Two Chefs, One Amazing Race

“I think we should go through the city chef.”

“Yeah?” I replied

“It’s 43 minutes from Montrose to the circle. We’ve been on the Kennedy since 2:45. It’s now 4:45, the yacht leaves the harbor at 6 and we aren’t even close to Montrose. We won’t have time to set up.”

“Just get me to the boat before 6 and we will be fine.” I said.

“We’re not going to have time to set up, chef!”

“Just get me to the boat before 6. I promise, we will be fine!”

“I think if we cut through the city, get to Lake Shore Drive, we can take that all the way to the harbor. The traffic report didn’t mention any delays on Lake Shore.”

“Perfect,” I said. “Let’s get off here at Lawrence. I used to live not far from here when I was in school. I can get us to Lake Shore from here.”

We took the Lawrence exit, made a few turns and ended up on Irving Park Road, fought our way through traffic and finally arrived at Lake Shore Drive.

It’s now 5:00. In one hour the yacht is scheduled to leave the harbor and the biggest night in my culinary year is now out of my control. Our hearts were beginning to race.

We had spent the last two months meticulously planning this event. The menu consisted of five courses for 40+ guests on a yacht tour of 3 hours. The specific requirements for the menu stated that all courses would be individually portioned to allow the guests to have a drink in one hand and food in the other hand. No plates were to be used and utensils such as forks and knives would not be needed. The food was packed in coolers and heating units, towels, tongs and other supplies filled the back portion of the minivan. This was supposed to be the perfect evening. I had carefully planned the menu and set up far in advance that the assembly of the five courses would be so simple that this year we could actually take time to enjoy the sights of the city from the view of the yacht. That was all in jeopardy now! The lone variable that could ruin the evening was traffic and that nightmare had now become a reality.

“I want to scream, chef.” Rachel said in desperation.

There was nothing I could do or say that would calm my sous chef at this point. Car after car separated us from our point of destination. We could actually see the harbor from where we were positioned on the busy highway, which had now become an overcrowded parking lot. Tensions were becoming quite high. We began to devise an immediate plan of action for when we finally made it to the yacht.

It’s now 5:30. I called the captain of the boat to tell him we were inching closer and closer. He informed me that once we arrived at the gate, we would have to convince the security guards to allow us through to the harbor as a soccer match at Soldier Field was prohibiting any entry of cars. As we made our way south on Lake Shore Drive, we missed our exit. We were forced to continue on Lake Shore to the 31^st street exit, turn around and head back north toward Soldier Field. When we finally arrived at exit 18, we encountered the team of security guards.

“Guys, I need your help!” I desperately called out. “We are chefs trying to get to Burnham Harbor. The yacht leaves in fifteen minutes and we have to get through. Can you help us?”

After some deliberation, the guards allowed us through and we made our way to the gate.

I immediately called the captain of the ship to meet us at the gate to let us in. When he arrived, the gate opened, and we sped our way to the dock. Upon arrival, there were a few guests waiting at the entrance. Rachel parked the minivan and we sprung out the doors. We piled everything we could onto a wheeled cart. I grabbed the two coolers and a few supplies and we raced down the dock to get to the boat. We loaded everything onto the yacht, carried our supplies down a set of stairs into the kitchen and began to get set.

It’s now 6 pm. The captain informs us that there would be a slight delay in departure as a few other guests had been held up in the same wash of traffic. My sous chef began to make some form of organization while I ran to a small closet to change into my chef whites. By the time I resurfaced from the small closet, Rachel had the first course already plated and ready to present to the hungry and awaiting guests.

Cilantro and jalapeno hummus with toasted pita chips

This was a last minute addition to the menu and it couldn’t have worked out any better. The assembly was quick and more importantly it bought us valuable time. I preheated the small oven, shoved it full of potatoes and vegetables so they would be piping hot by the time we reached the entrée course. I loaded the stovetop with the sauces for the entrée course so they too would be nice and hot. The new departure time was 6:45, which meant that a three-hour dining experience would have to be crammed into a 2 hour and 15 minute window. Not much time!

Upon departure, our next course was presented,

Bacon wrapped figs, stuffed with goat cheese finished with a balsamic reduction.

