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Editor’s note: Quotes from Toni Santanach have been translated from Spanish to English by Elizabeth Reviriego. Quotes from Teymur Piriyev have been translated from Azerbaijani to English by Hikmat Babayev.
For many people, Valentine’s Day is a relaxing evening of being wined and dined and sharing a kiss or two. But for those working in the hospitality industry, it’s the most hectic night of the year.
Restaurants are often fully booked out, and smaller tables of two mean more ticket orders for the kitchen. Add to that the expectation of couples looking to have the most romantic evening possible, and restaurant workers have their plates literally full.
Despite most chefs not being able to celebrate with their significant other on Valentine’s Day itself, many say forgoing holidays is simply part of the job and that there’s a strong sense of gratification when making others happy.
“Most of us are very used to not being able to celebrate those special moments, and not (just) Valentine’s Day, but any holiday, we’re going to be working,” said Toni Santanach, executive chef of Macarena in Palo Alto. “You learn how to appreciate it from another perspective.”
Some chefs see Valentine’s Day as a creative challenge. With so many customers at one time, many restaurants often opt for prix-fixe menus, which not only streamline operations but also allow for a more special menu.
A prix-fixe menu means fewer options, making it easier to prep ahead of time and fire the food, said Julie Cablay, executive chef for Wild Onion Bistro & Bar in Palo Alto. It can also benefit the front of house, as servers can decisively tell guests what they’ll be eating versus having to explain a much broader menu, she added.
This means food comes out quicker, and attention can be focused on ensuring each plate is perfect, noted Jesse Cool, owner of Flea Street in Menlo Park.
“One of the beauties of a prix fixe is that the couples, or the people dining at the table, are eating at the same time each course, so we can put more effort into it, special touches, but we’re (also) able to time the table and take care of them better,” she said.
Valentine’s Day is also an opportunity for chefs to incorporate specialty ingredients not commonly utilized at their restaurant, such as uni, lobster or foie gras, said Omer Artun, chef-owner of Meyhouse in Palo Alto and Sunnyvale.
“We try to put a little bit more decadent things or things that are interesting … some things that are not everyday food, but more celebratory food,” he said.
But there are certain ingredients that many chefs purposely exclude from their Valentine’s menus: foods that make breath smell, such as garlic and raw onions, and foods that can cause gas, such as high-fat foods.
“You have to take care of the people at that time and after that time,” said Teymur Piriyev, executive chef of NAR Restaurant in Mountain View, with a chuckle. “There is an end of the day, which we don’t see, and we don’t want to see.”
Some chefs also aim to incorporate aphrodisiacs. While the science behind ingredients such as oysters, caviar and chocolate increasing libido is murky, some chefs say it’s still nice to use them for Valentine’s Day.
“I think anything that makes people happy or gets them into a mood of being together, why not?” Cool said.
Paul Rohadfox, executive chef of Adrestia in Sunnyvale, agrees, saying that it’s more about associations.
“I think food in general induces memories, and it gives you that warm feeling,” he said. “And if you’re sitting down and you’re having a meal and you’re eating something that gives you that one embrace of a feeling, it just sets the tone and sets the mood for the rest of the night.”
Since most chefs are working on Feb. 14, many say they celebrate Valentine’s the day before or after.
“We don’t mind celebrating it another day,” Santanach said. “It’s just as meaningful as it would be, because we’ve got the two celebrations – one with a lot of our friends and customers and us, and then we can have it with our families too.”
Santanach explained that forgoing holidays is a sacrifice people make when they decide to enter the hospitality industry and that there’s a sense of joy from being able to make other people’s holidays special.
“We’re used to being the one for making it happen, and that is almost as beautiful as celebrating it,” he said. “We can celebrate it another day, but having this experience of most of the guests (where) we know them, they’re from the neighborhood, and it just feels very intimate and passionate.”
Piriyev, whose wife is the head pastry chef at NAR Restaurant, said he’s grateful his wife also works in the hospitality industry because she understands the sense of duty that comes with being a chef. He said that navigating holidays can be tricky when dating someone who might not understand why they need to work and joked that his only holidays in the past 15 years are Mondays.
“It’s a kind of acceptance of the reality that chefs have no days off or special days or holidays because you work when the others enjoy,” he said.
And while the evening can be stressful, a number of chefs say they truly enjoy Valentine’s Day.
“I love the evening, because everybody’s coming there to celebrate happiness … Everybody is in a different mood,” Meyhouse chef-owner Artun said.
But not every Valentine’s Day dinner service goes smoothly. Piriyev recalled an awkward moment when two exes ran into each other at the same restaurant on Valentine’s Day and got into an argument, slowing down service as front-of-house staff tried to deescalate the situation.
Adrestia executive chef Rohadfox remembers when the power went out in the middle of one Valentine’s Day dinner. He had to cook on butane burners, and candles were used as temporary light sources. But with complimentary cocktails and wine, “We were able to salvage the night,” he said.
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