School was almost out and I was getting sick of El Matador. On one of the last days of school, I watched a movie named Johnny Tremain. In the movie, Johnny walked into Ephraim Lapham’s silver smith shop and said, “I want to be your apprentice, and I will work for free.” That very day, I hopped on a bus and rode to Salt Lake City to the Hotel Utah. I walked into the restaurant and asked the hostess if I could speak to the chef. (I had heard that they had a famous French Chef.)

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No.”

“Sit down. I will check.”

A few minutes later, she escorted me back to the largest kitchen I had ever seen. There were lots of cooks and they weren’t speaking English. They were speaking French. She sat me down in the chef’s office alone. I sat there trying to guess which one of them was the chef, as I looked out of the window into the kitchen. Finally, after about ten minutes, the oldest and shortest one walked into the office. When he spoke it was so loud that it made me jump. It was so fast, with the thickest French accent. I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. I didn’t want to look stupid by asking him to repeat himself, so I just jumped up and put out my hand.

“I am Todd Hall. I want to be your apprentice, and I will work for free.” I was every bit as loud as he was. He looked me right in the eye while trying to hold back a smile.

“What did you just say?” he said, even louder.

“I am Todd Hall, and I want to be your apprentice. I will work for free.”

“That’s what I thought you said. Sit back down,” he said grabbing my hand. “How old are you?” he asked. I thought to myself that this was the end; I am dead. He will never hire a fifteen year old.

“Fifteen.”

“Fifteen? I don’t know if I should hire an apprentice that’s already fifteen. By the time I was fourteen, I had already graduated my apprenticeship.” What a trip! I wasn’t going to lose this because I was too young; I was going to lose it because I was too old. “How did you hear about the apprenticeship program?”

“I haven’t heard about any program. I just watched a movie today where some guy walked into a place and said the same thing I just said to you, and he got a great job.” He just laughed. The chef then told me he had six apprentices, but one was leaving, so I could take his place. I had never been happier. He then went to a cabinet and pulled out a logbook, a manual for culinarians, and all kinds of paper work that I had to fill out. He walked me down to the personnel office, and told a lady that I was his new apprentice. He told her to get me a locker and sign me up for the college courses that were starting next week. Then he said one last thing.

“If I find out that I don’t like you, I will fire you. So, make sure I like you.”

“I will.”

Roget Cortello, my chef, is to this day the greatest man I have ever met. Four years later, I would graduate from my apprenticeship under his direction. At the age of nineteen, I was, and still am, the youngest person to have ever graduated an American Culinary Federation apprenticeship. It would be the longest job that I had ever kept. I have never been able to keep one that long since.