My Externship at Mesa Grill

Part of the Baking and Pastry program required me to spend 200 hours working in either a bakery or restaurant. After spending some time at a few restaurants, I decided to do my externship at Mesa Grill. It was a great experience. Having never spent a day working in the food industry it was quite eye opening. My first few days there was incredibly hot, even for NYC. It was almost 100 degrees for three straight days, not to mention the humidity. Where is the worst place you could be in that heat? In the kitchen! Even the most experienced chefs were saying how intense the heat was. We were all hydrating like there was no tomorrow. We all took towels and continuously soaked them in cold water and put around our necks to stay cool. The pastry chefs I worked with were all great. I really enjoyed working with them. They were very patient with me. I think that first week, I made an impression on them. I was willing to do anything and never let them see that the heat bothered me. I do have to admit, growing up in NYC and not having A/C as a kid, made it a little easier to deal with. Plus, being new, I wanted to make a good impression.
I enjoyed learning everything I could. I think being an extern and helping out, the chefs were grateful because it made their job easier, plus I geniunely think they liked hanging out with me. They included me in their "family meals" each day and were fascinated to learn about what I wanted to do and why at my age, that I was changing careers.
One of the women I worked with had also gone to ICE, so she knew what I was going through. She was a really likable person and was a great teacher. She was patient and made sure that I learned every aspect of the job.
It was funny because I received a phone call from her on a Sunday night a week after I started there. One of the chefs was hurt that night at the restaurant and she wasn't going to be able to make her shift the next day. So they wanted to know if I could come in and take her place. I was amazed that they felt comfortable enough to have me take her place. My coming in made a huge impression on them. They all kept thanking me for weeks. Fortunately, the chef that was hurt wasn't serious.
I really got the sense that all the chefs that I was working for felt comfortable giving me anything to do. I really enjoyed working with each one. They each had different methods of making things so I was able to learn little tricks here and there. I just had to remember who I was working with and use their methods. Sometimes if I forgot and used another chef's method, they would correct me. Everyone has their own way they like to do things, as do I.
Time went extremely fast and before I knew it, my time was up at Mesa Grill. I did miss a couple of chances to meet Bobby Flay. That would have been really cool. Although I am not a big fan of Southwestern Foods, some of his dishes were interesting and a few of the desserts were dynamite (although I must give credit to the Pastry Chef Vicki Wells for that). And thanks to Vicki for allowing me to Extern at Mesa. I learned so much and was impressed that she included me a few times in some of the creations she was making for the new menu!
The only issue I had with working there was that I had to commute from Long Island on the LIRR every day! It seemed that there was always an issue with delays.
If I lived close enough I would have considered working there for a while. They did offer me a full time hob, however, the commute was too much, especially with the hours I would have to work. Nights and weekends would have been a nightmare to commute to LI.
All in all, it was a great experience!
Until next time, folks, have a great one!