How many chefs have truly put their time in?
In the hot, humid corner of the kitchen where the dishes never stop coming, everyone always needs something from you and the cooks drop off pots so scorched they look like they have been smoldering in a wildfire for months.
I know a few who have. But not many.
The dish pit. The heartbeat of the kitchen. The most undervalued, most important cog in the machine.
And who are the heroes who endure this unending stream of glop and grime?
Well, that would be some of the most lovable, charismatic, hard working people I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with.
Watch what happens the next time a dishwasher calls out and you canʻt fill their shift. The restaurant practically implodes.
The dishwashers––the kings of the dish pit––are practically the mascot of every restaurant. They are the most highly revered, most hugged, most loved and, sadly, most underpaid.
One of the most heartwarming stories I’ve ever heard is how Rene Redzepi made his 63-year-old dishwasher a partner at Noma.
Ali had been there since the restaurant opened. Redzepi described him as the spirit of their restaurant.
He said that when Ali walks through a room everyone gets to be happy.
Eventually Redzepi was able to pry Ali from his beloved station and send him into the dining room where the guests are now graced with his presence.
Ali roams the dining room every night giving out high fives and making everyone feel good. Redzepi calls him, “the perfect host.”
You’ve surely had a dishwasher like that.
Carlos, Mario, Miguel, Raffy, Animal… Those were my Alis.
I loved going back into the dish pit to drop off a stack of dishes and seeing their smiling faces. Usually they’d be back there singing.
A brief exchange in Spanglish and you’d be on your way back to the line laughing and in a better mood than before.
Every time they walk down the line to pick up dirty pans it’s like we’re making way for the President. Everyone steps back, thanks them graciously for their service and often sends them on their way with a pat on the back.
Your dishwasher knows where everything you are looking for in the kitchen is (even if he says he doesn’t).
Did something break? Your dishwasher can rig that shit up like MacGyver.
Your dishwasher can outlast anyone in the kitchen including you.
And at the end of the night, your dishwasher polishes that machine up like he’s waxing a Porsche to go back into the garage.
Stepping away with pride, they leave everything reset, shiny and clean. Including your heart.
The good ones do anyway…