As many of you know, I’ve been working in the kitchen at Dick & Jenny’s ^[1] for the past several months while TBK and I get reorganized. I’m taking a break for family reasons these days (my mother is seriously ill in Dallas), but I miss the Being There and the adrenaline rush and all that comes with working at a busy and successful restaurant in a vibrant food city. I have worked in a series of restaurants in my life, but none have been staffed with folks as cooperative, helpful and committed to the Common Good of making things work. I’m not spamming for the place, really — I have a point. Bear with me.

One of the dishes calls for some fried oysters on the side. The man in charge of this dish is Dan, who is the souschef. No matter what else is going on in the maxed-out, superfast environment of the jammed kitchen, we have to make sure these oysters are available. No matter what our other job(s) or station(s), they have to be there.

…and so they are. The dessert guy, the pantry guy, the Chef du Cuisine, the owners — we all contribute to the effort by doing and knowing each other’s jobs. If the dessert guy is swamped, the pantry guy pitches in. And vice-versa. The top chef grunts out trash and the dishwashing guy contributes to the final product on the plate. It’s group effort on steriods — and the end product is something all of us have a share in. When a happy customer sends congratulations (or, in one recent case, a $100 tip), we all share in it.

I will not apologize for being a Pollyanna. I spent over 30 years, in the world of professional journalism, being a well-paid curmudgeon and cynic. It was my job and, frightfully, my acquired personality.

I have chosen not to do that anymore. I much prefer the daily, quiet and cooperative truth of doing oysters for Dan.

I just wish, in the city of New Orleans these days, there was more of the same spirit as there is in this kitchen. It ain’t difficult, if we put a little pride to the side.