This is a post from my food blog from July 22nd 2013.
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Chef Josef "Joey" Desimone
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I remember it like it was yesterday being taken around the Google campus at the end of my internship from CCA @ Google-Plex to see if someone had a position for me to fill in order to get a full time job there. There were 3 or 4 cafe's visited before finally being placed with Joey and his crew. There was a new Cafe opening up and Joey was the Executive Chef. We were cooking out of one kitchen, transporting some of the food to a picnicking area and grilling food everyday for about 600-900 folks and boy did the Googler's love it.
When I started my internship at Google I was like a kid in a candy shop, talk about deep pockets! We ordered from the finest purveyor's, prepped choice, top quality ingredients and cooked with state of the art equipment and small wares. I mean, we would order cases of Yuzu Juice @ $78/pc like they were cases of soda. We had Iron Clad everything from pans to tongs, just a chef's heaven of a place to work in. I couldn't have had a more spoiled rebirth to the world of professional cooking after culinary school. That being said, there still just seemed to be something missing.
I had always fancied myself as somewhat of a renegade style of chef, one that responded when the chips were down. The type that would make a better dish out of scraps than most would with the choice portions. When I landed with Joey he was operating one Cafe and opening a new Cafe that would be called 14. Joey came and got me from Cafe 7 in a toy truck and took me to my new digs. When we walked in there were chefs in a conference room that had been set up as a kitchen prep area, makeshift prep tables and sanitation buckets. It was clean and organized but nothing like the cold and sterile kitchens that I had seen all around Google before. The kitchen that belonged to this area was occupied with prep and cooking for the Googler's for that building. So the temporary area was set up to cook for the inhabitants of the new building for Cafe 14. Joey looked at me to gauge my reaction to what I was seeing. I looked back and said "where do you want me to start!" He smiled, hit me on my back and said with the Joey groan, "Brother I think this will work out, welcome to the jungle!"
What I loved about my time at 14 with Joey was how gritty we were. We started off by grilling for 600-900 people on a couple of gas grills everyday, rain or extreme heat. We fed an entire building and then some, everyday without a kitchen just an outdoor grill area, patio and makeshift prep area in a conference room. I can assure we had great executive chefs but none of them would have had the sack to even attempt what Joey had taken on in those conditions. No disrespect intended to any of them but Joey was the type that saw an obstacle and met it head on Fuck going around it we were going through it if he had anything to say about it! While the other cafes were making beautifully manicured plates we were making great comfort food, shaking hands, kissing babies and rocking out with the most popular guy at Google, Joey the Rockstar...
As I said in a post that I wrote about a year ago Joey was a Rockstar. When you met him you would first see the Tats, then the rings and a finger point. As you talked with him you would be at ease almost immediately, he had a low voice and always had something funny to say. By the time you were done talking to him you couldn't help but to see how big this guy's heart was. There was nothing that he wouldn't do to help, no cause too small and nobody that wasn't important enough for him to get an opinion from. As larger than life as we saw him, he never acted as if he was better than anybody be they chefs, cooks or dishwashers Joey was there to serve and that's what I liked the most about him. Next to that was his flat out refusal to panic and sense of humor. One night when the crew had to work a late, plated dinner, Joey was given a couple of very expensive bottles of Red Wine. He placed them in his office and let us know just how much they cost just to taunt us. When we finished the dinner he very graciously handed the crew (myself, Dontaye, & Virgil) a bottle and said "have at it boys, just be sure to save Zeke a swig"! You see Zeke was like a son to Joey and at the time he was somewhere else probably getting over a hangover or something (lol Zeke) but on his way back in the kitchen. As a joke we quickly emptied the contents of the bottle into 3 glasses and filled a glassful of balsamic vinegar into the emptied bottle. Zeke comes in the room and sees each of us sipping, pinkies in the air , on wine and of course wants his share. We pointed to the bottle and said pour your own poison Z. He took to the bottle like a sommelier, being sure to pour his new found "liquid gold" into the wine glass, twirling it around and then taking in his first gulp. As he tasted it we all sat back trying hard to conceal our laughter, so as not to give up the prank. I know we all had to be thinking, "When are his numb ass taste buds going to kick in and make him aware of the snafu?" At least I know that's what I was thinking. As he perks up his lips to give his scholarly assesment of what he has taken in you see this puzzled look on his face, head to the side almost. Zeke then says something like "the effervescence is quite astounding, almost bitter but palatable!" (totally made up to clown you Zeke) and it came across like "unga bunga if this is the good stuff Mad Dog 20/20 it is from now on for me fellas!" Then comes the second swig and the ruse is up, those dormant taste buds kicked in and Zeke yells "You bastards gave me vinegar!" There we are rolling on the kitchen floor, Z in full tantrum mode and then he does the unthinkable. You see Zeke pranked everybody everyday but when you got him back he'd be pissed and on this occasion he was threat level Amber. Without a second thought Zeke hurls his wine, glass and all clear across the kitchen. Virgil, weaved, Dontaye swerved and I ducked. At the same time guess who is coming out of his office. You know it, Joey. The wine hits his jacket first and then the entire left side of his body next comes the glass. Without missing a beat Joey looks at Zeke, wine soaked jacket and all pulls his hair back into a ponytail and says, "That's the wrong answer Zeke!" and then continues to walk over and wipe his wine on Zeke. We all fell out laughing for about 30 minutes. Joey wasn't mad at all he just took it in stride and told us to "put the screws to him boys!" , which we did from that day on.
