The Forgotten Line Chef

Not many truly understand the toils of a line chef. It is nothing close to what one would describe as a “glamorous” job, but it puts food on the table and money in your pocket. Any customer walking into a restaurant rarely gives thought to the line chefs. They come for the food, the ambiance, or maybe even the executive chef that received a Michelin Star. They sit at their dimly lit table waited on by a very conscientious waiter and orders from the single page menu of extremely expensive fare with the false assumption that their meal will be meticulously prepared by the head chef himself, sweat and tears included. It’s an image the restaurant works hard to promote and it works. True is, though the executive chef may be present in the kitchen, if you’re lucky, odds are they only glance at your plate as it is scooped off the counter and ushered out into the dining room. Your delicious meal that required perfect attention and the utmost care was not cooked by him. It was cooked by a line chef. A man or woman that is likely underpaid and most definitely underappreciated works their ass off for eight hours a night putting out gourmet plates for the masses. It is their sweat, their tears, their cut fingers, and their burned hands that struggle every day to make a measly living for themselves. Some of them have pipe dreams of being the next Bobby Flay, but most know their place and readily accept it. They don’t cook to be celebrities. They cook for the love of the food, the love of the flat top, the gas burner, the broiler. It can easily be argued that line chefs are the last of a breed. They are true cuisine.

~JS