3 The Restaurant called 'The Jester'
Author's note: Wanna break from the ads? This is a subplot about the MC and the place that he works at.
...
Claire took Felix to crowded farmer's market. The air of fresh fruits and lined up stalls were filled up, buyers and sellers exchange their money and go on their merry way. It was one of the pinnacle hubs for capitalism.
"Thanks, Mom. I'll take it from here." Felix says, as he slings his backpack from his shoulder and leaves the van. The streets were overfilled with passerby's, but to him, this was a playground. An important one as well.
"Take care, honey." - Claire
"'Kay, Mom." - Felix
He went on his path past the stalls and aromatic foods. Temporary vendors, and hopeful pop-up restauranteurs littered the farmer's market filed in a single long horizontal line. A luxurious building stood, few blocks from the market. Gold-plated signs and shimmering doors decorated its forefront. It had few less stories than hotels, however, the size was still unreachable. A man fitted like a butler stood in front, white gloves, and navy blue suit. The air around him screamed rich. Felix with his backpack on showed him a card from the wallet.
The card was obsidian in color, a golden jester hat with ruby, sapphire, topaz, and emerald embroidered gems instead of bells decorate it. It was a whimsical, playful card, with a touch of class and a whole lot of wealth. That was the usual style of Jacques Pierrot.
"Right this way, Monsieur Dunphy." The butler said, looking at the cursive handwriting on the card. He pointed his hands towards the inside of the hotel, hospitality at its finest.
"Thank you, but I know my way around." - Felix
Felix strode through the labyrinth of the lobby with ease. Even in his first time, all he needed to do was follow the scent. The faint scent of baked brioche and aromatics.
He arrived to an elevator catching the first glimpses of it. Usually it was packed like sardines at 2:15, nearing the start of service. High-end quality dishes were served at 3, guests were to arrive 30 minutes for the wine taste test, with all the wonderful accompaniments. Funnily enough, the wine taste test was the reason why the restaurant almost went bankrupt. More people left after drinking wine, than staying to eat the food. The doors opened to a sleek, elegantly decorated hallway. Mr. Pierrot wanted a natural classic look, pots and plants, something homie, but not too rustic to be called inelegant. He walked through the white doors and headed straight for the far stairs, leading down to the main kitchen.
"Ay, wrong flavors again. The duck is too fatty, it didn't need the touch of pancetta." An elderly man with a heavy French accent said to a meek chef wearing his chef's coat like a blanket.
"Monsieur, no need to chew him out." - Felix
"Ah, Felix, you haven't visited me in a while. Comment est votre français? (How's your French?)" Felix looked at the gentleman with a playful smile. Three-star Michelin chef of his own favorite restaurant, 'The Jester' and also Felix's grandfather-in-law in the future, he hopes; Jacques Pierrot.
"Pas mal. Pas mal. Je n'ai pas encore rouillé. (Not bad. Not bad. Haven't rusted yet)" - Felix
Jacques looked at him and chuckled. He was getting older, and his son is not in the restaurant business. Although, it looks as though the boy visiting him would inherit his position. Officially, Felix was a waiter in the restaurant. Unofficially, he works with the chefs to create recipes and has the responsibility of checking the prep for the day.
"Monsieur Pierrot, les clés de la cuisine personnelle. (Mr. Pierrot, keys to the personal kitchen.)" - Felix
"Here. Cuisiner quelque chose? (Cooking something?)" Jacques asked with a raised eyebrow as he threw the keys towards Felix. Usually when Felix cooked something, it would end up on the menu. At least the special for that day. Venison lamb with hazelnut and coffee, a special that became a best seller in the restaurant.
"Non. Cuisson. (Baking)" Felix caught the key in the air, celebrating with a little dorky dance. The chefs bemused chuckles and some mockingly mimics his dance moves.
"Yeah, yeah, Laugh it up, Gerome, Happy Birthday, yeah? Tell, I can't come to your birthday tonight, but I'll make you something special tomorrow." - Felix
"No problem, man, thanks." A stern man with a uniformed unibrow popped his head out of the corner.
