Local Travel

What would I talk about on this blog other than travel to far away places? Any guesses? If you guessed that I travelled to the Crossroads District in Kansas City to cook in my favorite restaurant called Extra Virgin, then you are correct! Before I get going with the whole story, let me give you some names and other information. The head chef is Michael Smith, and he owns another restaurant right across the hallway in the same building called Michael Smith’s. Yes, you read correctly, across the hall. Michael Smith’s is his more formal restaurant while Extra Virgin serves tapas and has a more casual and modern vibe to it.

Most of the time was working with Matt at the cold food station. Reed was in charge of the hot food station and Phil was the Sous-chef who triple inspected everything I made. He never found a problem though, . Then of course Michael Smith walks around overseeing both restaurants. Now the last thing I want to say is that they have a HUGE bucket of every ingredient.

Here is how I came to working at Extra Virgin. One day I was eating there and saw Michael Smith and went over to him and introduced  myself. He took a liking to me and took me around the Extra Virgin kitchen. I really enjoyed so I guess he remembered me. About a month later I saw him at Dean & Deluca, a nice-walk in kind of place in KC. I got up and reintroduces myself so he sat down for a moment. When I expressed my interest in cooking he told me about some high schoolers who came and cooked for a night with him and informally invited me to come.When we went to Extra Virgin a week ago to celebrate a visit my family from Germany, so I took the opportunity to ask when I could come. He said, “Come next Saturday at 5:30 pm.” And there you have how I came to cook there for the night. Now that you have all of the background information I’ll start with the story.

As you probably figured out I love to cook, so I was thrilled when my parents dropped me off at Extra Virgin and went to Michael Smith’s across the hall for dinner while I went to start preparing some food. At first, Phil was not sure if I knew what paprika was so he started with having me peeling shrimp and taking out the “vein”. I figured out what the “vein” was on the first shrimp. Peeling off shrimp shells is a boring, labor intensive project.  That was kind of my initiation into the restaurant for the night. At that point I did not see a enjoyable experience ahead of me. Then right when I was about to finish peeling the shrimp Michael (He said I can call him that even though I’m 11), comes up to me and literally shouts “We only have one rule here, don’t #@%* it up!” Of course he apologized but Reed, Matt and I all found it more funny than insulting. Then Phil found I was worthy of making things.

For the next fifteen minutes no one was ordering so Matt taught me how to make hummus, the watercress salad, yellowtail salad, chick peas, and a few other things. He also taught me how to use the deep fryer properly. Apparently there is a sort of “art of the deep fryer”. Things seemed complicated at first, but as the night went on things got easier as I memorized how to make them. The watercress salad had watercress, palm heart, a variation of cabbage, a sauce and a few other ingredients.

Into the restaurant came the reservation for thirty on the patio, and Phil went crazy even before they ordered. He must have forgotten to do something cause I was frying making potato chips in the deep fryer, mixing chips, plantains and bacon. Ten minutes later they started ordering and everybody was running around. I asked if this was very  busy because they seemed in a big hurry. Matt claimed that Friday was five times as busy. It seemed busy because I was making three yellowtail salads and four asparagus salads at the same time. It was not that busy though according to the cooks. Then Matt had to make a creme brulee, and it got sent back because it was short on the creme part. I got to eat it which was nice because I had not eaten for a couple hours.

Here is a description of the kitchen at the time I was there and the most orders where coming in. Five pita breads where on the grill, tons of pasta and chicken thighs where on the grill also. The deep fryer was completely full and Matt and where doing seven orders at once. Plates are out, bowls are out, more bowls come, more plates come, eight orders just came in = not to Busy. I think you get my point now. You probably got it a few minutes ago, but anyway. We continued on like this for two hours and then orders stopped and we only had one every five minutes. My mom came over and told me twenty minutes until we have to go. Side note, my mom has a way of effectively doubling time which is very helpful in some cases. Finally it is time for me to go home . I grudgingly followed my mom to say my final goodbyes. I thank Mr. Smith, Phil, Matt, and Reed for having me. Then I went home tired and hungry, but full of great experiences.

If you like my idea of not just doing a blog on travel, but including some interesting experiences of mine please tell me by writing a comment.

Sam

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