As the yacht made its way from the harbor to Lake Michigan, I carefully walked the artfully arranged platters up the flight of stairs to the presentation deck. Seems easy enough right? Nooo!

The high winds from the lake along with the choppy waters turned the ship into an unstable barge. We were tossed around like vegetables in a hot sauté pan. I could hardly maintain my balance as I weaved and contorted myself through the guests, doing everything I could to not topple over anyone and most importantly, compromise the contents of my beautifully arranged platters. When I set the food onto the table I introduced myself to the eagerly awaiting guests, welcomed them to Chicago then raced back down the stairs to begin assembling the next course.

When I made my way back to the kitchen, sous chef Rachel had just finished plating the second course:

Israeli couscous salad featuring shrimp, heirloom tomatoes, and avocado finished with toasted almonds in endive

“We have to hurry chef!” she said to me.

“Wow, you’re already done?” was my reply. “It’s beautiful chef.” I told her.

I raced the platters up the stairs to the awaiting guests, explained the components and quickly ran back to the kitchen.

She immediately began to assemble 45 wine glasses on a large table for the third course.

Chilled leek soup with a lemon dill yogurt and salmon roe

At this point, I had no idea of time. There comes a point in the kitchen world when you don’t have any clue of time because you’re just that busy. Anthony Bourdain once said of the busy life in a kitchen, “You don’t realize what you’re doin, you’re just doin!”

We set the table in an assembly line fashion. I ladled the chilled soup into the glasses while my sous chef followed with the yogurt and roe. As we were finishing the last of the wine glasses, the wait staff of the yacht swooped in and raced the soup glasses up the stairs to the guests.

Next up, the entrée course. The entrée course was designed to replicate the dining experience of a Brazilian steak house. The guests could create individual skewers with the proteins of their choice along with a variety of roasted red potatoes, zucchini and yellow squash.

The proteins were as follows:

Harissa crusted turkey breast with a coconut curry sauce

Grilled sirloin steak with salsa Romesco

Roasted pork loin with a spicy Thai peanut sauce

One by one the guests began to make their way through the food line. I grabbed my phone to check the time and it was 8:35 pm. We had 25 minutes remaining. I turned around to tell Rachel that we needed to get the dessert course out of the freezer. One step ahead of me, she had already begun plating the final course. Amazing, I thought to myself. With ten minutes to go, the yacht was making its way back to the point of origin. Rachel had just finished plating the last portion of the dessert course,

Dacquoise Popsicles

The traditional French Dacquoise is a layered cake of almond and hazelnut meringues separated by a buttercream and chocolate ganache. My talented pastry chef, Jason, had presented me this idea of forming the layered cakes into rounds using a Kahlua infused buttercream as a binder, and coating them in chocolate ganache. The ganache would then be crusted with crumbled almonds, hazelnuts and Spanish sea salt. The final touch of the presentation would be poking a small skewer into the covered rounds like a popsicle. Gorgeous!

As the guests grabbed their Dacquoise popsicles, they graciously thanked us for the wonderful food and bid us adieu. The hosts of the event made their way down the stairs to the kitchen, dropped off a few unopened bottles of wine for us and invited us back next year.

It would seem as though our whirlwind adventure had finally and successfully ended but time was still ticking against us. The daunting task of clean up, gathering our supplies and loading the minivan still was still ahead. The soccer game played a short distance away at Soldier Field was nearing its end as well. We hurried as fast as we could to get out of the lot and beat the traffic. No such luck. Once again, we were back where we were a few short hours ago. Stuck in traffic.

10:30pm. Too tired to scream or say much of anything, Rachel navigated our way through a few less traveled avenues en route to the Kennedy Expressway. The drive home was much shorter than the trip in but the exhaustion was numbing. We replayed the events of the day, laughed a little and were quite relieved that the night would soon be coming to an end. Despite everything, the night was a huge success. It was an adventure that we will never forget. Thoughts of what we could have done differently dominated much of the conversation home but what we realized is that sometimes things happen that are out of our control. That’s life I guess. What’s most important is how we react. No matter how much we plan and try to avoid it, adversity hits us at the most inopportune times. Success however is determined by how we deal with adversity. As difficult and challenging as the journey may seem, you just have to keep moving!

Buen Provecho!