Pancakes in Paris: Living the American Dream in France by Craig Carlson

Pancakes in Paris: Living the American Dream in France by Craig Carlson

Author:Craig Carlson [Carlson, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2016-09-05T16:00:00+00:00


Friday morning, December 20. By now I had gotten so used to the daily routine of calling up my cooks and equipment people—begging them to hold on a little longer—that I barely noticed a man strolling into the diner nonchalantly, holding a toolbox.

It was Joël.

“Bonjour, Craque!” He smiled and waved as he made his way across the room and down into the cave where the electric box was, as if nothing had ever happened. I stood there with my mouth hanging wide-open, the phone dangling from my hand.

That weekend, Joël did a marathon session and finished nearly everything. Somehow I knew intuitively that I should never bring up the subject of his absence or the trouble it had caused me. If I did, I knew he’d become offended and might disappear again, this time for good. Instead, I focused my energy on the present, and in particular, how in the world was I ever going to wrangle Jean-Tho and his crew together again to finish the last of the work?

With Christmas just around the corner, the prospects for BIA opening in January looked bleak. Depending on which day a holiday falls, the French take what’s called le pont, or “the bridge.” For example, if a holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, they’ll take the Monday or Friday off as well. That year, Christmas fell on a Wednesday, as did New Year’s Day the following week. Did that mean the French would take two ponts for each holiday, meaning two whole weeks off?

As it turned out, my crew wasn’t planning on taking any pont at all—just the holiday itself. Thank God, because I now had a brand-new goal around which I could rally the troops: getting ready in time for a special event planned for December 31. For weeks, my neighbor, Bruno, who worked at the temp agency next door, had been asking me if he could book BIA for a private New Year’s Eve party with his friends. I couldn’t wait to tell Bruno we just might be able to host his shindig after all! And best of all, if we were able to pull it off, it would be a boon for BIA; not only would it bring in some desperately needed cash, but it would also allow us to do a dress rehearsal before officially opening to the public the following weekend.

Having a dress rehearsal was crucial, because my cooks had never truly been vetted. I had no idea if they knew how to operate our fancy new equipment, let alone cook for a packed house. Unfortunately, Ezra wasn’t available that night. But Feng was, and he assured me that, as a professionally trained cook, he’d be able to handle everything himself.

Of course, before that could happen, we still needed to get the diner ready in time. After much begging and pleading (something I was getting quite good at en français), I convinced all the workers to come in over the next week and a half and finish the job in time for New Year’s Eve.



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