At the heart of every Michelin-star restaurant are its hardworking employees. Bon Appétit goes behind the scenes at Crown Shy in New York City to meet every worker responsible for running this Michelin-rated restaurant each night. From owner Jamal James Kent to chef de cuisine, to servers–meet the faces behind the meals.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 (upbeat music)
00:05 (upbeat music)
00:07 (upbeat music)
00:10 (upbeat music)
00:12 (upbeat music)
00:15 (upbeat music)
00:18 (upbeat music)
00:28 (upbeat music)
00:31 (upbeat music)
00:33 (upbeat music)
00:36 (upbeat music)
00:38 - My name is Steven Bordino and I'm a line cook here.
00:48 The short story of that is basically
00:50 whatever chef requires of me is my job.
00:52 You know, everything's about my knife work
00:54 and presentation.
00:55 We're doing a small dice on the shallots.
00:57 It's for the Arctic char crudo.
00:58 It's supposed to be basically invisible almost.
01:01 Has to be as fine as possible
01:03 so that it blends in with the rest of the dish.
01:05 My name is Jae Yong Go and I'm from South Korea.
01:08 You can call me just Ryan.
01:09 The chef entremet is in charge of each garnish
01:12 and the sauce base for the every dishes.
01:14 So I'm gonna prep for garnish and sauce for each dish,
01:17 working with the chef grills and pancha
01:18 to make a whole dish just in front of the phone.
01:21 - I'll make about 30 to 40 pastas on a busy night.
01:23 Pasta wasn't really something I was passionate about
01:25 before starting with the station
01:26 and then once I started on it,
01:27 I kind of started enjoying it more
01:28 and learning more and getting really into it.
01:29 - My name is Pat Patia and I work on the fry station
01:32 during service.
01:32 - My name's Richie Lu and I'm a prep cook
01:35 at Crown Chef.
01:36 So we're taking nori chips that have been painted
01:39 with mochi rice flour paste
01:41 and then we fry 'em, press 'em out
01:44 and we cut 'em into threes for our pretzel box.
01:47 - My name's Gene DeVries
01:48 and I'm one of the tournants in the kitchen.
01:49 Essentially, I float around and fill in gaps and help.
01:53 Today, they're a little short on the Garmo station
01:55 so I'm helping with them on Garmo Jae.
01:57 - Day to day it changes.
01:58 I'll work brunch one day, grill one day,
02:00 plancha one day, entremet one day and prep one day.
02:04 So just depending on every day, it's different.
02:07 So today I'm on plancha so that's fun
02:09 but favorite is grill for sure.
02:10 - I'm the grill cook, basically in charge of preparation
02:16 for all proteins during service.
02:18 It definitely gets hot.
02:20 Like if you guys are here around seven, eight o'clock,
02:22 it gets pretty toasty back here.
02:24 - My name is Alfred Nebbiar.
02:28 I am the chef de cuisine at Crown Chef.
02:30 I'm in charge of running the day to day operations
02:31 of the restaurant from all the admin stuff
02:33 like hiring and worrying about food costs
02:36 to the creative side, menu development to service
02:39 and just making sure that the quality
02:41 is up to our standard.
02:42 I think something that was an active decision
02:44 was trying to give the cooks time for themselves
02:47 and we can try to encourage them to like go have lunch
02:49 and go see things and find inspiration in the city
02:51 before coming to work and trying to move away
02:54 from the 70 hour work weeks and these insane hours
02:57 that everyone's been doing because it's just been a habit.
03:00 - There's only four of us on the management team
03:03 and we have to come up with 12 new dishes.
03:06 You know, that crunch to really like come up with things
03:08 and be creative is I think my favorite aspect of this job.
03:11 - It's my job to make sure the kitchen runs smoothly
03:15 as far as, you know, managing the cooks
03:17 and making sure the food looks good.
03:19 - I'm a pastry cook at Crown Chef.
03:21 I usually get here around 2.30 and I'm done around 12.
03:26 So I work service, that means that I'm taking bread out
03:29 at the beginning of every table's meal
03:32 and then desserts when they fire.
