6 A.M. Flaky Dough and its Many Uses

The savory cooks enter the kitchen and now the battle for space begins. Norberto, a wonderful cook, father, and all-around human being who’s been with me since the day we opened, comes in and his normally calm demeanor is rattled because someone has moved his pans—and boy does he hate it when anything is not in the place he left it. Ismael walks in next with his signature Dodgers hat and immediately begins asking the girls about when he can get his sheet pans of bacon in the oven so that he can be ready for service right at 8 A.M. Selvin, our killer dishwasher, is clearing the monster crash pit of dishes that have been left for him all the while checking in orders from our vendors, and I’m in the middle trying to time the bake-off while also trying to get everyone to work together and not kill one another before we even open.