countdown to ecstasy

well..

After 19+ years in the life, I find myself facing a change which, while welcome and long overdue, is at the same time making me very nostalgic and damn near wistful.

In 7 days I will begin a new position with the Cake, Monday-Friday, 9-5, with the occasional travel out of town. For those that know me, they will recognize the fact that I have been working the restaurant gig for many, many years, the schedule of which has played havoc with trying to plan anything with anyone: kids, loved ones, friends. While that is about to change, I still feel a bit of anxiety. I read about a man recently who was going to be paroled after 20 years of being in prison. He said he did not look forward to leaving because he was so "institutionalized"-he just didn't know anything else. And while being in the restaurant biz in far from being in a daily episode of "OZ", I think I know how he feels.

Its been great-I have made some friends who I still count as being close ones to this day. I have a head full of memories that I wouldn't trade for anyone elses. So I am writing today this love letter to all of those past and present who made the last 2 decades so much fun.

Here are some of the highlights, lowlights and funny stuff:

1987: Backwaiter at the Savoia, a french-italian place in Vegas. Every Friday the Chef would host a cooking class, wine tasting or somesuch. Ended up falling for the pastry chef, a young hippie girl who, while she wouldn't give me the time of day, would keep me in free profiteroles and hazelnut cookies. One Friday we did a tasting of very expensive cognacs, which I ended up tossing via my stomach into the toilet. Classy... Hey, up to that point, my only experience with wine or liquor was Boone's farm...

1989: Began working at Chili's in Las Vegas as a "back of house" guy. In restaurant parlance, this is a cook or kitchen dude. Witnessed J.C. (a well-respected doctor these days) thieve jugs of milk and the occasional steak to take home for meals. Became friends with Eric Berman, Clint Chew "bacca", Dena, Luanne, Shane and a host of others. I will always remember the Neopolitan Dance (don't ask).

1989: 2nd gig at Chaz, a nightclub in Vegas. Because I stupidly wasn't going to school anymore, I guess a 2nd job was okay. While technically not a restaurant job, it was a place that served drinks and the occasional food promo (remember hot-dog night?). Acted at the lighting effects guy cum bodyguard for the mixmaster Chris Cox. A year of house music, late nights playing super Mario and Nintendo beach volleyball until 4 in the AM with Chris, going on 7-11 runs for pink snoballs and gatorade before the music started.

1990: Move to Tulsa, which looked like a dumb ass move at the time, but which probably saved my life. Still in the kitchen at Chili's, I met and worked with such crazies as Brian "The Gypsy" Holland, Larry, Andy Stafford, Traci Deeds, Brian, Mikelynn Kennon...I am sure to forget some people here but hey, I am 41 now.

1991: The OuterUrban: a small bistro on the outskirts of Tulsa. My first chance to tend bar and wait tables, the latter of which I despised. Eventually was asked by Libby (whose husband Larry I worked for at Chili's...see above) to be a manager. So I blame her for putting me on this crazy path. One of the most stressful gigs I have ever had, due to the owner not paying his bills on time, so IN TIME we had to go on a cash basis with our vendors. Many were the day near the end where I would take what meager cash we had made the day prior and pick and choose what we needed from the Sysco truck. This experience was only eclipsed by Easter Sunday, when the vent-a-hoods went down and thick, grey, greasy smoke wafted into a dining room FULL of rich Tulsans dressed in their Easter finest. Was only scrubbed from my memory after me, Kyle and the 3 sirens (Amy, Bonnie, Kim) went ito the Urban after-hours and cooked up steaks and many cocktails..

1991: 2nd job again, this time to buy a car. Bartender at Sterlings, the biggest (at the time) gay bar in Tulsa. Before the questions start, let me say that this gig was a friend of a friend deal-the mixmaster Chris Cox had a part-time gig at Sterlings playing music and the owner needed a bartender for drag nights. $1.00 beer for the first few hours with all the drag queens you could want. Despite my protestations that no one would want me there due to my heterosexual tendencies, the owner wanted a token "straight boy" there, and it worked. Made a bunch of friends as well as adding to an already huge tolerance for all things. Met a lot of straight girls there as well (go figure!). Sad when the place closed; sadder still when Roland, another bartender, passed away from HIV. Gary and Jeff L were bigger than life and I still have great memories of the place.

1992-1994: The legendary Full Moon Cafe. A 125-seat bistro close to downtown Tulsa where I "made my bones" in the life. Worked my way from Kitchen Manager, whose primary duty was to make the 90 gallons of their famous tortilla soup every day. I didn't know a thing about cooking besides burgers, et al at Chili's, but somehow it all worked. Promoted to front manager then GM. Famous for their Full Moon parties once a month, the Full Moon remains the most fun I have ever had while in the biz. Karen Fearing, the Gypsy, Russell, Mary, Brian Hughes, Sara Hughes, Debbie, Jacques, Kelly, Hal and Greg; I miss sitting on the porch at Debbie's with green sticky and cans of beer.

