My First Job
Going to culinary school will teach you a lot of technical skills needed to work in a professional kitchen. Learning proper cooking techniques is important to grow as a skilled cook however the best way to learn and grow is to work in a busy high quality restaurant. I was fortunate enough to work for one of the very best.
For almost 13 years Tabla was one of New York Cities best restaurants, located at 11 Madison park which overlooked the beautiful scenic Madison Park. Floyd Cardoz was the executive chef and without a doubt one of the most talented chefs I ever had the privilege to learn from. In March 2020 Floyd Cardoz tragically passed away from complications due to covid-19, he had a tremendous influence on me and I wanted to share my experiences working for him at Tabla.
Tabla would eventually close its’s doors for good in December of 2010 the same year I was set to graduate from the Institute Of Culinary Education. A requirement for graduation was completing an externship at a restaurant in the city that needed to be approved by the school. My mother was friends with a member of Chef Cardoz’s family and mentioned I was in Culinary school and if I could do my externship at Tabla, I was invited to the restaurant to meet Floyd and talk with him. This was a few months before my externship was set to start, he said I was welcome to come in and work in the kitchen whenever I had time. My culinary school schedule was Monday through Friday so on the weekends for the next few months I would work at Tabla. This was an incredible opportunity but I was about to get a rude awakening on how difficult working in a high end restaurant can be.
When looking for work in a high end restaurant unless you are an established known cook you are going to do what’s called a trail. You don’t have some sit down interview like most jobs, you come in and do basically whatever they tell you to do. One of the line cooks will take you under his/her wing and give you various kitchen tasks. I was paired with one of the Garde Manger cooks which is a cold/salad station and I was given a couple of cases of avocados to open. After an hour or so into dinner service we get invited to the pass (where the chef’s stay and all the final plates go) and we observe how service works. The chef will usually give you some food to try as well as the menu to look at.
There was another cook with me who was looking for a position, after a couple hours we found ourselves leaning against the wall as we watched the perfectly plated dishes leave the kitchen, Floyd was busy assisting the fish roti but the CDC (chef de cuisine) stopped plating and came over to us. It was at this point I realized this wasn’t going to be a cooking job like you see on television, “if your legs are tired grab a seat on the subway and go home, cause standing for 10 hours is the minimum here.” he didn’t scream or anything but definitely got his point across and we quickly stood up straight, Floyd came over shortly after smiling and said “don’t scare them away the first day.” Floyd rarely raised his voice and he really didn’t have to cause he was so well respected. Every weekend I would come in and meet with one of the sous chefs and start with various prep tasks. Prep work is tedious, stressful, and extremely boring. I would pick crates of cilantro, peel bags of onions, shell tons of beans, juice a bunch of quarts of orange juice, and time moves so slow when doing this. The other prep cooks were really nice but they would speak to each other in Spanish so this left me further isolated.
Once my externship officially started I was offered a paid externship which was awesome cause 90% of the time it’s for free. I met with Floyd and was asked how I like working prep and of course I lied and said I loved it, he smiled and said I was full of it and told me I would start working butcher cause it’s a step most cooks skip and there is a lot to learn breaking down meat and fish. I was excited to start, I was shown how to filet different types of fish, break down different red meats and chicken, I even broke down whole goats on a ban saw. I would eventually move to the Garde Manger 2 station which basically assisted the main Garde Manger cook and I had a few dishes of my own. I literally was never ready for service and it was frustrating, I had onion rings, stuffed pakora squash blossoms, butternut squash soup, and celery root soup. This was my first taste of running a station, I had to cut all my onions on the slicer, prepare my stuffing for the squash blossoms as well as the batter, the soups were even made for me I just had to prepare the garnish which was small diced butternut squash and celery root as well as chiffonade herbs. When service starts the orders come in whether your ready or not and when your not ready its the worst. I would slice my onions and forget the clean the slicer cause your just rushing, never had time to eat family meal, this really showed me how important time management is in a restaurant. One day I was actually going to be ready for service, I had like 15 minutes and all I needed to do was chiffonade my basil. I cut my basil and was ready to go, 10 minutes later the Chef de Cuisine checks my station and dumps my herbs on the board and asks if I planned to serve that, the herbs were dark black due to my knives being dull. I had to stand and watch the chefs finish my station, truly embarrassing, Floyd said to see him after service I figured I would be fired. Floyd and the Chef de Cuisine met with me after service and took out their knives and showed me how to properly sharpen them, instead of going home they took the time to show me something that isn’t really covered in culinary school, I was really appreciative of that.
I made a lot of mistakes working at Tabla but Floyd and the rest of the chefs were always patient with me and would take the time to show me the right way to do things in the kitchen. When they told us the restaurant would be closing Floyd tried to place everyone with new jobs so people had something lined up shortly after the restaurant would officially close. A former sous chef who worked under Floyd was at a new high end Italian restaurant and I would eventually be hired by them, It was a very exciting time and I felt well prepared going in to the new restaurant. I owe a lot to Chef Floyd Cardoz, I think about him and my time at Tabla often and will always be saddened by his sudden and unexpected passing.