From The Vault: Of diplomas and externships.

It was about this time last year I was finishing up school and trying (right until the 13th hour I might add) to lock down a externship. I wasn't sure what I was going to do once Simpatica Dining Hall had turned me down. 

Finally I was able to serve my externship at the now defunct Carlyle under the direction of Jake Martin - who is now at Fenouil in the Pearl. 

One of our first discussions was an interesting one.

On my first day, while prepping - Jake (executive Chef) asked me what he thought my 'degree' would get me in the culinary world. Maybe I responded to quickly with "Most likely nothing", though I'm pretty sure I'm right. While it'll be somewhat nice to have the Le Cordon Bleu stamped on my diploma I know that it's not a ticket stamped to chef-dom. 

I of all people should know, even with 'credentials' you have to start at the bottom - no degree is going to land you an Executive Chef's job out of the gate, though some at school would beg to differ.

I know that (just like radio) I'm going to have to work my ass off from the bottom of the heap to work my way up the ladder. This isn't something I'm not afraid of; hard work and dedication to get where I want to go - I did it in the radio biz and I'll sure as hell do it here. What school gave me is a solid foundation of techniques to work from.

That really seems like forever ago. Things (so far) have worked out far more awesome than I had imagined when I was done with school.

My son is visiting for part of his spring break, and brought up to me the fact that this time last year I was still in school and we were there during spring break to get ready for the ACF Western Regionals - insane.