Category Archives: work

Chez Panisse – Garde Manger – Day 1

This is a brief account of my first day as Garde Manger at Chez Panisse.  The shift is supposed to be 6 AM to 2 PM.  I worked 5:40 AM to 2:15 PM.  It was a Wednesday, meaning it’s supposed to be a little more easy than the other days but there is a lot of prepared food to inventory regardless.

  • Arrive at 5:45 am
  • Get an inventory sheet and mark stuff for downstairs
  • Inventoried downstairs walk-ins, meat and vegetables
  • Inventoried outside walk-in
  • Inventoried prep food walk-in, which was packed with unlabeled stuff I had trouble identifying.  It took me half an hour at least to get through it.
  • Took out duck fat
  • Met with Chef and went over to do items
  • Explain list to interns
  • Change into whites
  • organize all the walk-ins
  • Squeeze tomates and set softies to roast
  • Set up for 9 o’clock meeting, put out some shell beans
  • More inventory for ordering – dairy
  • Go to storage next door to look for medium hotel pans
  • Go to a different storage next door and finish ordering inventory and getting restock stuff
  • Restock oils and dry goods like flour and sugar
  • Go back and get more stuff from storage that I forgot
  • Place orders
  • Meeting @ 9 am
  • Go over staff lunch with Chef: 20 meatballs, cucumbers, what I thought was yogurt but was actually onion rings in buttermilk, couscous, butternut squash ravioli, lentils, potatoes, cauliflower, aioli
  • Put away orders
  • Put fish away, which means set up an ice tray for each kind of fish, separate for upstairs and downstairs and then label and cover each type
  • Bring stuff to the office for them to do: shell beans
  • Put stuff away for downstairs to use according to their list
  • Make staff lunch starting @ 11 to serve @ noon
  • clean up station
  • eat
  • clean all the walk-ins and reorganize
  • clean up lunch
  • Inventory and restock from storage
  • Meet with downstairs chef about their list
  • Top fennel and beets
  • clean up
  • clock out at 2:15

And I’m spent.