Most of you that know me, know that I was involved in the restaurant industry for almost twenty years. I began as a busboy at a Mr. Steak Restaurant on 28th Street in Boulder during my sophomore year at dear old CU. It was necessary for me to have some disposable income, as the Skunk Creek Inn became our nightly hangout, and though beer (3.2 beer) was cheap, lots of beer became rather expensive. I found that my industriousness and attention to detail (since departed, r.i.p.) fit rather well in the framework of a fast-moving, busy eatery. Plus the waitresses were nice, and the free food was good for my budget, too. Better than the Kittredge Complex Dorm food. One of the waitroids, I remember, became a regular on-air, at-the-scene reporter for Channel 4, Luann Akin (Beall).
I was informed at the end of the 1969-70 academic year that in order to remain actively enrolled as a student in good standing at the University of Colorado, I would have to attend summer classes to boost my GPA and complete some incompletes. You see, the spring of 1970 was when anti-war sentiment and student uprisings against the Viet Nam War (excuse me, Conflict) were at the zenith, and the tragedy at Kent State University on May 4, 1970 galvanized the student populations of college campuses across the nation. Students at CU engaged in a strike to empathize with the protests against the war, and show solidarity against the atrocities at Kent State, where four students were shot and killed by Ohio National Guardsmen when a Peace Rally Against the War got chaotic, and some of the guys in uniform with the military weapons panicked, lost control and fired on the protesters. Anyway, three of my class finals were cancelled and the CU campus was energized while immobilized. Why, there was even an impromptu concert on Farrand Field featuring the Blues Image (Ride Captain Ride) and Leslie West and his band, Mountain (Mississippi Queen). These two groups were scheduled to play Red Rocks Amphitheatre that weekend, so they came and set up on the back of a flatbed rig and jammed for a couple hours. Well, amnesty did not extend to me for the missed/skipped finals for my Anthro, Engineering Calculus and Surveying. By then, I was enjoying the restaurant scene, the work and the money, and I was offered a position as an assistant manager at the Mr. Steak in Longmont, so I said good bye to my college career, and hello to 65 hour weeks for the next 18 years. Not my best move, but hey, met lots of great people in the ten or so restaurants I worked with in the next 18 years.
One of the finest restaurants that I worked at, was Sebastian's in Boulder on 28th (where the IHOP is now). Slow roasted prime rib, Boulder's first complete salad bar with caviar and pickled herring, fresh seafood flown in daily and the best wine selection in Colorado. I started there as a busboy and worked up to Head Waiter within a year, still the best job I ever had. We had an ever-changing roster of chefs at Sebastian's over the years, but by far the best, Chef Bob Winick, was only there for about a year-and-a-half. His talent with fresh seafood recipes, nightly specials was superb. He once worked as a contemporary with Emeril Lagasse at Commander's Palace in New Orleans, before the popular personality became the most recognized chef in the world. Chef Bob maintained a calm and efficient kitchen, which to most of us in the business, was way out of the ordinary. He always prepared the nightly specials for the waitstaff before the shift, which was not done before Chef Bob. His dishes were fantastic, motivating me in a lifetime pursuit of good-tasting, appetizing food of my own. He was really the first, and best, Executive Chef that I worked with, and in retrospect, the only one with the talent and repertoire and recipe file, to qualify. Alas, he moved on, to California, when it became obvious that our restaurant owner, the infamous round mound of renown, Wayne Dozier, could not appreciate, nor recognize, nor reward the talent he had in his restaurant. From there, I lost contact, Chef Bob went to work for a hotel chain, then lost to the world of separate directions, and before social media.
Then, through the circumstance of BlogSpot.com, I found a certain Rambling Robert, a former chef, unemployed and homeless since October of 2003. Oh, not in a bad way. He up and sold everything in 2003, and became a world traveler, literally. Follow his journeys here, at: http://robertstravels.blogspot.com/ I sent an email, and yes, it is, Chef Bob! I look forward to catching up with Bob before he heads to South America. He is back in the US, in Florida for awhile. Seems he received word while in Nepal that his mother was gravely ill, so he came back to help care for her and help his father. He characterized his hospice servitude as a form of continuing education and enlightenment. A very worldly character, is Chef Bob, as I recognized way back when at Sebastian's, at his home at the foot of Haystack Mountain, when talking about life and people and the world over a beer or bottle of wine and a doobie.
The world of social media is awesome, but can be both bothersome and intrusive at times. But like the channels and programs on TV, shut it off, or change the channel if it bothers you. We can all choose how much we put ourselves out there, and I sure wish that most would be more selective about sharing their thoughts and words. But, it's times like this, when I can find a treasured old friend, that I am grateful for a shrinking world, at least in an electronic sense. And, I will be able to see the world through the eyes and from the blog of an enlightened world traveler. Welcome back, Chef Bob, into my life, and may I prove to be worthy.
No comments:
Post a Comment