Lucia is hiring. It's not often you see a job post from the city's best Italian restaurant. Cooks with a desire to break into fine dining are no doubt clamoring to put their best clog forward with chef David Uygur.
Of course there are some necessary prerequisites. Basically, you better love the shit out of cooking food. And not just any food.
You must have a passion for great food according to the Facebook post. Other requirements include:
• A good attitude • Some experience in a professional kitchen • Hard-working and efficient • Desire to learn about making pasta and salumi by hand • An interest in whole hog butchery • Know that it's important to buy from local farmers and producers • Like the idea that Lucia's menu changes frequently • Be glad to hear that the only time you'll see fresh tomatoes on the menu is when they're in season • Would like the opportunity to be a part of a small team at a chef-owned Italian restaurant
In addition to the entertaining tomato bullet, it's a great list of attributes that any chef would be thrilled to have in their cooking staff. But what's really interesting is the theme that runs through these bullets. Note you don't have to have a degree from a pedigreed cooking school, you just have to have some cooking experience.
Uygur says he's only concerned about basic knowledge. He'll teach you how to make some of the best charcuterie served in Dallas, but he doesn't have time to show you how to dice onions or find the walk-in. He says the most important attributes are passion and attitude, which chefs across the country complain can be very hard to find.
It's not very often you encounter an opportunity to take some cooking skills and turn them into real cooking experience at one of the three, five-star restaurants in Dallas. Last a year or two under Uygur though, and you'll likely have your pick of open jobs across the city. It could even be your ticket out of this town.
