Big Sur Bakery Cookbook - Michelle Wojtowicz [57]
The best moments in the Bakery for us as a couple are the times when we get to work on food together, Phil doing the savory part, Michelle working on the dough or crust. We also love being alone in the kitchen together, but that hardly ever happens anymore. It’s one of the best parts about Thanksgiving: a day in the kitchen together, working pretty much alone, on dishes that highlight what we each do best.
The other thing we tell people when they ask how we manage our relationship as spouses and business partners is that running a restaurant takes so much work that if you want to be married at the same time, you need to have a spouse who’s as into the project as you are. Looking at things that way, our situation makes sense. We’re married to the Bakery and we’re married to each other. As long as we keep in mind which of those relationships is ultimately more important, it’s an arrangement that works.
Photographs by Sara Remington
PROFILE: PHILIP/CHIEF
Photographs by Sara Remington
How does it end?
With a couple glasses of wine. Actually the end of the day is the most stressful part because I have to see what we’ve used and what we have and figure out what to order.
Favorite time in the kitchen:
Probably between eight and nine in the morning. I roll out of bed, come straight to the Bakery, and have my first cup of coffee. If it’s going to be a busy day, I’ll start the soup. That wakes me up.
Best part about the Bakery:
I love the freedom—we get to do what we want our way. I feel like we’re doing a good, honest thing. And the fact that we’re in the middle of nowhere makes it more fun.
Would you ever have imagined yourself in Big Sur?
No. We were in Los Angeles following the same path that most young people who dedicate their lives to the cooking field follow. We broke away from that to come here.
Hard parts:
Most of our staff has minimal to no restaurant experience, so there’s a huge curve in training. Also we don’t have housing for our employees, which I hate. For a lot of the people who work here, this is a second job.
Favorite dishes to cook:
Lately I love cooking seared scallops, the smell of scallops, everything about them. But I love everything. I love perfect mashed potatoes. I love risotto. I love the roasted chicken—we’ve been serving it for six years and finally a week ago it’s become what I’d consider a signature dish. That’s the true test of an American chef: their chicken.
How do you keep learning?
I pull from everywhere. Farmers and purveyors contact me and colleagues ask questions. I’m always reading cookbooks—especially food history and chef biographies, things like that.
What is playing in the kitchen right now?
At least sometime during the day, the Clash will be played. Generally the Ramones fit in, too. But I like to let people play their own music, too.
Dream for the Bakery:
For this place to become a destination restaurant where people are coming specifically for the food—they’re not necessarily just passing by.
Mentors? Heroes?
I don’t really have a culinary hero, but I did have the luxury of working with a lot of great chefs: Joe Miller, Peter Roelant, Josiah Citrin, Mark Peel. They were all small independent restaurant owners running their own ships. The restaurants were like throwbacks to Europe even though they were highly Americanized.
Why California?
I think I should have been born here. I remember on the East Coast at like, three or four o’clock in the afternoon when the sun was overhead and heading west, I was always drawn to follow it. The California lifestyle was calling me.
PROFILE: MICHELLE/BAKER
Photographs by Sara Remington
What’s the first thing you baked?
An apple pie for my grandfather. I saw a picture in a cookbook and then tried to make my apple