Chapter Text
Lena heard the tap on her office door and looked up as Sam walked in and sat down. Sam dropped an invitation in front of Lena.
“I know you don’t like to bother with these types of things but I want to go to this and technically it’s you that is invited with a plus one…” Sam said, dragging out the sentence long enough for Lena to roll her eyes.
Lena picked up the invitation. It was a soft opening of a new restaurant not far from L-Corp. Lena had a vague memory of either reading about it or hearing about it but she was mostly happy eating a salad at home so she hadn’t paid it much attention.
“Chameleon?” Lena said, “That’s an odd name for a restaurant. Who names a restaurant after a lizard.”
“Oh, come on, Lena,” Sam said, “a chameleon is a metaphor for a lot of things, it’s not just a lizard. This is the place I’ve been telling you about. It’s the woman chef who won the James Beard award at only 23 years old. She opened the restaurant in New York for a few years but now she’s coming home.”
“Yes, I vaguely remember you telling me about it,” Lena said, “and I wasn’t all that interested.”
“You know,” Sam said smirking, “sometimes you make it exceedingly difficult to be your friend.”
“I won’t argue with that,” Lena answered, “You know I just don’t care about food that much. You’re the foodie. I swear if I eat one hamburger I gain 20 pounds - all in my ass and boobs. It’s really not appealing.”
“First of all, your ass and your boobs are incredible and don’t pretend you don’t know it,” Sam teased, “and, secondly, I am happy to inform you that in addition to real food this chef is known for an extensive vegan menu.”
“Vegan food is actually the real food you know,” Lena answered.
“Ok, let me try this,” Sam huffed, “the chef, Kara Danvers, is taking a huge risk coming to National City. In addition to the restaurant, she is apparently trying to start some sort of philanthropy to help bring good, clean food choices to the poorer parts of our fine town. She is a young woman working her ass off to do well for herself but also to save the world. Sound familiar?”
“You know, it’s true that less access to healthy foods continues the cycle of poverty by increasing both short term illnesses and long term diseases in economically challenged communities,” Lena answered, reading over the invitation again.
“Yep, there’s my Lena,” Sam said, “so can we go? I’ll enjoy the food and you can meet another over achiever.”
“Fine, Sam, we can go,” Lena laughed.
“And you know, maybe we can meet some fun people,” Sam said, “you never know where you’ll meet someone interesting.”
“I highly advise you get back to work and don’t push your luck,” Lena said, eyebrow raised.
Sam stood and walked toward the door, “Ok, I’m just saying…” she teased as she walked out.
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Winn put the bruschetta into his mouth and slowly let the flavors sink onto his palate. He let out a long moan.
“My god, Kara,” Winn said, “I don’t know how you do it. I mean everyone makes bruschetta. Why is yours so much better?”
“Well, you made the bread,” Kara said, “and it’s perfect. The rest is just finding the right balance of flavors.”
“You found it, Kara,” Winn said, “this is outstanding.”
“I’m starting to get really nervous, Winn,” Kara said, “I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t agreed to come with me to National City.”
“Hey, I’m just riding on the tail of a shooting star,” Winn said, nudging Kara.
Kara and Winn were best friends. They were almost like brother and sister except for the lingering crush Winn had on Kara. He knew they would never be more than friends but he couldn’t help but feel better whenever she was around. When they found each other they both were going through tough times. Kara wasn’t doing well in college and she didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life. She finally dropped out but felt like a failure. Winn couldn’t afford college. His father had gone to jail and his mother had never been present in his life. Both of them ended up getting jobs in the same restaurant kitchen just to get by. Both of their lives were turned around by the industry.
They found jobs within months of each other at one of Cat Grant’s established New York restaurants. Cat was known as the Grand Dame of the New York restaurant scene. Over the years she had been either a chef or owner of over 25 restaurants. The restaurants ranged from casual diners to the finest dining experiences. The third restaurant she opened was the first female owned restaurant to earn three Michelin Stars. Kara and Winn both quickly worked their way up to her finest dining establishment.
As it turned out Kara had an astonishing ability to taste and smell foods and then recreate recipes. As soon as Cat realized her innate talent she took her under her wing. She saw a talent that needed to be mentored. Cat knew that Kara’s talent would be wasted cooking dishes developed by other chefs. Eventually Kara began creating her own dishes, some of which were added to the menu. Every time one of her dishes found a place on the menu it became popular quickly. Kara realized that if she could get her name out there and save up some money she could open her own place.