03:34 (speaking in foreign language)
03:46 (speaking in foreign language)
03:51 (speaking in foreign language)
03:55 (speaking in foreign language)
03:59 (speaking in foreign language)
04:22 (speaking in foreign language)
04:26 (speaking in foreign language)
04:41 (speaking in foreign language)
04:45 (speaking in foreign language)
05:03 (speaking in foreign language)
05:07 - My name is Justine Cortez
05:23 and I am a bar back and prep person.
05:27 So my goal is to be a bartender pretty soon.
05:30 Right now I am filtering some tea
05:34 that's gonna go in a old fashioned type of version
05:37 and we're gonna free some olive oil whiskey.
05:40 - I am Anusha Sharma
05:47 and I'm the Crown Chef pastry sous chef.
05:49 I have a pretty big team.
05:50 I help out with the production,
05:52 I jump on on the line, so kinda everywhere.
05:56 Every night differs but a slower night,
05:58 about 200 breads and something around 200 desserts.
06:03 I like what I do, I really do and I like working here,
06:05 it's why I've been here for so long.
06:07 - It's my second week so I'm still training
06:12 and learning all the different dishes.
06:13 So I work production, so that means I'm prepping
06:18 all of the like cakes and breads and ice cream bases
06:23 and different components of the desserts
06:27 and everything put out by the pastry team.
06:29 - I'm the sous chef that takes care of AM production
06:32 for Saga and Crown Chef.
06:34 We are the sauciers for the rest of the restaurant.
06:36 So we essentially keep that prepped
06:38 so when the line cook comes in in the afternoon shift,
06:40 they can just pick this up.
06:41 We produce the base content and they use finesse
06:45 to kind of get the final product.
06:47 - So my name's Wei, I'm an extern here.
06:51 I guess that's my goal to like just learn and train
06:54 and maybe be a great chef one day.
06:56 And I feel like this is a great place to learn and do that.
06:59 - I'm Isabel Vega and I'm the chocolatier for Saga.
07:02 I make the candies for Saga.
07:04 So that's two types of bonbons, a nougat,
07:08 the caramel and a rice crispy.
07:10 (speaking in foreign language)
07:15 (speaking in foreign language)
07:19 - My name is Jamal James Kent
07:43 and I'm the chef and owner of all these restaurants.
07:47 I am here always, all the time, all hours.
07:52 What I do in these restaurants is I lead the team,
07:56 I inspire the team, I nurture, I teach.
07:59 So my role is to grow our businesses
08:01 and then also teach our chefs and our teams
08:04 how to run these restaurants.
08:05 Going forward, our kitchens are gonna be smaller
08:08 because running restaurants are a really tough business
08:12 and it's all about the efficiency.
08:14 Restaurants are super labor intensive
08:16 and it takes a lot of people to run any restaurant.
08:18 What it takes to manage a team this large is A, trust.
08:23 People need to trust that you're making good decisions
08:25 for the right reasons.
08:27 I think empathy is really important
08:28 when you manage any group of people.
08:30 Following through on your words is really important.
08:33 So if I say something, I'm always gonna follow through.
08:36 (upbeat music)
08:39 - Hi, I'm Jassim Ran Singh
08:44 and I'm the culinary director
08:45 for Kanchai Overstory Saga.
08:47 Developing is, I think it's a huge role
08:49 because we don't wanna repeat a lot of same things.
08:52 We come up with the ideas and team kind of like
08:54 present their way of like serving dishes.
08:57 We go back and forth for like several weeks
08:58 and then every new season we change dishes.
09:01 (upbeat music)
09:06 - Hi, I'm Tyler Silvestri and I am the head sommelier.
09:09 A lot of people think my job is a lot of drinking wine,
09:12 which I mean, it definitely is,
09:14 more so tasting when I'm on the clock.
09:17 But really a lot of my job is running around
09:20 and helping out clear tables,
09:23 taste wines with distributors,
09:24 and also make sure that the partnerships
09:26 that we have with them are positive
09:29 and fortuitous for everybody.
09:30 - The sommelier is like a bass player in a band.
09:33 Our job is to fatten out the sound.
09:35 I open wine, talk about wine with guests,
09:38 help facilitate pairings,
09:40 and I clear an enormous amount of tables
09:42 throughout the course of the night.
09:44 - My name is Ivan Tosky, I'm a bartender.
