Every Job in a Michelin-Starred Kitchen _ Bon Appétit

**Crown Chai: A Glimpse into the Heartbeat of the Restaurant**

**Introduction**

Nestled in the heart of a bustling city, Crown Chai stands as a beacon of culinary excellence, where every dish tells a story and every face behind the scenes is part of a vibrant tapestry of passion, dedication, and teamwork. This article offers an intimate look into the lives and roles of the individuals who make Crown Chai the special place it is.

**Chef and Ownership: The Visionary at the Helm**

At the core of Crown Chai's success is Jamal James Kent, the chef and owner who wears many hats. With unwavering dedication, Jamal leads his team, inspiring creativity, nurturing growth, and ensuring that each restaurant operates with efficiency and excellence. His presence is a constant, guiding the team through every challenge and celebrating every victory.

**Kitchen Team: The Artistry Behind the Scenes**

The kitchen at Crown Chai is a hive of activity, where skilled chefs and cooks bring culinary visions to life. Steven Bordino, a line cook, shares his passion for precision and presentation, particularly in preparing delicate ingredients like shallots for Arctic char. His journey from indifference to enthusiasm for pastas highlights the transformative power of learning.

Jong "Ryan" Kim, a sauce specialist, brings flavor expertise to every dish, while Anisha Sharma excels as the pastry chef, orchestrating the creation of 200 desserts nightly. Their stories reflect a shared dedication to crafting meals that delight and inspire.

**Front-of-House Staff: The Face of Hospitality**

The front-of-house team embodies the warmth and hospitality that defines Crown Chia. Servers like Noel and Isabelle Vega ensure every guest experiences a memorable dining journey, from appetizers to desserts. Noel's background in theater influences his approach, treating each table as a unique performance.

Simon Singh, the barback, is crafting cocktails with passion, finding joy even in challenging tasks. His ability to innovate keeps the menu fresh, offering guests a delightful taste of creativity.

**Management and Support Roles: The Backbone of Operations**

The management team, led by Alfred Nebar, focuses on efficiency and sustainability, streamlining operations to reduce waste. His role involves everything from hiring to menu development, ensuring Crown Chai remains at the forefront of culinary innovation.

Johnny Twan, a kitchen server, embodies precision and attention to detail, reflecting Chef Kent's mantra of "splitting hairs." His dedication to excellence is evident in every task he undertakes.

**Conclusion: A Symphony of Passion and Collaboration**

Crown Chai thrives as a testament to the collective spirit of its team. Each member contributes uniquely, from the culinary artistry in the kitchen to the heartfelt service on the floor. Their shared passion for their craft and commitment to excellence make Crown Chai more than just a restaurant—it's a community, a family, where every story is told and every guest leaves with a taste of something truly special.