Cat helped Kara get recognition by signing her up for television chef competitions. Kara was undefeated. Not only did the judges love her food, everyone loved her bubbly personality. While most chefs were fairly intense personalities Kara was always calm and nearly always smiling. She also seemed to love trying another chef’s dish as much as creating her own. She usually ended up catching her competitor’s hearts along with the judges.
Winn made his name on the pastry side of the business. Winn was by nature a very technically oriented person. He loved the science that went into creating pastries, breads and cakes. He was also the hardest worker Cat had ever employed. He never complained. He just kept his head down and did his work. While he didn’t have the ebullient personality of Kara he was well liked and respected for his work.
After a couple of years of saving every penny she could Kara went to Cat to let her know that she was thinking of opening her own place. She was afraid that Cat would be angry but much to her delight Cat was thrilled. Cat looked over Kara’s plans and decided that she didn’t have enough money to really do it right so Cat offered Kara a no-interest loan. Kara was stunned. Cat said that her only condition was that Kara would always remember her generosity and pay it forward one day when she was able. She also gave Kara a long lecture on women helping raise up other women. Kara listened intently and promised to always do her best.
Cat was not quite as happy when Kara asked if it was ok for her to offer Winn a job at her new restaurant. It was very hard to find pastry chefs of his quality but after a long talk Cat relented. The only reason she agreed was because she realized how important the two of them were to each other emotionally. Cat felt that the chances of Kara having success were heightened by her relationship with Winn so she agreed that Kara could offer him the job with her. As usual, Cat was right.
Kara opened the restaurant in a part of New York that wasn’t quite as saturated with dining establishments as some other areas. In the first year she was awarded with the James Beard Award for Best New Chef. The restaurant took off immediately and it quickly became “the place” where everyone wanted to get a table. Kara was happy for the next three years. She worked seven days a week but it was worth it. In addition to the restaurant she published a cookbook and made guest appearances on cooking segments on all the major network morning shows.
At the three year point though, she found herself already burning out. One night she and Winn went to a late night diner after work and talked about their lives. The New York restaurant scene was draining both of them. Kara was 26 years old but she felt like she was 40. She didn’t have time to do anything but work. She had managed one relationship but eventually realized she was being treated quite badly. Winn had nearly killed the guy after he berated Kara one night in front of some of the restaurant staff. Kara was just so exhausted she barely noticed how rude he was until that night. She broke up with him immediately. Winn hadn’t even had time to have a bad relationship. After a long talk that night they both decided it was time to make a change.
Later that month Kara took a few days off and travelled to see her family in National City. Her parents and her sister Alex had come to visit in New York numerous times but she hardly had any time to really see them even when they were in town. Kara worked every holiday. When she had a full day with her mom and her sister she finally broke down. Even though her life looked like a great success she knew she was missing out on so much. She started formulating a new plan that weekend.
When she returned to New York she went and met with Cat. Even though Cat was sad to hear that she was leaving town she felt that her business model and plans in National City would be successful. National City was an up and coming area and was a ripe area for new businesses and restaurants. Cat was sure that a restaurant opened by someone of Kara’s stature would be a hit immediately. She promised to come visit.
When she told Winn of her plans he immediately agreed to come with her. Winn had no family and no real ties to New York outside of his work contacts. He thought a new place would be good for him as well. The cost of living in National City was much lower and he looked forward to being able to live in a bigger place and maybe even get some time to enjoy life.
It was merely 10 months later that Kara and Winn found themselves tasting the menu that would open the new restaurant.
“You know I wouldn’t have this restaurant without you, Winn,” Kara said, smiling.
“You know that’s complete bullshit,” Winn said laughing, “but I still love you for saying it. The menu is perfect, Kara. The opening is going to be fantastic. What do we still have on the list to do?”
“Well, we’ll be training kitchen staff for the rest of the week,” Kara said, “the kitchen is completed and we just need to make sure we have everything set up as efficiently as possible for the line cooks. The dining room tables and chairs will be delivered tomorrow. We will start training the wait staff on Thursday. The soft opening is this Saturday and then we will have the true opening the following weekend. We are already completely booked for the first three weekends and most of the days in between.”
“Ok, then I guess we had better get back to work,” Winn said. He noticed Kara taking a deep breath. “Don’t worry, Kara,” Winn added, “You’ve got this.”