For chefs, helping the rest of us get ready for the holidays is at once a grind and a source of great fulfillment.
Last week, one busy chef made sure his colleagues at another frenzied spot got treated to a preholiday feast themselves.
The three men who make the downtown miracle that is Patisserie Vero Beach – chefs Michael Glatz and Mark Edmonds and front-of-the-house man Christian Garcia – finished up a 12-hour shift and headed over to the island to Citrus Grillhouse, their favorite spot.
They ordered a round of cocktails at a high-top table by the ocean.
Soon, the chef-owner of Citrus, Scott Varricchio, appeared. Citrus serves Patisserie’s bread; as he does for other vendors, Varricchio always sends something over to nibble on when they show up. “I think they’re a top-notch bakery and patisserie. And we’re also friends,” he says.
“He knew that was our celebratory night out,” Glatz said. And on this evening, a nibble was not what Varricchio had in mind.
“We’ve got to move you,” Varricchio said. “There’s not enough room on this table for all the food I’ve got coming out.”
As the trio settled in to a larger table, an impromptu feast began emerging from the kitchen. There were favorites like the truffle-butter French fries with chopped chives, and first-time taste tests like a fresh ricotta and truffle ravioli. There was the wild mushroom and goat cheese tartlet in a truffle soy emulsion. The veal flank steak, the roasted baby beets. “And much, much more,” gushed Glatz when he got home on the Facebook page he helps administer for local business raves.
“I love it when I can’t pick out a favorite,” says Glatz. “I love being Chef’s guinea pig. He’s tasting me on things and everything was great.”
Good thing he made the post. The feast was Wednesday; by Monday, the whole meal was a blur, no doubt in part because of sleep deprivation.
“I’ve been here since midnight,” said Glatz Monday afternoon. “I roast all the meats for our sandwiches, including the turkey, and we’re running out of ovens. So I decided to come in and get it out of the way before Chef Mark starts baking at 4 a.m.”
Even Varricchio – who of late has been working seven days a week – had a tough time remembering.
“I was just sending them some love,” he says. “I know they’re working hard. It was a thing of ‘let me comfort you.’“
That’s how one chef says “Happy Holidays” to a couple of others.
