My new job as the Pastry Manager/Chef at Scheels Sporting Goods began! The culinary team (all five of us) met on the 5th of July for orientation and to discuss our traveling plans to go to our training in Springfield Illinois. We were all stoked! I've never been to Illinois, so didn't know what to expect.
The plane departed and arrived on time. For lunch, we stopped at White Castle, which is apparently "famous" for their sliders. I just got a single slider...and although inexpensive, was disappointing. What we got was a far cry from the posters they had displayed all over the establishment. We were expecting about a quarter-inch of patty on the "dinner roll" they served it on, but they were seriously only about 1/8"...and the roll wasn't sturdy enough to hold the ample sauce, making it soggy. But one thing that really turned me off was this ad on the side of the bag.
"100% BEEF, MADE WITH ALL WHITE MEAT CHICKEN". Really?? This 100% beef patty is made from white meat chicken??? And yet it's not considered a chicken patty?? I guess somewhere during the cooking process, a complete DNA transformation occurs...
Our plane arrived at St. Louis, Missouri--so we drove our rental cars for two hours to get to Springfield. Coming from a mountainous Utah, it felt very strange to see absolutely nothing but flat corn fields stretching endlessly across the horizon.
But we safely got to the store. We were greeted by the Associate Store Leader and were given a brief tour of the deli/restaurant we'll be training at.
Upon entering, we were greeted by this giant saltwater aquarium.
The indoor ferris wheel standing in the middle of the store...
...And camouflage lingeries, found alongside the hunting equipment section. Cuz, you know, you gotta look sexy while out hunting those elks. Or maybe you wanna look sexy while blending in with the environment. Never mind people generally wear sexy clothing to get noticed, and not blend in.
This is the deli we will be training in. It was Monday afternoon, so not too many customers were around.
Our training began the very next day. Each of us worked under our own areas: Bobbi was with the "Fudge Master" making fudge, Jake was at the grill and the sandwich line, and I was with the "baker". And I say "baker" because I was quite disappointed to discover that they didn't bake things from scratch. The cookies and the cinnamon rolls were frozen dough, the brownies were a boxed mix, and most of the products that were actually made from scratch didn't involved much baking--like caramel rice crispy treats. I made some chocolate chip scones using their recipe, with my own twist (I added cinnamon-sugar topping) and several people were saying how good they were.
Nobody here, our trainers, had a formal training in culinary, so it was more like us training them instead. We felt very much welcomed; everyone was saying how they want to come back to Utah with us and beggin us to stay. We saw a lot negativity--but that in and of itself was a good training for all of us. This was a good example of how not to run a restaurant.
Playboy Roll. It had so much toppings we couldn't even see the roll. It's interesting how different restaurants have different versions of the Playboy Roll. Is there a set standard for a sushi roll to be called a Playboy Roll?
And get this...Spicy Crawfish roll. Definitely can't find these in Utah. Had a shrimpy flavor with a hint of that "crawfish". Good flavor, but the rice was way too sticky.
We spent the remainder of the time just helping out the Fudge Master stockpile the fudge--who's doing it all by herself, since no one there seemed to want to help her.
Here she is, marbling the Root Beer Float Fudge, the feature flavor for July...
And below are two new flavors for the month of August: Sherbet and Watermelon.
Check out the dazzling array of fudge! Not sure how many flavors there are, but they ranged from plain milk chocolate to dark-chocolate-caramel-candied-cashews to raspberry cheesecake.
And this was the display for the baked goods/pastries. I'm not gonna even bother with comparing this with Les Madeleine's. Working at Les Mads definitely helped me set a goal and a vision of the level of quality I eventually want to achieve. Those white trays and the neon-colored sugar cookies would have to go....
Then on the last day there, the rest of us went out to the corn field to snap a few photos. This is definitely a sight not seen in Utah.
We safely got to the airport. There was about 4 hours before our flight, so we dined at the Mosaic restaurant there for our last meal. It was actually quite good, a so-called New American, or fusion cuisine.
Warm Caprese Sandwich, tomato and warm mozzarella on baguette, with pesto and pinenuts.
Their FishN'Chips. The chips were housemade, and the fish were very tender.
We got to discuss a lot of things while we were there--our experiences, thoughts, and what we want out of our own store. Other than our flight being delayed for two hours getting home close to midnight, it was a good experience, and a good trip for all of us.
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