09:46 - I'm a drinking consultant.
09:48 My favorite thing to make is actually
09:50 my least favorite thing to make, a Negroni.
09:52 When you don't like something
09:54 and you really thrive to understand it,
09:56 it actually becomes more fun and more interesting.
09:59 - Favorite drink to make here,
10:00 I'm gonna be a little biased,
10:01 it's our smoked butter Old Fashioned.
10:03 It's got some nice plum, apple notes to it,
10:05 a little masala chai,
10:06 it kind of brightens it up a little bit as well.
10:07 - Yeah, we have like about like 21 different cocktails,
10:10 and also all the classic cocktails
10:11 that we kind of put all together.
10:12 There's a lot to memorize,
10:14 and then there's also like stuff
10:15 that kind of based off like muscle memory,
10:18 which helps out a lot.
10:19 - My name is Noel, I am a server here.
10:32 Today, we all get in here at four,
10:34 so, and I'm a closer tonight,
10:36 so probably it's, what is it, Tuesday?
10:40 Probably gonna get off at around midnight.
10:43 Every server has their own side work
10:45 based on what section they're in.
10:48 I'm in the back corner of the dining room today,
10:50 so I am in charge of waters.
10:52 I'm a big proponent of getting people
10:55 to have cocktails, wine, full meal,
11:00 and make it all the way to dessert,
11:01 and an after dinner drink.
11:03 That's something that I really enjoy doing.
11:04 I don't think many people do that,
11:06 so that's my job, to make sure people
11:09 have dining experiences they normally don't have.
11:12 - I have a bit of a theater background,
11:13 so I like to approach every table like it's its own play.
11:17 So, you know, I have my lines, my marks that I need to set.
11:19 There's a little bit of improv,
11:21 but for the most part, like it's, this is my audience,
11:24 and this is the first time that they're experiencing it,
11:26 or they're back for the show for the second time,
11:28 so I always have to hit those marks.
11:30 (speaking in foreign language)
11:34 - So my name is Andres Ramos Carrasco,
11:47 and my title job is a floor manager.
11:50 - Basically, just take care of any issues
11:51 that come up on the floor,
11:53 make sure everything's running smoothly.
11:54 Before service, we just sort of answer emails,
11:57 or make the floor plan so everyone knows
12:00 what they're doing for the night.
12:01 - My name is Chris Zulaba, and I'm a kitchen server here.
12:04 - Hi, my name is Tobias Reyes.
12:06 My hours today is four to 10.
12:09 - Hi, my name is Johnny Tuapanta.
12:11 I'm a kitchen server here at Clash.
12:13 - I would say kind of like what Chef James Kent says.
12:16 We're in the industry of splitting hairs,
12:18 so we're just like very attentive to detail,
12:20 make sure everything's done right,
12:21 and precise, and consistent.
12:24 - I'm Daisy Wither, and I am the assistant
12:27 general manager of Crown Shy.
12:28 I am basically the mom of the restaurant.
12:31 I started in this industry about 11 years ago
12:35 as a bathroom attendant.
12:36 If someone wants to work for me,
12:38 all I ask is for dedication,
12:41 for somebody who has the hustle,
12:42 somebody that works as a team member for everybody,
12:47 not just in their sole position, but for everybody.
12:51 It's one team, one dream.
12:53 - Hello, my name is Jessenia Valderrama.
12:54 I am a maitre d' of Crown Shy.
12:56 The maitre d' is the one that runs the book,
12:58 so they'll be the ones coordinating where the guests go.
13:01 The hosts are kind of the ones that greet them,
13:02 bring them to the table.
13:04 If they have any questions, they can kind of ask both,
13:06 but the maitre d' is the one that runs the book.
13:08 Crown Shy, I feel like, has a very welcoming environment,
13:10 even for guests and as an employee myself.
13:13 I feel like I've always felt welcome.
13:15 We're one big family, even between the three teams,
13:18 upstairs, downstairs, it's very welcoming.
13:21 (upbeat music)
13:23 (upbeat music)
13:26 (upbeat music)
13:28 (upbeat music)
13:31 (upbeat music)
13:34 (upbeat music)
13:36 (upbeat music)
13:39 (upbeat music)
13:41 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:45 (knocking)