Behind-The-Scenes At Black Seed Bagels

Every morning at 5am, the oven at Black Seed Bagels is already on. When I arrived on a Friday morning at 5:30am, Dianna Daoheung was already tending to the oven, setting things up, sweeping, getting the place ready to open at 7am. Most of the crew rolled in around 6am. Waking up at 4am that morning, I was thinking to myself.....WHY?! Why did I decide to wake up this early in the morning to go photograph at a bagel shop? But I really wanted to see what actually happens before the shop opens at 7am. I wanted to experience, even though it was just that one day. And I wanted for you to see as well. Bagels and croissants and pastas and pulled pork sandwiches don't magically appear. There are hours and hours of work that go into making it. Bakers are up at 3 in the morning to get that delicious bagel ready for you at 7am. Working on this project really made me appreciate the work that goes into running restaurants and the people that are running the restaurants.

Behind-The-Scenes At Toro NYC

People always ask me who or what I'm shooting for when I'm with my camera in their kitchen. I simply tell them, it's for me. Annnnnndddd then I go onto explain how I'm more interested in the behind-the-scenes stuff/the process of cooking a dish/the things rarely people see or care to think about. I also love to just hang out in the kitchen. The orderly chaos during service time. Recently I got the chance to visit Toro NYC in Chelsea and spent couple hours in the kitchen before service on a Sunday night. Thanks to Chef Jamie Bissonnette and his crew for letting me snap some photos.

Also, you should check out the foie gras farm trip I took with Chef Bissonnette and Chef Ken Oringer.

Behind-The-Scenes At Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits

Thank you to Michael and the entire crew at Bang Bang Pie & Biscuits for letting me into their kitchen. It's such a magical place, I'm totally in love. Awesome biscuits! Awesome bacon! Awesome fancy grits and awesome pies! People of Chicago, you're pretty darn lucky.

Behind-The-Scenes At Four & Twenty Blackbirds

Recently I got the chance to visit the new Four & Twenty Blackbirds space, which is much bigger than their original location. There's a separate room where people are just making pie dough while the main area has space for 4-5 work stations for the pie bakers.