is a lobster dish with hand made pasta, wilted arugula and a bisque sauce, a bit spicy with hints of cardamom. The lobsters were cheap, and with half a lobster per dish and the rest being made in house, the food cost on this one is around 16% of sale price. The Saucier and the Butcher are tasked with parts of this particular preparation, I am keeping the sauce for myself. Then happens the first “curveball” today, my Sauté cook in the evening calls in sick, which leaves us short-staffed for tonight’s service. A couple of quick calls to the other restaurants in the group were fruitless, so the PM crew will be rearranged and I will man the fish station while expediting, and the Fish cook will slide to Sauté. Flexibility is part of the game. With a little help from the front staff and the runners it will be smooth-sailing… Hopefully!

Lunch service goes well and is decent, the 16 portions of special are ready, and I went through my ordering with the stewart. We are a bit short for the next day on some popular items. On top of that, the party scheduled for the next day will put a dent in the inventory we need for the coming weekend. While expediting lunch, I prepare the specials for the next week and cost them so they can be approved by HQ. I also help a bit with the staff lunch preparation. While I have a quick bite, the manager and I spend a few minutes to go through the details of the next day party. The first course is from last season’s menu so it is a special prep and the entrée handily comes from the actual menu. Desserts are from the menu too.

At shift change, the evening crew settles in, with the usual jokes, ¾ Spanish for ¼ English mix, and the Fish cook is set at the Sauté station. At the same time, I prepare a demo plate with the other line cooks for the special and bring it with a couple other items to the Front staff pre-service meeting. In 5-6 minutes, the special is described, the other dishes put for extra sales, and a few questions fielded. Back downstairs for getting ready for dinner! Reservations are now just shy of 100, a late party of 12 added in the mix around 10pm.

Dinner service starts slowly around 5:45pm, the first few tables are trickling in. Expediting and cooking at the same time can be taxing though I am used to it. One special, two, a fish, another fish, one salmon, the tickets are coming smoothly and the cooks are sending good looking plates at the pass. As the dinner rush hits, the rhythm increases. More clean sauté pans, more tickets, more plates, the flat tops are cranked up and the heat is stifling behind the line. At one moment the Sauté cook is a little overwhelmed as too many plates need to go out almost at the same time. I give him a hand on a few garnishes and plates, one of the salad cooks laid down plates for his station, he is looking at us, thankful, and we both make it over the bump.

The service is still going smoothly. We probably are sending a plate every 10 to 15 seconds, taking special care to send the tables together. Twenty minutes later, I am the one calling to him for a help on a large table which comes mainly out of my station. While I am calling the orders, I also look at what comes out of the other stations, and the waiters too. Some mistakes are corrected on the spot, thanks to a good front staff who knows what they’re doing. At one point, there are over ten tickets on the window, 30 to 35 guests to serve almost at the same time. Another couple of “curveballs” happen too: a line incorrectly read on a ticket, a refire on a beef filet medium-rare when the guest wanted it medium-well, nothing being a big deal. Even with the added stress, the service goes well and the flow dies down after 9:45pm. Everyone has done a great job, and I thank them for that. It is time to start wrapping up and do some preparation for the next day.

I leave the line after tidying up the station, it is a bit after 10pm and the group of 12 showed up early. We did not run out of anything but some items are low, and I check our inventory to adjust my ordering for the next day. We did a good job today with over 150 on the books for lunch and dinner, the special sold well and completely. After a quick look at the sales and other numbers for the day on the POS system, I type and email my report to HQ, in addition to my complement of ordering. The cooks and me are cleaning the kitchen while the dishwashers are going through piles of dirty plates, pans and pots. The crew leaves after changing, it is almost 11pm. The floor manager and me spare a few moments to go through the day, what went well, what went less well, a few observations on this or that. Then it is time for me to go home after a last check on the kitchen and the fridges. All is clear and I am out of the door by 11:30pm or so. It has been a 14 hour day, more or less.

Tomorrow, we already have over 90 reservations. With a party of 25.