Conviction Kitchen

[leeniek]

I'm not sure if this is available in the US or even Canada outside of the province of Ontario, but last night it premiered.

The concept of the show is that a very accomplished chef who apparently ran in to some rough times in his younger years and in his eyes was given a second chance is going to do that same thing for a group of well you guessed it.. ex-convicts. It was interesting for me to see the weeding out process that takes place when a new eatery is opened (I can say that I have successfully made it through that process more than once in my career!) and I did pick up on the passion the chef has for his craft and it looks to me like he wants to spark that in these people and hopefully give them something to enjoy and look forward to every day.

Now for my complaints... I'm not sure how many people here are working in pro kitchens or not but the language and just general behaviour from what I saw in the little bit of time they were in the kitchen seemed to be a little overdone. I know it is a high speed, faced paced, mistakes can really screw you up and land you in the weeds job but not all chefs, cooks or kitchen staff are like that and I find alot of the TV shows really glorify that side of the business. There are alot of us who are in the business because we truly love food and take pride in creating dishes that diners will enjoy and remember. (and yes we do screw up and land in the weeds but keeping calm and just redoing the mistake is much better than losing it and freaking out)

I will follow the show just to see how things work out. I can alread see who is going to make it and who will be cut just by the first episode.

Has anyone else here seen it? (and sorry for the rant!)

 

[1234jj&j]

Hi,

I was on that show. I totally agree with you, about the language. It is a stupit show, we were paid $300 a week for 80 hours a week..

crazy....

I'm not sure if this is available in the US or even Canada outside of the province of Ontario, but last night it premiered.

The concept of the show is that a very accomplished chef who apparently ran in to some rough times in his younger years and in his eyes was given a second chance is going to do that same thing for a group of well you guessed it.. ex-convicts. It was interesting for me to see the weeding out process that takes place when a new eatery is opened (I can say that I have successfully made it through that process more than once in my career!) and I did pick up on the passion the chef has for his craft and it looks to me like he wants to spark that in these people and hopefully give them something to enjoy and look forward to every day.

Now for my complaints... I'm not sure how many people here are working in pro kitchens or not but the language and just general behaviour from what I saw in the little bit of time they were in the kitchen seemed to be a little overdone. I know it is a high speed, faced paced, mistakes can really screw you up and land you in the weeds job but not all chefs, cooks or kitchen staff are like that and I find alot of the TV shows really glorify that side of the business. There are alot of us who are in the business because we truly love food and take pride in creating dishes that diners will enjoy and remember. (and yes we do screw up and land in the weeds but keeping calm and just redoing the mistake is much better than losing it and freaking out)

I will follow the show just to see how things work out. I can alread see who is going to make it and who will be cut just by the first episode.

Has anyone else here seen it? (and sorry for the rant!)

 

[leeniek]

Hi,

I was on that show. I totally agree with you, about the language. It is a stupit show, we were paid $300 a week for 80 hours a week..

crazy....

WOW!

I know the language in kitchens is bad on a good day but not all of us cooks/chefs swear like sailors. I tend to say... scum sucking pig fart.. when I eff up an egg flip and have to remake but I don't go psycho like I see so many do on tv and we have one of those in our kitchen and he drives me nuts. Please explain to me how running around like a madman is gonna make the stuff cook any faster than if you calmly garnished your plates then dealt with your stuff on the grill.

So... what was your experience on the show.. were you front or back of house?

The kitchen is a high paced working environment for sure with little margin for error and the plates must be gorgeous before they hit the window and OMFG that is a high expectation to meet ( I had to do the window one day and it was not fun) but it is the only way as people are eating and paying for what we pump out and they expect loads from us.

That just said I klove the kitchen.. you cannot pay me enough to consider serving tables.. I am NOT a FOH person in the slightest and I freely admit that!

 

[1234jj&j]

I was in the back. I was the pastry chef. I was the girl in the first episode that said that growing up in my family you were not ecepted unless you were a drug user and that both my brothers died one at 19 and one 1year ago at 30. That show was the stupitest thing I have ever done in my life. Why did I air my business to the world, I don't know...

 

[leeniek]

I remember you. We've only seen the first episode so far. It's on at 10pm and well I open the restaurant where I work at 5:30am so that's just a little past my bedtime. I did record it though and my daughter wants to see it too so we're going to watch it after she's done her homework. (if she has any)
I wouldn't worry about airing your business the way you did.. it had to be really hard to do that and if anything you were trying to do something good in your life and no one can hold that against you.

 

[jacknichole37]

I have never seen it. Can you tell me on which channel it comes and what time so that I can have a look.

 

[leeniek]

It's on Channel 57 (CityTV) in Canada. I think it's on Sundays at 10pm but I'm not 100% sure. We stopped watching after the second episode.