Restaurant staff make every bit count
Restaurant staff meals offer study in waste management
Mention "family meal" to most people and the image that comes to mind is of Mom, Dad and the rest of clan gathered around the dining room table.
But ask those who've worked in restaurants and you'll hear tales of hearty pre-shift suppers where the entire staff, from the front-of-house servers and managers to the dishwashers and cooks, gather together over dishes you'll never find on the menu.
(Rich Hein/Sun-Times)
That means fish tacos at L2O, sloppy joes at A Mano, pho at Carnivale and Korean pancakes at the Bristol.
"It's more about nourishment and the camaraderie than trying to break new culinary ground," explains Primehouse chef Rick Gresh. "It's important as a restaurant -- and as a family -- to take those 10 minutes or so to regroup."
In addition to helping the staff get through a long shift, physically and mentally, the family meal ensures nothing goes to waste at the restaurant.
With that in mind, we queried 11 local chefs to find how they make the most of what's on hand to create a satisfying and tasty meal.
At A Mano, 335 N. Dearborn, family meal is serious business.
"If my cooks put up something they don't put 100 percent of their love into, it will be reflected in the food that comes off the menu," says chef de cuisine Craig DiFonzo.
He is just as serious when it comes to keeping an eye on what goes into the trash, with all edible scraps going onto a sheet pan in the walk-in.
After a few days, tomato tops might become salsa or be pureed as part of a dressing. Leftover bits of pork from their house-made charcuterie could find their way into tacos, while the rendered fat from meat trimmings might add flavor to sloppy joes.
For home cooks, DiFonzo recommends stir-frying as the easiest way to use up scraps.
With whole animals being butchered in-house, family meals at the Bristol, 2152 N. Damen, can be an "adventure," says chef/partner Chris Pandel, with items like pork kidneys and chicken hearts often finding their way into a dirty rice dish or a quick ragu.
It's also an adventure for the two chef interns who are in charge of it. After a walk-through the cooler, Pandel hands them a small list to work from.
"Sometimes it takes a good amount of imagination but you just have to really look through what you have and not be afraid to push the limits," he says.
Paul Virant of Vie in Western Springs also butchers his own meat, which means a fair amount of beef often finds its way into the family meal, a collaborative effort between himself and his sous chef.
(For those looking to create a similar nose-to-tail eating style, Virant recommends joining a meat share in a Community Supported Agriculture program).
Midwest comfort food dominates the staff meal at Vie, including meatloaf, fish fry and pot roast. Rinds of Parmesan and prosciutto are used to flavor minestrone soup, while nubs of salami end up in fried rice.
While some might find the limiting of ingredients a challenge, that's not the case for Virant: "I like the idea of being given the inspiration."
When planning staff meals at Carnivale, 702 W. Fulton, executive sous chef David Dworshak follows an in-house mantra: "Happy people make happy food."
For pho, a staff favorite, Dworshak starts the Vietnamese noodle soup the night before, braising hunks of pork shoulder over low heat. The fall-apart meat is added to veal stock along with less-than-perfect vegetables and herbs.
Crab leftover from a private party, bits of tuna, shredded carrots, radish slices and cilantro make a great filling for spring rolls.
And when fruit reaches a too-ripe stage, it's often blended with water and simple syrup to make agua frescas.
To stay on top of the two daily family meals served at Carnivale, Dworshak says organization and labeling of leftover products is key.
"Never underestimate the power of a Sharpie," he says.
At L2O, 2300 N. Lincoln Park West, dedicating a special shelf in the refrigerator to the family meal also helps the busy restaurant keep track of leftovers.
"Everything we can eat, we save," says chef Laurent Gras.
By using a calendar, the two chefs responsible for the meal know when they'll have enough scraps to create a meal and if they need to buy additional ingredients.
For fish tacos, leftover pieces of frozen scallops, lobster, tuna, halibut and salmon are thawed, then steamed and shredded into a sauce of corn, tomatoes, garlic and onions.
At Province, 161 N. Jefferson, as at many restaurants, much of the staff counts on the family meal as part of their daily food consumption.
"They know if they're going to work they're getting a good meal," says chef/owner Randy Zweiban, who admits that while it takes a little bit of work and money, "it creates a lot of good points to take care of your employees that way."
Part of that involves using potato scraps for mashed potatoes or taking herbs that aren't pristine and blanching and then shocking them in cold water for salsa verde.
Pork belly bits are put into a quiche, while odd ends of angel food cake from the dessert menu become apple custard cake.
Running a tight ship applies to all aspects of Northbrook's Prairie Grass Cafe, including the family meal, says co-chef/owner Sarah Stegner, who recommends buying produce in season as a way to keep costs down all around.
But when a box of peppers she bought for the pepper steak on the menu turned out to be too spicy, those were grilled and used as a sauce for pasta for family meal.
"My food isn't spicy in the restaurant, so the staff needs a little heat once in a while," she says.
For Troy Graves, chef of Eve, 840 N. Wabash, the best family meals are often those that remind staff of their childhoods, "but we can make it better than their moms," he says.
For his take on tomato soup and grilled cheese, he uses collected tops and butts of tomatoes along with overripe ones for the soup and pairs that with sandwiches made from bread from the previous night's service and a combination of cheeses.
For chef Cary Taylor of Chaise Lounge, 1840 W. North, it's the little things that are important when trying to be resourceful, including saving the cores of onions, shoulders of tomatoes and butt ends of carrots for a tomato sauce.
He's a big fan of buying whole chickens both for the restaurant and at home.
"A whole chicken is so easy and you can get a plethora of things out of it," including using the picked-over carcass for soup, he says, adding that buying a supermarket rotisserie chicken is even better than buying parts.
And while he admits most home cooks aren't cleaning sides of beef, rather than purchase a filet steak they could ask their butcher what kinds of scraps are available that could then be made into chili or stew.
Family meals at one sixtyblue, 1400 W. Randolph, used to be more spontaneous, but when chef Michael McDonald discovered that the staff preferred to have a set weekly menu, he obliged.
The family meal calendar is created using input from employees as well as taking into consideration the trimmings that are available.
Frozen fish scraps along with onion pieces often are used for a curry dish. McDonald recommends home cooks do something similar by saving their meat and fish trimmings in the freezer until they have enough for a full meal.
It should come as no surprise that at carnivore mecca Primehouse, 616 N. Rush, meat is a big component of family meals -- as the leftover prime rib from the restaurant's Sunday dinner that became Italian beef and Philly cheesesteak sandwiches for the staff proves.
Then there's this "sick" tradition of Gresh and his sous chefs: They take the fat cap of Kobe beef, roast it under the broiler and spread it on a salted baguette.
"I couldn't sell that to anybody even though people should eat it because it's so good," Gresh says.
In general, when it comes to using leftovers, the key is not to simply recreate the first meal, says Gresh, but to do something different with it.
"If you don't have that expectation, you can go ahead and be creative," Gresh says.
Lisa Shames is a Chicago free-lance writer.