How These Chefs Communicate and Build Culture in Close Quarters

Like many former restaurant cooks, I’m an inveterate kitchen eavesdropper. I particularly love waiting for the restroom at the little bistro in my neighborhood because it’s right next to the pass where one cook works expo and garde manger, and the other keeps track of an astounding array of sauté pans in perpetual motion on a six-burner stovetop. The kitchen is tiny: these two are figurines in a shoebox diorama, busy with their own tasks but...