Ordering new…

Cultivating foodies blog

Saturday night I worked for one of Calgary’s hottest chefs, my husband James.  His restaurant Marquee Beer Market was hosting the red bull stage and some very hipster bands in the parking lot.  Naturally the crowd of man buns and crop top patrons needed to be fed.  So he solicited my help by way of a few pretty flattering compliments.  At one point he even said he was “Bringing in the ringer”.  {Someone has since explained to me that’s a very good sports thing.  Go sports}

Now if you have not been to Marquee you have to picture the scene.  One side is a wicked cool beer market with a million beers and wine on tap {Yes this is no joke, they have mommy juice on tap.  Still waiting to see if we can order a team pitcher of it though…} And the other side is a very trendy nightclub.  I am not sure if every mom in her 20’s is as “out of touch” with “the scene” as I am, but I felt pretty dang old.  Quite possibly the fact that I called it “the scene” is direct proof of this.  Then on top of the giant club and large restaurant they had an epic stage set up outside in the parking lot.  We were warned it was going to be very busy.

So I roll in to the back of the club and start prepping for the upcoming mad house.  Honestly it felt really good to be back in a busy kitchen with the FOH manager zipping by shouting energizing things like “1300 rsvp’s for the event so far!”  I am pretty sure only industry people understand the pure excitement of knowing that in a few hours you are going to be white walled and stagger out the other side dripping with sweat, head ringing and grinning from ear to ear.

James and I met in cooking school, and our strange love blossomed over times like these.  Elbow to elbow on line slinging pans and harassing each other.  To most people it would probably look like we were on the verge of insanity, but to us it’s a very real reminder of why we are so great together.  It also felt really great to see James in his element, commanding his kitchen with cool confidence and seeing all the staff who truly respect and enjoy him.

Now if you recall I did say half of Marquee is a night club, and if you have ever been to a night club you will know that they hire staff with certain “assets”.  And I can tell you that there were a lot of “assets” on display….  I was standing behind line in my baggy kitchen pants and full support sports bra under my chef’s coat feeling a bit intimidated by the parade of 10’s rolling though the kitchen, until they started talking to me.  Every one said something to the effect of “You must be Chef’s wife, I have heard soooo much about you”.  Excellent work James.  Extra points for sure.  After that I even got the cool nickname “Chef’s wife”.

The night ended up being busy but not insane and we even had time for a quick after shift brew before going to pick up the chunky baby from grandmas.  Cultivating foodies blog

All in all I had a great night.  And next weekend I get to be on the other side as a customer at Marquee for my friend’s bachelorette party.  Maybe I will get crazy and cause a scene… Yeah right.

-Stephanie