QUESTION while i’ve got you. i’m mid edits (horrible experience) and want to know if you can cite some examples of times in your career when you’ve been ignored (at which restaurants) and times when you’ve been given attention (at which restaurants). if you have a sec, please advise.
thanks.
And now, for her glorious (speedy) RESPONSE:
Ignored as the pastry chef or just as a woman in the kitchen?
It’s a doozy of a question. A tender question.
I think the last time I was ignored as the pastry chef in the kitchen was at JUdson Grill.
Ruth Reichl reviewed us and it was my first three star review.
My name wasn’t in the review, which wasn’t that strange for pastry chefs back then. It was William Grimes that really started going out of his way to find out the name of each pastry chef and highlight them in favorable reviews.
Before that, it was up to the chef to give the pastry chef press or not. My name wasn’t given when Ruth or the Times called to fact check.
Union Square Cafe was the same way. It was my first with the title of pastry chef but now that wouldn’t be an issue.
It was after that that I really made sure my name would be used with my work. And at some points I really had to push. Okay, at most points.
Mr. Grimes took over soon there after. Luckily for me, as I was getting pushy I was also favored by him. He was a game changer for me. He used me as a reference for articles all the time and as I changed jobs, he always talked about me in the reviews. Often more than he did the chef.
Gave me a lot of clout with future employers.
Before JUdson Grill was a different time all together. You could feel the shift of the trends. It was about the restaurant and what the chef brought to it. Not so much the pastry chef. The usual names got highlighted back then and that was it (Torres, Payard, Yosses and thank goodness, Fleming).
It’s much more about the chef and the talent and the personality and who is where now.
Restaurants didn’t open and close so quickly back then. A restaurant was more of a living breathing thing, not a throw away business as many newer restaurateurs view it as now … perhaps because of the economy and the fickleness of the customer and the influx of more restaurants onto the scene.
Getting ignored wouldn’t have stopped if I didn’t push for it.
As for getting ignored just as a cook in a kitchen early on. Yes, somewhat. Ignored, a little pushed around.
Getting ignored in either way as a chef or lower on the totem pole, in this city especially, definitely forms your experience.
I did notice that even with all my great press that I didn’t have to push for with Lassi [http://www.lassinyc.com/ RIP], I did get ignored here and there. When the stories started coming out about pastry chefs that went to savory, I was excluded from a group of pastry chefs that came soon after me. All of whom, coincidentally were men. Of course, for some, the choice of Indian took me off the map as well. Go figure.
How’s that?
Heather Carlucci-Rodriugez
