Christine Carroll - Come In, Were Closed: An Invitation to Staff Meals at the Worlds Best Restaurants

2012 by Christine Carroll and Jody Eddy

Published by Running Press,

A Member of the Perseus Books Group

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

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ISBN 978-0-7624-4262-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011938582

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

Design by Joshua McDonnell

Edited by Kristen Green Wiewora

Typography: Avenir, Berkely, Lora, and Valencia

Special thanks to Audrey Claire Taichman and the staff at Cook

Running Press Book Publishers

2300 Chestnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103-4371

Visit us on the web! www.runningpresscooks.com

PHOTO CREDITS:

Joshua McDonnell, Front Cover

Timothy Aguero, pages 162171

Neil John Berger, back cover (top), pages 6477

Kyle Delahunt, pages 230241

Peter Frank Edwards, back cover (bottom), pages 10, 13, 172183, 274287

Jenn Farrington, pages 254263

Owen Franken, pages 184195, 288297

Ken Goodman, pages 23, 8, 5263, 100113

Chris Granger, pages 7889

Robin Jolin, pages 264273

Jason Lowe, pages 4251, 128135, 208217, 242253

Patrica Niven, page 254

Matthew Noel, pages 90, 95 (top), 99 (right)

Marc Piscotty, pages 136147

Evan Sung, back cover (middle), pages 1415, 3041, 196207, 298308

Kristin Teig, pages 1, 148161, 218229

Janis Turk, pages 9192, 94, 95 (bottom), 96, 99 (left)

Eric Wolfinger, pages 1629

Vigfs Birgisson, pages 114127

(Yountville, California)

(New York, New York)

(San Sebastin, Spain)

(Montreal, Canada)

(Chicago, Illinois)

(Oxford, Mississippi)

(New Orleans, Louisiana)

(Boston, Massachusetts)

(Reykjavik, Iceland)

(Bray, England)

(Boulder, Colorado)

(Portland, Maine)

(Woodinville, Washington)

(Charleston, South Carolina)

(Laguiole, France)

(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

(Errenteria, Spain)

(Cambridge, Massachusetts)

(Minneapolis, Minnesota)

(San Francisco, California)

(London, England)

(Napa, California)

(Austin, Texas)

(Montreuil, France)

(New York, New York)

Our sincerest appreciation extends to all who have joined us on this two-year adventure, helped us navigate its peaks and valleys, and pushed us to reach our destination. We have a beautiful cookbook because of each and every one of you.

A special thanks to our editor Kristen Green Wiewora, and designer, Joshua McDonnell, as well as our agent, Sally Ekus, for believing in our vision. Our heartfelt appreciation to our hardworking interns Elise Reinemann and Hannah Selinger as well as Anne Carroll, a recipe tester without equal. And most importantly, a toast to our families: Evelyn Bragelman, Mary Eddy, Eric Schatzman, Bill and Anne Carroll, and Andrew and Felix Trask. Thank you for keeping the home fires burning and the phone lines open while we were off eating, cooking, and writing. You are as much a part of this book as we are.

Our thanks goes out to the many people who offered their inspiration, talents, time, and resources: Mark Anderson, Jamie Bissonnette, Dante Boccuzzi, Monica Brown, Katie Button, Elizabeth Button, Floyd Cardoz, Elaine Caron, Allie Carroll, Wai Chu, Kyle Connaughton, Katy Corum, Janet Crandall, Kristin Cunningham, Michelle Demuth-Bibb, Katie Donnelly, Rachael Dufresne, Lucinda East, Jeffrey Elliott, Suzanne Fass, Tanui Franken, Pol Perello French, Mhairi Galloway, Kjartan Gslason, Janice Goldsmith, Joseph Gruber, Einar Gustavsson, Phil Gutensohn, Lien Ho, Erica Johnson, Kristine Keefer, Michael Kress, Steve Legato, Melissa MacLeod, Caitlin Maguire, Anne McBride, Felix Meana, Sofia Piqueras Mir, Melany Mullens, Cristin Napier, Susana Nieto, Marta Mirasolain Oharriz, Ashley Primus, Kelly Puleio, Sean Rembold, Carissa Remitz, Jessica Rodriguez, Daniel Rosene, Peter Rosene, Sheila Rosene, John Ross, Nelly Sabdes, Fernando Salazar, Adam Sanderson, Ted Siegel, Randi Sirkin, Angie Tonnerre, Jasbir Uppal, Carrie Van Dyck, Diana Dogg Viglundsdottir, Erica Wides, and Josh Zoodsma.

Also, to David Waltuck, Thomas Keller, and Frran Adra for not only serving incredible staff meals but being among the first to write about them in books of their own. And finally, to the restaurants who allowed us to hover in their cramped kitchens only to then graciously share their meals with us. Your generosity made this book a reality. Thank you.

The theme of this book is one that has occupied my mind the most in these last months. Staff meals seem to offer a different view of the professional kitchen. A way to go behind the scenes only to discover that the old adage is true: To cook well, one must eat well. So when I visit restaurants, I am always wondering what dishes are being made for the kitchen and dining room staff? What menus are planned? For after all, how can people who serve food to others not eat fantastically?

A good family meal is important to me. I believe that to feed the staff of a restaurant is a valiant challenge. You have to carefully organize the daily logistics balancing the preparation time, the price per person, as well as the variety and quality of the food itselftwo factors which hold as much importance as the others. In fact, the biggest disagreements that we had over the years at elBulli were about the family meal. So I took it upon myself to look for solutions. When we started to approach the staff meal in a more organized fashiondesigning three-course menus in advance and shopping for specific ingredients for each mealthe food got better and better and people started leaving the table much happier. A good daily staff meal eliminated most of our problems... and it only cost three euros per person.

At elBulli we had such fun making our staff meals. We served simple thingsroasted aubergine coated in miso, mussels with noodles, and Crema Catalana [the Spanish version of crme brle]but always the best in terms of flavor as well as price. I am so passionate about this subject that I have dedicated a book to explain what we ate at elBulli each day. And now, from the hands of Jody and Christine, we are given the opportunity to enjoy staff meals around the globe. It is a passionate view on a subject that is still little known. Often, youll find what is served to the staff does not necessarily correlate with the cuisine of the establishment. But I insist, where the cooks eat well, you will eat better.