The pressure is enormous. Success on the job requires cunning, skill, thick skin, and passion. You juggle dozens of different projects at once, trying frantically to produce for your mercurial bosses and clients. The environment is an intense, fast-paced grind, and your performance from Day One matters.
Fire drill at Goldman Sachs investment banking? Nope. Dinner rush at Les Halles.
That place happens to be one of my favorite restaurants, and at the time of Kitchen Confidential’s 2000 publication, Anthony Bourdain was the executive chef there. Unbeknownst to me, the mussels, frites, merguez, and chocolate mousse I gleefully scarfed down was the product of the crazy, chaotic environment I just described.
Bourdain (whose life I sometimes envy), seemed an unlikely fit for a successful career in the restaurant industry. He’s a lazy, boorish sensualist by his own admission.
He also had what you might like to call a “heroin problem.”
Kitchen Confidential tells how he got to where he was in 2000: talented captain of his own pirate ship, diving into the ranges with his crew while 70’s punk rock roared over the kitchen PA.
It’s a career success story that WSO ought to love. The classic ingredients are all there.
The first moment of inspiration? Tasting his first oyster as a young man on a boat in France when no one else would even touch it.
His first job? Washing dishes at a summer place in Provincetown, Cape Cod.
His first big break? Being asked to man the grill for 5 minutes while the grill guy went to take care of some business (and by “taking care of business,” we of course mean, “getting laid”). Young Bourdain’s awe and sense of gratitude are on par with the junior analyst getting his first chance to trade.
Bourdain’s adventures are many and varied. You’ll love hearing how Les Halles flew him out to Tokyo to advise on its outpost there, and how he both clashed with and enjoyed partying with the Japanese, who were extremely unfamiliar to him. You’ll hear his “commencement address,” his laundry list for the hopeful chefs-to-be—and by the honesty, integrity and hard-work ethic the list espouses, financiers to be as well!
My personal favorite was the extensive “Day In the Life” chapter, in which he describes the hectic grind of a full day as executive chef at Les Halles restaurant. It’s not just manning his station with religious fervor—the day also involves a curse-laden phone call to a produce vendor, the politicking and communication among the line cooks and dozens of cigarettes in the restaurant stairwell (back when you were allowed to smoke indoors).
And then, just like that, he spends the next couple of chapters visiting another chef’s kitchen that seemingly debunks everything he had to say previously about running a great kitchen. He also describes the different career paths he and his buddy each took, and how even though there were many twists and turns along the way, there is—surprise, surprise!—many, many ways to make a buck in this industry.
Take his word for it: ”I’m not bluffing when I threaten to quit over principle.”
This isn’t just a killer real-life story to read, it’s also an experience to be savored, much like I’ve savored those wonderful mussels.
Read up, monkeys! And now I’m hungry; I believe I’ll have a steak.
Monkey’s Review 1: Barbarians At the Gate
Monkey’s Review 2: The Financier
Monkey’s Review 3: Decision Points
Monkey’s Review 4: Debunkery
Monkey’s Review 5: When Genius Failed
Monkey’s Review 6: Monkey Business
Monkey’s Review 7: Death Of The Banker
Monkey’s Review 8: A Journey
Monkey’s Review 9: Damn It Feels Good To Be A Banker
Monkey’s Review 10: The Quants
Monkey’s Review 11: All About Hedge Funds
Monkey’s Review 12: The Unlikely Disciple
Monkey’s Review 13: Adventure Capitalist
Monkey’s Review 14: The Hedge Fund Book
Monkey’s Review 15: Investing In Hedge Fund of Funds
Monkey’s Review 16: Hilarity Ensues
Monkey’s Review 17: The Prince
Monkey’s Review 18: Markets Never Forget (But People Do)
Monkey’s Review 19: The Money Culture
Monkey's Review 20: An Empire of Wealth
Monkey's Review 21: The New Tycoons
Monkey's Review 22: A Bold, Fresh Piece of Humanity
Monkey's Review 23: Ahead of the Curve (2 Years At HBS)
Monkey's Review 24: How To Be A Gentleman
Monkey's Review 25: Ten Roads to Riches
Monkey's Review 26: The Best of Braverman
Monkey's Review 27: Street Freak
Mod Note: Best of WSO, this was originally posted January 2014.
Nice review. Is the term "executive chef" the investment equivalent of a CIO for instance, or is he actually getting his hands dirty? How much do you think he makes and how many hours do you think he works?
These book reviews are phenomenal. Thanks for sharing.
One thing that would be cool is if you had an overall rating of what you thought of the book (kind of like stars on Amazon or Yelp). That would communicate overall opinion of the book.
Maybe banana inches... "I give this book 7 and a half banana inches". Maybe 8 would be the highest, unless its a banana that has browned, in which case perhaps 11 inches would be more appropriate.
Nice review! One job I didn't do in restaurants was cooking, just not my thing (making cash via bartending ruined me). Good cooks draw clients in and keep them, and if they're well trained in running a kitchen are a joy to work with.
