by Ken Tsui | As soon as the Yaletown lunch rush slows, most of the kitchen team at Homer St. Cafe & Bar transitions into dinner prep. Someone has to make the staff meal, however, and today it’s the turn of Chef de Partie Adolfo Marmolejo-Perez.
To everyone’s delight, he’s making the flautas (rolled tacos) with fried poblanos and plantain chips — all deeply familiar as they were on the menu at his mother’s restaurant in Mexico. Helping him with essential sides – guacamole, salsa verde, salsa fresca – is head chef Tret Jordan. Other staff join in by shredding rotisserie chicken left over from lunch service so that chef Adolfo can roll them into the tortillas before dropping them in the deep fryer. Tret makes a last minute addition by throwing a few plates of fried chicken into the mix.
The dinner service staff start trickling in as everything comes together. Though Adolfo has to hurry back to the kitchen, he sits for a few minutes with the thankful and enjoys a bit of his own delicious meal.