"Pardon. J'ai besoin de voir ce que ces garçons vont faire. (Pardon me. I need to see what that boys gonna make)" - Jacques
The elderly chef came behind Felix and followed him to another elevator on the far end of the hallway. There were only two numbers that led from the kitchen to the floor above and vice versa.
"Monsieur, is Cecilia upstairs?" Felix asked Jacques who was standing a few feet taller than him.
"She is. In fact she's waiting for you." - Jacques
The door dinged open, and revealed a luxurious apartment. The apartment took up two whole floors, fitting in more than 20-30 people at a time. Noises from upstairs don't really carry to the floors below. It was mysterious that way.
"So, what are you baking Felix?" Jacques asked intrigued by the creation process of this presumed dessert.
"Strawberry chiffon cake, with a honeydew and strawberry filling, lemon curd, toasted Swiss meringue and candied lemon." Felix reaching the pantry took out the ingredients for the dessert. Everything but the honeydew was present. He knew that there wouldn't be any, so he bought one large honeydew and stuffed it inside his backpack.
"Cecilia, your boyfriends making food. Do you need help?" - Jacques
"Yes, please, I need the cake to be ready in 2 hours and 43 minutes." - Felix
Jacques nodded and got to work. Both took their aprons, and got their respective chefs knives from the counter tops. Claude opted to use the normal chefs knives, while Felix took his own set from a few years ago, sharpening his pastry chefs kit.
Cecilia walked to the kitchen to see her grandfather and boyfriend in unison baking a delicious dessert. Her grandfather attentively cutting a honeydew to smaller pieces. It was a blur, and before she knew it the honeydew broken down completely. Her boyfriend was focused on the stand mixer in front of him, his nose was aiming upwards and his eyes was inspecting around the inside of the bowl. He was trying to discern, what state the contents of the bowl was in.
"Afternoon, what're you guys making?" - Cecilia
"A cake. Cece, can you get the rum from my cabinet. Bacardi Black." - Jacques
"I just got here, and I'm thrown out of the kitchen to run errands." - Cecilia
"Sorry, babe, we need rum for the filling." - Felix
Cecilia moved to the far reaches of the second floor behind a secret compartment, opening to cellar, labeled with different expensive bottles near the walls. Vodka, rum, wine, all of the most expensive and exclusive liquor bottes at the sides.
"Why do you need to flambe?" - Jacques
"Flavor, Monsieur. I needed a little layer of something eccentric and rich." - Felix
"I'm back, you know, you should just have a normal wine cellar, not a weird secret compartment, grandpa." - Cecilia
Jacques defended himself by stating that Georges Batroc, would never have normal wine cellar, nor would Batman. He had a freakin' Batcave that was a glorified man cave just for him, with Alfred his butler. That gaudiness was something Jacques was interested in.
...
[Felix's commentary]
Felix sat at a sofa adjusting the position and cushion near him. "I'm really comfortable with the Pierrot family, I mean, they're rich as hell, but I'm no gold digger. I just really like their daughter and what I like more is their kitchen. Oh, their kitchen has everything. It even has 3 ovens. 3!"
...
The humming of classical music filled the serene surrounding, both were working on their respective pieces. "Ballet, is one of the most beautiful and painful dances in the world. I mean, my toes right now are severely bruised from practicing."
"Cece, try this." Felix handed over a spoonful of a yellow curd.
"Mmm, that's tart. Wow! Okay, I need a little bit of water." - Cecilia
"Already had it prepared, babe." The glass of water appeared from thin air in front of her, a cup holder below it. Water that wasn't even cold, had a cup holder below it. She looked at the perplexed by what her boyfriend just handed to her.
"Why do I need a cup holder for tap water?" - Cecilia
"I thought it was cold..." Felix passively said swirling around the filling.
"It wasn't cold. How... Nevermind." Cecilia watched her boyfriends back while smiling endearingly, her stomach turned to growl as the sweet smell tickled her nose. She was getting hungry.
"Can you make her something? I can handle everything up here." - Jacques
"Are you sure?" - Felix asked worrying everything he was working with would burn.
"It's fine, a lot of things are in the oven, make something quick in 20 minutes, this meringue is near stiff peaks already." - Jacques.