Average exec chef base salary is $60K in NYC (+overtime etc), can be higher at a 4 or 5 star restaurant or private club. A lot of times these guys are equity partners in the restaurant itself, so there's no ceiling on earnings. Plus they can get book/TV deals or other bonuses for drawing in business. They do some cooking but are more involved with the design of new dishes and marketing, and the better they are at those the more options they have. Some of them are the biggest primadonas you'll ever meet, but most are just really smart, focused people that probably would have made good bankers.
Obviously Bourdain is making much more than the average execC with book sales, TV, etc...
@"Going Concern" : He runs the kitchen, so yes, he gets his hands dirty and, depending on volume, mans the grill, the sauce station, and the saute station (frequently all three at once). He made decent money--didn't state how much, but enough to fuel a steady drug habit, which he is mostly free of now. Investment banking-length hours, including nights and weekends.
With cooks, the really good ones got where they are because they truly love what they do. They love cooking, they love eating, they love making and having a meal with people. It's their job but they don't see it as "getting their hands dirty" or "work", anymore than an artist wouldn't want to touch their paint brushes or guitar.
By my "getting their hands dirty" comment, I simply meant actually cooking, as opposed to the more administrative/strategic responsibilities of an executive chef that don't necessarily involve handling foodstuffs.
As a side note, anything that you have to do on someone else's schedule is 'work' regardless of how much passion or enthusiasm you have. If you're feeling tired and miserable one day and don't feel like doing anything, you can't just not show up. That's why it's "work"...I'm sure even a pornstar has tedious days.
What's not work is when you love what you do AND you don't have to answer to someone else, ie you do it on your own terms. That is why an artist or musician wouldn't consider what they do "work", whereas a chef at a restaurant is still "work" even if they don't see it that way. That being said I actually cook a lot and would love to be a chef.
As for cooking, yeah, I've been getting into it lately as well. Nothing at these guy's level for sure, just simple stuff. Speaking of which: you ever take any cooking classes? I'm not terrible, but it seems I'm reinventing the wheel on a lot of stuff and am wondering if some lessons are really going to make a dent beyond teaching me the right way to burn spaghetti?
@UFOInsider : He actually described the relationship between the executive chef and the bartender in some detail. You should see if he's correct!
If you're interested, back when he was still doing No Reservations, there was an episode where he went back to Les Halles and worked a double and spoke about his past there, etc.
@Anihilist : Haven't seen that one, but it would cool to watch. No Reservations is pretty awesome.
The restaurant world fascinates me. I have a friend who just started working as a assistant chef at Alinea and he says its hectic at best.
Tough job.
great book and one of the reasons I loved it was because the kitchens he described reminded me a lot of trading desks. This book is kind of the Liars Poker of the restaurant industry.
@Bondarb : It was freakish how much the kitchens reminded me of trading desks as well. Uncanny.
"sometimes" envy Bourdain's life? I envy his life all the time...
^ yeah man. What part of crunching numbers for ridic hours working for a bunch of jackasses is in any way better than being paid millions to travel around, eat and drink, and meet people. It's not even close, his life rocks.
i have known many people in the restaurant biz and i think that it is really not as glamorous or fun as he makes it out to be...picture ur office, but 120 degrees, and isntead of college educated people u r screaming at illegal immigrants fromecuador all day. Also on any given week 5-10% of the staff disapears without a trace and u have to open in three hours. That said bourdains life now (tv celebrity) is pretty cool.
Yeah, my brother was a really good cook in HS (went to competitions and all) and started as a line chef at a few nice places. He quit after doing it for like 2 years because he said it just sucked.
I assume you're talking about well established fine dining restaurants since I've never heard of anyone who thought it glamorous or romantic to own Dinosaur BBQ. That being the case, I would think (and this is purely speculation) that the unskilled menial workers aren't as prevalent at the Jean Georges of the world.
I've got to believe that college educated or not, the people in that kitchen take their careers (not jobs) pretty seriously and are high performing. And the level of unreliability and lack of performance that generally plagues the food service industry, isn't much of a factor at the high-end celebrity chef spots.
@Bondarb : As much as he may scream, curse them out and berate them (in both English and Spanish!), he usually goes to bat for them and respects their production.
@"West Coast Analyst" : I say "sometimes" because I wrote another post exploring whether I really wanted his life, called Whose Life Do (You Think) You Want? Kind of a companion piece to this!
@"Marcus_Halberstram" You'd be surprised at the shenanigans even at Les Halles. Even he admits he wouldn't be able to do his job without the (often) ex-convicts, druggies, and other suspicious individuals working the machines in his kitchen.
Thoughts on the show based on the book? Remember watching it on TV when I was still in the motherland.
My to-read list is just getting longer and the books are piling up. There's hope at the end of 1st year banking, right?
@evilmindbulgaria : Never seen it. I can highly recommend No Reservations and Parts Unknown, though.
@"In The Flesh" it's on Hulu if you wanna check it out. I saw the thread and recognized the title. Had no idea it was based on a book.
Love that you keep at it with your review series. SB for you.
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