15.2023 Edition

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Editor: Justin Khanna​

Hey Reader,

I want to keep it quick today, considering we went pretty heavy on last week’s newsletter. It tells the story of a day at The French Laundry, and you can read it here if you’re a new subscriber.

During that time, there was a guy at TFL who was gearing up to become a sous chef. To build up his management muscle, he was tasked with training up chef-de-parties during any station transitions/promotions, as well as being a tournant during normal services.

For those that don’t know, a tournant, otherwise called a “roundsman” is, by definition, well-rounded in a bunch of different areas of the brigade.

They’re precise enough to plate garde manger and pastry dishes, organized enough to tackle a busy entrement (veg & garnish) station, quick enough to handle hot apps, and technical enough to manage cooking proteins.

It’s not easy to be a tournant, but if you’ve got the chops for it, it’s one of the most fun positions in a kitchen because there’s a constant sense of novelty and the sense that you’re really valued. Not to mention, considering you aren’t technically a manager, you don’t have any of the people-wrangling responsibilities yet.

I have a bunch of lessons I can share from this tournant spending time teaching me, but one pet peeve that he had that still sticks with me is the amount of water that you keep in your bain marie.

In this instance, I’m referring to the bain marie that you keep your tools in, not a hot-holding setup.

He shared with me one day that bain marie water should be clean and only submerge the “business part” of the tool. Why?

The downsides:

• He knew that it wasn’t realistic to change the water between every tool’s use, so when you’re going fast, you’ll inevitably have fat rise to the top of the water and bits of chopped herbs that float up, too. Depending on the tool and the depth of the bain, that’s right where your hand touches the tool - not just gross, but wasted time spent wiping your hands off!
• The massive amount of water means you spend 2-3x as long waiting for your bain to fill up from the sink
• You end up getting water drops all over your station every time you remove a tool from the bain too quickly
• Lastly, and the worst offender, in the rare case that your bain gets tipped over, it’s a huge mess if you just dumped 20oz of water all over your station. Another +1 for me to use a heavy ceramic bain vs a thin and light metal one.

Excuse my 2-minute graphic, but I wanted to show this visually!

His tip was to fill just the first 2 inches of the bain marie with water, which takes care of nearly every single tool’s useful surface area. This means you get all the benefits of a bain setup, with none of those downsides from up there!

Try it this week on your station setup, and let me know what you think 💧🥄

​MISE Footwear*

What if a brand that viewed chefs as “culinary atheletes” made shoes? Well, MISE did just that, with their line of footwear called The Standard.

If you’ve ever worn uncomfortable shoes that leave your feet feeling sore, take forever to break in, or ones that are made from materials that feel grimy after long days in a kitchen, these feature a removable, washable insole made of algae-blended resin for both durability and not-so harsh on the environment.

Covering that, you’ve got a single piece of black leather and an Ellastolan nonslip sole which we covered in melted butter, puree, and even multiple eggs to try and get this to stain. They just launched a bundle package, too so you can let the foam expand between days for maximum comfort - check out the full review on YouTube, linked in the ICYMI section, or shop now with JUSTIN15 at checkout to get 15% off your entire order!

*Sponsored by MISE

Top Hits 💥

​As The New York Times Restaurant Critic, Mimi Sheraton Made a Show Out of Hiding​

During the years in the 1970s and ’80s she wrote restaurant reviews for The New York Times, Mimi Sheraton, who died Thursday at 97, guarded her image more carefully than Garbo. Like critics before and after her, she gave fake names when making reservations, but it was when she started wearing costumes that she took the critic’s tactic of assuming other identities into new territory.

Having a job that pays you to eat and pays for your meals already strikes many people as a dream come true. By adding an element of subterfuge, what the intelligence community calls tradecraft, Mimi turned the dream into an adventure tale, a Le Carré novel in which the spies are spied on as they go to dinner and attempt to order everything on the menu.

Our Take: For those that aren’t familiar, the reason that critics do this type of behavior is to “vanilla-fy” the experience. They’re writing for the general public in their reviews, and having the chef send out bonus courses or receiving a special selection of wines from the somm isn’t a level playing field. The idea being to add in layers of difficulty to prevent enhancing that critic’s experience. If they book under a fake name, the restaurant can’t prepare beyond the normal for them in the 24 hours before the reservation. If they aren’t immediately recognizable, you might not realize who they are until 4 courses into the tasting menu, making it harder to give a bonus glass of champagne or a caviar canapé. They might even get a no-so-great table in the dining room!

