A Tale of Three Restaurants

It's Spring Break again, and while that means a trip to the beach for most college students, it's time for Epicure to find a job. Graduation will happen in May, Honey and I will go to Spain for a couple of weeks, and then I hope to come back to Atlanta, to start my first apprenticeship.

This week I visited three restaurants, equal in dignity, disparate in every other way, to try and pick one that will start me on the road to chefdom. Everyone that I've talked to has told me to find the best chefs I could for my apprenticeship, and this week has shown me that that mantra will not save me from some tough decisions.

Restaurant #1 is a palace of fine dining in Atlanta, built up over many years by two brilliant, dedicated chefs. It has its own farm and a takeout division that makes money and moves product for the restaurant. I staged there on Monday. Because they deemed my skills entry-level, they put my in pastry for my stage. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself more than capable, and frankly a little bored; it was a slow night. I met the legendary Chef Who Started It All, and once I was in my station, I was promptly ignored by all but one line cook who came over to speak to me at the end of the night. I enjoyed pastry more than I expected to, and I didn't get the outright rejection that I was expecting; they've told me to get back in touch closer to my graduation. It all seems vaguely positive, but there's no resolution yet.

Restaurant #2 is one of two restaurants with a leading local group, and was one of the first modern successful restaurants in the city. Its formula has been copied and applied to a number of new restaurants, and the group is very successful because of it. The chef at this place was particularly interesting, because he came up as an apprentice, and he had some great advice for what to look for in a first-year apprenticeship. His advice ended up pushing me toward Restaurant #1, where they bake their own bread, cure their own meat, and where I might learn some butchery, all of which he stressed as valuable skills for a learning chef. He invited me in last night to eat at his restaurant, and get an idea of the place. The food was delicious, the chef, though unexpectedly busy, was nice enough to stop by a couple of times, and I was sufficiently impressed to really want to work there.

I just got back from Restaurant #3, an American bistro, that reminded me of a slightly larger version of Scotty's place. The chef there likes to teach; he spends time working with local high schools' Pro-Start programs, and though he'd never had an apprentice before, he expressed definite enthusiasm for the possibility. He's also justifiably proud of his restaurant. It's consistently busy, and a combination of a neighborhood following, charismatic namesake, and smart updates have kept it in business for 25 years. It's the sort of place that I'd love to open and keep going till I was ready to retire.

I expected that this choosing processs would be easy, but as I've met great chefs with good advice, I'm finding myself at a quandary. I've begun to sketch out a plan to learn as much as I can, but I'm terrified of pulling this off poorly, and offending any one of the people who have been so generous with their time and experience. The truth is, I'd like to work at all of these places, and hate the idea of saying "You'll hear from me next year, or the year after." to anyone. But as honey says, "The real world sucks like that."