Adrenaline junkies. Coffee fiends. Workaholics.

Ben Blanchette, sous chef at Seven Steakhouse

Certainly chefs love food, and the pursuit of the new and creative consumption thereof. But it’s not all ingredients and traditions and pretty platings; there’s another side to life in a restaurant kitchen, and that side is the addictive flow of a kitchen in full swing.

At least, that’s the only way I can explain Ben Blanchette, one month in to his tenure at Seven, saying he pulls 14 hour days most every day. I asked him what he does when not working, and his answer was instantaneous: sleep.

But that’s the downside. The upside: a gorgeous workplace, providing high-quality dining to the theater and club crowds (including grass fed steaks from Thousand Hills farms, which is pretty cool), living inside the late night rat pack world depicted in the photos on Seven’s walls. At least I can see how that would be an upside.

More at chrisbohnhoff.com.