The critics that do this well can really become legends. However, it’s difficult to say that there can ever be a truly “objective” take on a dining experience in the same way that listening to an album or viewing an exhibit at a museum can relatively “the same” for everyone.

​How the Michelin Guide’s Stars Affect a City’s Dining Scene​

Over in Toronto, which got its first-ever Michelin Guide one month before Vancouver, Toronto Star food reporter Karon Liu says that Michelin-related price hikes haven’t really been an issue. “The places that got stars were expensive already,” he says. “Restaurants across the board, awards or not, already raised prices due to ongoing inflation, so it’s hard to tell if they’re cashing in on Michelin hype or because oil costs five times more now. I’d say the latter, though, as a lot of [restaurants] are still in survival mode.”

Two of Vancouver’s newly crowned one-star chefs agree: As they see it, the price hikes are enabled — but not caused by — the guide. Published on Main was one of the most awarded restaurants in Canada last year, scoring the number one spot on Vancouver Magazine’s Best Restaurants list and Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list — not to mention one Michelin star. In February, chef Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson increased the price of his 11-course tasting menu from $125 Canadian dollars ($92) to $150 Canadian dollars ($110). On the $25 increase, he says, “[I]t’s nothing to do with Michelin — it’s just easier to justify now. There have been massive price increases across the board. Labor costs are up, even canola oil has gone up like 300 percent in the last 18 months, but I still feel a sense of guilt charging $65 for a steak and potatoes dish.”

Our Take: This is a great example of correlation vs causation, and we’re happy to see operators being transparent about their real numbers! We’re all for doing what’s required to achieve profit margins and operate with longevity, and if awards can be fuel for that process, bring them on 👏

​Bakery Revenue - Thready by Codie Sanchez on Twitter​

Average revenue of a bakery is $450k/yr. Except for this one that started in 2017 and just crossed $1Billion in sales… 3 key decisions that got Crumbl Cookies where they are today:

1. Obsessing over the customer Believe your biz or product is great? If it’s not what your customer is willing to pay for, it doesn’t matter. Founders Jason McGowan & Sawyer Hemsley spent weeks understanding their customers before launching.
2. Nailing Virality How many accounts do you know that get 10x as much engagement on product drop announcements than on any other post?
3. Cut out the Middlemen Crumbl quickly expanded retail locations (now at over 600) Nowadays, a big part of retail food sales is based on delivery.

It’s always impressive when a food service biz sees huge financial success. $1B in ~5 years for cookies is extra insane. What can you learn from here?

Our Take: Alright, the way these numbers are presented do feel a little Twitter-thread-ified - but it doesn’t take away from the success of the business.

It just goes to show the fact that adding 1-2 attributes (vs trying to re-invent the wheel) can often lead to the growth and achievements you’ve been chasing all along. Product wise, Crumbl Cookie is nearly exactly the same as Great American Cookie Company (remember that place in your local mall?) but Crumbl layered in content marketing, “drops” exclusivity, and optimized delivery for a differentiated experience for the customer and built-in rocket fuel for scaling.

ICYMI 🙌

👞 New Review: The Standard by MISE - Now live on YouTube - we put these through their paces, even testing to try and stain the leather on the top! As long as there are still slots, get 15% off your entire order with JUSTIN15

☀️ Summer is approaching, and that means a hike in stage/job opportunities! - Check out these pre-stage tips and strategies to help you stand out in the competitive hospitality industry and set you on the path to success. Remember to stay focused, be prepared, and take the initiative to make the most of your stage experience.

🎧 New Podcast Episode is Out! Chef Suzanne Vizethann, owner of Buttermilk Kitchen in Atlanta, joins Justin Khanna to discuss her successful breakfast and brunch restaurant. Along with insights on chef’s mental health and the important empathy in hiring.

This Week, We Learned… 🧠

• 17 Best Water Bottles 2023
• How to Make Clear Ice With Olives Frozen Inside
• ​Elon Musk’s Brother Kimball Musk Is Opening an Austin Restaurant
• ​Best cookbooks for spring 2023
• When One 3-Star Door Closes, Another Opens

Comment from you folks:

To Peep 👀

• ​15% off on Hocho’s Iseya I-series 33 Layer VG-10 Damascus Hammered Japanese Chef's Gyuto Knife 210mm - Provides rust resistance and a long-lasting edge!

• Need thermometers in the kitchen to ensure temps get hit? These are 60% off right now, have great reviews, and includes a probe and magnetic storage!

Quote I'm Pondering 💭

Thanks for reading, as always,

👊Justin​

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