Every collaboration is an exercise in compromise. People often ask Alex and I how we are able to work together. The answer is simple, we have always worked together. It hasn’t always been a great collaboration. In fact when the chef we worked for way back when finally agreed to move me over to the line, I refused to train with Alex. It didn’t matter that I had been working my tail off and using every argument in the book to make the move from garde manger to grill, I wasn’t taking the new position if I had to train with Alex.
I can feel him wincing as I write this. It’s not one of his favorite stories and I can’t blame him. I’m sure he can tell quite a few stories of his own. I probably would have been better off if I had trained with him. He was and still is one of the best cooks I’ve ever worked with. But I wasn’t going there. It’s not the first time in my life that I wrongfully assumed that I knew best. Regrettably it probably won't be the last. What I have learned to do is to be flexible.
I can almost feel the waves of disbelief emanating from those who know me best. I’m the first to admit that I’m not always open-minded at first, especially when it comes to someone else’s ideas. I tend to view them with some skepticism, especially if they don’t jive with my point of view. One of the many benefits of this long-term partnership is that I have learned how to step back and re-evaluate. Although at first blush I may reject a suggestion, it has become common practice for me to go back later and take a second look. I hate to miss out on things because of my own short sightedness. Since Alex and I tend to look at life from very different viewpoints, this means we both do a fair amount of backtracking over the course of a day or a dish. The end result tends to be an improvement on either of our individual ideas.
I don’t know where I’m going with this because it’s not necessarily about food or cooking. Actually, I take it back because the ability to be open to different ideas makes our food better. People who read this blog may describe some of our food as “out there” or “beyond the pale”. I don’t think that most of our diners experience that. Because our goal is to feed them, on whatever level they require nourishment. Sometimes that means challenging them with new ideas, sometimes that means comforting them with a sense of familiarity. It always means creating a sense of well being through food and service. The fact that we relate to people differently means we can empathize with different needs. What I find interesting is that sometimes the hardest people for us to empathize with is each other. It’s that constant struggle that prevents us from taking each other for granted (most of the time). On the other hand, the friction and re-evaluation has sparked some amazing ideas, ones neither of us would have come up with on our own. Sometimes we just need to remind ourselves of that.
