"I have been very fortunate to earn a living through my true passion"--Chef Michael Mina

The above is a very modest quote from one of the best chef/restaurateurs in the world, and I often marvel at the fact that the same can be said of me. The restaurant business has been my vocation for all of my 22 working years, from that first day I walked into a small, dingy hotel dining room as a busboy. It has made me rich, successful, respected, and mildly renowned, but it may also have absorbed some of the best years of my life in the process. As I approach a birthday that will be my last to be properly described as "mid-30's" I have started to ruminate on the past, and have become shocked at how much of it is simply a blur of work.

For the last year or so I have found great diversion and comfort in reading many of the excellent "hospitality blogs", most notably "waiterant" and "clublife"--many of their stories and observations are so familiar it is scary. After a few false starts and alot of thinking I have finally decided to dive in myself--a little self-reflection certainly can't hurt.

I don't expect anyone to read this, but if anyone did they would find a [hopefully] entertaining mix of restaurant minutae, guest tales, political commentary, and generic ranting. God hates a coward...