The Mac & Cheese Millionaire

7DetoursThe Hallmark of a Worthwhile Career or Memorable Vacation

“My mother always used to say: The older you get, the better you get, unless you’re a banana.”

—Rose (Betty White) on The Golden Girls

My first interview after leaving the fancy restaurant was at a hip neighborhood spot in a run-down neighborhood in Brooklyn that had yet to be gentrified, but in ensuing years would become unrecognizable. Housed in a brick building directly beneath the Manhattan Bridge, the entire restaurant shook every time the subway rumbled overhead. The street leading up to the restaurant had eroded away to uncover the underlying cobblestones, which peeked out every few feet in the deeply pocketed road.

I interviewed with the head chef, a butch lesbian who never asked me to display any of my cooking skills but just asked for war stories from my current job. She hired me—whether because my stories amused her, she thought I was cute, or she found my résumé impressive, I will never know. Too much of a coward to tell my old boss that he was the real reason I was leaving, I lied and told him I was experiencing family problems and needed to leave New York. I guess I was banking on the fact that he would never go to Brooklyn to eat and see me cooking somewhere else. At the time, Brooklyn was still not cool and thus it was a pretty safe bet.

Life at the Brooklyn restaurant—let’s call it Ubercool—was a complete 180 from my job on the Upper East Side. I wore jeans, a T-shirt, and an apron instead ...