When I was twenty, I was living in New York City. I'd moved there at 17 for college, dropped out a year and a half later, and continued living there because of course I did. If you're gonna live in New York, those sparkling, magical years of 18-21 are definitely the prime time to do so.
I thought I wanted to be an actress, but the New York City food scene sucked me right in. I've always liked food and cooking. My parents were foodies before "foodie" was even a word. They'd both been cooking from a young age (and enjoying it), and when they got together, their kitchen became a place where the two of them learned together, making more and more food from scratch, understanding the techniques, the science, the flavors, all of it. My brothers and I reaped the benefits of their passion for food. They cook every single day, full meals, three times a day. I didn't realize how blessed I was to be able to eat like that (and spoiled!).
Our family also loves restaurants. We love going out to eat, talking about the menu, discussing our meal, the service, etc. We just like food, ya'll 😂
Looking back now, it's no wonder that the food scene in New York called to me. I got my first apartment when I was 18, and I needed a job ASAP to make my ridiculously high rent payment. My boyfriend at the time, Lee, worked in SoHo at a fabulous little Greek restaurant called Snack. We frequently sat around on the benches after Snack closed, smoking cigarettes and chatting before making our way back to Brooklyn.
One night, I walked up and Lee was sitting around with a tall, curly-haired guy in checkered slip-on Vans, a punk denim jacket covered in patches, and thick, black-framed hipster glasses. He told me his name was Tom and he owned a little cafe around the corner, RBBTS. He told me he was looking to hire someone, and I got a job that night.
RBBTS was a long, narrow slice into the foot of an old building in SoHo, about 12ft wide and 60ft long. The dining room consisted of six two-top tables. Further in was my counter complete with an espresso machine and a sandwich prep table, beyond that was the stove, broiler and fridge, and past that to the back was the dish area. The dish guy ran deliveries, Tom cooked the hot food, and I answered the phone, made coffee, waited tables, packed up deliveries, made salads, and prepped setups for sandwiches. It was craziness but I absolutely loved it. Eventually Tom gave me a key so I could open by myself. RBBTS is where I learned that I love to work in restaurants.
Tom and I butted heads a lot though, and it only got worse over time. After two years, I made the decision to find a new job. And I did. There was a new restaurant opening in Times Square. A massive, monolith of a thing: URBO. It was a coffee shop, a casual dining restaurant, a fine dining restaurant, a bar, and a speakeasy all smashed into one. I got hired as a barista in the coffee shop because of my experience at RBBTS. While working there we got trained by Blue Bottle Coffee Co., and as a coffee lover, I soaked it right up. I got hired before URBO opened, and once the coffee shop was ready, they opened it up. Meanwhile, the other 5 things the restaurant was trying to be were still under construction. I got to meet the other members of the staff, including the chef from the fine dining part upstairs. We became friends, and I told him that I was thinking of going to culinary school like my older brother had. He scoffed and offered me a job on the spot, citing my performance behind the espresso machine as evidence for my line cook potential. This is where things really heated up.
I was pulling 70 hours a week without breaking a sweat. I was making more money than I had in my life (30 hours of overtime!), and learning so quickly, it was exhilarating. It was like getting paid to go to culinary school, instead of the inverse. I was filled with ambition, dreams and visions for my culinary future. I was the only female in the kitchen, and at just 21 years old, I was also the youngest. Having grown up with two older brothers and no sisters, I fit right in with the boys and the other line cooks became like brothers to me.
One night a few of us were standing in the back alley having a pre-service cigarette, and talking about our goals. I said, "I want to be a head chef by the time I'm 27."
A few months later, we all got the rug snatched out from under our feet when they restructured the entire business plan for URBO and terminated everyone. Well, mostly everyone. I was in the initial swathe of layoffs, but they called me a few days later to ask if I'd come back because they realized they fired too many people. 🙄 Annoying, but a blessing.
Coming back, everything was different. I worked basically alone most of the time as a short order cook for the speakeasy, and occasionally myself, and just three of the guys from the old crew would cook for big events. Our dining room had gotten converted to an event space. Questlove came and DJ'd a party once, which was cool. But overall, we all hated it now. We eventually all broke off and went our separate ways, and I was never able to find another job like those first few months of URBO before it all went downhill.
I went through a serious bought of depression, wasn't able to find a job for weeks, and moved back home to Maryland. I tried to get a job as a cook in my hometown, but there was only one place that even came kind of close to being fine dining, and even then it was stuffy and old-fashioned. I decided to move to the front of house as a server/bartender, with the goal of hoarding a bunch of money and just trying to get back to New York as quickly as possible. That didn't happen, and I figured my declaration of being a head chef by 27 was out of reach. I was 26 and bartending.
But then 2020 happened, and the whole world got flipped on it's head. You can read my other blog entry, "Flipping a 1975 Camper" to see how I ended up in Oklahoma. And you can read the story of how my fiance and I came to own a food truck by clicking here.
I *AM* a head chef at 27.
You get what you speak.
Comments
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Donald
Wow! Quite the story and life! Well written too :) I would love to read more... going to check out your other blog you mentioned now!
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Thank you! 🙏🏻
by cristiana; ; Report
I feel like I don't use my blog to its full potential. At least, not yet.
by Sportsball Supreme Overlord Byron; ; Report
Sportsball Supreme Overlord Byron
Ummmmm....can you turn this into a book? PleasE?
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Haha maybe one day I'll write one! I have lots of stories from my time in NYC, I'll blog about them too!
by cristiana; ; Report
Yayyyyyy!
by Sportsball Supreme Overlord Byron; ; Report
Giuseppe
But Cristiana I'm very happy for you guys, keep doing what you love to do and don't let anyone stop you :)
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Haha thank you, I don't plan on it!
by cristiana; ; Report
Giuseppe
It's rare to find someone with a sense of optimism and conviction on where one wants go in life. I admire anyone who loves food and cooking. I cook myself obviously with the help of my parents who came all the way from Italy and boy they know how to cook that's sure. They are my greatest teachers. I to also worked in restaurants since I was 16 but strangely never had any desire to work in the food industry, the stress weighed me down for awhile but it was an experience and I learned a lot. But my passion is music and film :)
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I love music and film too! It took me a long time to decide what I want to do, and I'm still open to doing something else in the future. I've been a singer and a pianist for my entire life as well, and I really loved film school, analyzing film, etc.
by cristiana; ; Report
Awesome :)
by Giuseppe; ; Report