Micah Valentiner

A very small kitchen for an authentic speakeasy restaurant who's business depends on the word of mouth. A very small kitchen considering the quality of the food we served, with mostly French and Italian cuisines including duck, quail, squid ink pasta, sweat potato gnocchi, chiffon cake, and flan. Dinner service five nights a week, closing with another cook or alone, high expectations of food quality and high standards of acceptable cleanliness. Always labeling, dating, consolidating, rotating, flipping pans, further developed strong habits for a kitchen that meets food safety regulations.

Same restaurant with a new menu and a new chef, which means a new ways of doing things. I'm back working the sauté station, and it's the same as ever, sometimes going for 5-6 six hours straight. Smarter than before, running the restaurant is as smooth as ever, it has become more efficient to handle even more business than it did in it's first year. My time was divided by running dinner service during the week, and cooking for brunch service on the weekends. No issue finding my place back in the familiar restaurant, but with more seats, a larger menu, and with more complex menu items - including shrimp, steak, walleye, chicken, etc; plus new sauces, gastriques, and a few curious things like pickled green strawberries.

Seasonal hire. Cooking to the highest standards while drawing huge numbers every night, plus a likely possibility of additional parties, or a buyout in addition to an already busy service. Several parties become a daily occurrence, and it seems impossible to find the time to prepare for everything. Tempura-fried mahi-mahi, saffron lamb chops, a different interpretation of a Korean bulgogi lettuce wrap, a raw tuna pizza with pickled jalapenos, and a classic béarnaise sauce with french fries are a few menu items that display the complex and elaborate techniques that show the careful focus and attention put into every plate.

Gochujang, pork belly, chow fun, and carnitas; Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Latino flavors tastefully combined to create a unique and unparalleled dining experience. "Wok-Hei" which is Chinese for the "Breath of the Dragon" characterizes itself as a hot white smoke produced with wok-cooking. Extremely hot burners rated over 100,000 BTUs mean that commercial woks reach extreme temperatures form the foundation for a different way to cook. Heat, it differentiates wok-cooking from traditional western cuisines, and don't forget to throw out everything you learned about food-safety regulations; since these extremely high temps break almost every rule in the book!

A new South-Carolina style cuisine joins the Loring Park neighborhood, offering a fine dining experience with a selection of seafood, and southern charm. The fryer station means non-stop fried chicken during dinners, and with some of the highest standards when it comes to food quality, cleanliness, communication, and good taste. Hard work is rewarded with a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction every night.

Maintaining an organized, clean, well-stocked line while preparing food orders and completing the daily prep list are the typical things being juggled on my shift. Accurately counting inventory, properly sized orders, meeting food safety protocols, a rotating daily cleaning project, and maintaining organization throughout the walk-in, freezer, and coolers demonstrates the standards that makes a high quality product. The bread starter must be fed properly at the same time everyday, and the pizza oven is a new tool with new skills to master. The sauté station became mine, for almost every dinner and brunch service for six months.

Serving quality food, while providing courteous and informative customer service in an open kitchen format. Assisted the Chefs by taking responsibility of various kitchen managerial duties. Consistently performed opening and closing responsibilities, delegated tasks and duties, and trained newly hired employees. Developed competency and proficiency on the different stations around the kitchen.

Provided extraordinary customer service on a daily basis. Food quality, efficiency, training, and responding to constructive feedback are characteristics found in a good employee. Communication is necessary for success, cut-size uniformity earns praised, and cutting cilantro without bruising is an expectation; this is where knife skills start. Grill station, prepping, cash-handling, food safety, dish-washing, and customer-service are all apart of the job.

Mountaineering, sea-kayaking, rock climbing, backpacking, wilderness medicine certifications, and leadership skills.

Major in Music Performance