A couple days at Campanile in LA

After trying unsuccessfully to land any paying gigs in LA, I went to a few restaurants in the city to offer my services free of charge (or rather, for food). Erica, the sous chef at Campanile, was more than happy to take me on for a couple days. Campanile is owned by Mark Peel, a well-known chef who was the opening chef de cuisine at Spago.

It wasn't that busy the first day I was there, so I got to work on the grill station with Erica. Campanile has a huge wood grill, which I have used before and in my opinion is much more fun than a gas grill (except for smoke in the eyes). All in all, the food was pretty simple and uncomplicated. I can't say I really learned that much that night, but that's probably because it was slow. I spent most of the night peaking at the guy on the next station who has been working saute at Campanile for 20 years. Quiet, fluid motion, no wasted movement - this guy was seriously invested in self-preservation by the way he moved.

The second night I worked was much busier - a Saturday night with three private parties. I helped out another sous chef, Aris, in putting out all the passed apps and half the plated dishes for the parties. I wasn't particularly impressed with any of the hors d'oeuvres we were putting out, and the mushroom risotto I was shown to replicate wasn't nearly as good as the version I cook, but I did like a of the items we were preparing.

In exchange for my services, Lily and I went to dinner at Campanile and were sent a whole bunch of food on the house. Erica started us with bruschetta and burrata, which was excellent, followed by crab cakes with remoulade, also good. Then came a pasta course - crispy fried trenne pasta on top of their version of ragu bolognese, with shaved parmesan for garnish. I liked the creativity of their version of pasta bolognese, but my heart still belongs to the version I prepared a million times at La Morra. We ate dinner on "sandwich night", so we got a braised brisket sandwich as our entree - pretty good, but the fries were excellent. Dessert was alright - a very sweet lemon tart and a tasty version of the ubiquitous molten chocolate cake.

The more Lily and I eat out, and with each place I stage at, the more I realize how far I've come as a cook and how developed my palate really is. The food at La Morra, which I am very thankful to have absorbed, is utterly, ridiculously underrated - much better than a lot of noteworthy and expensive establishments such as Campanile. Not only that, but the food we encounter at some of the restaurants we dine at is sometimes not even as good as what I cook in our tiny camper. When we're eating a nice meal at a good restaurant, I usually try and relax and enjoy, but most of the time I am noticing not only what can be better about a particular dish, but how it can be better, and I'm beginning to really understand the most important question - why.

It's becoming an increasing source of frustration that I can't just put all of my ideas to work and be in charge of a kitchen right now and do things right. I'm tired of watching other people doing things poorly or half-assed and being unable to say or do anything about it. I want to be teaching people how to cook well, clean well, organize, create, and take pride in their food and their work.

I think I'll be ready to be a chef sooner than I thought.