Here, the wages she paid were higher than most of the other restaurants in the area, but she kept a stable staff both in the kitchen and the front of the house. If that meant she and Felicia took home a little less profit at the end of the year, that didn’t matter. She loved the way the business was developing.
“Angie, why are you looking like you got into the wine early?”
She looked up and into Estebe’s big brown eyes. Her sous chef appeared concerned. She sighed and pointed toward the end of the table. “Ian just tried to kill me.”
Estebe set a bowl of soup and a piece of warm flatbread in front of her, and Ian set the soda nearby. “I’m sure that is not true. Ian is a good man.”
“Rides and Angie just don’t get along.” Ian slapped Estebe on the arm. “How have you been?”
“I have been well.” As the men continued talking, going back to the makeshift kitchen for more food, Angie dug in to the soup.
Warmth and taste filled her mouth, and immediately her brain stopped spinning. She broke off a piece of the still-warm bread and dipped it in the soup. Heaven.
Felicia slipped onto the bench next to her. She grabbed a piece of the flatbread and beelined it to Angie’s soup. “Yum, let me try.”
Angie wanted to wrap her arms around the bowl and tell her friend to go get her own, but then her better nature prevailed. She watched as Felicia delicately dipped the bread into the bowl.
“Oh, my. We really need to add this to the menu. Maybe in October, when the chill hits the valley?” Felicia pushed a pile of papers toward Angie, then stood. “I’m getting something. I’m on a break from the booth, and I need real food before I eat another slice of pie.”
Angie glanced at the papers. “What are these?”
“The rules to the contest. We get our first challenge tomorrow.” Felicia ordered at the front of the line, then paid. While she waited for the food, she moved back to Angie’s table to continue her conversation. “They gave us a theme for the first day. I guess what we’ll prepare will be announced tomorrow and we’ll have time to go grab additional food from the store if we didn’t prepare right.”
Angie studied the pages. Tomorrow was an appetizer round. And she had just the right idea. She’d send Matt shopping tonight and store everything at the County Seat. Matt Young was one of the line cooks and always looking for more hours. Then they’d move everything to the food storage locker on-site first thing in the morning. If she guessed wrong, they would recalculate and Matt would go back to the store. With Hope Anderson, the culinary student-slash-dishwasher as their third, the work would go fast.
“You got the rules, then.” Estebe set a plate of some sort of rice dish in front of her. He held out a hand for what she’d already read, then scanned the pages. “You’ll have to do a hundred servings in less than three hours. Are you sure you don’t want me to help instead of Matt?”
“Matt and Hope will be fine. Besides, from what Felicia said, we have a full seating at the restaurant. Especially since we closed up tonight. You know there will be some walk-ins.” She picked up a fork and took a bite. “This is wonderful.”
“Of course. I am chef tonight. Tomorrow night, my brother is cooking. You may want to eat elsewhere.” He set the pages down. “I appreciate you letting me have tonight off. I know it must have cost a lot to close the restaurant.”
“You weren’t the only one who wanted a night at the fair.” Angie smiled as Felicia sat down, her plate filled. “Besides, this way we can pick up any gossip about the contest. Do we know who’s entered?”
Felicia listed off the different chefs in the area who were gunning to win Boise’s version of Restaurant Wars.
Angie set her fork down. “Whoa. That’s a who’s who list of everyone who has any chef cred at all in the valley. Competition’s going to be steep.”
“David Nubbins is the front-runner.” Estebe sipped on his beer. “At least that’s what we’ve heard here.”
David Nubbins was head chef at the Sandpiper, the premier upscale restaurant in Boise. He had started the restaurant long before Angie had even thought about being a chef. She’d eaten there several times before she’d moved away. Mostly to see what a real chef did with local cuisine. “He has a lot of experience.”
“And Sarah Fenny is coming up on his heels,” Felicia added, her plate almost empty. “She owns Fenny’s Pies over in Nampa. Since she opened, she’s been the go-to place for main-dish pies and desserts.”
“Copper Creek has entered too.” Angie shook her head, feeling a little overwhelmed. She hadn’t expected the big dogs to play in this contest at the fair. “I guess we might just get four nights of showing people what we do.”
Felicia glanced at Estebe, who shook his head.
“What’s going on, guys?” Angie stared from one to another. No one was talking. “Guys?”
Felicia picked up the papers and thumbed through them. When she found the page she was looking for, she pulled it out and pointed to the middle of the page. “There’s been an addition to the rules. Three teams will be eliminated each night. We have to stay out of the bottom to stay in the competition. Are you sure you don’t want Estebe and me to work with you all four nights?”
Angie read the section of the rules Felicia had pointed out. Then she straightened the pile of pages and put them in her backpack. “Nope. We win or we lose together. From what I can see, we’ll do an appetizer, then a frozen drink—virgin and fully loaded. Then next weekend it’s the main course and dessert. I’ll need Estebe on Friday and you on Saturday. We might want to bring Jeorge in tomorrow night to help plan out Sunday’s drink. But I think Matt and Hope will help me mix on Sunday. We’re only as strong as our weakest link.”
“But you might not make it to next weekend if you don’t pull one of us in to help.” Felicia put her hand on Angie’s shoulder. “How bad do you want to win?”
“Not bad enough to make either Matt or Hope feel like they’re less of a team member. We’ve already scheduled them to work the fair booth.” Angie sipped her soda. “Look, I know the two of you are better. We’d totally kick butt with all three of us, but I’ve got to put my faith in all my kitchen staff. Not just the superstars.”
“You are a good boss, Angie Turner.” Estebe glanced at the line, frowning. “I need to go figure out what they’re doing back there. People should not have to wait for their food.”
When Estebe left, Felicia glanced at her watch. “I’m expected back soon. Look, I’m off shift at ten. Do you want to go over to the booth where we’ll be cooking and check it out? I’d feel better if we knew there weren’t any issues going into tomorrow.”