The Rats in Les's Kitchen

Today we welcome guest blogger, Pedro, as he recounts an awesome Ratatouille themed story about working alongside a respected chef in New Hampshire. Enjoy this inspiring story! - The NJ Trio

Hello readers! My name is Pedro Hernandez, but I am better known around the internet as pap64, where I talk about movies and video games throughout various sites.  After reading this great blog about food and the emotional experiences tied to them, I was inspired to write about some of my favorite and most personal food experiences.

Mojito's in Dover, NH. Photo by Jonathan020

In the summer of 2007, I flew up to New Hampshire to meet up with my friends, as I did the past three summers. That summer we made some new friends in the form of “The Mojito’s Group.”  Mojito’s was a bar and grill place located in Dover, New Hampshire.  Despite lacking previous experience with the group, I was quickly accepted by everyone. The bartender, known as “Spyder,” even dubbed our group as “The Jedi Council.”  We did everything from participating in dance parties to playing Dungeons and Dragons with the bar’s owner.  It was a great experience to say the least.

For me, the one thing that made the summer very special and personally profound was my time at the Mojito’s kitchen headed by Chef Leslie Reynolds. He was from the Caribbean like me, and an expert cook. He was very friendly, calm, patient, and very knowledgeable about food and recipes. Everyone loved him, and it was hard to find someone who didn’t.

I felt very humbled in Chef Les’s presence, especially when we were allowed to work with him in his kitchen. It was an amazing learning experience for all of us, as we learned how to prep food, clean the dishes, and fry up tortilla chips for the nachos with cheese dishes.  But as much fun as we were having, I felt like I didn’t belong there. I kept messing everything up.  Chef Les was very patient with me, though, which in turn made me feel worse each time I went into the kitchen.

The awkward moment in "Ratatouille" of a rat cooking soup

And then, one fateful Friday in June, Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille was released to theaters.  Directed by Brad Bird (“The Iron Giant” and “The Incredibles”), the film tells the story of Remy, a young rat with a heightened sense of taste, whose only dream is to become a great chef.  Since he’s a rat, he can’t enter a kitchen without being assaulted by the kitchen staff, save for Linguini, a janitor recently hired at Gusteau’s, a famous French restaurant.When Remy and Linguini meet, Remy realizes that he can control Linguini like a puppet by pulling on his hair. This allows Remy to use his expertise in Gusteau’s kitchen and be the best chef in all of France.

The message of the film is that “anyone can cook.”  This piece of advice works both literally and metaphorically.  At first, it is about how anyone can learn to cook and create amazing dishes. But if you look deeper, the message is also about how anyone can achieve a dream, regardless of who they are, where they come from or how the world perceives them. In Ratatouille, cooking is a metaphor for the dreams we wish to achieve in life, and anyone has the right to pursue them.  This message really affected me. At the time, I was not only learning about cooking, I was also going to enter the last half of my Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education, a major turning point in my life. On top of this, my friends were also in the process of becoming official video game developers. Needless to say, this was an important time for all of us. 

After seeing Ratatouille, which I loved immensely, I came back to Chef Les’s kitchen with a grand level of respect towards cuisine. I loved the movie so much that I decided to call our group “The Rats in Les’s Kitchen” (but “The Jedi Council” stuck around longer, haha!).  Chef Les taught me a lot of things, one of them being that if you are not pleased with something you should strive to improve.  For example, my station wasn’t as clean as it should have been, and I eventually grew to make it cleaner. I grew to really respect him and all the hard work he put into his dishes. It didn’t matter if it was a simple burger or an elaborate steak, everything he made was delicious.  A lot of love and dedication went into his cooking, and he never did anything poorly or rushed.  He always strived to be the best in that area.

Even something as simple as nacho cheese required discipline and patience in Les's kitchen

That summer would be the last time I ever saw him. Since then, Mojito’s changed staff members, was renamed RJ’s, and Chef Les went on to work at a country club. It’s been four years since that summer, and I miss them all so much. I’ve gained a really strong appreciation towards food preparation. I went from being just an eater to one who now understood the hard work chefs put into their creations. I started watching the Food Network a lot more, and reading more about professional cuisine.  I even considered taking another degree in Professional Cuisine. Sadly, I couldn’t get into the program, and have yet to find a cheaper way to learn more about cooking. Still, I have my love of great food, and that, at times, is good enough.

I want to thank Disney and Pixar for creating such an amazing, inspiring movie in Ratatouille. Without it, I wouldn’t have had the courage to move forward with my dreams. Even when things got very rocky for me, I still had the strength to move on and make my dreams a reality.  I also want to thank the staff at Mojito’s for the many opportunities they have given me.  Most importantly, I want to thank Chef Les Reynolds for being so kind, patient and understanding, even when I wasn’t offering my best.  I am very proud to have been one of the rats in his kitchen.

- Pap