1994-1998: Decide to get back to a big city, I send off resume to Planet Hollywood, who despite my meager experience, hire me anyway. Stints in Dallas, SF, Beverly Hills, Vancouver and Atlantic City. Memories of Gary Coleman stalking me to pay his dinner tab while he was stalking some of my hotter front desk staff, Richard Marx' bachelor party featuring 2 naked girls and "an appliance", Arnold, Sly, Bruce (who, when he came in would go straight to the kitchen and cut up with the kitchen guys, autographing their hats), sitting with Bruce's big Israeli bodyguard Avi doing shots at a bar in Vancouver while he told dirty jokes, watching Don Johnson tell everyone he was on the wagon while at the same time walking around with a coffee cup with "tea" in it (actually Patron tequila), drinking Thai beers at the bar of Union Square in SF, then trying to find the right bus line for home, smoking Cubans in the pool room with Joey Z and Gary Coleman...the list goes on and on. Shout out to Donnie Mixon, Randy Gossett, Alicia, Tuesday, Elizabeth Buck, Kim, Danny, Brian Hood, HD, Shannon, Terry and especially Joey Z. Too many folks to remember. Met the boys mother at Planet and have great memories of all.

1998-2000: out of the restaurant biz--had to try and get away for a while to see if I missed it...and I did.

2000-2004: eatZi's Market and Bakery: a jewel-box in the middle of Uptown Dallas. Think a 9000 sq foot gourmet/fresh-food market doing $17M a year. Fresh prepared foods, bakery, pastry shop, deli, coffee house, wine store, specialty food market...all rolled into one. An amazing place where it was less a place to work than a cult to be a part of. The place I am most proud of my work, thanks to Dan Simons, Diana Fair, et al. Met the future Mrs. Lory at eatZi's.

2004-2005: Took a chance at multi-unit management with Reata, a steakhouse concept in Fort Worth that had the best owner in the world, Al Micallef. Would spend any amount of money to make the place great. In charge of units in FW, California and a little town called Alpine, Texas which is where it started. The FW location is 4 stories high, with 7 private dining rooms, catering, a frozen food component...you name it. Only place where I had not one but 4 managers walk out on me AT THE SAME TIME (they sucked anyway....) Still wish I could have parted on good terms, but something about going through a divorce makes life a little tough at times. But we made it through. Fond memories of the food and a bunch of the staff.

Spring, 2005: Hook up with Tristan Simon and Cuba Libre. Great tacos and nightlife in the Knox-Henderson area of Dallas. Even though I decided to walk away and go to Dickey's BBQ (see below), I still have good memories of the place. Except...for the time when I was in training in the kitchen and happened to walk up to the front and there was a couple who said they had been waiting 3 hours to get a table. Wait...what? How long did we tell you? Oh, about an hour. And you waited how long to come and tell us we made this mistake? Well, we went down to this other bar.....blah, blah, blah. At that point I realized I didn't want to work with the late night crowd anymore. Laura and I and another couple went there for dinner the other night and had a great time, though. Although a short stint, a great place.

Summer, 2005: At the time I accepted a position at Cuba Libre, I had also spoken to Dickey's, a Texas-based BBQ concept, about a franchise consultant position. It didn't go through at first, but the weekend of the 3-hour wait lady Dickey's called and offered me the position which I jumped on (sorry T.S.). 3 months of redneck crap as I find the franchise consultant position is not the schedule they told me, but weekends, etc where I was working in the stores, cleaning and cutting meat. Nope...not gonna do it.

Fall, 2005: as you can see above, I guess I was trying to find a home again, like I had at eatZi's, at Planet and at the Full Moon. Finally, I turn my weary feet towards the Cheesecake Factory, whose call I had been avoiding for years. I knew a lot about Cheesecake as many from the eatZi's high-up had come from there, and my old Chili's buddy from back-in-the-day Eric Berman has been with them for over a decade at this point, so I knew there was something to it. Cheesecake has been an amazing ride, one that I wish I would have started long ago. Better late than never, I have spent the last 18 months there learning a ton, and now have the opportunity to transition into a corporate role. Sweet, Napoleon.

Next week, I am unsure what form my good-bye will take. I am sure that there are those from the restaurant who will want to take me out and get me completely sideways. I am sure that there are those who may be glad to see me go, giving personality conflicts or what have you. I am sure that I will miss it all.

David