Follow Joseph Johnson's glorious and relentless pursuit of his cooking dream as he works his way up the cooking echelon in the kitchen of Mélisse — Chef Josiah Citrin's shining star in the Los Angeles food scene.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00You know what it takes to be a cook in L.A.?
00:18Self-sacrifice.
00:19I left Virginia to come to L.A. because there's this certain energy that translates to the
00:32food scene here that I haven't found anywhere else.
00:36I work at Melisse, which is a two Michelin star French fine dining restaurant in Santa
00:40Monica, California, and it is one of the best restaurants in L.A.
00:47Being on the line in the kitchen is like composing a symphony, it really is, it's almost like
00:53each dish is like, one is the violins, one is the cello, one is the keyboard, and another
00:57is the drums.
00:58My first job in the kitchen was when I was 16, I was a dishwasher, and that was before
01:04I even knew I wanted to cook, I was just a kid looking for a job.
01:09After I started working there and just seeing something simple as salads being plated, it
01:15kind of drew me in, like, I was like, this is pretty amazing.
01:33As sous chef at Melisse, I have to go to the farmer's market first thing in the morning,
01:36pick up produce, go back to the restaurant, disperse it to the staff, and then we start
01:41prepping.
01:42We have to get fish deboned, tomatoes concocted, sauces simmering, all this has to be ready
01:48before service at 6 o'clock.
02:02Fire, menu prawn, menu truffle pasta, two menu feta, all by menu duck, medium rare.
02:08What's up?
02:10Working in the kitchen is one of the hardest jobs I've had in my life.
02:15You're under this, like, constant stress, and on top of that, you're working long hours,
02:19you're on your feet all day, and it's just completely physically and mentally straining,
02:25and most people can't handle it, but I love it.
02:29See how beautiful that looks, and we sear it off nicely.
02:40It also protects the palate, it's being so delicate, it helps protect the flesh.
02:45Chef Josiah Citrin is one of the most renowned and respected chefs in L.A., and it was only
02:50natural that I wanted to come work for him.
02:53He's almost like the epitome of an old-school French chef relocated in the U.S., he has
02:57that passion, that drive, and intensity that you come to expect from great chefs like himself.
03:09One day I was in the kitchen, and I was scrambling eggs, and this memory kicked back to me from
03:15my grandmother, and how she taught me how to properly scramble eggs when I was a little
03:19kid, and she was explaining how you use a spoon to stir it and cook it really gently
03:23so that the texture comes out nice, and it's actually like a classical French way of cooking.
03:27And I have a southern grandmother, it was kind of weird.
03:30And it was like little moments like that that I think back that kind of directed me to cooking
03:36that I didn't really realize until now.
03:46If you want to be a chef, you can't wait around for someone to hand it to you.
03:49You almost have to take it.
03:52Hosting Papa Dennis has given me and my friend Gary a chance to not only showcase our skills,
03:56but to do what we're trained to do, be a chef.
03:59For the oyster dish, I was thinking, right, we have those nice clear bowls, we'll put
04:03the garnish in the middle, and then pour the gazpacho so it comes like two-thirds of the way up.
04:07I brought a fish tank bowler, and instead of making foam with the frother, let's do bubbles.
04:12And we'll just drop that right on top.
04:14Exactly.
04:16I just wanted to thank everyone for coming out tonight.
04:19As you know, we're just cooks when it boils down to it.
04:21That's our life.
04:22This is what we do.
04:23This is what we love to do in our free time.
04:25We just spent our last few off days preparing this for you and had a lot of fun doing it.
04:29So, cheers to the night.
04:32Thank you, Chef.
04:33Thank you, Chef.
04:36I always have this sense of satisfaction and almost comfort in knowing that something that
04:42I served pleased someone else.
04:45And I think that's what most cooks thrive on.