To me one of his strongest attributes as a chef was his understanding of the role that the customer plays in customer service. In the day of the arrogant celebrity chef (still in its' infancy stage if you ask me) who tells you what your'e eating, why your'e eating it with what your'e eating it with and why they are not changing those things to suit your taste but educating you, Joey was the antithesis of this. He demanded that we go out and gauge the pulse of the diners in order to better suit their needs. Yes, we were going to do pretty food but we were going to put out dishes that reminded the customer of home and helped them to feel like a part of the team process.
By far, and everyone will tell you this, Joey's heart was the thing that made him stand out. If you were ever in need of anything he was the first one to offer help. There was never a cause too small for him, never a conversation that he didn't make time for. If there was a moment to spare you can bet that he was helping out in some way or another.
Joey left Giggle oops Google to start the Facebook Culinary program with most of his crew and open Cafe's all over the world. I stayed behind at Google for a while but it just wasn't the same. The food was always good at Google but to me it seemed that the heart had left the place, funny enough at the same time that this upstart corporate dining thing called FaceBook was finding its' heart not only in corporate dining but probably as a company too. I am positive that Joey had a great deal to do with the culture there. Every time I see an article about Facebook it seems so Joey. Part Rockstar, Part Philanthropist, Part Community leader and All Heart. He really was the complete package.
Earlier this week Joey passed away from his physical form and on to the next one. I wrote this on my FB page hours after I found out....
Today I woke up a world away at 0400 to find out that a dear friend and mentor has passed away. Life is ever changing and I guess that's all part of it. When I was inboxed by all of my friends of course I was shocked and sad but this song kept playing in my head the more that I talked to you guys. Trust me Joey wouldn't have listened to this or played it but the words to this song couldn't be more appropriate or profound. Joey is a person that will bring the world together. We were a band of misfits and outlaws that he banded together at Cafe 14 @ Google of all races, creeds and walks of life but he made each of us feel loved. The rest of the chefs in the other cafes wanted what we had "the most fun loving and unpretentious cafe at Google"
Trust that we all grieve in different ways and I am choosing to celebrate you Joey. I celebrate the life that you lived abundantly. I celebrate the special bond that you have with Zeke. I celebrate the lives that you touched on a daily basis (sometimes without even knowing it) But most of all I celebrate that fact that you above all brought Love to so many of us. You have the biggest heart and the best way for me to pay tribute to your everlasting soul is to live more lively, travel more frequently, laugh uninhibitedly and love more abundantly. Know that the while the world has loss your physical presence your spirit will live on in many forever. I refuse to use past tense with you as you are still here with us... I love you Joey Chef Josef Desimone.
The saying goes "All good things must come to an end!" I say that energy is everlasting and transfers from one thing to the next. All that know him have his energy. All that met him had to have been better off after the exchange if even in the smallest of ways. All that tell stories about him and their time together have a way of making you see the event through the story shared. There are people that shine and shine bright for the entire world to see and then there are people that shine bright, warm hearts and affect change. I have the sneaky suspicion that Joey is one of those people. If ever there is a time that I am full of myself as a person, chef or man I simply remember that I am here to serve. I am here to share and I am here to spread my love of all things in a larger than life way. I'll end this by borrowing a familiar Joeyism "Anything worth doing is worth over doing"! Man will I miss your words and hearing your voice but the time that we spent, the lessons that you taught and the love that you gave without compromise will live on in me forever. Josef "Joey", Chef, Rockstar, Humanitarian, Party God, Brutha and Friend you are One Of The Good Ones..... Love you Brutha!!!!!!!!!!
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Living it up... Vegas Baby!
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The Finger Point "Got you in the sights of my... Burner!"
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Tony, Zeke, Mark Z. & Joey
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Zeke "the son" @ FB Moment of Silence..
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