Memories of Seattle –new city, friends for life, wine, cheese, great learning, studio at capitol hill and tasty rustic desserts. Read on…my externship experience!
Dahlia lounge, one of the well-known fine dining restaurants is located in downtown Seattle. The restaurant is run by one of the famous chef of the Pacific Northwest, Tom Douglas. He also owns two more renowned restaurants in downtown Seattle. My externship was in the pastry kitchen that serves all the three restaurants and also the retail bakery located next to the restaurant. I worked under the supervision of the pastry Chef Toby Matasar who is also a CIA graduate. The first month was spent getting used to the work environment of the kitchen but as time passed I felt my sense of comfort and understanding grew exponentially. My teacher was my Sous chef Mark LeBlanc who taught me everything I was to learn during my tenure and got me in the habit achieving perfection in making the items even if it was something as simple as a cookie. He was patient and understanding. He spent a lot of time going over the recipes and making sure I got them.
The quality of the products used was very good. Most of the produce was organic and fresh and the menu was based on seasonal produce. This meant that the menu changed practically every month. High quality ingredients were used for garnish. The raw ingredients came from local distributors. The inventory was checked by the chef everyday and ordered in the morning. On weekends the same job was done by the Sous Chef. The way the pastry kitchen worked was very simple.
The items that were to be produced were marked on the Prep list and on completion they were struck out from the list. The techniques used in the kitchen were very basic and simple. The main aim in the kitchen was to get the work done easily and efficiently. In order to stay ahead of time a lot of production items were prepared before hand. Being the summer season there were a lot of catering events and private parties in the restaurant. The items were baked in the order they were required. All the retail bakery items were baked first (Dahlia Bakery) ; this was followed by items for Etta’s, then Palace Kitchen and last but not the least for The Dahlia lounge. As there were generally three or four people working at the same time, the work got divided and a lot of products got done before time. At the end of the day of there was more time left prep work was done for the next day. The food was tasted by Shelly who was employed as a quality controller. Each production item that was prepared was tasted by everyone. By doing so not only everyone got a chance to taste the food but it also served as a way of checking the quality of the food. Being a highly reputed restaurant it was necessary that the food was of the highest quality and steps were undertaken to maintain the quality.
Tom Douglas believes that a dessert should be simple and elegant. All the finished food once plated looked very rustic and simple. The dessert had to taste good but that did not imply that less time was given to its appearance. An uncomplicated way of presentation was used, a small cake with a scoop of ice cream with the fresh fruit coulis. For most of the summer the kitchen was busy with we did have some slow days.
I personally felt that sometimes there was a lot of wastage in the kitchen. If the monetary value was calculated over a period of time, I am sure it would be a lot of money. Sometimes the sale was overestimated thus leading to more wastage.
Working in the kitchen not only teaches one to learn about food but also the human side to it. I worked and dealt with different kinds of people who come from diverse backgrounds and with different personalities. I personally felt that each day was a challenge since I had to deal with a new situation, different from what I was faced with the previous day. Through this interaction I also greatly developed my interpersonal skills.
On the whole, the environment was healthy and happy and the people were very approachable. Everyone while working talked about their life and the kind of activities they are involved in. Our discussions ranged from food to clothing to religion, music and likes and dislikes amongst other things. I also learned about the American culture and provided as much information I could about India. Over a period of time the work place started feeling home to me.
Working in Dahlia lounge has been a great learning experience and working in a real world kitchen has greatly added to my confidence. This experience has not only helped me make concrete my career plans but taste and decide the kinds of desserts I personally like. Learning about a new place and city, a new culture and meeting new people thus made my externship one of my most cherished and unforgettable experience in my life. I would personally recommend this place to any enthusiastic student who is willing to take challenges and roll with the situation. It’s not only a great place to work and learn about the culinary field but also to meet some great people.
Tuesday 1 December 2009 | Posted by Kishi | 
