Humans Of The Kitchen HIghlights Miami's Kitchen Workers - Miami New Times

Nemr Aljabra doesn't speak English or Spanish, but he's fluent in Kitchenese. In late March the 33-year-old dishwasher, prep cook, and Syrian refugee was featured on the Miami-based Instagram account Humans of the Kitchen. "Nemr is a grinder," says Pablo Zitzmann, of No Name Chinese where Aljabra and two other refugees have worked in the kitchen since the place opened. When he started it wasn't easy and had to communicate with the rest of the kitchen through Google Translate. Over time, he picked up the daily routine and has, as Zitzmann put it, become the glue that holds the kitchen together.

"Nemr and the rest of the guys are an example for the whole industry," he says. "They never call in sick, they always show up on time, and when you tell them to do something you know they'll get it done."

The three-month-old Instagram account was started by three friends — Beto Ortiz, Michael Kelsey, and Julian Buitrago — who after working in a number of kitchens and other parts of the industry decided it was time people learn about those who toil endless hours on their feet in unbearable heat under the oppression of fluorescent lights.

"Normally they always show pictures of the chef, that’s not bad, but they never show the team behind them," Ortiz says. "These peoples' stories have values and can teach us all a lot."

In this dining era, content with the least amount of value seems to perform the best online and on social media. Instagram is rife with grilled cheese and cheeseburger pulls, each one of them drawing attention to follower-buying influencers eager to submit to the will of almost any restaurants for a few bucks. The modern world, it seems, is skewing more and more toward valuing the superficial while ignoring the critical.

They were also inspired by the work of the late Anthony Bourdain, whose career as an author and television host was built on celebrating those least visible in the restaurant industry. The most famous among them was Justo Thomas, the fish butcher at New York City's Le Bernardin who each day singlehandedly breaks down about 700 pounds of fish. When he goes on vacation it takes three people to do his work. Here in Miami the Dominican-born Fernandez brothers, who New Times profiled in the summer of 2018, are legendary for being able to together produce thousands of portions of fresh pasta in unbelievably short amounts of time. Together they are the ones behind the fresh pasta at Macchialina, Scarpetta, and RWSB, the restaurant that replaced the Dutch at the W South Beach.

So far Beto and company have visited with and offered up brief profiles of those in the kitchens of Cantina La Veinte, Itamae, Bakan, Pez, Obra Kitchen Table, and B Bistro + Bakery. Hopefully, they will also venture west of Interstate 95 to celebrate those restaurants and its employees that might never make a list but are the kind neighborhood places everyone should keep in their dining rotation.

Should you desire to meet and thank a prep cook or a dishwasher Ortiz, Kelsey, and Buitrago are hosting a happy hour at Churchill's Pub from midnight to 2 a.m. to celebrate their work alongside the life and legacy of Bourdain, who died at his own hand on June 8, 2018. 

Zachary Fagenson became the New Times Broward-Palm Beach restaurant critic in 2012 before taking up the post for Miami in 2014. He also works as a correspondent for Reuters.

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https://www.miaminewtimes.com/restaurants/humans-of-the-kitchen-highlights-miamis-kitchen-workers-11166906

2019-05-13 13:30:00Z
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