I miss that restaurant, which has been gone for quite
some time: Chef John left it to be executive chef at
Au Bon Pain, trading a toque and personal satisfaction
for a suit and lots of money.

You make me think of a question that you may know something about. Just
how much money does a chef make? I'd expect that the bottom end of the

I can't answer except to estimate that the head chef
(a bit of a redundancy) at a sit-down restaurant will
likely earn 1000 times annually the average cost of a
meal at the restaurant, counting wine.

scale might be a line cook at some local restaurant. Then top end might

Those aren't chefs. They make pretty close to minimum
wage, even if they work at fancier places.

be those who have graduated to owning a number of restaurants and have a
TV presence. Simon and Bobby Flay come to mind as poplular examples but
I'm sure you can name many more of equal and higher caliber.

Those guys aren't chefs, either. Not any more, anyhow.
Their income and net worth can probably be found out by
Internet snooping and would be in the six- to seven
figures depending on how many restaurants they own and
how well they're doing.

This is not a bad recipe - a riff on bourguignonne or
the related stifado - but could easily be improved.

Title: Beef Stew Lambrusco with Crimini Mushrooms
4 sl Bacon
3 tb Flour, all purpose
2 ts Beef bouillon, instant

The better the bouillon, the better the dish.
Better than Bouillon or Minor's would be better.
Real stock would be better still.

1 ts Basil, dried, crushed

Thyme and bay would be standard; possibly
oregano. Not basil.

1 lb Beef, 1/2 inch cubes
16 oz Tomatoes, canned, chopped

I'd say too many tomatoes by a factor of two.

4 oz Wine, Lambrusco, OR
4 oz Wine, red, mildly sweet

The better the wine, the better the dish, generally
speaking. Lambrusco is not good wine.

1 c Onions, chopped coarse, OR
1 c Onions, pearl, frozen
2 c Mushrooms, Crimini, small or
Source: Joe Szajewski, Tranquility, Delaware, 1994

I'd not heard of either, so having a little extra time, I
looked them up. There's no town or restaurant by the name of
Tranquility, though there is a place in New Jersey called
that; I hope the name is more reflective of reality than
Prosperity, PA, which I went through once and was very
down-and-out. I did find Mr. Szajewki in Delaware, though:
he died a couple weeks ago.

Grilled Skirt Steak with Fresh Parsley Sauce
categories: celebrity, beef, main
serves: 4

1 lb skirt steak
olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
h - parsley sauce
2 c parsley leaves
1/2 c walnuts
1 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 1/2 ts sherry vinegar

Preheat grill to medium high. Menwhile season the meat
on both sides. Drizzle the steak with 3 Tb olive oil.
When the grill is hot, cook the steak for 3 min with
the lid down, then flip and cook for another 2 min,
more if needed. While the steak is cooking, combine
the parsley, walnuts, jalapeno, and garlic in a
blender or food processor. Add 6 oz olive oil and
1/2 ts salt. Blend until smooth then add the sherry
vinegar. Set aside.When the steak is done, slice it
thinly against the grain and serve with the sauce.

Michael Symon
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