character :: Monica Moss
Her heart is racing, the pressure is rising and all Monica can think about is the next dish as though she was born into the restaurant business. And although, for some, the pressure cooker that is working in, and running, a well known steak restaurant in the heart of Austin seems like it would be too much to handle day in and day out, Monica thrives on it as though it were in her blood. All she had to do to get there was give up her Plan A and instead, try every plan she could think of until she found one that suited her; her passion of cooking.
Monica knows what most magazines want to hear when they interview her: how she knew, from the moment she emerged from the womb, that she knew she wanted to cook but that just wasn't the case. Her upbringing was nothing special, a mother who married long enough to have her only to divorce her husband a couple of years later and a stepdad that followed, becoming Monica's main father figure. They weren't afraid to work, her father as an assembly line worker and her mother as the front desk receptionist of a medical facility, both of whom adored Monica and raised her with all the right morals. Life was uneventful in Abilene so even before Monica finished high school, she knew she was going to head off to a bigger city in search of an education but before she could cut all ties to her hometown, a freshman girl she went to school with caught her attention and the two started to dream big.
every plate. If you can't
do that, then this restaurant
isn't for you
The girls finished high school but soon realized the cost of attending a university, sticking instead to a small community college in town where they worked towards their education. Monica couldn't find love for her degree but she knew if she pushed through it, maybe it would all pay off...and then came April's announcement: she was pregnant by her abusive boyfriend. The two roommates took in stride, even when April's daughter, May, was born but no matter how much Monica tried, she could feel herself treading water. The final, knockout punch came in the form of a letter from the college, stating that Monica had flunked out of the school and no longer attend while April was struggling as a first time mother. So, what were the girls to do but say fuck it?
Both of the girls dropped out of school completely and bounced around from dead-end job to minimum wage job until April finally returned to her dad in search of help. He put her to work in his butcher shop and it was here that the girls got an idea: what if they opened a restaurant? Monica wasted no time on researching the possibility and shortly after, entered the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts where she soared for what felt like the first time in her life. And the rest is history.
Seven years later, Monica is running her own successful, all female steakhouse in Austin, Texas and April, her primetime butcher and longtime friend, is still at her side. Now, the only things Monica has to worry about is her pride and joy: her business, and it seems like her suppliers are starting to lower their quality standards. But the way Monica hears it, there's a large ranch outside of town looking to sell off some of their stock and she's pretty certain, being in the business woman she is, that she can convince the rancher to give her a good price.
