That’s Laura Martinez of Charlie Trotter’s.
Charlie Trotter’s, a five-star restaurant here in Chicago, is closing its doors for good this Friday, August 31. Laura Martinez, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, has been working at the iconic restaurant for more than two years, and now she’s having a hard time finding a new job.
Most people with a prestigious cooking school and experience in the kitchen of a five-star restaurant on their resume would have an easy time finding a new job, but Laura Martinez is not like most people. She’s blind.
Laura got her job at Charlie Trotter’s after the famous chef and restaurant owner visited the Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind. Laura had been working in the Lighthouse cafeteria kitchen at the time, and it was love at first taste. Charlie is quoted in an article in the Chicago Tribune about Laura:
“I was watching her work and saw how she handled things with her hands, touching for temperature and doneness, and I ate her food and it was quite delicious. We got to talking and she told me about her dreams and I said, ‘What would you think about working at Charlie Trotter’s?’”
Laura was already attending the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu culinary program at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago at the time. Charlie Trotter offered to help with her tuition, and Laura accepted a job at his restaurant after she graduated.
The Illinois Department of Human Services hired a personal assistant to help Laura with on-the-job training, but then staff at Charlie Trotter’s took Laura under their wing and started providing her with supportive job assistance, removing the need for the personal assistant. I had the privilege of meeting Laura last year, and she told me co-workers on the line at Charlie Trotter’s had become comfortable having her there prepping, cleaning and chopping.
Trotter says Martinez is an exceptional worker who brought value to his restaurant. “Besides being a great cook, she brings value through her professionalism. She is a great team member.” When I talked with Laura, I asked if she had a specialty. “Well, a lot of vegetarians come to Charlie Trotter’s,” she said, her voice betraying a proud smile. “They like my vegetable risotto.”
I have Laura’s contact info, but out of respect for her privacy I won’t leave it here. If you do have an idea of a Chicago-area restaurant or restaurateur interested in hiring a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu who is a great team member with years of experience at a world–renowned five-star restaurant under her belt, please leave the idea here in a comment and I’ll pass it along to her.
I wish I could help. I can’t. What I can do is point out the obvious prejudice that is haunting this talented, educated, experienced chef. I know I’m preaching to the choir. But I am SICK SICK SICK of watching blind people fight to be recognized as people who are blind. Haven’t we learned anything from other marginalized people (immigrants, African-Americans, etc.)? Haven’t King and Gandhi–and Jesus–taught us better?
Amen!
I wonder if she’ll do house calls. Your mention of vegetable risotto is making me hungry…
Mmm, mmm, good.
Please……..keep us posted on Laura’s job progress. I hope someone reading your blog will have something for this talented young woman.
There is a show on fox called Master chef. There are only 4 people left and one person is blind. I have been meaning to tell you about this show but forgot to. Sorry about that but what better time to tell you then now. I know this does not help your friend but it’s nice to see that a blind person can bet out thousands of other people in her quest to become a Master Chef.
Love you Aunt Beth.
Oh, thanks Robbie – others have told me about this show but I haven’t taken time to sit down and watch (okay, listen to!) it yet.
But I *do* think having this chef on that show will help my friend – the positive attention the chef on the show gets might just convince local restaurants to give Laura a try. One of the people who emailed me separately is from a pretty fancy restaurant here in Chicago, he admitted that hiring Laura might give their restaurant some good PR!
Okay…we need to mobilize a bit on behalf of Laura. Last night on Master Chef, Christine cooked for three absolute stars of the culinary world (seriously, these guys are 3 of the top 5) as well as the three judges of the show. Graham Elliot, one of the judges, has restaurants in Chicago! What if we all tried to contact the judges AND the three other chefs Christine cooked for and asked them to advise and or advocate for Laura. We could contact them via their business email addresses as well as the show’s email addresses. Really, Laura worked for *Charlie Trotter,* who has a reputation as quite a stickler. If only one of them could put in a word for her at a Chicago restaurant, she would be employed and could help the next person. And so on…What do other blogfollowers / fans of MasterChef / and FoBs (fans of Beth) think?
This is all too wonderful.
I am painfully behind the times when it comes to social networking but this idea of yours sounds like a natural for FB, twitter, and so on, Melissa. any chance one of you blog followers want to take this on, post the idea on FB and twitter and, as one of the seniors in my memoir writing class refers to it…my face?!
I know someone who was in charge of food service (or way up the ladder) at UIC I believe, and whose partner was a pastry/dessert chef at the Museum of Science and Industry — not restaurant, but they are well connected. Let me know if that direction might be of interest (aecaes (at) gmail (dot) com)
Thanks, Amy. Laura had an interview with a restaurant on Tuesday, thanks to someone who read this blog post. Can’t hurt to interview with someone else, too — I’ll email you personallly w/Laura’s contact info.