In the words of Daisy Witherspoon, the assistant general manager, Crown Chia offers "one team, one dream," a philosophy that resonates through every aspect of its operations. This article captures just a glimpse into the vibrant world of Crown Chai, where passion and collaboration create culinary magic.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enright my name is Steven bordino and I'm a line cook here the short story of that is basically whatever Chef requires of me is my job you know everything's about my knif workk and presentation we're doing a small dice on the shallots it's for the Arctic char Cudo it's supposed to be basically invisible almost has to be as fine as possible so that it Blends in the rest of the dish uh my name is Jong and I'm from South Korea you can call me just Ryan the chef anet is in charge of each garnish and the sauce based for the every dishes so I'm going to prep for garnish and sauce for each dish working with a chef GRS and pcha to make a whole dishes in front of the front probably make about 30 to 40 pastas on a on a busy night past wasn't really something I was passionate about before starting the station and then once I started on I kind of started enjoying it more and learning more and getting really into it name is parkia and I work on the pr station during service my name is Richie Lou and I'm a prep cook at crowna so we're taking Nori chips that have been uh painted with Mochi rice flour paste and then we fry them press them out and uh we cut them into threes for vental box my name is Jean de and I'm one of the torant in the kitchen essentially I float around and uh fill in gaps and help today they're a little short on Theo station so I'm helping with them on garmo J dayto day it changes I'll work brunch one day grow one day Pancho one day entreat one day and uh prep one day so just depending on every day it's different you know so today I'm on pcha so that's fun but favorite is grill for sure I'm the grill cook basically in charge of uh preparation for all proteins during service it definitely gets hot uh like if you guys are here around you know 7 8:00 it gets pretty toasty back here so my name is Alfred nebar I am the chef the cuisine sunshine in charge of running the day-to-day operations of the restaurant from all the admin stuff like hiring and woring about food cost to the creative side menu development to service and just making sure that the quality is up to our standard I think something that was an active decision was trying to give the cooks time for themselves and we can try to encourage them to like go have lunch and go see things and find inspiration in the city before coming to work and trying to move away from the the the 70 hour work weeks and these insane hours that everyone's been doing because it's just been a habit there's only four of us on the management team and we have to come up with 12 new dishes you know that crunch to really like come up with things and be creative is I think my favorite aspect of this job it's my job to make sure the kitchen runs smoothly as far as you know managing the cooks and making sure the food looks good I'm a Facey cook at Crown chai I usually get here around 2:30 and I'm done around 12 I work service that means that I'm taking bread out at the beginning of every table's meal and then Desserts when they fire for for my name is Justine Cortez and I am a barback and prep person so my goal is to be a bartender pretty soon right now I am filtering some tea that's going to go in a old-fashioned type of version and we're going to free some olive oil whiskey I am Anisha Sharma and I'm the crown chai pastry sua I have a pretty big team I help out with the production I jump on on the line so kind of everywhere every night the first but a slower night about 2 200 Breads and something around 200 desserts so I like what I do I really do and I like working here is why I've been here for so long it's my second week so I'm still training and learning all the different dishes so I work production so that means I'm prepping all of the like cakes and Breads and ice cream bases and different components of the desserts and everything put out by the pastry I'm the Sue Chef that takes care of am production for Saga and Crown Shar we are the saers for the rest of the restaurants so we essentially keep that prep so when the line cook comes in in the afternoon shift they can just pick this up we produce the base content and they use finesse to kind of uh get the final product so my name is way uh I'm an exter here I guess that's my goal to like just to learn and train and maybe be a great chef one day and I feel like this is a great place to learn and do that I'm Isabelle Vega and I'm the choler for Saga I make the candies for Saga so that's two um types of bon bons a nougat caramel and a rice Rey La be uh my name is Jamal James Kent and I am the chef and owner of all these restaurants I am here always all the time all hours what I do in these restaurants is I lead the team I Inspire the team I nurture I teach so my role is to grow our businesses and also teach our chefs and our teams how to run these restaurants going forward our kitchen are going to be smaller because running restaurants are a really tough business and it's all about the efficiencies restaurants are super labor intensive and it takes a lot of people to run any restaurant what it takes to manage a team this large is a trust people need to trust that you're making good decisions for the right reasons I think empathy is really important when you make manage any group of people following through on your words is really important so if I say something I'm always going to follow through hi I'm just Simon Singh and I'm the coloring director for a crunchi over story Saga developing is uh I think it's it's a huge role because um we don't want to repeat a lot of same things we come up with the ideas and team kind of like uh present their way of like serving dishes we go back and forth for like several weeks and then every new season we change dishes hi I'm Tyler Sylvester and I am the head S A lot of people think my job is a lot of drinking wine which I mean it it definitely is uh more so tasting when when I'm on the clock but really A lot of my job is running around and helping out clear tables taste wines with Distributors and also make sure that the Partnerships that we have with them are positive and forun is for everybody the somal is like a bass player in a band our job is to fatten out the sound I open wine talk about uh wine with guests help facilitate pairings and uh I clear an enormous amount of tables throughout the course of the night my name is ivanoski and a bender I'm a drinking consultant my favorite thing to make is actually my least favorite thing to make an NE groni when you don't like something and you really Thrive to understand it it actually becomes more fun and more interesting favorite drink to make here I'm going to be a little biased it's our smoked butter oldfashioned it's got some nice Plum Apple notes too a little Masala chai kind of brightens it up a little bit as well yeah we have like about like 21 different cocktails and also all the classic cocktails that we kind of put all together there's a lot to memorize and then there's also like stuff that kind of Base off like muscle memory which helps out a lot my name is Noel I am a server here today we all get in here at 4: so and I'm a closer tonight so probably it's what is it Tuesday probably going to get off at around midnight every server has their own side work based on what section they're in I'm in the back corner of the dining room today so I am in charge of waters I'm a big proponent of getting people to have cocktails wine full meal and make it all the way to dessert and after dinner drink that's something that I really enjoy doing I don't think many people do that so that's my job uh to make sure people have dining experiences they normally don't have I have a bit of a theater background so I like to approach every table like it's its own play you know I have my lines my marks that I need to set there's a little bit of improv um but for the most part like it's this is my audience this the first time that they're experiencing it or they're back for the show for the second time so always have hit those marks my name is Andres Ramos carasco and my title job is a floor manager basically just take care of any issues that come up on the floor make sure everything's running smoothly before service we just sort of answer emails or make the floor plan so everyone knows what they're doing for the night uh my name Isa and here hi my name is toia Rees uh my hours today is uh 4 to 10 uh yeah my name is Johnny Twan I'm a kitchen server here at Crasher I would say kind of like what Chef James Kent says uh we're in the industry of uh splitting hairs so we're just like very attemp to detail make sure everything's done right um and precise and consistent I'm Daisy wither and I am the assistant general manager of crown sh basically the mom of the restaurant I started in this industry about 11 years ago as a bathroom attendant if someone wants to work for me all I ask is for dedication for somebody who has the hustle somebody that works as a team member for everybody not just in their soul position but for everybody it's one team one dream H my name is just wama I am Mator D of crowny the Mator D is the one that runs the book so they'll be the ones coordinating where the guests go the hosts are kind of the ones that greet them bring them to the table um if they have any questions they can kind of ask both but the maturity is the one that wants SP crunch I feel like has a very like welcoming environment even for guests and as um an employee myself I feel like I've always felt welcome we're one big family even between the three teams Upstairs Downstairs it's very welcoming\n"