"All right. Thanks, Monsieur. Babe, let's go to the pantry, we'll grab a basket or something on the way." Felix left with Cecilia holding hands going to the pantry. She stood in front of the door while looking in, recounting her day to Felix while he asks the occasional question.
"How are you able to pick out ingredients while talking to me?" - Cecilia
"It's not hard, I listen to a beautiful sound while inspecting." - Felix
Cecilia crept up behind Felix tip-toing and grabs his arms. He flails and almost drops the basket, he still managed to keep his balance with one foot in the air.
"You sly motherfucker." - Felix
She ran to the kitchen while laughing. The music had appropriately changed from something somber to a more upbeat Bach.
...
Felix was assembling the cake layer by layer. He had created two cakes and all the necessary components were assembled in front of him. His phone buzzed in his pocket, a single text message from Haley had shown. The text read...
*Mom is a psycho, Dad shot my boyfriend. Need your help. SOS, Felix come home now so that you can back me up.*
"Who's texting?" Cecilia asked while shoving down a piece of the bread pudding I had made. The chiffon cake had some pieces that were to be cutout, to make it more aesthetic. As someone who hated wastes, Felix repurposed for a quick dark rum glazed bread pudding.
"It was Haley. Apparently, Dad shot her boyfriend." - Felix
As soon as she heard what Felix said, the pudding she was eating almost blasted out from her mouth. "Wait, what?"
"Don't talk while eating." - Felix
*Sorry, Hales, can't right now.* Felix shut the phone closed and threw it inside his backpack. The phone unknowingly to him buzzed twice. Both from Haley, and both were equally terrifying, bordering on being mad, and blackmail.
With mechanic precision Felix worked on building the cake. Lemon curd which acted as the base and added a pop of tartness. Followed by the flambe honeydew and strawberry, cooked with agave syrup and lemon juice. The second cake was stacked and covered with meringue. Felix created peaks of meringue that was semi-burnt with the blowtorch. Bits and ends of the meringue were charred and golden brown adding on to the charm of the dessert. Topping the candied lemons on top, carefully placed, so that each slice someone would get a candied lemon.
"Magnifique. How are you carrying it?" - Jacques
"Well, I brought this box that I can fold to make the perfect cover." He pulls out and folds a box, that was pink in color, to match the theme of what his Uncle Mitch had set. Strawberry pink box with mini strawberries decorating the outside. Jacques headed for the elevator, after seeing the box. It was a nice artsy box, nothing fancy, but it was enough to be labeled pleasing to the eye.
"Cute right?" - Felix
"Definitely. Hey, when are you introducing me to your parents, we've been dating for 2 years now." - Cecilia
"Soon, it should be near Luke's birthday, until then hang tight. They're too crazy even for me." - Felix
She dejectedly looks down at her dessert while becoming uninterested at it. Pouting her face ever so slightly. Felix took his hand and cups them to her face, running to her side and kissing Cecilia. While embracing he whispers to her, "Look, your gonna meet them soon. Okay?"
"Okay...Thank goodness, Grandpa went downstairs."
"Speaking of downstairs, I'm gonna go now, and finish the food I made okay?" - Felix
"With you constantly feeding me, I think I'm gonna become fat?" - Cecilia
"What's wrong with that? I'll love you, no matter what." - Felix
Cecilia giggles and blushes at Felix's words. Not only is he a good cook, he tries to be a good boyfriend as well.
"Your fucking cheezy, you know that?" - Cecilia
"Then, I hope I'm Brie." - Felix
"Felix, get you and your chef jokes out of here." Felix strides to the front door and manages to glance at the time. 4:30. He would need to ask for a cab and get home by 4:45 to make amends with Haley, and get ready for the dinner.
...
Author's note: Once more, thank you to those who picked up this fan-fiction, if your dropping this, by this chapter. Thank you for giving it a chance, but if you're staying for later chapters, thank you for staying. I'm Canadian so, I'm naturally polite.
Jacques and Cecilia are semi-regular cameos.
What he made before as a snack, was a French Onion soup, easy and fast. He also got bored of waiting and made a croque monsieur.
He cooked up the bread pudding with cake scraps and a dark rum glaze. As well as several croutons left by the French Onion soup.
Cecilia tragically, was the one stuck with cleaning the dishes.
