June 29, 2011

Today I went to Bel Italia to work for the day, so that I could see how their fresh pasta operation works and then see the restaurant side. I never cease to be amazed at how Costa Rican restaurants make use of every little corner, nook and cranny. What I would imagine to be too small for any practical use, they use the space as a entry way for the staff, to the bar. Essentially, there is no way to enter the bar back, from the customer side. It was nearly impossible for me to fit through the passage way, but for people here, it is no problem. First, I started out on the third floor, helping Jeanneht bag fresh ravioli, tortelli and mezzulana. She then set up the machine to make fettucine. The die is so large, 25 strands of pasta come out simultaneously. Also, the pasta is cut on both ends, so as to achieve consistency. It is then floured, and then twirlled and placed on a floured tray. Lastly, the pasta is held for service in a refrigerator.

After making the fettucine, I then went down to the second floor where I followed Melissa at her station. She is in charge of making the vegetables that line the bottom of the plate, to order, and she also grills Tuna, Chicken and the "back" of tenderloin. She warms pre-made and individually packaged (in the restaurant) lasagna, and pipes out a Salmon/Cream Cheese mixture for bread service.

I then followed the Chef, Celfida as she worked her station. She is in charge of cooking all the pasta, to order, and also makes each sauce, to order. What an incredibly talented Chef. I have to tell you, I was a little suprised that in a restaurant where fresh pasta is made, they still use dried, purchased pasta. They use dried spaghetti and penne. When I asked why, the Chef told me it was because they sell so much of it, there would be no way to make enough for the daily demand. Makes sense to me!

To end out my day, I went back upstairs to help Jeanneht make Ravioli. What an incredible sight! Such a time consuming task when done by hand was reduced to keeping the spent pasta away from the raviolis. I was supposed to leave work at 4 pm, but there was still so much to do before Jeanneht could leave so I stayed until 6pm to help her finish up and clean up.

Just before I left, Melissa came up and said it was nice to work with me, and I noticed she had a pillow in her hands. I asked what it was for and she explained that her shift is from 7 am until 10 pm, with a 3 hour break in between. Since she lives so far away, she has a pillow that she leaves at work, and once the lunch service is finished, she climbs into the botttom shelf of a table upstairs and then naps for 3 hours. This shocked me! Aparently, this is quite common.