Restaurant Dreaming

Robert McNally –

I have been in the restaurant business now for 13 years, but started cooking at a young age with my grandmother teaching me our families red gravy cause I’m a cliche Italian. 

I remember my first day as a dishwasher. I worked at this really busy diner that was on that show “Diners Drives and Dives” and our place was a big diner for the northeast area of Philadelphia.. I worked there and lasted about a whole two months lol.. one morning I woke up really hung over and pulled a coffee rack down it splashed on me and I walked out lol.. I had other ways of making money back then if you can catch that drift. 

I decided it early thank god, I finally made it up to the line and prep cook. I was working two jobs. I was a prep cook at a fine dining restaurant in downtown philly were the tattoo on my neck that is a artichoke comes from, cause all I used to do is peel potatoes, clean Brussels and obviously artichokes… but I was also a line cook at a bbq spot and all I wanted to be was good at it, cause I had fun doing it and realize I’m also getting paid. I always wanted to be the best on the line anywhere I went as a young cook.

I was dating a girl who also was in the industry, and I was just a line cook at the time, which I knew I didn’t want to do anything else at the moment, but one night she said to me “why don’t you become a chef?” and I thought to myself – with only 6 months culinary school training and working under the chefs, I have that hmmm, I really wanna be a good chef. Then I dove in, dedicated my whole existence to being a good chef. Lost a lot of friends, countless amounts of failed relationships and connections. Not seeing family for years etc. You know where this goes.

Being a chef and a cook it’s hard to say.. with being a chef you need to be there you need to see service and make sure the kitchen you are running goes smooth, but as a cook because in my career I went back to being just a cook and I hated it cause I unfortunately found bad jobs where I didn’t agree, or the chef was inexperienced etc.

I love the industry as a whole, there is only a certain amount of people who can work in our industry from every position, the front and back of the house. I’ve met so many good people and connections I would never take back!

My goal is to have different style cuisines and concepts in restaurants in every major city in the U.S. then go across seas and do the same.

I have worked with cooks who do it for a pay check and cooks who have a passion for it, you can’t explain the love you have for the industry to someone who has never experienced what we have. 

What I tell everyone I have ever trained.. the kitchen has no feelings, it doesn’t care about deaths in the family, you needing days off, missing your family etc.. But you will make friends that you call family and no matter what the customers experience is what pays our bills.

 Like I was saying there are a lot of things I could change, do differently.. but I just try to stay true to who I am and true to the industry I’m going to be in the rest of my life.

What I can offer is that I take this very seriously, I don’t believe in failing cause I work way too hard to fail. With that being said, it’s because I’ve had my failures and mistakes I’ve made in this industry .. last thing , if you ever stop learning you should find another profession!

Chef,

Robert McNally

@chef_robert_mcnally